In 2002, I received a call from a good friend, Cyril Sagan, who was planning on participating in his first MS150 event. It was a lengthy conversation in which Cyril stressed that he "liked running his mouth and thought he could raise money" to help fight the devastating effects of MS and he needed a sponsor (Carolina Brewing Company) for the team. Knowing Cyril quite well, my initial response was "What do I have to do and how much money is it going to cost the brewery?" He responded "nothing" to both questions. Since I have a close family member who was diagnosed with MS in 1998, I agreed to sponsor the team and TeamCBC was born.
Since I did not own a bike and the thought of riding 150 miles was mind numbing, I volunteered for the 2004 MS150. That was quite rewarding, but seeing people of all ages and sizes ride their bikes inspired me to participate in 2005 as a cyclist. Cyril and I worked on growing the team and began some training rides from the brewery in 2006. The seeds for a fun cycling team had been planted, we had an abundance of resources (beer), but we lacked organization and focus.
In 2007 Bob Oderkirk began to ride with the team. In 2008 he began to organize rides and assisted with organizing TeamCBC for what is now called Bike MS, with help from myself and Cyril. Rides became a regular part of summer, with rides occurring every two to three weeks during the training season. This gave riders more riding opportunities to get to know each other and jell as a team. In 2007 ride the MS150 participation was approximately 42 riders. IN 2008, participation jumped to 91 riders who rode at Bike MS. TeamCBC is now one of the larger teams participating in North Carolina's Eastern Chapter of the Bike MS ride.
In 2009, the team grew to more than 136 riders participating in Bike MS. Organized rides were held on average every two weeks. Numerous individuals who could not ride this year volunteered their time and effort to support the team during training season, as well as at Bike MS. These individuals helped with fund raising activities and donated to specific riders, but were not able to participate in the weekend rides in New Bern.
TeamCBC has no membership dues and is open to all ages. The only requirement is that each rider sign a waiver before their first ride of each year. Kids are welcome so long as the ride leader agrees, a parent or guardian accompanies the child, and a parent or guardian has signed a waiver for the underage rider. And of course, everyone is welcome to join in the post-ride social events.
