IWU Student Rides To Fight Multiple Sclerosis

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—The Multiple Sclerosis Bike Tour, now marking its 22nd anniversary, is the largest organized cycling event in the United States. Over 75,000 cyclists participate annually in one or more of the tours that are offered in 50 states.

This year, Illinois Wesleyan student Paul Czerwinski will join the effort that in 2001, raised over $38.5 million for research, advocacy, education, and local programs for people with MS, a disease that disables the central nervous system.

Czerwinski, class of 2004, a business/philosophy major from Niles, Ill., learned of the tour from friends that had participated in previous events. The cause was a considerable attraction to Czerwinski, as was the tour’s route, that ends on the IWU campus.

The two-day, 150-mile cycling event begins on Saturday, June 22 at the University of Illinois-Chicago campus, and is expected to draw 1,500 cyclists from across Illinois. The bikers will travel along the lakefront, and through Chicago’s historic Hyde Park, Gresham, and Beverly Hills communities before continuing into the south suburbs. The Kankakee County Fair Grounds will be the official overnight home for the bikers, before the schedule on Sunday, June 23 offers the option of taking a round-trip route back to Chicago or travelling on to Bloomington.

Czerwinski has been undergoing extensive training to complete the event, riding an average of 30 miles a day, and raising his $300 pledge with donations from family and friends. "This is a way to aid a good cause and have some fun in the process," said Czerwinski.