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The Bike MS: Southern California Ride 2008 is a fundraising event for the National Multiple Sclerosis, Southern California Chapter. The bike tour offers various route options for all levels of cyclists over two days. This year’s event will return to Camarillo, head north through Ojai Valley, over Casitas pass and finish at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara. Day two will begin back at the beach and take cyclists south along the ocean and through the strawberry fields of Oxnard to finish back in Camarillo. To help bring us closer to a world free of MS, each event participant agrees to raise the minimum pledge of $350 (on average in 2007 each rider raised $918.)

About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.5 million worldwide.

How You Can Help
There is no shortage of ways for you to join the movement to Start to Finish MS. Sign up to ride the event or to be a team captain. We are also on the look out for monetary and in kind donations. We have many sponsorship opportunities for you and your company to get involved. If you’re interested in getting involved please visit our website at www.bikeMSsocal.org or call Elle Ullum at 310.479.4456 for more information.

So let’s ride…and together we can start to finish MS!