Soduskan finishes 180-mile bike ride for MS

Richard Ross, 50, finished his first 180-mile bike ride from Houston to Austin, TX (April 22-23) as a fundraiser for MS. This is the largest MS-150 event in North America.

13,000 cyclists, including him and 62 of his fellow Siemens Caring Hands employees, made this two-day trip with temperatures in the upper 90s, across country roads and interstate highways. Day one was 100 miles from Houston to LaGrange and the second day was 80 miles, across Texas Hill Country.

Ross raised over $1200, contributing to the $10M event goal. It started in December at a sales meeting when he volunteered to help. He spent the next 3 months at the local health club in spinning class 3-4 hours/week. Purchasing his bike in March, he managed only 20 miles of road time before shipping it off to TX. Over Easter weekend, while visiting his folks, he got another 23 miles under his belt traveling from Sodus Center up 104 to Gus's Restaurant in Williamson and back.

He grew up in Sodus Center, graduated from SUNY Alfred and RIT in Mechanical Engineering and now lives with his two daughters in Chalfont, Pennsylvania.

He works for Siemens Water Technologies as a Technical Sales manager for the east coast. For more information see:

www.ms150.org/ms150/

In an after-race cell phone call, Steve Bartleson (of Sodus) reminded him: 'Don't underestimate the magnitude of what you just did. That is quite an accomplishment!'

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