Originally Posted by canklecat

I enjoy most group rides and just ride my own pace. Usually I'll find one or a few compatible folks and we'll ride more or less together and chatter some. I participate in several free, loosely organized group rides every year.

But I don't care for the vibe many event organizers put on some t-shirt rides. Maybe I'm a wet blanket but the MS150 event annoys me. If I support an organization I'll just donate money or support them some other way. The whole thing of dozens of people on Facebook begging each other for money to support the same cause makes no sense. And while I'm mostly agnostic now and haven't attended church in 20 years, the whole vibe of flaunting our do-gooding is the opposite of what we were taught about discretion in our charitable activities.

And let's be realistic -- why the emphasis on MS? There are far worse ailments, far more common, with better likelihood for improved medical outcomes, that go unnoticed. The MS150 seems like this era's version of the 1950s-'60s Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, a grotesque affair with a maudlin host becoming more insufferable with each passing hour.