It’s always slightly strange when another Bike the US for MS season comes to an end.
For months, our days are filled with riders crossing the country, support vans moving from town to town, Route Leaders sending updates from the road and teams taking on adventures in almost every corner of the country.
And then, suddenly, the bikes are packed away, the vans start making their way home and we get a chance to look back at everything that actually happened.
2026 gave us plenty to look back on.
Across our trips, 91 riders, segment cyclists and Route Leaders joined us on the road. Together they rode an estimated 166250 miles, while our 2026 teams raised an incredible $625,500.
That makes this the BIGGEST season in the history of Bike the US for MS. But, as always, the numbers only tell part of the story.
From Florida to the Pacific
Our year started in February with the Florida Coast & Keys and eventually took us across mountains, gravel roads, rail trails, coastlines and just about everything in between.
There was the TransAmerica stretching almost 3,800 miles from Virginia to San Francisco. The Pacific Coast took riders from Seattle to San Diego. Other teams explored the Olympic Peninsula, Vermont’s gravel roads, the GAP & C&O trails, the landscapes of Grand Canyon & Zion and let’s not forget those across the pond on Bike the UK for MS.
Some riders joined us for a few days. Others spent more than two months living out of duffel bags, sleeping in churches and community centers and trying to remember which support van contained the snack they were looking for.
And some enjoyed their first Bike the US for MS experience so much that they barely made it home before signing up for another one. We saw several riders complete their first trips earlier in the year and return for fall adventures including Vermont Gravel and Grand Canyon & Zion.
That might be one of our favorite measures of a successful season.
A Record-Breaking TransAmerica
It’s difficult to talk about 2026 without talking about the extraordinary TransAmerica team. Together, the team raised $445,000.
Tim Plant finished the season with an incredible $151,700, including three of the largest individual donations Bike the US for MS has ever received. Erin Solaro raised $56,800. John Fratamico reached $38,000, while Thomas Rayner and Chip Minty both surpassed $20,000.
In almost any other year, any one of those totals could have been the biggest individual fundraising effort of the entire season. This year, they somehow all happened on the same team.
But fundraising was only one part of their journey. The team dealt with extreme heat, flooding, wildfire smoke, route changes, mechanical problems and the everyday unpredictability that comes with attempting to move a group of cyclists across an entire continent.
They also met communities along the way that reminded us exactly why we ride.
Making Those Miles Matter
One of the things we continue to work hard on is connecting our riders more closely with the people and organizations their fundraising supports. That took many different forms in 2026.
In Pittsburg, Kansas, our TransAmerica riders spent part of their rest day working alongside the local Hope for MS Foundation community. Rather than simply passing through town, riders helped with practical projects for people living with MS, spent time hearing their stories and saw firsthand what local support can mean.
On the West Coast, we began another relationship that we hope will continue for many years.
At the end of TransAmerica in San Francisco, we connected with Dr. Emmanuelle Waubant and the pediatric MS team at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. This year, we are providing $20,000 in support for their Pediatric Neuro-Immunology and Multiple Sclerosis Program, which works with children and adolescents living with MS and related neurological conditions.
Pediatric MS is an area we haven’t previously been able to support directly, and it is one of four new projects being added to our partnerships this year.
Further north, our Pacific Coast team began their ride in Seattle with representatives from both the Swedish MS Center and MS I’mpossible joining orientation.
That gave riders the chance to hear from people doing the work before they had even turned their first pedal.
Later in the trip, one of our own riders shared her experience of growing up with a mother living with MS. A powerful reminder that the connection to MS within our teams takes many different forms.
Our Olympic Peninsula riders also had opportunities to spend time with local MS communities as they traveled around Washington. These are the moments we increasingly want to build into every Bike the US for MS experience.
Supporting 18 Different Beneficiaries
This year, we’ve been able to support 18 different beneficiaries across the country, ranging from major medical centers and research programs to small community organizations and individual projects.
That includes some of the largest contributions we have ever made. In Seattle, $30,000 is being given through the Swedish Foundation in support of the Swedish MS Center. An organization we have been fortunate to build a longstanding relationship with.
Other 2026 support includes the University of Miami MS Center of Excellence, VCU’s Neuroimmunology/MS Program, MS Alliance of Virginia, Cleveland Clinic, the MS Achievement Center at Fairview, Barrow Neurological Institute, Meat Fight, MS I’mpossible, and the Burke-Flint Project with the CoxHealth Foundation, alongside our new work with UCSF in San Francisco and grassroots MS projects around the country.
There will always be more we would like to give. But every additional rider, every fundraising page shared and every donor who chooses to support someone’s journey allows us to increase what we can put back into the MS community.
The People Behind the Miles
As proud as we are of the fundraising, trips and partnerships, the thing that continues to stand out most at the end of every season is the community around them.
Our Route Leaders once again gave huge amounts of their summers to keep riders moving safely across the country.
Our overnight hosts opened churches, schools, community centers and other spaces to teams, often welcoming Bike the US for MS back for another year. Local volunteers supplied meals and rest stops.
Alumni returned to ride again, host teams, visit rest stops and help the next generation of riders experience the organization they remember.
And our riders looked after one another. Some arrived as experienced touring cyclists. Others had never completed anything close to the distance waiting for them.
Over the course of a trip, those differences tend to become much less important. You share climbs. You share bad weather. You share food, mechanical problems, ridiculous inside jokes and occasionally the floor of a church gym.
A Season With Difficult Days Too
Celebrating a season also means acknowledging that not every memory from the road is an easy one.
During TransAmerica, our team experienced a devastating loss when someone traveling independently in support of one of our riders was killed in a vehicle road collision. The loss was deeply felt by the riders of the whole team.
It was an extraordinarily difficult moment in an otherwise remarkable summer, and one that reminded all of us how quickly the perspective of a trip can change. We remain incredibly grateful for the care the team showed one another through those days.
Looking Towards Twenty Years
Perhaps one of the most exciting things about finishing 2026 is knowing what comes next.
2027 will mark the 20th year of Bike the US for MS.
It’s difficult to quite get our heads around that.
What started with Don and friends crossing the country for his Mom, Nina Fraser who lived with MS, has grown into multiple routes, thousands of alumni, longstanding partnerships with MS organizations around the United States and a community that stretches far beyond whichever team happens to be on the road that summer.
Next year, both of our major cross-country rides will be back on the road, with TransAmerica and Northern Tier forming part of another full season of Bike the US for MS adventures.
And we want to celebrate 20 years properly. We’ll be bringing alumni together in Seattle on August 14–15, 2027, around the finish of the Northern Tier.
We are still developing exactly what the weekend will look like and that is where we would love the alumni community to help.
If you’ve ridden, route led, volunteered or otherwise been part of Bike the US for MS over the last two decades, we would love to hear what you would like to see included in the celebration. We will also be looking for alumni interested in getting involved with the planning committee as the event takes shape.
And for anyone who wants to make a slightly longer trip of it, our Olympic Peninsula ride will begin the following week, giving alumni the perfect excuse to stay out West for another adventure.
There will be plenty more details to come.
Thank You
For now, though, we simply want to say thank you.
To every rider who signed up for something that probably seemed slightly ridiculous at the time.
To every Route Leader who helped make those adventures possible.
To every donor who supported a rider.
To every host who opened their doors.
To every MS organization that welcomed our teams and trusted us to support their work.
And to the alumni, families, volunteers and friends who continue to turn up year after year.
$625,500 raised. 91 people on the road. 18 beneficiaries supported. 166250 miles ridden.
Those are pretty special numbers. Thank you for making 2026 one to remember.
Now, on to year twenty.
