By the time our 2026 TransAmerica team reached the Missouri–Kansas state line, a rest day was beginning to sound very welcome.
The riders had already covered more than 1,500 miles since leaving Yorktown, with a difficult few days behind them that included disrupted riding due to flash flooding followed by extreme temperatures. Waiting at the state line was Gina Peak and the Hope for MS Foundation, armed with cold treats, a warm welcome, and the promise that Pittsburg would take good care of them.
What followed was a rest day filled with home-cooked food, local television interviews, service projects and opportunities to spend time with members of the local MS community. It gave the riders something that can sometimes be difficult to see while fundraising and cycling across the country. A clear picture of the people their efforts are helping.
A Welcome Years in the Making
Gina has been part of the Bike the US for MS family for many years. Whenever one of our cross-country teams reaches Pittsburg, she seems to have thought of everything before the riders have even arrived.
Behind the scenes, Gina works with a small group of local volunteers to arrange meals, accommodation, community visits and opportunities for riders to give something back during their time in town. This year, she also organized two television appearances so the team could share the Bike the US for MS mission with people across southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri.
There are plenty of people who generously offer our teams a meal or a place to sleep. Gina somehow turns an overnight stop into something much bigger. She makes riders feel as though the whole community has been waiting for them.
More Than a Day Off the Bike
A rest day on a cross-country ride might suggest sleeping late, staying off your feet and doing as little as possible. That is not how we do things nor is it the schedule Gina had prepared.
Some riders began the morning before sunrise, heading out for an early television interview at KOAM News. After breakfast, the team split into groups for two service projects supporting local people living with MS.
One group visited Peter, who had moved to Kansas following the death of his wife and had not yet been able to organize many of the possessions stored in his garage. Riders helped sort the space and assemble shelving so it would be easier for him to access and manage his belongings.
Another group helped Angela with an outdoor project at her home.
These were not huge construction jobs or dramatic transformations. They were practical tasks that had become difficult for two people living with MS and circumstances beyond their control. That is often where help matters most.
Local coverage from The Morning Sun showed riders working together to assemble shelving, describing how the team had spent the morning making a difference for two local residents living with MS.
Once both projects were finished, the team returned for lunch before another group headed to Joplin for an appearance on Living Well. The riders were given two television segments to introduce themselves, talk about the 3,800-mile journey and explain why they had chosen to ride for the MS cause. (Part 1 & Part 2)
By the evening, everyone was back together for dinner and another Pittsburg tradition, adding their names to the Bike the US for MS gorilla.
It was meant to be a day away from riding. Instead, it became one of the fullest and most memorable days of the trip.
The Community Behind Hope for MS
The service projects also introduced the riders to the kind of work Gina carries out throughout the year.
Through the Hope for MS Foundation, Gina and a close network of volunteers help connect people living with MS in southeast Kansas with practical support from their community. The foundation is small and local, which allows Gina to understand the circumstances behind each request and see where help can make an immediate difference.
Hope for MS Foundation was established as a Kansas nonprofit in 2015. Its impact is less about running large national programs and more about helping real people with the practical challenges directly in front of them.
That could mean organizing volunteers for work around someone’s home. It could mean finding ways to make a property more accessible or manageable. Sometimes it simply means making sure someone knows that there is a community nearby willing to help.
For the riders, meeting Peter and Angela put a human face on the fundraising they had spent months working towards.
Fundraising totals can easily become numbers on a webpage. During the Pittsburg rest day, those numbers became shelving in a garage, work completed outside a home and a conversation with someone whose daily life is affected by MS.
For me personally, Pittsburg has always held a particular significance.
I first met Gina in 2012, when I was riding across the country independently and had gradually become a bit of a tag-along member of that year’s Bike the US for MS team. The Route Leaders invited me to join their rest day in Pittsburg, where I met local people living with MS and began to understand the idea behind the miles in a much more personal way.
One woman I met that day made woven orange angels. She was living with MS and experiencing amnesia, but she had created these small gifts for the riders. I still have mine today. That day left a mark on me. Without experiences like the one Gina helped create in Pittsburg, I am not sure I would have gone on to spend the next 15 years involved with Bike the US for MS and establish Bike the UK for MS.
I suspect I am far from the only rider who has left Pittsburg feeling that way.
Turning Fundraising Into Local Support
Thanks to the fundraising efforts of all our 2026 riders, Bike the US for MS is aiming to support 14 different MS projects across the country this year.
Four of those will be organizations or projects we have not supported before.
One of the first donations we have pledged is $7,500 to the Hope for MS Foundation.
Gina has already discussed the possibility of using the funding towards home improvements for someone living with MS in the area. While the final details are still being worked out, that is exactly the kind of direct and practical impact we want our riders’ fundraising to create.
A rider may raise their first donation hundreds or even thousands of miles away from Pittsburg. They may never meet the person whose home becomes safer or whose everyday life becomes a little easier because of it. But the connection is real.
Every fundraising page shared, every donation received and every difficult mile completed helps make projects like this possible.
Bringing the Mission to Life
Crossing the country by bike comes with plenty of memorable places. Riders will remember mountain passes, national parks, long empty roads and the moment they finally reach the Pacific.
But often, the stops that stay with people longest are the ones where they are welcomed into a community. Pittsburg has always been one of those places.
To Gina, the Hope for MS Foundation volunteers, St. Mary’s-Colgan and everyone who cooked, hosted, transported, organized and welcomed our team – thank you.
And to every rider who has fundraised for Bike the US for MS this year, this is what your work is helping make possible. The miles matter. The money raised matters. But most importantly the people and communities matter the most.
