Riding for a cure
By Tom Wilcox/ Staff Writer
Friday, July 21, 2006

Canton's Ryan Murphy and his close friend Tom Sullivan had always discussed the idea of bike-riding across the country. The pair figured that the ideal time to partake in such an endeavor would be right after graduation and before they had to enter the post-college "real world".
    On a Monday morning in March, Murphy and Sullivan were sitting in their 8 a.m. Entrepreneurship and New Ventures class at Babson College when the ride took on new meaning.
    The speaker that day was scheduled to be a serial entrepreneur named Art Mallor, who was going to talk about a do-it -yourself method of venture funding. Mellor was not able to make it that day due to illness and his wife Debbie filled in. She explained to the class how her husband had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) six years ago.
    Murphy and Sullivan were moved by Debbie's story and empathized with the fact that MS can strike any strong and healthy person, like themselves, and the people around them. It was after that class that the duo decided that they wanted to help in any way that they could.
    "None of us were really affected by MS in our lives," said Murphy. "When we heard about the nonprofit organization, we knew we had to tie in the cause with our trip."
    After Art Mallor was diagnosed with MS, he had directed all of his entrepreneurial efforts to starting a nonprofit organization known as the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis.
    Murphy and Sullivan teamed with two close friends, Mike Maher and Kevin Welch, to bike across the United States to raise money for Accelerated Cure Project's efforts.
    They flew out to Seattle, Washington on June 5 and started the trip the next day. The quartet planned to ride back to Boston in a trip that was estimated to take 40 days at a 100-mile per day pace. The trip was called "Coast to Coast Cyclists for MS".
    Starting in Washington, the ride went through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and then the foursome arrived in Boston last Saturday at 2 p.m., one day ahead of schedule, into a welcome back party held at the Baseball Tavern near Fenway Park. The Rooney family of Canton is involved in ownership of the Baseball Tavern so the event had a heavy Canton contingent on hand.
    "It was an unbelievable feeling to get back and see all the friends and family we hadn't seen in 40 days," said Murphy. "We actually had a police escort through Boston. It was over 90 degrees on Saturday and we were feeling all the wear and tear of the trip."
    "It was an amazing accomplishment for the four," said Ryan's father, Canton police Sergeant Peter Murphy. "It's quite an ordeal physically and mentally as well."
    Murphy, Sullivan and Welch all graduated from Babson this spring and played together on the hockey team. Maher enters his senior year this fall and was a teammate of Murphy's on the lacrosse team.
    The group had a loose idea of where they would reach each day and would normally call ahead and book hotel reservations for the night. Sometimes they would not end up where planned and would set up camp for the night.
    "I would guess that we spent about seven days camping," said Murphy. "A few times we would just meet people on the trip and they would let us shack up in their yard. And some hotels would give us a free night because it was a tax write-off to help out a charity.
    "It was such a long trip that we had to take it one day at a time. We were climbing mountains one day and riding over flat plains the next. The most challenging part was the wind. It was predominately at our back for most of the trip but on those days when it was in our face, that was the toughest part."
    It's been just about a week since the ride finished but Murphy feels like the foursome accomplished their goal.
    "We've learned a lot about it since we took on the project," said Murphy. "And since we've finished, we've had so many people calling to thanks us. I have a bunch of messages from people on my voicemail, that I don't even know, expressing their gratitude."
    "It's strange not to have to get on the bike in the morning."
    Not all of the donation money has been tallied yet but the trip has raised nearly nine thousand dollars for MS so far. To learn more about the trip or to make a donation, visit www.expansion.acceleratedcure.org/coasttocoast.

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