Cyclists Rick Wadman, Craig Powell and Larry Rawe check the route map before departure. (Philip Groshong photo)

More than 650 bicyclists turned out for this year's 150-mile, two-day tour to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Ohio Valley Chapter. The annual Ride with a Mission is a bicycle tour through scenic countryside. The tour began at Lebanon's Countryside YMCA and took cyclists to the campus of Miami University in Oxford. The next morning, the cyclists headed back to Lebanon. To participate in the tour, each cyclist contributed a $45 entrance fee and committed to contributing a minimum of $200 in pledges.

The MS bike tour, begun in Minnesota in 1980, is the nation's largest premier cycling event. The 100 1- and 2-day events throughout the country draw more than 80,000 participants annually. In 2003, the bike tour reported an estimated $44 million raised to aid research for treatment for the 400,000 Americans living with MS and for client programs for people with MS.