Bike MS Colorado charity ride coming through Niwot

On June 24, hundreds of bikers in colorful gear will fill the streets of Niwot, heading west on Niwot Road before looping down to Second Avenue, with a rest stop at Whistle Stop Park before crossing the Diagonal Highway to continue north on N. 73rd Street.

The Bike MS charity is making its annual ride through Colorado. The route for this ride can be up to 100 miles long, winding from the Front Range Community College in Westminster to Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

The Niwot Business Association, with partial funding from the Niwot Local Improvement District, plans to make Niwot a destination spot on the bike route. Free five-dollar coupons will be provided in the welcome packets distributed to anyone gathering along the route to watch and cheer on the riders.

Each five-dollar coupon can be spent at businesses in Niwot, provided that the money is not spent on alcohol. In addition, some foldable chairs will also be set up along Second Avenue for attendees to watch the riders pass through Niwot. Many local businesses are going to be opening early during the event to show support, and according to the NBA, there will also be live music along the route.

The local store manager at the Wandering Jellyfish Bookstore, Alison Cave, said, "It would be great to bring more people to town. We're on 119 between Boulder and Longmont, and I feel like people often miss us. So many love to bike it's great to bring awareness to something that is so quietly devastating."

Cave also hopes that the goody bags will help increase awareness of multiple sclerosis. Bike MS's ride through Colorado is raising money to combat multiple sclerosis, a dangerous disease that attacks the brain and muscles, and leads to disability.

The charity event was started in 1980, consisting of a two-day bike ride through Minnesota that raised $33,000 for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Now, there is at least one ride in every state, sometimes multiple rides in a state, and Bike MS is now a national charity organization. So far, Bike MS has raised about one billion dollars to help cure MS and for those afflicted.