KC-area cyclist will ride 10,000 miles this year

Today's Sun-News has a long and interesting story about cyclist Ed Chasteen, who is planning to ride 10,000 miles this year:

While wrestling in those days with suicidal thoughts, Chasteen said he found his son's old bicycle in the garage. At that point, he said he thought someone spoke: "The thought was so clear and insistent I thought it was audible - 'Get on that bike and ride!'"

Chasteen, then 45, had not been on a bicycle since the age of 12. But the words sounded like a command and Chasteen obeyed.

"I began to ride that bike to class and to church. Then came another audible thought: 'Ride your bicycle across America.' Three more years passed. Then I rode from Orlando to Seattle to L.A.," Chasteen said.

The 5,126-mile journey took 105 days, and he made it "alone and without money, asking for a sandwich, a drink of water, a bed for the night," Chasteen said.

The Kansas City Star has also covered Chasteen's quest to ride 10,000 in a year. The Star points out that Chasteen has had multiple sclerosis since 1981, and started riding as a way to combat the effects of the disease. "The more I ride, the better my health becomes," Chasteen says. "Bike riding is the only medicine I take for my MS."

Chasteen is organizing a century ride on May 31st to help him towards his goal of raising $100,000 towards MS this year.