Team Summit rode 200 miles to the beach for the MS Society.

Team Summit, from Davidson’s Summit Coffee, had a great weekend ride on Sept. 22-23, covering 200-miles from Monroe to Sunset Beach, N.C. We raised more than $5,500 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The eight-person team ranged in age from 19 to 62, with experience from novice to veteran. Members were Will Roberts and Derek May, Davidson students Haley Sanner and Alex Taylor, Summit barista Jonathan Head, and Tom, Tim and Brian Helfrich.

The requirement for Bike MS, which had a 200 mile ride for the first time this year, was that every rider would raise a minimum of $300. Brian Helfrich reports:

Our two-day journey certainly was not without its perils. It should be noted that Alex Taylor, also a Summit barista, spent his first time ever on a road bike two days before we set out for the ride. To boot, three of the riders didn’t even own their own bicycles.

But speed was not how this team was going to be remembered. The goal of this entire mission was to raise money and awareness for the fight against multiple sclerosis. No team member knew that better than Haley, whose mother suffers from MS.

Forty miles into the first day, Haley suffered a shocking bit of bad luck when her bicycle broke. Turns out, it was better for it to happen to her in for any of the rest of us. Haley never once complained, had her bike fixed for a single gear, and completed the two-day ride like a champ. Haley pounded through the entire thing in only one gear available to her.

It was a fitting culmination to the fund raising process for our team. Haley, whom only Alex knew before two weeks ago, was the team leader, raising way more than $2,000. Her hard work, determination and sunny disposition made her a pleasure to be around, and also the unanimous MVP of the Summit cycling team.

NOVEMBER IS MOVEMBER AT SUMMIT

Movember is back at Summit Coffee. The month that saw mustaches sprout from so many upper lips in 2011 is nearly upon us. They’ve got a month-long slate of events benefiting Movember, an international non-profit raising money and awareness in the fight against male cancers.

Last year we raised well over $3,000 for Movember, and this year we’re going to crush that. Please join us in the effort. Start now by either pledging to grow a mustache starting November 1, or join our fundraising team online.