WATCH NOW: Alzheimer’s riders talk about their mission during Orangeburg stop

The more than 300 cyclists participating in the ride ended the second leg of their 252-mile Simpsonville-to-Mt. Pleasant journey with a stop at the Country Inn & Suites on Citadel Road. 

Volunteers were on standby to spray the riders with water, provide drinks, lunch, emotional support and massages. 

Riders said the support of the other participants in the group made Saturday’s 87 miles of the journey less daunting. 

“You’ve got so much camaraderie in the group,” said Alex Barclay, who participated for the 8th time this year. “Not only from riding in a group – that makes it easier, but everyone’s there to support you. It’s not a competition.”

Riders were served dinner and spent the night in Orangeburg before setting off on the last leg of the journey Sunday morning.

The crowd waiting in the hotel parking lot cheered each time a rider came into view. After dismounting their bikes, cyclists could head inside to cool off and eat a complimentary lunch provided by volunteers.

“The volunteers are a great support,” second-year rider Natalie Purdy said. “I mean, they really make this a great experience. They’re very positive.”

Volunteers said they felt very grateful to be involved and to support the riders.

“It’s just a very humbling experience to be able to care for the people who are doing (the ride),”  Megan Shoemake said. “I think you just get a sense of fulfillment when you leave here throughout the day.”

Many of the volunteers said they are already planning on returning next year and are looking for ways to get even more involved.

“A couple of us have actually talked about what it would take to actually ride, what that actually would take,” volunteer Shannon Polny said. “So we’ll see.”

Polny said it is important for volunteers to support the event for the sake of the community.

“If people don’t show up to help with events like this, they go away very easily,” Polny said. “So it’s really cool to just see so many people show up, or for us, even in the lunchroom to have more than enough hands to go around. It’s not a bad problem to have.”

Riders said one of the main draws to keep coming back to the ride are the friends they have made with other participants.

Purdy said she made most of her cycling friends on the Ride to End ALZ, while rider Stephen Chow called the event “a big family reunion.”

The Ride to End ALZ is sponsored by the South Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. The goal is to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research as well as raise awareness. 

Riders said it isn’t difficult for them to meet their personal fundraising goals. 

“It’s not hard to raise the money,” nine-time rider Jon Morgan said. “My wife and I, we went on Facebook and I had the money in a week, almost two days, off of one post.”

Over $822,000 of the event’s $800,000 goal had been raised as of Monday, July 11. Though the ride ended on July 10, donations will be accepted until the end of the month at alz.org/ride. 

“I think when we first got started, it was all about the ride,” nine-year rider Matt Dillard said. “Then we began to see that everyone, someone you know, is affected by (Alzheimer’s). And we began to be more involved with the organization. The bike ride to me is now secondary to the money that we can raise to support this cause.”

Over 2,300 people died from Alzheimer’s in 2019 alone, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Over 6 million Americans are living with the disease and more than 11 million serve as unpaid caregivers. It is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many of the riders participated in honor of loved ones having lived with Alzheimer’s and dementia. 

Barclay began riding after his mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. 

“The last few years of my mother’s life, my father would bring her out to the finish line and she would always meet me at the finish,” Barclay said. “She passed away in 2020 from Alzheimer’s, and ever since then my father has been out here to support me.”

Chow said he rides in honor of his wife’s family history with the disease. 

“Seeing what she went through and not having her grandmother be able to meet her great-grandchild, that hurt,” Chow said. “So I figured, I’ve still got some youth in me, might as well put it to good use and get on a bike and raise awareness.”

Likewise, many of the volunteers also have personal connections to the disease. 

Both Shoemake and Polny volunteered with their employers, local health care and hospice providers. They said around half of the clients they serve suffer from Alzheimer’s and dementia. They also said both had family members who lived with the disease.

Some said they volunteer to give back to the Alzheimer’s Association after they received help from the organization.

Charlie Williams has helped provide dinner for the riders since the event’s second year. He participates in honor of his mother, the late Karen Williams of Orangeburg, who served as chief judge of the U.S. 4th Circuit of Appeals.

She was diagnosed in 2008. He said the association provided his family with much-needed support.

“If it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know how we would have handled it,” Williams said. 

One of the supporters cheering on the riders was Missy Callahan, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 45 in 2019. She said that while the diagnosis completely changed her life, the Alzheimer’s Association had been there for her.

“I have a 0% chance of survival. I get that,” Callahan said. “It’s just how long do I have and what do I do while I’m here? And so advocating and educating and supporting groups with the Alzheimer’s Association and raising awareness and ending the stigma of Alzheimer’s has become my mission.”

Callahan said she wanted to support the riders the same way they are supporting her with their fundraising for research. 

“I’ve always said that I don’t expect a cure in my lifetime,” Callahan said. “This has been going on for years, but I fully believe that one day there will be a cure. And Alzheimer’s will be a dreaded disease, but it will be like other diseases are today – that used to kill you. And there will be a cure.”