Riding out multiple sclerosis

To raise funds for disease research, Tag-along the clown and 2,000 others ride from Huntington Beach to San Diego.HUNTINGTON BEACH -- What do you wear for a 150-mile bike ride? If you’re Melissa Friedman, it’s false eyelashes, a bright red wig in braids, striped stockings and a frilly petticoat.

Dressed as her alter ego, Tag-along the clown, Friedman was preparing Saturday morning to set out from Huntington State Beach with more than 2,000 other cyclists on a two-day ride down the Coast Highway to San Diego. Sponsored by local chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the event raised more than $2 million to fight multiple sclerosis.

The ride is in its 23rd year, and it was the fifth trip for Friedman, 39, of Long Beach. She started doing the ride after learning she had multiple sclerosis.

“I train for Ironman [competitions], and I was training when I started having the symptoms,” she said.

Because of her illness, she had to give up the Ironman -- a triathlon with swimming, running and bike riding -- but she can still do long-distance biking, she said.

Stories like Friedman’s are the reason Jerry Brown of Costa Mesa joined the ride this year. Brown, 61, has never been part of the multiple sclerosis event, though he is a seasoned cyclist -- he and his wife have ridden about 24,000 miles together in Canada, Mexico and Hawaii.

As a psychologist and a drug counselor, he’s seen clients with multiple sclerosis, and a close friend’s wife has the disease and can now hardly walk, Brown said.

“Everyone I know that’s been touched by this disease is a woman,” he said. “Most of them have been athletes, which I find really tragic.”

The Saturday morning sky was a murky gray, but shafts of light were beginning to break through the clouds as riders set off in clusters of about 30 people at a time.

“This is the largest group of riders we’ve ever had,” said Rachel Zimmerman, a spokeswoman for the event.

That’s fitting, since the ride also celebrates the merger of the Orange County and San Diego chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to form the Pacific South Coast chapter.

The new chapter serves 18,000 people with multiple sclerosis in Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties.

One Huntington Beach family hasn’t personally been touched by the disease, but they still threw all their efforts into the weekend ride. Mark Noehren was riding with sons Jimmy, 14, and Jeffrey, 11, while mom Karen served as the “ground crew.”

“They’ve been training. Last weekend the youngest one did his first 50-mile [ride],” Karen Noehren said proudly.

“We’re just riding for the great cause of MS. We want to make a difference,” she said.

“Because we can,” her husband added.

Brown also was making the ride a family affair. After biking Saturday’s 100 miles by himself, he planned to have his wife join him on a tandem bike for the remaining 50 miles to San Diego Sunday.

He’s been cycling his whole life, but Brown, 61, still realized the magnitude of such a long ride.

“It’s not a big deal for someone to ride 100 miles,” he said. “But I’ve noticed it’s getting to be a bigger deal at my age.”20051014io2eyeknKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Cyclists pass through the starting gate of the 23rd annual multiple sclerosis bike ride, which began at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, then traveled down the Coast Highway to San Diego.