From Yorktown to a cure: Man bikes across U.S. to fund multiple sclerosis research

Come June, there will be a few more bicyclists on the back roads of Yorktown. They’re not your average biking group. They will be heading west, their destination: San Francisco.

Amongst the pack will be a Hampton Roads rider, Norfolk resident Joseph Brockman. Barista by day and biker in every other free moment these days, Brockman is one of many groups participating in “bike the U.S. for MS,” a program that organizes cross country bike trips to raise awareness for multiple sclerosis research.

There are six different routes through the U.S., and one in the U.K., and Brockman is doing the TransAmerica ride across the middle of the country.

Collectively, Brockman’s group will have raised over $200,000 when they leave Yorktown on June 1. All funds will be used to help people with multiple sclerosis and scientists researching the debilitating nerve disease, Brockman said.

Brockman, 24, has had a lot of lead time to prepare for the 3,785-mile journey that winds through nine states, including forest, farm, mountain and desert terrain. He has been completely car free for two years, and for five years, he’s been a commuting bicyclist—first as a student at Tidewater Community College, and now as a barista at Cure Coffeehouse and Brasserie in Norfolk.

With last week’s fundraiser at Cure (the second fundraising event there), he’s raised almost all of the requisite dollar for every mile that he’ll ride.

Man on a mission

Brockman’s uncle has a mild form of MS, and he’s known co-workers who have stopped working because of the disease. The cause of MS is unknown, and the trajectory of the disease varies widely and is largely unpredictable.

What is known is that MS disrupts the communication between the brain and body, manifesting in symptoms such as fatigue, visual disturbances, balance problems, and in the worst-case scenario, paralysis.

For Brockman, MS represents his “worst fear in the form of a terrible disease.” That’s not only because he’s close to people who suffer from it, but because he grew up with a fear of death.

“There have been a lot of deaths in my immediate family that kind of made me really neurotic,” Brockman said, adding that both of his parents are deceased. “I was kind of scared all the time that I was going to die randomly, drop dead—and I wouldn’t know when, or why, or how.”

“In MS, those fears are legitimized,” Brockman continued. “That kind of strengthened my resolve to being committed to it. I hate that anybody has to live their lives with that [disease] hanging over their head.”

Brockman started learning more about MS a year ago, when he decided to do the ride, after a friend of his posted a celebratory picture of herself on Instagram.

She had just completed the ride, and was standing in the Pacific Ocean. He noted the hash tag, which was something like “bike across the country for MS.”

“The biggest thing that I’ve gained is a sense of empathy for people who have MS,” Brockman said, adding that the money they raise goes not only to research, but to assist people living with MS—like making their homes wheelchair-friendly.

Preparing for the road

Brockman has been riding twenty to thirty miles a day throughout Norfolk to prepare for his ride. He’s mastered the bridges, the most elevated part of the city, and has broken in his bike, a Trek520. He’s also been running and eating well to get fit.

Packing will be minimal: three sets of bike clothing, five pairs of socks, and two sets of off-bike clothing, a hammock and a sleeping bag, and three water bottles that go on his bike. A van will accompany the riders, all of whom are provided a storage cubby onboard.

‘We’re on our own as far as food goes,” he said. That means a lot of oatmeal, Cliff Bars, rice and beans—and then some hefty snack food. “It blew my mind that a seven-dollar bag of trail mix has 2000 calories. I’ll probably eat a bag a day.”

The riders will eat out as a group a couple of times a week, and Brockman, who loves his coffee, will probably grab coffee on occasion. But he’s not bringing a French press, and he doesn’t want to bring his daily coffee regimen to the ride.

“I want to allow myself to get out of the habit of drinking coffee every morning,” he said. “It’s just another thing I don’t really want to think about.”

Instead, he’ll be focused on his surroundings, which promise to be compelling. The TransAm route is a “classic, straight-through-the-middle [of the U.S.] scenic route through the back roads,” Brockman said. He’s most excited about sleeping under the stars in the massive, open skies out West.

At the end of the ride, Brockman plans to spend some time seeing friends in California and Seattle before heading back to the East Coast. He’ll fly back and ship his bike.

For Brockman, the ride also represents the culmination of pursuits he thought that he could never do. Last winter, he got his degree at TCC.

“I am the youngest and first of my brothers to get any kind of college degree,” he said. “That kind of spilled over into this bike ride…That was also something that I never thought that I could do.”

He plans to pursue further schooling in physical therapy or massage therapy, studies inspired by what he’s learned about helping people with MS.

Although Brockman has nearly reached his fundraising goal, he can still take funds to donate to the cause here.