Team Bean
By Penny Hilton

Saturday was the first day of the annual two-day MS Bike Tour, and New Gloucester rider Micah Hilton had a great day. Micah is the SAD 15 graduate who in 2000 joined the relatively elite group of hikers who have hiked the whole Appalachian Trail (AT) in one season, a story reported in this paper. Since then, Micah has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis but undaunted, he wanted to participate in the Bike Tour, not watch from the sidelines in a wheelchair. The event raises funds to find a cure for the disease that is debilitating his body. Above: Team Bean

Micah can not walk more than a few steps. He can see little more than shapes and shadows, has lost tactile sense in much of his body, but ironically feels nerve and muscle pain most of the time. Since early summer, a group of friends and family who call themselves Team Bean, after Micah's AT trail name, has been holding fundraisers for Micah himself, to pay for a wheelchair, a motorized scooter, medical expenses, and a companion dog.

But they have also been raising money for the work of the MS Society. So on Saturday morning, the 13 riders and a collection of supporters gathered at the starting point at St. Joseph's College in Standish. With the new mobility of a gleaming new motor-assisted low-riding three-wheeled bicycle, Micah had decided overnight to take on the longest loop of the ride - 75 miles. And the morning was one of those glorious blue-skies-and-sun Maine mornings made for miracles.

From a made-for-tv kind of perspective, there weren't any. There were no dramatic moments, and hardly even any good pictures - even when someone remembered to point a camera. In fact, from the outset - when Team Bean finally coalesced at the starting line a good quarter hour behind all the other riders, and rolled past too fast for the designated camera folks to focus - it was a day full of confusion, communication gaps, long waits, and a ragged and anticlimactic denouement. But no matter - people weren't there for miracles, they were there for each other, and everything that happened just kept it interesting. There were more laughs and smiles in the midst of chaos than you get in a normal orderly day.

Within the first several minutes, Micah and his companion Tanya became the lonely last two riders of the hundreds, pedaling quietly along the green corridors of countryside. Team Bean frontrunners - the ones the rest of the team thought of as the tough group - took a wrong turn at one of the several hazily marked intersections, and ended up riding 6 miles in the wrong direction. A Team Bean support van caught up with them at the Rt. 302 rotary, and stayed while the used the Tour directions and a De Lorme gazetteer to reorient themselves. Back on the right road, Micah reluctantly packed his new bike into the van after 6 miles and rode to the first rest stop. (He later said that he was totally exhausted before the end of the first mile.)

At the rest stop, the MS ham radio operator sent word up the line to have Team Bean regroup at the lunch stop. At the lunch stop, the slower riders straggled in, and straggled out again, assuming the fast group would soon fly up behind. Tanya and Micah revised their plans, sending Tanya off to ride solo for the better part of the remaining stretch till a mile or two from the finish, when Micah would pedal again so they could end together. After a lot more waiting, Micah set off in one van to catch up with Tanya, while the other van backtracked the 75 mile loop, only to find the Team Bean "leaders" about a mile from the lunchstop. Micah saddled up again with Tanya about 2 miles from the finish, and when he and Tanya rolled through the balloon-festooned finish arches, fewer than half of their team members were there. When the rest of the team came in, Micah was in the bathroom.

But no matter - people weren't there for miracles, they were there for each other, and everything that happened just kept it interesting. There were more laughs and smiles in the midst of chaos than you get in a normal orderly day, and some really sweet moments. A family who set up their own impromptu water station in their front yard said they had seen the article about Micah and wanted to wish him well.

MS Volunteers at the first rest stop greeted Micah with cries "Here comes Uncle Micah!" as his 4-year-old nephew ran out to meet him. Several miles after the lunch stop, a woman in a lawn chair with a baby in her lap turned out to be one of Micah's fellow workers from Wild Oats, waiting "like some crazy lady" at a deserted country crossroads for Micah to come by. When Tanya was struggling up a hill, another rider noted playfully that these suddenly seemed to be a good tailwind, and put his hand on her back, pushing lightly as they pedaled together up the slope. On another hill, a woman in a passing car slowed to ask what the ride was about, then thanked Tanya profusely for doing it.

Maybe tv pushes the wrong notion. Maybe it's not a matter of miracles so much as all the humble little triumphs of heart over the discouraging and demoralizing racket that reverberates in our heads, over circumstance, over cynicism, and over fear. Nobody, not once, not ever, not even a little bit, let the goofs and confusion and unexpected turns of events make them grumpy with each other. Optimism and humor reigned.

Thirteen people put their rears on their bike seats and pedaled (and raised money) because Micah matters to them. A few Team Bean riders surprised themselves. One who looked a little beefy for a bicycle seat came in first of the 50-mile Bean-ers. Another who cautiously aimed for a 25 mile ride, ended the day with more than 60 miles to his credit.


Meanwhile, the tough guys who started last and took the wrong turn completed 87 miles - and have a terrific bike tour story to share. The generosity of Percey Wheeler, the Bike Cycle guy, and the shop that provided the batteries, and the one that embroidered the lightning bolt Team Bean logo on their team shirts, lifted the spirits not just of Micah and his team, but everyone that heard about it. Against every prediction you could have made a month ago, Micah Hilton got out of a wheelchair and onto a bike and rode almost 10 miles of beautiful Maine back roads, on a beautiful day, with the woman he loves. Above, a smiling Micah crossing the finish with Tanya right behind waving in victory. Hilton photo

And against every reasonable expectation, the more MS takes away, the more Micah is there. As he does every day, Micah made everyone feel like they made a difference. Patiently explaining his bike to another man with MS on a scooter, thanking every volunteer he passed, cheering on everyone he saw across the finish line - accepting help, and circumstances, and the very crumby hand that MS has dealt him with constant dignity, good humor and grace, Micah makes people happy. Maybe that's the miracle.