UB faculty member Gil Wolfe started riding a bicycle to raise money for multiple sclerosis about 15 years ago while on the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

“It was a two-day event covering over 150 miles between North Texas into Oklahoma,” says Wolfe, Irvin and Rosemary Smith Professor and chair of the UB Department of Neurology. “There were several thousand riders each year.”

Now, with a brand new ride for MS  — the Great Lake Escape — taking place locally on Aug. 8, Wolfe is leading a UB team to raise money  to fund research and training projects aimed at finding the cause, treatment and cure of a disease that affects large numbers of Western New Yorkers.

“With this effort to revamp the rides supporting MS in Western New York, I hope to generate interest in this worthy cause,” Wolfe says. “As is well known, MS has a very high prevalence in this community, and we have a wonderful clinical program at UBMD Neurology directed by Dr. Bianca Weinstock-Guttman.

“Now, if I can only convince some of our MS practitioners to dust off their bikes and start riding,” he says.

The Great Lake Escape, part of the national Bike MS series of fundraising rides sponsored by the National MS Society, starts in Evangola State Park in Irving and features scenic 15-, 31-, 62- and 100-mile routes along the shores of Lake Erie, as well as a half-mile family ride on a paved, multi-use path within the park. Riders will receive mechanical and medical support en route and at rest stops every 8-12 miles, with food, drink and volunteers ready to assist.

The ride is organized locally by the Upstate New York Chapter of the National MS Society. “All of the money we raise at the GLE will stay in our area because some of the most cutting-edge research in MS is being done right here at UB and at UR (University of Rochester),” says Kerrie Anne Merz, Bike MS manager for the upstate chapter.

For more information on the Great Lake Escape, visit its website. To register, use the code SUMMERFUN and save $5. Look for the UB team name in the dropdown menu. While advance registration is preferred, riders may register on site the day of the event, starting at 6 a.m.