Family of champions in biking for MS

Jayce Riley, grandson of legendary Monongah High football coach Jim Feltz, will be pedaling his bike from Yorktown, Virginia to San Francisco to honor his mother, Jaimie Feltz Riley, who battled MS for 13 years before passing away when Jayce was a Fairmont West senior.

Jayce Riley

Fairmont State junior Jayce will participate in June and July in the Bike the US for MS campaign, which began in 2007. Jayce’s cousin took part in the biking for MS cause a year after Jaime passed away.

The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation says more than 400,000 Americans have MS, a debilitating attack on the central nervous system.

Jim Feltz’ widow is Betty Lynn Wilson Feltz, Class of 1954, who lives in Fairmont with son Jon Pat Feltz, who taught math at Monongah Middle School for decades. Betty and Jim’s other child is Jay Feltz, who quarterbacked Monongah High to its fifth and final state football title in 1973. Jim coached the 1952 and 1954 MHS state football championship teams.

The MS trip will cover 3,785 miles. MS campaign hopes each biker will raise $3,785, or one dollar for every mile.

Donations can be made for Jayce at http://biketheusforms.org/cyclists/detail.asp?cid=1380.

The Fairmont Times story about Jayce’s bike for mom and MS:

Pedaling for a cause

Cross-country bicycling trip to honor memory of FSHS grad’s mother

• By Tiffany Towner | Times West Virginian

Editor

 

 

FAIRMONT — To drive from Yorktown, Virginia, to San Francisco, California would take a person 43 straight hours. That’s a long time to sit in a car.

Imagine riding a bike all that way. It seems like an outlandish thought, but it’s not. It’s what Fairmont resident Jayce Riley will be spending two months of his summer doing.

Jayce will be biking 3,785 miles across the United States throughout June and July. But his motivation for doing so isn’t because he’s an avid cyclist.

“I’m not like a road cyclist or a mountain biker or any of that stuff,” said Jayce, a graduate of Fairmont Senior High School who is currently a junior at Fairmont State University, where he’s majoring in exercise science. “I don’t think I’ve even ridden a bike the past three years.”

So what would possess Jayce to undertake this journey? He’s participating in “Bike the US for MS” in honor of his mother, who had multiple sclerosis (MS) and passed away in 2014.

Honoring an amazing mother

It’s estimated that more than 400,000 people in the United States have MS, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. It is “an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body,” states the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Its cause is unknown.

Jayce’s mother, Jamie (Feltz) Riley battled MS for 13 years, and passed away from it when Jayce was a senior in high school.

“She was an amazing, amazing mother,” Jayce said. “She was such a loving person. She cared for so many different people, and was always willing to accommodate others.”

He recalled how strict she was with him when he was a child in school, pushing him to be the best person he could be.

“When I’m going to college, I’m using all this knowledge that she gave me, all these lessons ... and I think it’s made me the person I am today,” he said. “Without her, I don’t know who I would be. I really don’t know.”

A year after his mother passed away, Jayce’s cousin participated in the Bike the US for MS program.

“Since then I knew I wanted to do it, but it was just a matter of time,” he said.

A cross-country trek

Bike the US for MS started in 2007 to raise funds for MS treatment and research, as well as to raise awareness about the disease. There are various pre-plotted courses cyclists can take; Jayce will be part of a team of bicyclists on the TransAmerica Route.

There are about 14 people in his team so far, and Jayce said they’ve been getting to know each other through online posts. Teammates live in nearby states, as well as other countries, such as Bill Slott, hailing from Kibbutz Ketura, Israel, and Bart and Mirjam Van Slageren, who come from Purmerend, Netherlands and will be making the trip on a tandem bike.

Participants are asked to raise at least $3,785, which is $1 for every mile they will be biking.

“Almost 50 percent of that is going to go directly toward MS research and other things that they deem worthy of getting some money,” Jayce said. “The other 50 percent is going to go toward us. It’s going to buy our uniforms, our meals, water along the way, some spare bike parts, gas for our van that carries all of our supplies.”

After departing on June 1, the cyclists can pretty much set their own pace, Jayce said, riding around 6-8 hours each day. As it’s not feasible to bike on the main routes, such as interstates, he said they will be taking a course that uses more backroads.

“It’s a lot of America that you don’t get to see.”

Along the 3,785 miles, he’ll bike through nine states, taking pictures and doing some sightseeing along the way. He’ll share his journey through Facebook and Instagram pages, where he’ll post photos frequently to update followers.

As the team makes stops for lunch or to camp at night, they’ll be wearing Bike the US for MS shirts, and traveling with a van emblazoned with the same message. Jayce said they’ll talk with people and media outlets along the way in an effort to raise awareness of MS. And that effort has started already.

“Even here in Fairmont, I’ve had a lot of people that have come up to me and talked to me about it since they knew that I was going to be doing this,” he said. “It’s been awesome to hear people’s stories like that too.”

Supportive efforts

While Jayce has been gearing up for his journey on stationary bikes at the Fairmont State campus, he doesn’t yet have a very necessary component: a bike.

“I’m gonna get one pretty soon,” he said, adding that he’s been looking at some online. A few friends have offered to lend him a bike, but he said being 6-foot, 2-inches makes finding a bike that works for his frame a difficult match.

Separate from the fundraising efforts through the Bike the US for MS site, Jayce is also raising funds for himself to buy his bike, as well as other necessary gear, such as a helmet and camping necessities. These donations are being collected at jars set up at the Fairmont and Bridgeport Hermosilla’s Deli Markets, where Jayce works.

While he’s on the trip, his family will be supporting him, as he said he anticipates they’ll be sending care packages and letters to him along the way. Jayce said they also plan to visit him in Blacksburg, Virginia and at a stop in Kentucky.

“They might not be there with me all the time, but they’ll be back at home sending me messages and videos and pictures.”

Reactions about the trip from friends have been varied, but Jayce said he thinks his mom would have thought it was crazy.

“After a week long of her not believing me, she would have got on board, she would have helped me,” he said. “She definitely would have supported me through anything that I would ever want to do, especially a bike ride across America.”

Donations can be made for Jayce at http://biketheusforms.org/cyclists/detail.asp?cid=1380.

To follow his journey, visit facebook.com/jaycebikestheus.

The Clarksburg WBOY-TV story about Jayce:

 

FSU student plans cross-country bike trip

By: Paige Hopkins  WBOY-TV

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FAIRMONT, W.Va. - A Fairmont State University student will soon embark on a cross-country, two-month bike trip.

Jayce Riley is participating in Bike the US for MS in honor of his mom who passed away from Multiple Sclerosis. 

Riley is working to raise 3,785 dollars for MS research and for his trip.
"So my mom had MS and eventually passed away because of it. And I wanted to honor her somehow. And then my cousin actually ended up doing this, she's actually done it 3 times now. So whenever she did it I was like 'I'll do it,' so it was only a matter of time," Riley said.