The road was long and the flesh was aching, but there was no question of quitting for Gary Evitt of East Butler. The names on his shirt kept driving him forward.

Evitt, 65, a retired AK Steel electronics technician, recently completed his sixth Bike MS: Escape to the Lake, a 150-mile bike tour that started June 8 at Seneca Valley High School and ended June 9 at Conneaut, Ohio.

The tour, sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Pittsburgh, attracted 1,200 riders, said Chris Pfeiffer, development coordinator for Bike MS.

Pfeiffer said the bike riders raised more than $900,000 for the cause last year.

“That's our goal for this year as well,” Pfeiffer said. “It's put toward helping people locally with MS, as well as finding a cure.”

“I finished; I went the full length,” said Evitt. “It's not quite a 150-mile, two-day ride. We started at Seneca Valley High and then wound around the back roads and highways.”

Evitt has a personal reason for riding. His son, Joshua, 33, has multiple sclerosis.

“One year, we went to Washington, D.C., and he couldn't walk,” said Evitt.

“He was a teacher, but he can't teach anymore. He's on disability now because of the MS,” Evitt said.

Evitt said Joshua's symptoms appeared in 2007, and he participated in his first Escape to the Lake ride in 2008.

“I wear a shirt with my son's picture on it,” said Evitt. “I did it for Josh the first year.”

Since that first ride, he said, he's become acquainted with 35 people who have the disease.

“To make a long story short, I have 35 names on that shirt. That's kind of been the driving force. I enjoy the ride, don't get me wrong, but it's the big driving force,” Evitt said.

He said his ride this year has netted the chapter a little over $2,000.

“I did it on the my own,” said Evitt of the ride this year. “A friend's grandson went with me last year. Lord willing, if I do it again, maybe I will have a team. Guys my age. We could call ourselves the Geriatric Ward or the Holy Rollers.”

Evitt, who has been biking for the past 20 years, said he feels mostly unaffected after the tour.

“I've always got aches and pains. You are a little sore after going 150 miles, but I don't feel too bad, so I'm thankful for that. The best way to describe it is I feel that I've ridden 150 miles on a bicycle,” said Evitt, who uses a Diamondback bicycle he's had for six years.

Pfeiffer said the tour covers nearly 80 miles the first day with an overnight stop at Allegheny College in Meadville and then the remainder the second day.

“I biked nine hours the first day. The second day we left at 7 a.m. and I did six and a half hours the second day. The second day is a little shorter,” Evitt said.

“When you leave Meadville, there is one big hill. Just before you get into Conneaut Lake, there's another hill. It's hillier on the first day,” he said.

“The route is well marked by the MS committee, very well marked, with spray-painted arrows on telephone poles,” said Pfeiffer. “Local volunteers on the route direct the riders.

“We have a lot of different support. We will have anywhere from 10 to 15 vehicles reporting to me,” said Pfeiffer. “We will have ham radio support. These guys are great. They are a great support on our route.

“There are all levels of cyclists. Some people haven't trained enough. They are not in the condition that they should be.”

He noted most problems involve weather-related dehydration. There also are some scraped knees and bruises from minor mishaps, and some flat tires and chain breaks, Pfeiffer said.

Evitt said his other son, Gershom, drove one of the support and gear vehicles for the ride, a so-called SAG wagon.

In fact, the whole family has made contributions to the ride and its cause.

Evitt said his wife, Terry, and daughter, Abigal, and the women of Faith Fellowship Church staged a pasta dinner fundraiser at the church before the tour to raise money for the MS chapter.

“I think we served 115 dinners,” Evitt said.

“I started on this because of my son,” he said, and he plans to ride again next year despite a chronic inflammation in his right knee.

“It hasn't stopped me, thank God. I think I got a lot of help. Without God's help, I couldn't do this,” he said.