By Mark Woolsey

Cyclists celebrating the completion of a key Silver Comet Trail segment and interested in fighting multiple sclerosis will take to the streets of Atlanta and Cobb County Saturday, and how big a crowd it will draw is uncertain, but growing.

The event was initially designed to be a small-scale ride to note the completion of Cobb County’s portion of the Silver Comet Trail Connector, which will link the eastern terminus of the Silver Comet Trail in Cobb County with the Atlanta Beltline. About a one-mile segment of trail needs to be finished on the Fulton County side for the link to be complete, say trail watchers.

But people started talking it up, word spread, and an Eventbrite established as part of the effort to raise visibility had garnered about 240 signups for the free event as of Thursday, says James Moulton of the group TeamNoodle, organizer for the event.

The ride-for-MS group was created in 2001 and named after a person with multiple sclerosis. Their stated aim is to hunt sponsors and raise money to fight the affliction. He says the crowd may well grow as individuals and cycling groups who haven’t done the formal signup show up.

‘We want to sponsor some sort of research project or paid event in Atlanta each year,” says Moulton, who has MS, and who has worked to revitalize the group that dates from 2001 and was named after an individual with MS.

He says the event has several aims: raising general awareness of MS, recruiting riders and sponsors for the group’s annual fundraising ride next month, and spotlighting the area of Atlanta that the Connector will run through as a cycling destination.

“A lot of cyclists aren’t familiar with northwest Atlanta,“ says the veteran rider, who has hit the streets and trails with an extensive roster of other metro Atlanta cycling groups. He says the cycling community has a good presence in other parts of the city, “but northwest Atlanta is lacking.”

It looks like quite a few two-wheeler aficionados are about to get a schooling in that group of neighborhoods.

Bikers will meet at the pavilion at Westside Park, will pedal a combination of city streets and existing trails until reaching the Chattahoochee River, then pick up Cobb’s completed portion of the Connector, riding ultimately to the Mavell Road trailhead, then continuing to Floyd Road.

They’re working to attract people willing to raise money to fight the disease.

“We’re looking to raise riders”, he says. “To raise money you have to (get) riders. I am going to go….and bring like-minded people together. And  reach out to people and show them that we’re here for them.”

The Saturday jaunt is not a fundraising effort in and of itself, said Moulton, but  is designed to draw individuals and groups to their Sept. 13 annual fundraising ride in support of MS research and advocacy.

“I’m doing this all for free and my friends are like, ‘why?’” he says. Moulton says he and other cycling groups plus organizations like the Boy Scouts and Atlanta Public Schools have completed a number of no-charge projects in that part of the city related to trails, green space and similar initiatives.

In addition to the group starting in Atlanta, another contingent of 40 out of Mableton will start at the Floyd Road Trailhead, traversing a shorter portion of the route.

“It’s a great idea,” says Roberta Cook, of the Connect the Comet group that advocated and worked for the extension. “It was just going to be this fun little ride and then it kept getting bigger and bigger.”  She lauds Moulton for mapping out the route and spotlighting locations where conditions for cyclists need improving.

A half-dozen restaurants along the way will provide snacks and drinks, and Cobb County Commissioners Erick Allen and Monique Sheffield are expected to make remarks to the riders. It’s anticipated that Sheffield will speak at Floyd Road.

Cyclists are pumped about the completion of the Cobb portion of the Connector, said Moulton, as is he personally.

“They did an outstanding job,” he says, noting that even at midweek, crews were doing concrete work and various upgrades to make the stretch safe for everyone.

He explained what he wanted to see coming out of Saturday’s event.

“A safe ride so that a lot of people in southeast and southwest Atlanta and all across Atlanta and Cobb County are enjoying this together.”