Grace Ragland, mountain bike racer extraordinaire, will be one of the featured racers in the Lutsen 99er mountain bike race in Lutsen this weekend. Ragland has a drop-foot and the right side of her body is weaker than the left, the results of her more than 30- year battle with Multiple Sclerosis. The Alabama native takes being tough to a new level.
There will be many stories of people overcoming some sort of adversity to get to the starting line of the Lutsen 99er mountain bike race on Saturday, June 28, but probably no story more compelling than that of Grace Ragland.
At age 18 Ragland was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a neurological disease that causes unpredictable symptoms of pain, numbness and extreme fatigue. Her symptoms started at age 10, but it took doctors years to figure out what was going on.
Ragland suffers from relapsing-remitting MS, in which the disease comes and goes. She has periods of partial or complete recovery followed by attacks that practically leave her bedridden.
No diagnosis like that comes at a good time, but this came six months after her father had died from cancer.
“My mother was 48 years old, had just lost her husband, and then she learned that I had MS. She spent a week researching it, gathering all of the information that she could, then presented it to me and asked me to read everything. When I was done she said that’s what I had, then asked me to throw the pamphlets away and live my life to the fullest. That’s what I have been trying to do ever since,” said Ragland.
Tough love from mama made for a tough daughter, but Grace Ragland’s name speaks to her nature, and Grace is soft-spoken and spends more time talking about people who have helped her than about her accomplishments.
During her college years at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Ragland took up long-distance running, progressing from 10Ks to marathons, but a drop foot caused her to fall a lot, and she converted her passion from running to mountain biking.
“I was running a lot and falling and then I started to mountain bike and, of course, one falls a lot in mountain biking. At the end of the day I decided that if I was going to fall a lot I might as well throw all of my eggs in one basket and fall while mountain biking,” she said with a laugh.
To date, the results of her mountain bike racing have been stunning. Ragland has been state champion in both Tennessee and Alabama in the women’s age 30+ division. She has completed the Leadville 100 four times, earning the coveted belt buckle on her fourth attempt in 2012 by finishing the grueling Colorado Rocky Mountain bike race in less than 12 hours.
While it’s not Leadville, the Lutsen 99er will be a formidable course for Ragland and all of the other riders. It is filled with Category 3 climbs and if it’s wet, it becomes a beast for even the best mountain bikers.
Although MS causes a myriad of physical problems, the one that affects Ragland the most is fatigue. She had to pull out of one race because she simply didn’t have the energy to finish. While frustrating, Ragland listens to her body and makes the best of her good days, training hard when she can. She is careful about what she eats and of course, gets as much quality sleep as she can.
The right side of Ragland’s body is weaker than her left, causing her right foot to drop, and she has to drag her leg as she pushes her bike through some rough terrain that she can’t pedal through. But Ragland usually finishes what she starts.
“Dragging your leg while pushing your bike up a hill might seem like a lot of work, but I tell myself the reward is getting to ride back down,” she said.
Grace was married in 1985 and moved from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Huntsville, Alabama. She and her husband have a son. He doesn’t mountain bike, but rides a unicycle.
“He used to ride a twowheeler, then when he was 14-15-16 he started getting more interested in vehicles with four wheels. It was four wheels versus two wheels and four wheels won. I used to ask him to ride with me but he said he couldn’t keep up!”
Now, at age 53, Ragland continues to compete in races across the country. She is a national advocate for MS and gets sponsored to race. She trains by the hour (seat time, she calls it) and not by the mile under the watchful eye of a coach.
“I’m kind of in denial about my MS. I believe you can do anything if you listen to your body, watch your diet and follow good nutrition.”
Ragland comes into the Lutsen 99er with a good training base and other than suffering from a “raging case of poison ivy” she said she feels great.
“This will be my first race in Minnesota and I can’t wait. A friend told me about what a great race it is and invited me to come. I understand I will meet your state bird—the mosquito— and I’m wondering what to do about that.
“For more than 30 years, I have been battling MS. I use the disease as a motivation to help get myself through the days when the pain or fatigue is so great I don’t want to get out of bed. I will always remain determined— keep my eyes on the prize and really, when you think about it, it’s all in your head. Wellness is a state of mind, and I have always had a lot of perseverance. You can do just about anything if you put your mind to it,” she said.
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