A UA graduate student will be peddling 70 miles through the desert Saturday to help raise money for research and treatment of a chronic neurological disorder.

Penny Rosenblum, a special education graduate student who is visually impaired, is riding in the 1996 multiple sclerosis "Breakaway to the Border Bike Tour."

Rosenblum said she can read regular print, but her visual imxpairment keeps her from getting a driver's license.

Nancy Abbott, another special education graduate student, will be giving Rosenblum guidance along the bike route. Rosenblum said Abbott will be pointing out such obstacles as street lights and signs during the ride.

Rosenblum said she really enjoys taking part in events like this.

About 10 months ago, a friend of Rosenblum's was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic, often disabling neurological disease. MS affects more than 350,000 people in the United States alone. It can cause blurred vision, loss of balance and coordinat ion, slurred speech, tremors, numbness of the limbs, extreme fatigue and even paralysis and blindness.

This year marks the 10th year that the bike tour has taken place in Tucson, said Lynn Ratener, general manager of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Desert Southwest Chapter.

As one of 135 chapters and branches nationally, the Desert Southwest Chapter includes all of Arizona and the southern part of Nevada.

Saturday's event consists of three bike routes.

"Offering three options of 30, 70, and 130 miles enables us to appeal to everyone who rides a bike," Larry Guerrero, the bike tour coordinator, said in a press release. The events begin at different locations but all end at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

Rosenblum has ridden in events like this before; however, she said she has never ridden the 70-mile route from Nogales to the Pima County Fairgrounds. In the past, she rode in events held in South Carolina, she said.

Ratener said she wanted to stress that Saturday's event is a fund-raising event and not a race.

"The MS society is a great cause to be raising money for," Rosenblum said.

In order for people to take part, Ratener said they will need to pay a registration fee and also have a minimum amount of sponsorship pledges.

Forty percent of the money raised will go to the national chapter of the MS society; the remainder will go to the Desert Southwest Chapter, the release said. The funds go toward research efforts and toward providing services to people with the MS.

Because over 200 research projects are being funded, right now is an interesting time in MS research, Ratener said. She said she is hopeful because this is the first time in the 50-year history of the MS society that research is showing promise.

"Research is beginning to bear fruit," she said.

Saturday's three events begin in the morning. For specific registration costs and times, call the Desert Southwest Chapter of the MS society at 747-7472.

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