While other Mainers are firing up their barbecue grills, packing up the car for a trip to the beach or wrestling with the pull cord on their lawnmowers, at least 400 will converge on the Standish area Saturday for the 20th annual MS 150 Bike to the Breakwater fund-raiser and 25-mile fun ride.

The two-day event, sponsored by Blue Rock Industries, starts on the Saint Joseph’s College campus in Standish. This year’s MS 150 is expected to raise more than $300,000, which will go toward research and programs for people with multiple sclerosis, a chronic and unpredictable disease of the central nervous system. In Maine alone, more than 2,200 people suffer from this disease.

For the last 10 years, Joel Jipson of Howland has participated in the MS 150. For the last three, he’s been the top fundraiser with as much as $6,500 raised for the event.

“I have a lot of support from account vendors and contractors up here,” Jipson said in a Bike to the Breakwater media kit release.

Jipson has plenty of motivation behind his drive to raise money and awareness as a schoolmate was diagnosed with MS and several friends either have it or have it in their families. Not long ago, MS almost hit as close to Jipson’s home as it could get.

“I was diagnosed after a doctor thought I had an onset of it,” said Brenda Jipson, Joel’s wife. “We later found out I didn’t have it and that it was one particular symptom that turned out to be for something else.”

This will be the first year in the last 11 that Joel Jipson won’t be able to pedal the 150 miles that traverse the Sebago Lake region to the Saco River basin to the Atlantic Ocean.

Jipson is maintenance supervisor for Wheelabrator Sherman Energy Co. in Sherman Station and had to attend a three-day seminar and training session in Hampton Beach, N.H., this weekend.

“He tried everything to try and get the time off. He even tried to use his vacation time, but he had to attend this session,” said Brenda Jipson, who hails from tiny Amity. “He’s very disappointed.”

Other local participants are Ellsworth’s Kari Graceland, a single mom who has battled through dog bites, failed automotive transmissions, and car keys locked inside the car to ride in the MS 150 the last few years; and Bangor’s Bill Childs, an avid cyclist who has his own team consisting mostly of three generations of his family.

The MS 150 – the largest organized cycling event in the country – starts at 7:30 a.m. each day while the family fun ride starts at 9 a.m. Saturday. The tour ends at 3:30 p.m. each day, or when the last cyclist crosses the finish line.

People compete either on an individual or team basis. The largest team, Friends of Ralph, numbers 26 members. Despite the distances involved, participants don’t have to be serious cyclists to do it. All cycling levels can be accommodated and there are 25-, 50-, and 75-mile routes available. All two-day cyclists must raise a minimum of $250 and one-day cyclists must raise a minimum of $200 to receive a long-sleeved, cotton commemorative T-shirt.