Saturday Ride

I went on a ride yesterday from my apartment in downtown Sacramento to Nimbus Dam in Folsom (45+ miles round trip). The most current heat wave has passed and temperatures are in double digits again so it is safe to train in the afternoons.

This ride took me a little longer than it should have because I havent been training very heavily in the past couple of weeks. It has been too hot to go outside. However the heat wave is over for now and I am going to try to train hard until the next wave...

Me, halfway through my ride with Nimbus Dam and the American river in the background:

Some of the Many Reasons

From the time we were convinced that something was wrong, it took us (my family and I) over a year to find the answers we were looking for. My Dad noticed that my skills were deteriorating in sports, specifically baseball. So he convinced my Mom and I that something was truely wrong. We went to a neurologist once a week for a while so he could run all kinds of tests, he had no idea what was going on. Many doctors, many wrong diagnoses and many months later, we found a doctor who took one look and knew right away that I have Friedreich's Ataxia...

Nobody knows about Ataxia (even doctors as I found out), that is why I am riding across the country, this disease needs some attention. It is estimated that one in every 50,000 Americans has Friedreich's Ataxia, yet nobody even knows about it.

I am also doing this beause I am one of the lucky few Ataxians who can still get around without the use of a wheelchair. The ability that I have will be gone at some point, I feel an obligation to do as much as I can while I still can.

Ride Ataxia Events: Golf Tournament

Fundraiser outcome...Overwhelming
For those of you who participated in the golf tournament, thannk you. It was a huge success, raising $9,800. This money will fund my ride and then some. I will donate the "and then some" to FARA.

For those who did not attend here is a brief rundown: 24 teams of four, 28 hole sponsors, and 150 people at dinner that night. I think everyone I know was at dinner that night. Everybody stuck it out through tripple digit herat and had a great time.

Thank you to all the great people at Lake of the Pines and the surrounding community, you have built something great, keep it up!

First Post

First post...

My fundraiser is coming together. I have been thinking about ths thing for about 9 months now. I have to wait another 6 until I leave and then another 2 until I reach Memphis. I am pretty stoked, I want to leave tomorrow.

I have been training quite a bit lately, trying to ride during the week and riding 60+ miles on the weekends. I rode my first century ride on May 7 in a fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association. It took me about 9 hours due to a flat tire and a wrong turn. I was the last one on the course, but I finished.

I am planning on averaging 60 miles a day for almost 2 months. Its going to be very challenging but its gonna be a blast...more details later.