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!