On The Road

I am posting this from the passenger seat of the truck using our trusty Verizon Wireless internet card. We just passed Mt Shasta, a volcano in Northern California.

Left home last night. Headed for Portland, Oregon. It feels like old times, just Me, Mom and Dad in the truck pulling the trailer. We left from the Sacramento area at about 3pm yesterday and drove for three hours to Redding, CA where we stayed for the night. It was just the three of us in a hotel room, it felt like the first ride...restless sleep thinking about what is ahead.

I am finally getting excited for the ride. I have been super anxious until this point. Months of preparation, endless strings of emails and countless details are taken care of and now its go time...bring it on!

We will stay in Portland tonight and tomorrow we will have lunch with the entire team at Outback Steakhouse. There are many team members who I have not met and only know by their registration form and the large amount of money each of them have raised for this cause. The lunch will be a great chance to get acquainted before we hit the road the next day.

The weather looks like it could be a factor but it will only make it more of an accomplishment when we finish!

Stay tuned, I plan to post once a day for the next week, this is going to be a great ride!

Track Us LIVE!

Check this out! A friend hooked me up with Mats Janssen from TrackMe360.com. Mats set up a map where anyone can log on to check out where we are during the upcoming ride. Check out the TrackMe360.com Ride Ataxia Adventure Zone. The map will go live during the ride March 16 - March 19, 2009. Less than a week away!

Educate and Enable

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of action for Ride Ataxia.

First of all, we had our second annual fundraiser in Truckee at Uncle Neal's Cabin. That weekend I went skiing for the second time this year and I had a blast again! This time I tried a bi-ski. My decision to try the bi-ski was a simple one to make for a couple of reasons:

1. Because of the balance issues associated with FA, I felt I would quickly approach a plateau in my skiing ability if I continued to ski standing up.

2. On my way to that plateau I was more prone to injury if I continued to stand. This is a risk I am not willing to take since Ride Ataxia 3 is quickly approaching.

So I tried the bi-ski. I had a lot of fun, those things carve like butter and they hold an edge like an Olympian. However, it was a lot more difficult than I expected. I saw people SHREDDING in the bi-ski and thought that it looked easy and I would be a pro in no time...not so. I took some spills but I had a few good turns too. In the end, I had a great time and I discovered another ability. I will be back!


That night we had our second annual Truckee Fundraiser. Libby and Neal Lacativo held a fundraiser in their cabin. There were more than 60 people in attendance and there was a lot of great stuff including lift tickets, ski lessons, fishing trips, a weekend in Mexico, an Ipod and the list goes on and on...

The set up was intense and took all day. Angela preparing a gift basketRicky on the 'QAllison preparing the soup

It all came together with friends, family and fundraising. Thanks to my dedicated family/team members we raised $5,385 that night. These funds will go straight to the hands of researchers who are on their way to finding a cure for FA.

The best part of the night came when we were collecting donations at the end. One of the guests, Gary, offered to donate an additional $500 if Uncle Neal would go skydiving with me. In the name of research, Uncle Neal agreed and we are going to do it this summer, maybe we'll make it into a skydive-a-thon! Let me know if you're interested...

Thanks to the Lacativo Greene team who are in the lead for total dollars raised on the Ride Ataxia Team Fundraising Page

The Lacativo-Greene team includes:

Neal Lacativo
Libby Lacativo
Kacey Lacativo
Ricky Greene
Angela Greene
Allison Muller

Special thanks to Libby for countless hours spent to make this event truly great. You are making a difference!