On Saturday my friend Kyle (who I visited in December) and 50 other cyclists took off on the first leg of the second Ride Ataxia. Last year he rode a gazillion miles from San Diego to Memphis to raise money for FA research and awareness of the disease in general. Right now he’s doing it again, except from Sacramento to Las Vegas (where I will also be heading for the National Ataxia Foundation annual meeting in a few weeks) and with a whole bunch of people riding along.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Ride Ataxia blog, where the ride’s progress is tracked. There’s a local news video showing the send-off of the ride from the Sacramento capitol building, and giving some backstory on Kyle’s diagnosis and such. I also enjoyed the public radio segment featuring Kyle and Sean, another FAer, with call-ins from Dave Lynch (an FA researcher and my neurologist) and Jen Farmer (who I also know and is now head of FARA). There are other guests on the radio show but Kyle’s segment is first, if you want to listen. Best quote from Kyle: “I can’t cycle 50 miles on a hamburger.”
I’m so proud of Kyle, who is a fantastic guy and wonderful friend, and I’m super-duper-crazy-excited to see him and all my other ataxia peoples in Vegas. It’s not for 2 more weeks, but you know I’ll tell you all about it.
Love the pic of you and Kyle with bridge in background!
Funnily enough, it’s almost 20 to the day since I drove across the Golden Gate bridge and it still seems like only yesterday.
btw I love the sound of ‘Semester at Sea’ in your last post. I’ve done a lot of sailing (big and small boats) but nothing quite as adventurous as your trip. What a brilliant all-round concept!
By: Steph on March 20, 2008
at 5:04 pm
Thanks Steph, I like that pic too. SAS was incredible, a really awesome experience, and I miss it so much!
By: baliwhat on March 23, 2008
at 3:11 pm
[...] first year it was small and far, as Kyle and his dad rode 2500 miles from San Diego to Memphis. Last year, around 50 people rode 650 miles (Sacramento to Las Vegas) in 13 days. This year, about 80 people [...]
By: Ride Ataxia 3 starts today « Bali What? on March 16, 2009
at 8:27 am