Can't help it; gotta blog you! 1:15pm, got back from my bike ride ten minutes ago. Shower soon. Hydrating drink next to me (can of 7up, lots of ice and enough bourbon for taste. yum).

80 degrees out there with a cool-ish breeze. Country station in my ear bud, rolling easy! Stats: 1h-11.4m, 18.420mi (yes it measures distance to 3 decimal places!) gives an average of 15.5mph. I'm ready! Of course we'll be lucky to do half that at Davis with the headwind but there's hope my body will hold together one more time! lol My max was 25.5mph; a long slight downhill that by a constant leaning into the pedals allowed the speed to build up. Much faster than that makes me nervous; after all I'm on a bicycle built in the late '70s/early '80s (Schwinn road bike!), all original, so the idea of going 30mph without a safety body suit just isn't appetizing!

Back a ways I got a free digital blood pressure/pulse dealie-bob so 10 minutes after I stopped my blood pressure was 120/87 and pulse 85; better than that pesky 130 last time. Don't think I'll mention this to my Kaiser doc though; hate to have him worrying.

OK! Shower, order pizza for in-laws coming to dinner, then string wire in bee frames for the balance of the afternoon (7:30am - 11am got me reasonably caught up on my FA Emails) until time to pick up the pizzas and share a bottle of my neighbor's red wine with family!

Tomorrow when I look back at today I think I will feel I did not waste this day in my life that will never present itself again. My wish for all of you that you may say the same tomorrow. God bless.

10 more days! And boy am I ready (HaHaHa)! As soon as I finish this blog I'm doing another 18+ mile ride and maybe I'll get one more ride in before next week. I plan to not ride next week to give my muscles time to heal/rest/go-flat; around-the-house projects will fill in for exercise.

We will have 2 wheelchair trailers in the Ride this year; the pair Brianne and Sophia once again! These two are troopers. Don't underestimate the strain and fatigue sitting in a wheelchair on a kid's stripped-down bike trailer; the wind gusts tugging, the constant wiggle-wagging side to side of the tower's pedaling cadence shifting the bike frame back and forth, the occasional oops! we dropped a wheel off he asphalt (Sorry!) and of course the tension waiting for the next surprising WHOOSH! of the car or truck blowing by from the rear with little to no warning (roar of the wind, poor hearing and no rear view mirror). These ladies will sleep well Saturday night after 2 1/2 hours paying the piper to raise money for their cure!

Thanks to a number of WONDERFUL friends, relatives and world-wide FAmily I have exceeded my personal fundraising goal! WhooHoo! And the Team Blue Skies goal of $4,000 (recently lowered from the too-stretched goal of $6,000)  is over 75%! For anyone just joining us on this blog or for those "waiting  to see" you certainly are welcome to add to my fundraising total or you could consider sponsoring Brianne who is near her goal, Brianne's Uncle Richard who doesn't have much of a network to go to, or Sophia and Claudia who have joined the team recently and are starting to move up in sponsorship amounts! Go to the Team Blue Skies page here
  http://rideataxia.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1099129&lis=1&kntae1099129=32C16EAAE6DB48B9AB353087CD1261E7&supId=0&team=5857715&cj=Y
for more detail. You can also just donate to the general team.

This morning I saw an article of stem cells in MS mice which makes me suspect significant FA stem cell research can't be far away! What research momentum we have going!
http://www.curefa.org/pipeline.html

Well the day is heating up and I need to get-a-movin'!

It's a nice day. 90 degrees. I went riding. I got hot. I am tired. I have mini muscle cramps tweaking around my body as I sit here. It was fun (I must like abuse).

My riding buddy Dave left today for a long trailer vacation (good for them!) so now I'll be riding alone unless my bro-in-law Richard and I can synch our schedules (unlikely), and of course his idea of a ride is 40 - 50 miles and mine is 20. Mmm. I think me and the bike radio will be ride buddies until the 31st.

The last two days it was 95-ish and before that the winds were high so my 2x rides a week has not been workin' out as planned. And no, I did not drag 3 sacks of sand behind me today. :-) And a good thing; I'd never have made it (or would have been completely frazzle-frazzle-frazzled).

I did OK today: 18.9mi, 14.7mph average, 24.7mph max (no real hills so I don't know how I managed that) and it took me 1h 17m of actual riding time. During the ride I stopped at the hardware store for 30 lag bolts to make Susan another raised vegetable garden bed (carried them in a backpack the rest of the ride; does that count for sand??), stopped at my favorite insurance agent's office, State Farm's Tony Maestri, to re-fill my water bottle, be social, and fill the office with the fragrance of sweaty bike rider, then lastly stopped at Brianne's just to harass her for a few minutes. 10 minutes after finishing the ride my blood pressure was 130/82 and pulse was 86; I like the 82 and 86 but I'm not sure what to make of the 130. Probably has something to do with my bright red cheeks. lol

Y'all think about sponsoring me (or Brianne or Richard) if you haven't and if you have I am so thankful for your generosity! I am at $1850 and Brianne is at $750 (Richard needs some help). I think it is shower time now and an evening of Brianne quality time starting at 6pm. See ya!

A couple of days later now and I finally let my friends and relatives know about the coming ride (Brianne had done so weeks ago) so our Team Blue Skies fundraising page

 http://rideataxia.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1099129&lis=1&kntae1099129=28A75B9103784DB3BD74935B90D63199&supId=0&team=5857715&cj=Y

has taken a wonderful jump to $1,620! We have set a stretch goal of $6,000 this year to emphasize the need and opportunity to help push FA research forward through these clinical trials. The overall RA NorCal goal is $125,000 and is making good progress at $48,300 this morning! Thank you all that have donated so far! More will follow I am sure!

For the next couple of weeks I will be riding twice a week towing the trailer and carrying 100lbs of sand to simulate Brianne. Oh joy! :-)

Another week is gone or another is beginning depending on how you view your week! In any case I'm now within a month of Ride Ataxia NorCal and I'm trying to step up my game a bit with 2 gambits. For the next 3 weeks I will be trying to be on the road for at least 20 miles twice a week, then the last week before The Ride I'll give the legs a rest. The other gambit will be to ease off the food and treats maybe with a little treadmill/toning exercise. If I can drop 5+ pounds it will make a difference in the ride. My last solo ride I averaged a tad above 14.5mph, mostly flat riding and not too much wind but good for me nevertheless. :-)

As always I appreciate the support of my friends and family! Each year FA research moves forward and so does the need for "push" money to advance us further into these translational and trial phases of research. Some of the most exciting and promising research are in the middle of translational phases and Phase I and II clinical trials. See http://www.curefa.org/pipeline.html  On May 1 a study was published giving the first proof in FA'ers that Frataxin can indeed be increased to my asymptomatic carrier levels. Much more research is needed and is in progress! WhooHoo!

We are at $40,189 right now! Sponsor one of the Team Blue Skies riders at
http://rideataxia.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1099129&lis=1&kntae1099129=BD93EAB14F9A42FF813266936F29A4B7&supId=0&team=5857715&cj=Y