We did it - again! Right off and first thing I want to thank all of the Team Blue Skies sponsors that caused Brianne and I to meet our goal and the team to exceed the $4,000 goal! The team total is $4770!! We were even in 4th place until the day of the ride, a first time experience!
Your money as part of the Ride Ataxia NorCal total of $111,000 will fund at least 3 research grants like the gene therapy experiments that are exciting us all! Your money DOES make a difference in how long children will have to suffer this disorder! Thank you again!
(And yes you can still donate to FA research and our team! Go here,
http://rideataxia.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1099129&lis=1&kntae1099129=1309F4E92ADA4795A4497A392DB6D38C&supId=0&team=5857715&cj=Y
and click on one of our names or on "Donate Now" for the team.)
The weather was GREAT! Cool but not cold in the morning, AND NO WIND!! WhooHoo! And a good thing because our ride north (prevailing wind is south-bound) last year was 1.2 miles and this year it was 2.2 miles. Two years ago in the 22mph headwind I pedaled for 20 minutes at 3.8mph for that 1.2 miles; had we had the same wind this year it would have been a 35 minute pedal! But it wasn't! :-) I am sure we rode the course at a much higher average speed than the last couple of years but my speedometer was left at home so I'll guess close to 10mph average.
There were almost 400 riders this year; great company and in good spirits. FA'er Izzy Penston jumped a bike and rode with her dad - You Go Izzy! See the article http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_25853361/alameda-family-riding-save-lives-raise-awareness-rare . Sophia Sieber came out with her 1 year old son to ride the second (Phillip Bennett) wheelchair trailer; more on that below.
Several families filled out info questionnaires for other newspaper articles and I'll share them if they happened.
Pictures of the ride will shortly be posted on my FB page. Here we are starting the 17 mile Ride.
Sophia and her BF crashed the Phillip Bennett wheelchair trailer while riding a fifth lap on the 1 mile course. You really have to be trying to tip one over! I'm sure he got over-confident and was going too fast into a short downhill ramp that ends in a 90 degree left turn immediately into an uphill ramp. Probably wanted more momentum so he wouldn't have to pedal as hard uphill. He did get momentum; too fast in the downhill, swung wide in the turn and side-swiped the curb at the start of the uphill and Newton's Laws of Motion took over - WHOMP! See Sophia's "badge of courage". BF gets no badge and I'm sure he's still in the doghouse with all the Sieber family (not to mention me).
As an aside The Ride Saturday followed a touching dedication last Wednesday for our fallen FA friend Phillip Bennett at his HS in Fremont CA. The student leadership team decided to plant a tree in his honor because of the inspiration he brought to his classmates and to start a tradition of opportunity for students to write on plastic flowers what they hoped to accomplish in their lives. Phillip had taken to heart Gandolf's admonition in the book "Fellowship of the Rings", "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.", even to have it tattooed on his arm in the Elvish language. So Wednesday a group of us helped the leadership team communicate Phillip specialness and inspiration to the student body in 6 presentations through the school day. A special day for his family and for us, his friends.
So in Phillip's and Gandolf's spirit we will continue to ride and to move money into FARA's efforts to bring FA's history to an end as soon as possible, and as effectively as was done for polio! Amen! (def: So be it). Y'all enjoy the day and perhaps think about what to do with the days remaining that have been given to YOU.
Regards,
