Meet The Team: Kyle

Name: Kyle Bryant
Age: 26
Ride Ataxia Role: Cyclist/Founder
Day Job: Civil Engineer
Cycling Experience: 2,400 miles during Ride Ataxia I, To work and back (25 mile round trip) two to three times a week weather permitting
Longest ride in one day: 100 miles
Type of Ataxia: Friedreich’s


Kyle's Story:
Kyle was diagnosed with FA when he was about 17 years old. It was loss of coordination in sports, specifically baseball that led him and his family to seek a diagnosis. From the first doctor’s visit, it took almost a year to find an answer.

Kyle started cycling when it became a pain in the butt to balance on an upright bike. So he searched the world over to find a vehicle that would get him from here to there without the headache. The answer was not far away. Chico, CA is where Kyle found his trike at a place called Peregrine Bike Works. The owner, Hugh Kern hooked Kyle up with a pimp ride.

Kyle began to cycle on the weekends 5 to 10 miles at a time. He was amazed when he reached 25 miles in a day and started cycling to and from work. Then he participated in the Tour De Cure a fundraising event for the American Diabetes Association. 100 miles was his goal. The ride took 9.5 hours from start to finish and he was the last one on the course but HE FINISHED!

With a century on his cycling resume and determination in his heart, Ride Ataxia was born!

With the strong support of friends and family, a year of planning was played out in 60 days when he and his Dad rode 2400 miles from San Diego to Memphis ending at the National Ataxia Foundation annual membership meeting. However, the success did not stop there. Kyle worked with the National Ataxia Foundation and the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance to establish the $100,000 Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award which was awarded to a research team led by Dr. Nuri Gueven at Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia. The research team is making progress and the outlook is promising.

The story is not over…please stay tuned as Kyle and his teammates cross more milestones on their way to VEGAS during Ride Ataxia II. The trail to a cure continues…

Participant Information

Finally, we've got the information you have all been waiting for! Check out these two pdf's:

Cyclist Information

Cyclist Application

The application and deposit is due January 15, so check it out and send it in. We can't wait to hear from you!

Ride Ataxia Around The World

Check this out. This is a snippet of an email from a friend of a friend who wanted to contribute to the awareness effort, thanks Brent:
"Right now I’m in Thailand; I’m staying in Pattaya (the world’s biggest brothel) and working in Sriracha....
There is plenty of shopping and plenty of restaurants to check out if I had the time – you should see the size of some of the lobsters and shrimp that they have here!!! The tailors are hilarious, they stand on the sidewalk and ask to shake your hand and if you do they immediately want to show you their wares, but become annoying after like the 5th one – however you can get a custom tailored suit for like $100 and they’ll do it in about 24 hours or less!"

Planning

I know I have been promising details for a while now. Well, I will keep you in suspense for a bit longer. Our team met tonight to put together the details. These dedicated few have been working very hard to arrange accomodations, plan a route, solicit donations, create promotional material and create awareness. We will have cyclist information packets in one week which should include all the information you need to plan your Ride Ataxia adventure.


Our team (left to right):
Top: Mike Bryant, Sean Baumstark, Cole Hendricks, Andy Smith
Middle: Me, Diane Bryant, Kristine Strobin-Smith
Bottom Right: Tess Kretschmann

Ataxia UK

I was randomly searching for Ataxia stuff today when I ran across this video from the Ataxia UK site. This guy Darran lifted 10 tonnes in 10 hours and raised 10,000 pounds for Ataxia UK. Good stuff, click here to watch the video.

Downloads

Please check out the new "Downloads" section (to the right) for some Ride Ataxia promotional material.

Support

In the past couple of months I have been a few places with the Ride Ataxia banner and I have received emails from all over with picture attachments from Ride Ataxia supporters:

In September I made a trip to Seattle, WA to perform a wedding ceremony for two of my best friends Andy Smith and Kristine Strobin:

I became an Ordained Minister online for $19.50 and now the couple is happily married...

While I was in Seattle, it happened to be International Ataxia Awareness Day (September 25) so I had lunch with the Seattle area Support group:

The 2009 NAF Annual Membership Meeting will be held in Seattle. I cant wait to hang out with you all again!

I also hung out with a new friend, Sam. Here we are with the Space Needle in the back ground:


Friends from last year's ride have been representing for Ride Ataxia. The Henrys drove 3000 miles from Dallas to Charleston and back with Ride Ataxia signs plastered to their car. Here's Dave:

David "Spinner" Henry rode 400 miles with us last year and is training for the ride to Vegas this year:


The Bryants and the Krills show their support during a recent trip to Yosemite:


A couple of weeks ago, I attended NAF's All California Ataxia Research Meeting (ACARM). I met a lot of new friends and saw some old friends such as Dr. Susan Perlman and Dr. David Herman a dedicated researcher at Scripps University in San Diego. There were talks about research, massage therapy, physical therapy, and adaptive sports. I had a great time and took away some new knowledge.


Thank you all for contributing to the support of this cause, I encourage everyone to download their Ride Ataxia banner here and show your support, just email the picture to me at kyle@rideataxia.org.

We are making strides in the planning of Ride Ataxia II so stay tuned for details and save March 15-27, 2008 to join us for another epic journey.

Bonus pic:

Bo