Valuable Cardboard Box

Tonight we finished constructing the bike box and it just needs to be taped up after I stuff a few more things in there for padding.

First of all, earlier in the day I went out and bought a bunch of pipe insulation (foam padding) and some packing materials to pad the bike before we built the box around it. The picture below is a bit dark and blurry so let me describe it: A heap of bike parts with foam padding on all the sharp edges.


Then we folded the whole thing up in the two combined boxes. We used smaller (shoe) boxes to fill some of the voids between the bike and the outer box. We used a lot of tape but it is going to require a lot more! Here is our final product:


Overall I am pretty confident in our packing job but the safety of the trike all depends on how the luggage handlers treat it. If there are any luggage handlers out there reading this, please be gentile!

More Packing

Tonight we (Me and Andy) fully disassembled my trike and began constructing the box that it will fit into. It took us a couple hours and we put quite a bit of thought into the construction of the box before we made any cuts.

First we removed the front tires and the boom and folded down the handle bars. I realize it just looks like a heap of bike parts but we'd like to think there is a method to the heap:


Then we removed the rear wheel and rear derailleur. We boxed up the derailleur and taped it to the frame because we figured it is the most fragile piece:


Then we measured the whole thing a couple times before we made the cuts for construction of our oversized bike box. We are combining two bike boxes to make one large box:


So the outcome of the evening is the pieces of our box and a heap of bike parts. Tomorrow night we will put it all together.


One Concern:
Our finished product will be approximately 62"x27"x14" (103" length+width+height)and I'm not sure how it will fare within the Southwest Airlines baggage policy.

Here is the policy for bicycles:

"Non-motorized Bicycles, including Bike Friday and Co-Pilot, will be accepted in substitution of a free piece of checked baggage at no additional charge provided the bicycle is properly packaged and the box containing the bicycle fits within the 62-inch sizing limit and weighs 50 lbs or less . (Maximum weight is 50 pounds and maximum size is 62 inches (length + width + height) per checked piece of luggage). The handlebars, kickstand, and pedals must be removed and placed inside the box. A $50.00 each-way charge applies to bicycles that don’t meet the above criteria. Bicycles packaged in a cardboard box or soft-sided case will be transported as a conditionally accepted item."

The above makes it sound like everything's cool as long as I pay $50. However there is this:

"Weight and Size Allowance: Maximum weight is 50 pounds and maximum size is 62 inches (length + width + height) per checked piece of luggage. Effective June 17, 2009, overweight items from 51 to 100 pounds and oversized items in excess of 62 inches but not more than 80 inches (e.g.; surfboards, bicycles, vaulting poles) will be accepted for a charge of $50 per item."

The 80 inch max makes me a bit nervous...I'll give them a call tomorrow and I'll make sure to ask about my vaulting pole while I have them on the line.

Ride Ataxia Research Funds

Its payoff time! Now is when we can see the tangible impact of the Ride Ataxia efforts! Today FARA and NAF announced funding of the 4th, 5th and 6th Ride Ataxia research grants. Funding of these three grants brings us to 6 grants totaling over $700,000 in three short years. With this announcement we can clearly see the difference that is made with our combined efforts. This research will advance potential treatments toward clinical trials so that they will soon be available for patients like me and many of my teammates. This research provides hope to all who are searching for a cure and we are all a part of that hope with participation in Ride Ataxia either as a donor, rider or volunteer.

Press Release:
The National Ataxia Foundation (NAF) and the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) announced today that, this year, they are co-funding two $120,000 Kyle Bryant Awards that are going to promising translational research in Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA). A third award will be funded by FARA for $120,000, made possible by sponsorship from Outback Steakhouse. One award is being made to Dr. Mark Payne of Indiana University School of Medicine, proposal titled “Optimizing delivery of frataxin using cell penetrant peptides”. The second award goes to Dr. Gino Cortopassi of the University of California Davis, proposal titled “Screening for mitofunctional Friedreich's Ataxia therapeutics”. The third will be granted to Dr. Marek Napierala from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, proposal titled “Crosstalk between microRNAs and iron metabolism in pathogenesis of Friedreich’s ataxia”. -->Read the entire press release.

Toastmasters

I started at my Toastmasters club about a year ago and it has been a huge boost in my confidence and public speaking skill level. I go once a week and I now serve as president of my club. I recommend it to anyone who is looking to improve their public speaking skills or to anyone who just wants to have a good time every week. If you are in Sacramento, come check out my club, Klassy Talkers, or find a club near you. Here is part of a speech that I developed at Klassy Talkers:

Packing

The Philly ride is right around the corner, I am going to fly out there a week from Monday and spend the week in Philadelphia and then the ride is on the 25th. One of my projects for the upcoming week is to figure out how to pack up my trike so I can take it with me. I went by Bicycle Chef today and they gave me a couple of boxes that I am going to use to make one larger box that will safely carry my trike.
I have to figure out how to get this trike into these boxes:

Wish me luck, I'll let you know how it goes.

The Hindsight Years

The Hindsight Years is a video series that brings light to positive stories of people with Ataxia. This production was created by Canadian film maker Glenn Ter Borg.

This is part two of the six part series:

Production

I am hanging out with My friend Matt Pegler and we are working on a new video to promote the CHOP Friedreich's Ataxia Symposium that will take place November 14, 2009. We were going to try to have it done by the end of the day but that's in 3 minutes...we may give it a rest after 14 hours in here. We're always so optimistic, but it always takes a lot longer than expected.