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

Ride Ataxia Around the World

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR RIDE ATAXIA

A few weeks ago a couple of my buddies from work (Adam Klecker and Guy Graening) climbed a peak near Yosemite. They carried with them a Ride Ataxia Banner and took pictures as they ascended the dome. This was a really cool way for two friends to show their support for Ride Ataxia.


The Dome


Adam, Half Way Up


The Dudes: Adam and Guy at the peak

Since then many of my friends, family, and co-workers have taken the opportunity to show their support. They have produced some pretty sweet pictures.


Friends and Family at Gramma Mac's 80th birthday party near Libby Montana


Family in Kellog Idaho


Me, Folsom Lake California


Brown and Caldwell, Sacramento California office

I would like to extend the opportunity to YOU. Download a copy of the Ride Ataxia Banner,take it to a sweet location (a park, a monument, in front of your house, in your easy chair, the top of a mountain), take a picture and send it to me at kyle@rideataxia.org. I'll post all the pictures here. I hope to hear from you soon!

NAF Board Meeting

On June 13 I took a trip to Minneapolis to attend the National Ataxia Foundation Executive Board Meeting. NAF invited me to attend their meeting so I could meedt the board members and talk about the future.
When I got to the airport I found out that my flight out of Sacramento had been canceled so I quickly jumped on a different flight that got me to Minneapolis a bit later than I had planned. Arnie Greutsmacher picked me up from the airport after being stuck in traffic on the way. We headed straight to the meeting (which had already started) and were in slow moving traffic the whole way. The traffic ended up to be a blessing in disguise as Arnie and I had a great conversation and shared some ideas.
We showed up to the meeting about a half hour before the end and furtunately they saved some great news for the end. Harry Orr, The Foundation's Research Director, was on the phone and he announced that the Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award was being given to Australian researchers and their British collaborators who will be investigating the catalytic antioxidant CTMIO as a possible treatment for Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Very exciting! For more info check out curefa.org or ataxia.org.
I had a great time meeting everyone and the greatest thing about this trip is that we are all working together to make the next ride bigger and better!

Me, with NAF Executive Director Mike Parent

The rest of my time in Minneapolis was spent checking out the local sights:

Lori and me at the Walker Art Center


Mall of America. I am not a mall person but this place was crazy, so huge that it had an amusement park inside. I had to check it out.


It gets so cold in the winter that it is very unpleasant, even unsafe, to go outside so many of the buildings are connected by skyways.

I had a great time in Minneapolis and I look forward to working closely with the National Ataxia Foundation.