We're Linda and Andy Johnson, from Cazenovia, New York. What began as a blog about a bike ride has become a story about our ride through life, trying to overcome a disease that has had a huge impact on us and on many of our friends.

Our journey began in 2007, when Kyle Bryant originated the idea of Ride Ataxia - riding his three-wheeled cycle from San Diego to the annual National Ataxia Foundation meeting in Memphis. It took two months to get there, and in the process he raised $40,000 to fund Ataxia research and he raised awareness of the disease like no one has before. Well he rode to the annual meeting again in 2008 and we joined him! We left from Sacramento and arrived in Las Vegas two weeks and 650 miles later.

You see Linda also has Friedreich's Ataxia. This inherited disease causes the nerves of the body to deteriorate. Linda (and Kyle) can still walk at this point, but it's getting much more difficult. In addition, speech gets slurred, finger dexterity suffers, and other serious complications can develop as time goes on.

The good thing is that research is more promising than ever! Several drugs are going through trials at this time, with other significant research taking place as you read this. There has never been a better time to contribute to this research! Let's cure this disease - for Linda, for the rest of the Ride Ataxia team, and for all of the others afflicted with this disease!

Enjoy our blog! Feel free to write to us any time. Check out the links in the right column below to read more about the disease and our adventures. And if nothing else, be sure to take the seven minutes to watch FARA's video - we couldn't say it better ourselves.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

SAG Info

Linda writes:

First of all, SAG (per wikipedia) is short for Support and Gear. It says in days gone past, it stood for the van that picked up the "sagging" riders.

Our SAG support has been awesome! They whip together wonderful meals, they ensure our accommodations are all set for the night, the RVs provide bathroom breaks at lunch, they lug our gear from point to point, and they stand out in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long waiting to show us a turn we may have otherwise missed!

The main SAG people and vehicles are:

Diane Bryant (Kyle's mom) - Pulling a camper they used last year that has room for bikes/trikes inside
Jack and Elaine Baumstauk (Sean's parents) - Driving a very large 5th-wheeler
Wally and Mary (very good friends of the Bryants) - Driving camper pulling a car
Rich and his son, Lee (Rich works with Sean) - Driving a van with all our gear

There were others before today and there will be others after, but this is the core group right now.

So, many many thanks to the support! They have certainly done a fab job for the team and have made us feel so welcome!

Here's Diane (Kyle's mom) :

Here's Sean's parents in the big rig:

Posted at 11:11 AM

6 comments:

  1. hey

    Dad

    I hope you are taking a lot of pictures I want to see your entire ride

    Good job both of you i cant beleive you have made it this far!

    love Brian
    ReplyDelete
  2. Mom, your doing great. Keep riding. I can't wait until you get home. I miss you.
    Love Kelly
    ReplyDelete
  3. We are really proud of the both of you. As Brian said, We can't believe you have gone so far...Andy, we hope your knee is doing okay.

    Actually Mom said "when the heck are you coming home?"

    Not realy, we are having a great time with the kids and lay back all day and dream, watch TV etc.

    love you both and God Speed
    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Linda and Andy,

    Keep pedalling! You are doing great. Put ice on your knee every time you stop Andy. It will do more than drugs!

    We are watching and cheering you on!

    Love Cindy
    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm with Brian hoping that you're taking lots of pictures. And I hope you post more on the site for those of us following your ride from afar.

    I am so impressed with you guys. Way to go!!
    ReplyDelete
  6. NO SAGGING RIDERS - you peddeled all the way!
    Spinner
    ReplyDelete

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