NAF - Las Vegas

And now here's what went on in Las Vegas...

We rode in to the hotel on Thursday to a great welcoming group. Cheering, champagne, TV crew, everything. It was actually a pretty emotional time. This was a big accomplishment for us all; it was the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people, and we raised a lot of awareness and money for research in the process (more on that later).

Shortly after our arrival, we went to a Leaders' meeting for the whole afternoon. This is a small NAF (National Ataxia Foundation) meeting with just the leaders of the local chapters and support groups (Linda's the leader of the Central New York support group). We got some good information from the NAF leaders and from Dr. Susan Perlman (an expert in the field).

Thursday evening we had a quiet dinner out and then hit the sack.

Friday morning it was a joy to wake up and not have to put on the bike shorts, butter Andy's butt, chow down a bagel, and start pedalling. A slow awakening, a cup of coffee, and a crepe downstairs... it was so nice! Not that there was ever anything wrong with breakfast on the road, but after two weeks of the mental and physical assault brought on by the constant biking, this was sweet!

During the morning Friday, there was a selection of short sessions to choose from. We went to several, including one that Kyle was hosting about "Accessible Sports." They were all interesting.

For lunch Friday we went over to The Outback Steakhouse for another meal sponsored by them. They've provided amazing support on this ride! That afternoon, we attended the "Birds of a Feather" breakout session on Friedreich's Ataxia. This is the part of the conference where there are breakout sessions for each particular type of ataxia - we've always enjoyed this session. It turns out this year that there were far more attendees than during previous years, so they had to divide the FA session into three different groups all in the same room. Although it's nice to see more people attending, it took away from the close-knit feeling of the previous years, and it was not quite as intimate as before. It was surely good for the new people, but we didn't get as much out of it as before.

A reception was held on Friday night with a nice buffet. Here it is:


Kyle was the featured speaker, talking about the ride. Kyle's computer had broken down a few days before this, so he had been having trouble updating his blog and getting pictures off his camera. He had a massage lined up for 5PM Friday (given to him by Jina, I think), and he didn't have any pictures ready or any easy way to do it. So Linda, Tess, and I sat in the room with our laptop and created a nice slideshow for Kyle while he had his massage. Must be nice to be a celebrity!

Kyle did a great job with his presentation! He got a little emotional a couple of times (which is not uncommon), but he pulled it off with style, grace, and some humor thrown in! Here he is:


He had about 75 slides, which provided a nice look at the whole trip and everyone involved. The attendees all showed great interest in our endeavor. And they really appreciate the fact that the team has now raised over $110,000!!! That's incredible! Remember, this is a team of only about 15 to 20 riders. This isn't a lot of money if you compare it to what gets spent on cancer research, or Alzheimer's research, but for ataxia it's quite significant. The NAF funded around $750,000 in total projects for all of 2007! Our fundraising will provide a very significant increase in the money available for the coming year! THANK YOU ALL!

Kyle wrapped up the presentation by having all of the riders join him on the stage to be recognized and receive a Ride Ataxia medal from the NAF. Thanks Kyle!

Friday night we got to enjoy The Blue Man Group with some of the other riders. The daughter of a friend from church gave the team a bunch of free tickets to the show. Very generous and much enjoyed! (Thank you, Lee Ann!)

Saturday was filled with technical sessions presented by researchers. We were able to attend most of them. At least Linda was - Andy was pretty busy in the room tearing the bikes down, packing them up, and getting them shipped. The sessions were good, and the information was typical of previous years. It is clear this year, however, that they're getting much closer to the treatment phase for Freidriech's Ataxia. There are now five different drugs in various stages of clinical trials or about to enter trials. Just a year or two ago there were NONE. The different drugs all act in different ways - one removes iron from the mitochondria, one removes damaging free radicals, one boosts frataxin. It's not clear yet how effective any or all of them will be, but this is obviously a new era. An era of hope.

Here's a view of these technical sessions:

This room is a lot bigger than it looks here, by the way. Those are two huge screen for the presentations. There were around 650 people attending this year, with about 200 first-timers! It really is growing significantly every year!

There were a few more technical sessions scheduled for Sunday morning, but we had to catch our plane and get home. To be honest, we've been following the research pretty closely anyway, so this information is not really new to us.

All in all, it was a very good meeting, and it is so encouraging to see the progress that is being made and to feel like we're part of what's driving it forward. Again, thank you for helping us make it all happen!

SAG Crew

Another group that deserves some serious recognition is the SAG crew. We had tremendous support during the ride, and without that support, we never could have done it. Hotels, meals, snacks, drinks, and bathroom breaks were all taken care of by this great group of friends and family.

Let's start with Diane:
This is Kyle's mom, and she was the boss. She handled everything. She even got Twinkies for us! Here's the rig she drove around:

This is Sean's dad: He and Elaine drove a big fifth wheel for the whole ride:

It was perfect for lunch stops and bathroom breaks:

Wally and Mary drove a smaller rig (and pulled a car with it):
They often drove drag, making sure all of the stragglers (like us) kept on going:

Spinner's parents, Dave and Karen, drove a van along with the group also. They were the "route checkers," often driving ahead and making sure the route was all set. Funny how an occasional Navy base gets dropped right in the middle of our planned route!

For about the first half of the ride, Rich and Lee drove a SAG van and toted all of our things to the different hotels:

They did a super job, waiting on us hand and foot. We almost felt guilty with all of the work they were doing, but they didn't seem to mind. Lee is one of the most well-behaved kids we've ever met. He hung out in the van most of the time playing on the computer or a video game.

Here's a rare shot of Tim (on the right):

He is a friend of Bart's and showed up around when Rich and Lee had to leave, so he took their place. He pulled Bart's camper around and hauled our bags in that:

Debbie was another great SAG driver for a few days, although we don't seem to have any good pictures of her.

A huge thanks to ALL of the SAG crew! We certainly couldn't have made it without all of you! Maybe the Speedy Boys could have, but not us!!!

Cyclists

We've been remiss for not introducing the cyclists involved in this endeavor. With all the pedalling, it's been hard to find the time needed to properly give credit to these wonderful people. Here goes...

When we started at the capitol, there were over 50 riders! Some had ataxia, although most were friends and family of those affected.

Here's Kyle (in the middle), his dad (on the left) and Sean (on the right), giving everyone the starting pep talk, along with the appropriate safety information:

Kyle is the originator of this ride, starting it last year with Ride Ataxia I. His dad, Mike, rode with him last year and was very involved in the ride this year. Sean was just diagnosed with Friedreich's Ataxia last year. He met Kyle recently and helped significantly in organizing the ride this year. All three of them did the entire ride this year.

Once we got on the road, the large group began spreading out into smaller mini-teams, naturally separating the riders of different speeds. Of course, we fell right to the back, forming a group of people that were "enjoying themselves," not trying to set some kind of record. Here's our group, from left to right; Linda, David Henry (Spinner), Paul Konanz, and Angela. Andy took the picture.Spinner has Ataxia (a sporadic form), and stayed with our group during the entire journey. He rode about 400 miles last year with Kyle, and he was very patient to slow down with us and smell the roses. Paul is very active in the ataxia community; his daughter (Brianne) has Friedreich's Ataxia. He rode with us the first day and had so much fun that he returned for the last day as well. Angela is Kyle's cousin. She rode with us for four days.

Here's our group arriving at the campground at the end of the first day:

Here's Spinner. He's from Texas. Disregard the sign - he's one of the most friendly, patient, laid-back guys we've met. We very-much enjoyed his company and hope the feeling is mutual!

This is Angela, with her company's logo on her helmet (they helped sponsor her):

This is the Bryant clan. As in Kyle Bryant. From left to right, Neal and Libby (Kyle's uncle and aunt), Jina (Kyle's sister-in-law), Angela (Kyle's cousin who you've already met), Steve (Kyle's uncle), Dianne (Kyle's mother), Kyle, Mike (Kyle's father), and Collin (Kyle's brother). Neal and Libby rode about half the trip. Jina, Collin, Steve, Mike, and Kyle rode the entire trip. Dianne provided support (lots of it).

Here's Tess (with Linda), who became another one of our good friends. She lives in Sacramento and works (and is friends) with Kyle. She rode the entire trip, and was our roommate for a lot of it.

And now for the "Speedy Boys." This is Sean, Luke, Mike, and Travis:

All of these guys are friends of Sean's and rode the whole trip. Luke came all the way from Germany. Linda thought these guys were beautiful. Tess agreed. Some days the Speedy Boys would even wear matching outfits. Whether they did or not, they rode like a real bicycle team, staying in a line and drafting off each other. They'd leave long after we did, pass by us, and arrive at the hotel well before us. It was all good though - we don't hold their speed against them!

This is Collin (Kyle's brother), his wife Jina, and Uncle Steve:

All three of them rode the whole trip and were fun to be around! Steve is from Montana and has one or maybe two bionic knees. Collin and Jina are newlyweds living in California.

Bart arrived just in time to climb Tehachapi, and he rode the rest of the trip. Here he is introducing himself to the Speedy Boys, with the apparent hope of joining their team:

Beth Bax, her husband Eric, and her sister Edie joined us for one day, riding from Wasco to Bakersfield. Beth has Friedreich's Ataxia.

John rode with us the first day and the second half of the ride. He was a fit rider, and was always ahead of us somewhere. Another very friendly guy.

Amy, Tom, Sam, and Max joined us after Tehachapi. They drove all night from Seattle to meet up with us. Sam has Friedriech's Ataxia and just bought a trike about a month ago. They all did great and were a lot of fun. Unfortunately we don't have a good picture of them.

Here's the group of riders that rode in on the last day into Las Vegas.

There were plenty of other riders that joined us off and on, like Chuck, Lance, Susie, and more. Everyone was so friendly and fun, and we'll surely miss them all. Thanks to everyone, and GREAT JOB!!!

Updated Posts

Andy writes:

We got home today! I just updated Day 12 and 13 with some photos, so reread them if you'd like. It's late and we're going to bed now, but stay tuned over the next few days while we do our final updates. And thanks to those who have boosted their donations now that they've seen we were actually able to do it!

Day 13 - Primm to Las Vegas, NV

Andy writes:

We did it! We almost can't believe it, but we did it! We're now in Las Vegas! We rode 39.2 miles today, and the whole team rode right down the Las Vegas strip and pulled in together at around noon. A huge group was there to greet us, champagne and all! And a TV crew. Check this out!

Here we are as we approached Las Vegas (you can actually see it in the background if you look hard):

Here we are at the end, celebrating (by the way, Kyle had instructed all of us to stop shaving until we got to Vegas, in case you're wondering what that stuff is on my face):

And here's the whole team (actually just the ones that rode the last day - there are a few others that did just earlier parts of the ride):

After riding all morning and arriving for the celebration at noon, we then attended a Leaders' Meeting from 1:00 to 5:00 (Linda's the leader of the Central New York support group) followed by a relaxing dinner.

My replaced tube rode fine today. So over the entire 649 miles, Linda had no flats and I had one. The team had around 40 to 50 flat tires - we feel very lucky!

Here are a few final trip stats:

• Total distance: 649 miles
• Elevation gain: 2,083 feet
• Minimum elevation: 1.2 feet
• Maximum elevation: 4,738 feet
• Climbing distance: 230 miles
• Climbing elevation: 16,259 feet
• Descending distance: 234 miles
• Descending elevation: 14,176 feet

Thanks to everyone for all the support and encouragement! We feel so blessed to have so many loving people behind us on this journey! Stay tuned for more updates about the whole team, the NAF conference, and other reflective thoughts. Thank you ALL!

Day 12 - Baker, CA to Primm, NV

Andy writes:

Once again this is a little late, but I'll try to catch up.

If you recall, we were quite concerned about the day's ride. A big hill, to say the least! The whole ride was on the freeway again. We got a nice early start, knowing it was going to be tough. But this time we came up with an excellent strategy to overcome the hill: iPods. Linda put on her iPod and started cranking up the hill. She did great! 35 miles up the hill and another 15 down the other side. Here's the profile, this time with my speed overlaid on it:

Not super-fast, but we did the whole thing with no big problems. Lunch wasn't until the top of the entire hill at about 33 miles, so that meant we really had to keep going all morning!

Here are the statistics:
Ride times: 7:37 to 3:42
Distance: 50.1 miles
Average moving speed: 8.3 MPH
Roadkill: none. But we did have some excitement with live animals. We saw four snakes. Collin and Jina also saw a nice rattlesnake right on the shoulder and had to stop to get around it. We couldn't identify the snakes we saw, although I almost ran right over one (my tires went right next to it and it picked up its head just as I went over). The best one was when Linda was in the zone... the weather was beautiful, big blue sky, mountains all around, and she was cranking Wide Open Spaces (Dixie Chicks) on the iPod. Lunch was just ahead, and the hill was almost behind us. She started slowly waving her arms in the air, totally at peace with the day, riding no-handed. Then she saw the coiled-up snake right in front of her! She grabbed the bars and jerked around it (almost going into traffic or flipping over) and screamed at the top of her lungs for the next minute or so! Pretty funny!

Here's the typical scenery:

Oh, and I had a flat tire IN THE HOTEL ROOM tonight! We rode over a lot of debris today, and a tiny little wire finally got me. I changed it right in the room so it's ready for tomorrow:

Day 11 - Calico to Baker, CA

Andy writes (while Linda sleeps):

No scorpions in our shoes this morning. That's good. We're totally into the desert now.

Today's Statistics:
Roadkill: just a simple mattress
Mileage: 56.2 miles
Average moving speed: 11.2 MPH
We've still not had a single flat tire, although others have been having them occasionally.

The ride today was all freeway (I-15). Wind at our backs again, wide shoulder, but a lot of highway traffic. For example:

We're getting a lot closer to Vegas now - yeah!!!

We made it to Baker, very tired again. Here's the giant thermometer in town:


"Uncle Bud", the brother of Linda's grandfather, and Louise came to town and gave us a nice visit. They took us to dinner at the local Greek restaurant - it was excellent. Thanks Uncle Bud!


And he took a quick spin on Linda's trike:

Tomorrow we reach Nevada. Unfortunately, it's going to be a very difficult day. As bad as the climb to Tehachapi, with another 15 miles afterwards. We're hoping for a serious tail-wind!

Day 10 - Boron to Calico, CA

Andy writes:

Fatigue is starting to set in. Another 55 miles done today. By the time we get in, get set up in a room, get cleaned up, and have dinner, we're often too tired to post - you'll notice this is a day late.

Here are the statistics:
Ride times: 8:19 to 3:02
Mileage: 55.5 miles
Average moving speed: 11.0 MPH
Roadkill: One cat and one television (an old CRT, for those of you who remember them).
Falls while pedals are clipped in: 1 - NOT ANDY THIS TIME!!! (poor Jina, right on the freeway with cars flying by right next to her)

We were on a divided highway most of the ride today. It seemed like a long day - not overly difficult, just tiring.

By the way, we went through the town of Hinkley, the town made famous by Erin Brockovich (we didn't fill up our water bottles there).

Here's last night's hotel room, with Linda on the computer. Note the beautiful table lamp from about forty years ago.

Our excellent lunch-time SAG crew and riders:

We were on Route 66 for a bunch of the ride:

We're spending the night at a bunkhouse in the Calico Ghost Town:

And finally, here's our great dinner of beans and hot dogs:

Day 9 - Tehachapi to Boron, CA

Linda writes:

No rest for the weary. We thought going downhill would be easy, but with a very strong headwind, the windmills were spinning faster than we were!


50 miles later, 6 hours, a bit of windburn, and we were relaxing in front of our motel!

The Boron motel ... words cannot describe ...

Statistics:

Miles - 49.1 miles

Speed - 10.8 miles/hour

Cycling duration: 9:00 - 2:57

Road kill - pretty slim pickins' lately - just one phonograph player. Hoping for more action over the next couple of days!
Flat tires - 0 for the whole team!

News Links

Andy writes:

This is a little late, but here is some great news coverage of the ride.

First, this is the WSYR Syracuse Channel 9 story that was done right before we left (it actually aired after we left and we haven't seen it). It's only a transcript/story, not the video:

http://www.9wsyr.com/content/family_healthcast/story.aspx?content_id=d91585b1-7496-4880-82cc-bf722ace057c

And here's a great story that was on News10 in Sacramento when we started the ride:

http://www.news10.net/video/player_news10.aspx?sid=39586&aid=53127

There have been a few other stories too, like the TV crew that was in Bakersfield, and another news crew that will interview us tomorrow here in Tehachapi. I'll add links if I find them.

Day 8 - Bakersfield to Tehachapi

Andy writes:

I can only guess what people thought... John - there's no way they can do it. Woody - what are they even thinking doing this bike ride anyway, why not just drive? Mom and Dad J - they're giving it their all; I'll bet they can do it. Mom and Dad S - they're crazy; they're going to get hit by a truck.

Well, the interim results are in... we made it! To the top with no help from a motorized vehicle! Linda pedalled and pedalled and pedalled (I did too). We're now in Tehachapi and feeling great! I know, we're not done yet, but this was big. It was definitely a long day of hard pedalling. And I'm going to keep this short so we can get to bed.

Here are the statistics:

Ride times: 9:14 to 5:07
Distance: 35.5 miles
Average speed: 5.8 MPH
Elevation gain: 3667 feet
Roadkill: two cats, one totally intact car windshield with just a crack
Rating: 10 because we made it

Here was the morning breakfast, provided by the church people...


Here's the elevation profile of the ride. The dashed line is lunch. Click on it to see it better, just like all the other images.

Here are a few photos from the day:

And finally, here's a nice photo from my aunt (Hi Aunt Lorraine!) showing the snow they have up in Maine right now:

Day 7 - Wasco to Bakersfield, CA

Linda writes:

Interesting day ... lot of very busy roads with a lot of traffic. And although there was usually a bike lane, it was a little tight with the trike. The good news is everyone made it through without incident. We (Andy and I) even learned a safer way to make a left turn on a 3-lane road from the right side ... without turning into road kill!

The day was originally planned to be 27 miles, but we changed our plans and went another 20 miles from tomorrow's ride, then we shuttled back to the hotel. So tomorrow we'll shuttle out to where we left off. Looks like 37 miles tomorrow with an elevation climb of 3,700 feet. (Sounds insane!) My Great Uncle just wrote to us and said he has had motorized vehicles die going up this hill. That doesn't sound good! Tomorrow will probably settle all the wagers! Here's a view of the "hill" we'll see close-up tomorrow:

Back to today ... After the shuttle back, we jumped on our bikes in the parking lot and "road in" for the local television station spreading the word!



Then a local church group sponsored the group to a delicious dinner in the 4-star Double Tree hotel, where the rooms were also donated by the hotel! Dinner for those who like to hear about food (aka my family) was lasagna, spaghetti, fettucini alfredo, salad, and oh-so-soft bread. Dense chocolate cake with a very yummy frosting for dessert! ... I ate every bite! Loading up on the carbs! :-)

Statistics:

Miles: 47.1 miles
Average speed: 10.4 (traffic!)
Road kill count: 1 rabbit, 1 very large dog, 1 sofa cushion
Rating for day: 8 (busy roads ... but we lived!)
Riding time: 8:44 - 2:24

Day 6 - Hanford to Wasco, CA

Linda writes:

Same old, same old ... beautiful day, gorgeous scenery, nice tail wind, 57 miles, no problems.

One comment about the truckers ... they really give us so much space to ride on the shoulder. Really nice people around here!

Got to the motel at 3:00 ... record time for us non-record breakers! At 5:30 a very good samaratin hosted our entire group for a delicious BBQ dinner at the park down the road. Such a giving soul!

Tomorrow we head closer to the "hill." Check-out the elevation profile if you haven't already.

Statistics:
Miles: 57 miles
Moving Average Speed: 11.5 miles/hour
Riding hours: 8:38 - 3:02
Road kill count: 1 skunk; 1 unidentified varmit being devoured by a large turkey vulture
Snake count: 1 dead; 0 live (Note: Details on dead snake ... very flat, ~3 feet long, probably 1" in diameter)
Rating for day: 10

Day 5 - Fresno to Hanford, CA

Linda writes:

Unbelievable ... we made it another day! Woke up this morning after sleeping on the floor of the church auditorium. Took a couple Advil, ate delicious homemade oatmeal (not the instant stuff!) and yummy banana bread, and we were good to go.

MOTS ... More Of The Same today ... sunny skies, 80 degrees, a friendly breeze, flat roads, beautiful views ... no problems ... another wonderful day!

Here we are for our lunch break. Looks like Linda is the only one soaking up the California sun! Tomorrow we'll switch from SPF 8 to SPF 30.

The lunch buffet was set up under the canopy ... make your own sandwiches, cheese sticks, fruit, nacho chips, and cookies ... food never tasted so good as on this bike ride!

Statistics:

Ride times: 8:44AM to 3:00PM

Mileage: 50 miles

Average speed: 10.3 MPH

Total trip miles: 260

Roadkill count: ZERO!

Number of people that fell off their bikes: 1 (and it wasn't Andy!) ... Poor Travis turned around to check on Sean who dropped off from the drafting pattern, and Mike, the leader in the drafting pattern slammed on his brakes to check on Sean ... and Travis slammed into Mike. Ouch!

A couple of notes from Andy about the statistics ... The "Average speed" is the moving average, only counting the period when we're not stopped. The "Roadkill count" only counts fresh roadkill - anything totally smooshed isn't counted.

Day 4 - Madera to Fresno, CA

Linda writes:

Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express last night. It was awesome. We gathered at 10:00 for our short ride today - "only" 25 miles.


This took us to the Outback Steak House in Fresno, where they hosted a nice lunch for the entire team. Andy brought his bike to a local bike shop to get the crank bearings replaced and repacked (they did the job during the afternoon and we picked it up at closing time). It rides smoother, and hopefully the suspicious snapping will be gone - not sure yet though.

We're staying at the People's Church in Fresno tonight, sleeping on the floor of the auditorium. Not as comfy as a fancy hotel, but the price is right! Another fine dinner done here by the SAG crew. Leftovers! Our favorite! Chicken, beans, potato salad, salad, italian bread, lasagna, cookies, and more.

Updated Posts

We've updated the posts from the last two days with photos. Check it out.

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:

Day 3 - Turlock to Madera, CA

Linda writes:

65 miles! I'm pretty sure I signed up for the 50 mile fun-in-the-sun trip, and we went 65 miles today! Unbelievable! And we made it! The whole day was actually phenomenal! More sunny skies, flat roads, and almond trees.

Andy's knee started acting up this morning, and during lunch, with a mere 40 miles left to go, it was very painful. (Who brought this old man anyway!?) Tomorrow his bike will probably fall apart! (Actually, the pedal crank set is making disturbing snapping sounds ... might we have to stop at Target in Fresno tomorrow and pick up a new bike?) After lunch and 3 Advil, Andy's knee was OK for the rest of the day.

I will admit that at Mile 58, I started dragging and my right quad was starting to hurt. We pulled over, slathered some pain cream on it (thanks, Sally), took 2 Advil with gatorade, and ate a banana ... within 5 minutes something/all of the above kicked in, and I was able to finish with a bang, rolling into the Holiday Express before 6:00!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody! Jina (a teammate) handed out green beads with shamrocks on them to the riders this morning. We all happily wore them and just noticed our necks are now green ... nice.

FYI - Kyle is also keeping his blog up-to-date. If you have time, check it out, he's a great writer and provides more detail about the day and the rest of the team. (There is a link to the right of our blog.)

Thanks so much for your comments! We are loving them!

Riding hours: 9:10AM to 5:54PM
Mileage: 65 miles!!!
Speed: 9.8 MPH
Roadkill: 2 skunks, 1 puppy, 1 dog (the size of a cow!)

Flat tires: Andy - 0, Linda - 0, Others - 2 (Steve's tire sidewall blew like a gunshot while sitting quietly against a tree at lunch!)

Day rating: 9 (it was a bit long)
# of times a team member fell because pedals were clipped in: 1 (Andy)

A few pictures from the day:

Day 2 - Lodi to Turlock, CA

Linda writes:

The day started out very questionable. Andy was up from 1 AM to 5 AM with diarrhea and debating on throwing up ... Linda slept through the whole thing. When we got up at 6 AM, we packed our on-the-bike bags as though Andy would not be out there. He did "suit-up" (is that what you call it?), and by the actual start time, Andy decided to give it a go. What's the worst that could happen, right? Unbelievably, he held out in the morning, and actually was feeling good in the afternoon!

The riding was fab (is that a California word?), the wind was at our backs a bunch, and the views were fantastic! The roads we were on were country lined with almond trees and cows! A successful and gorgeous day!

Mileage: 57.3 miles
Average speed: 11.4 miles/hour
Roadkill count: 4 skunks, 4 cats, 1 rat, 1 unidentifiable
Flat tires: Andy - 0, Linda - 0, Others - 2?
Day rating: 9 (cuz Andy started out sick)
# of times a team member fell because pedals were clipped in: 1 (Andy)

And here are a few photos from the day:


Here's Linda, Sean, Kyle, and Andy at the Mexican restaurant. Kyle and Sean are the main organizers behind this event (and they've done a great job!)

Day 1 - Sacramento to Lodi, CA

Linda writes:

Phenomenal day! Not only did we make ALL 55 miles, we actually enjoyed it! The skies were blue, and the sun was shining! We actually stripped down to our biking short-sleeve shirts and Andy was in his oh-so-cool biking shorts! We averaged 10.7 miles/hour which is what we were doing in the bedroom. We are very pleased, and actually looking forward to tomorrow!

Statistics:
Mileage: 55 miles
Flat tires: 0 for Linda, 0 for Andy, 3 for Kyle
Road kill: 4 possums, 1 skunk, and 1 small black bird
Snake sitings: 0 live, 5 flat skins
Rating for the day: 10

Las Vegas or Bust!!

Name bands for each rider ... in case we are found on road dead ... hmmmm ... should we reconsider ...


50 people started the ride together at the base of the California capitol building!

Happy rider ... for today anyway! :-)

And of course don't forget to check out where we are!

Outback Kick-Off

Andy writes:

Kyle did a great job organizing a kick-off lunch today, generously sponsored by The Outback restaurant. Thanks, Kyle and The Outback! It was great! Most of the riders and plenty of supporters showed up to meet each other, provide a nice send-off, and eat some great food, of course! Kyle gave a short speech and said that we've collectively raised around $80,000 dollars so far! Awesome!

This is Kyle (on the left) with Linda's dad:

Good to Go!

Andy writes:

We were worried about the bikes, and now they seem to be all set. Of course, if you know me at all, next on the worry-list is the electronics. I think I'm good to go! I now have the map page all set to display our track as we ride. I have a GPS on the bike, so you'll see every move we make, including wrong turns, pit stops, and coffee breaks. I'll only be uploading the data once we get to each destination, so you can't see it in real-time, but you'll at least be able to see how we're doing. Check it out with the "Map of the Trip" link toward the right, or Click Here (you can zoom in to see the details). Anyway, not much to show yet other than our test ride, but you'll get the idea. Time to get some sleep now before the big kick-off in the morning!

Surprise Greeting Party and Bike Assembly

Linda writes:

First flight out of Syracuse was a 1/2 hour late leaving, after that the other two flights were on-time and pleasant. So we arrived at the Sacramento Airport at 11:00 PM California time (2:00 AM Cazenovia time), came down the escalator, and who is there yelling, "Linda Johnson! Linda Johnson!" ... Linda's mom and dad! They flew in from Florida to meet us at the airport and send us off on Saturday! What a nice surprise!

This morning we had a quick breakfast and went to the parking garage where Andy put our bikes together. Damage during shipping - a bent derailler flange on Andy's bike (he bent it back using pliers he brought) and my speedometer was cracked (mom and I bought a new one at the bicycle shop down the street). He was done by noon, and we took them for a quick spin around the capitol park. He adjusted his derailer, mine was good, and it looks like we're good to go!

We're meeting the team along with friends and family at the Outback for a 1:30 celebration lunch. Weather is low 60's and clear skies. So far a very nice day!

We're Off !!!

Andy writes:

My parents arrived yesterday, right on schedule, and delivered us to the airport today for our flight to Sacramento. Thanks, mom and dad!!! The kids and grandparents are looking forward to spending quality time with each other. Linda and Andy are looking forward to spending quality time with each other too... Is there such a thing as "quality time" when you're on bicycles ten hours a day? We'll see soon enough! Here we are at the airport:


Oh, and for those of you waiting to see us on the news, it looks like it will be on Friday night (not Thursday), probably just before 6:00 - Channel 9 with Carrie Lazarus.

Caz Republican

Andy writes:

Another newspaper story about us! Front page of the Cazenovia Republican. Okay, bottom of the front page, but front page just the same. The Cazenovia Republican is your typical small-town local paper that everyone here reads. Here it is: Cazenovia Republican Article. Thanks Willie for a great article!

Thanks for the Encouragement

Andy writes:

The encouragement we've been getting is amazing! Check this out from our friends in Australia. Thanks everyone!

Humbled

Linda writes:

W-O-W !!! $20,000 and over 150 sponsors to find a cure! We are truly humbled and so thankful to everyone! Sincerely, we thank you all!

And so we raise the goal to $25,000 ... it is so exciting to see the thermometer turn red!

We leave Thursday ... stay tuned!

The Bikes Shipped!

Linda writes:

It feels like Christmas! Remember when you were ten years old and the anticipation of the arriving Christmas day just kept building! That's how Andy and I are feeling! Each day brings us that much closer to ... not sure what word to put here!

Andy took the bikes apart and boxed them up Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. Not a small task to fit large wheeled items into boxes that would not be oversized per UPS standards ... and could be ?easily? put back together again in our hotel room in Sacramento! We also packed riding gear so if our luggage gets delayed, we would be able to ride in something other than travel clothes. The three boxes shipped Thursday, 3-day air. So another "block" checked!

Happy Birthday!

Andy writes:

Happy Birthday Linda!!!

Friedreich's Ataxia Video

Linda writes:

I encourage you to watch this short video regarding Friedreich's Ataxia. I could not have said it better myself. I only used one kleenex. Thanks for watching.

Final Outdoor Training Ride

Andy writes:

We took the day off from work Monday to get in one last ride. It was going to be in the fifties, which is unheard of around here at this time of year. It was great! We rode 15 miles to DeRuyter, had lunch at the Quincy Square Diner, had an interview with NewsChannel 9, and rode all the way back home for a total of 30 miles! Now for a few details...

Although it was relatively warm and often sunny, the wind was incredible (it hit 40 mph at the house while we were out)! Luckily (?) we were directly into the wind during the ride out in the morning, and coming back we were with the wind. We've never ridden in such a strong wind. I was actually almost blown over a couple of times when it was from the side! So we only made about 5 mph in the morning, but we did much better than 10 mph on the way back. All in all it was great, and we felt great too!

During lunch, the Channel 9 news crew met up with us to do an interview. Since the weather was so nice, they did the interview outside with Linda on her trike, and they got a whole pile of footage of us riding. Ania Prybyla did the interview and it will be on with Carrie Lazarus, but probably not until next Thursday (the day we fly to California). It seemed to go well, and I'm sure they'll do a great job putting it together. We'll let you know when it will be on. Thanks, Ania!

Oh, and while we were at lunch with Channel 9, a guy overheard us and came over and gave us a donation on the spot! That was so nice! Thanks, unknown guy! And two other people on the street had read about us in the paper and knew everything about us also! Celebrities, I tell you, celebrities!

Then we rode home, with the wind! The sun was shining brightly! It was warm! We had a great ride. We only stopped once, when we went through the town of New Woodstock, just to let some cars go by. Linda pulled in and swung around real cool-looking on her trike! I swung in next to her in my awesome bike outfit! We looked great! Right up until I didn't get my pedal unclipped in time and I fell right over on top of Linda! The couple standing on the sidewalk said it was the most excitement they've had in quite a while!

My only (physical) trouble has been a pain above my right knee that doesn't seem to be going away. Funny - my bad knee feels great, my good knee is giving me some trouble. I don't think it's anything to worry about though. Linda's only physical trouble is the giant bruise on her leg from my handlebar when I fell on her!

Now we pack up the bikes and get them shipped. Stay tuned!