Ride Ataxia Southern California - Sunsets and Research

This is the first time for Ride Ataxia in Southern California.  The ride will take place on December 4 and 5, 2010 traveling 80 miles in two days from Long Beach, CA to Dana Point, CA and back.

Bring your camera because the route travels right down the coastline with the pacific ocean in view the entire time.  View the route here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/178490

The ride will be fully supported with volunteers to haul your overnight gear to the hotel in Dana Point and then back to Long Beach the next day and sag vehicles roving the course to provide safety and help with flat tires and other maintenance issues.  Rest stops will be fully stocked with everything you need including lots of home baked breads and muffins much like the experience at Ride Ataxia Philadelphia.

The ride also features a ten mile route to allow participation from all levels of riders.  The ten mile route will begin and end in Dana point not far from the first day finish of the 40 mile route.  View the 10 mile route here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/202307.

Once in Dana Point, the riders will enjoy a dinner of ribs and all the fixins from Outback Steakhouse.  Dinner will be followed by a few presentations that represent the very reason for the ride - Research to treat and cure FA.  The presentations will include:

• Dr. Susan Perlman from UCLA who will talk about the latest FA collaborative clinical trials at UCLA.
• Dr. Giovanni Coppola from UCLA who will be speaking about genetic research in FA.
• Drs Ernest M Wright and Vladimir Kepe from UCLA who will be speaking about their work with biomarkers.
• Dr. Liz Soragni from Scripps Research Institute who will be presenting on HDAC inhibitors and other new developments at the Scripps lab of Joel Gottesfeld.
• Dr. Martin Thoolen from Edison Pharmaceuticals who will talk about improving mitochondrial function and energy production. 

As you can see the west coast is a powerhouse of FA research and this power will be represented at the SoCal ride.

The next day riders will ride 40 miles back up the coast to the finish line at Outback Steakhouse in Long Beach.

This is going to be a scenic and fun ride but it always comes back to one thing - raising money to find a treatment and a cure for FA.  Lets keep turning that crank!

To find out more and to register for the ride please visit http://rideataxia.org/socal.