25th Annual Fund Raising Bike Ride for ALS
Ride to Defeat ALS, September 22, 2019
The Longfellow Health Club, 524 Boston Post Rd, Wayland, MA 01778
"I Ride For Nanna"...
This pretty much summarizes the spirit of the day. Every one of the 305 riders carried the name of someone with ALS in their hearts or written on their bibs.Whether they rode the 70 mile ride (7 AM), the 50 mile ride (8:30 AM), the 25 mile ride (10 AM) or the 10 mile Family Ride (11 AM), they rode with purpose and the intent to end the scourge of ALS. ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease, was identified in 1869. We have found cures for cancer. ALS...not yet.
An 'orphan disease' is defined as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people nationwide. Approximately 5000 men and women are diagnosed with ALS every year. In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the United States. It doesn’t take much math to see why ALS is considered an “orphan disease” and offers drug companies less incentive to fund research. Trust me, the researchers digging in to find a cure are as relentless as the disease in their work.
Despite the nature of this brutal disease that renders the body incapable of voluntary movement and eventually ability to speak, eat, move, and even breathe, the mood today was incongruously celebratory.
Out of the 365 days of the year, this was one day in which people dealing with ALS could smile, feel good, have a lighter heart precisely because of a manifest sense of togetherness and commonality of purpose, a tribe on the warpath to defeat ALS, here to raise money to find a cure and support the MA Chapter programs to care for their Nana’s, neighbors, fathers, mothers, colleagues...the list goes on. The money raised today has a number. The spirits raised today is incalculable. The Ride to Defeat ALS puts the rubber on the road and galvanizes hope and action with this one day fund raiser.
Registration and Participant Center FAQs
Before, during, after...everything you need to know about the day's rides, plus fees and fund raising requirement FAQs here.
The 10 mile family ride assembles at 11 AM...
25th Anniversary Ride!
Mission accomplished for this day... researchers and care-givers resume their work tomorrow.
Carol Ranson, Myke Farricker, DJ Mr. JonathanMyke Farricker and a contingent of Rude Boys who rode in memory of Pete "Wheels" Farricker
The 10 mile ride is sent on their way...
Team Hope...
Team Hope members in their blue shirts were all over the place today. So were AppleFriends4ALS, Team Roy, Dalpe's Victory Crusaders, Spirit Team, Wheels for Welchie, Mitch's Marauders, Johnny's Reply, Biogen Rolling Clones, and George's Team and a score more.
Special Events Coordinator and Myke Farricker (co-owner of The Longfellow Health Club) after sending off the 10 Mile ride
The Rude Boys raised $10,000 in honor of Pete "Wheels" Farricker, a member of the world champion Ultimate Frisbee Team
Ride founders Paul Tamburello and Myke Farricker with Special Events Coordinator Ashley Corbin
MA Chapter E.D. John Hedstrom, Special Events Coordinator Ashley Corbin
A hug from Dad...
Channel 5 Cindy Fitzgibbon, today's MC, opens the program
Food and beverages tent busy all day long
Motorcycles! A NEW 40 Mile motorcycle route that will leave from the Longfellow Health Club at 10:30 AM, and should take about 1 hour and 15 minutes to ride.
Revved up and ready to ride...a great new tradition to add horsepower to the anniversary ride...they'll be back again next year.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Comments