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Barry Rice is a past recipient of the Ataxian Athlete Initiative and the founder of Cycle Ataxia, a bike ride fundraiser in Ireland benefiting Friedreich’s ataxia (FA). Barry joins us from his home in Ireland, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.

Barry tells us about his diagnosis of Friedreich’s ataxia, the same disorder that the Dudes have. He mentions how finally discovering the name of his illness was both disheartening and a sigh of relief. After his diagnosis, he feared for the effects of the genetic disorder on his then-newborn daughter.

Cycle Ataxia is an annual bike ride in Ireland, which Barry started. Barry had never ridden (or even seen) a recumbent trike, until he saw a video of Kyle on Youtube. Barry recognized that he could do that, so he bought a secondhand recumbent trike from Ireland’s version of Craigslist. To Barry’s knowledge, he was the first person in Ireland with ataxia to ride a recumbent trike, but at the latest Cycle Ataxia, he counted over a dozen others riding in recumbent trikes.

Listen in this episode for more about Cycle Ataxia and to hear more about Barry’s heroic spirit. Also, we find out that the word “ride” means something dirty in Ireland. Who knew?

Check out the Cycle Ataxia website for more info.