Road ID and Ryan’s Road to Recovery

I wrote up a press release of sorts for people who want to share some information on the Road ID fundraiser for Ryan. Copy, paste, and share at will. Thank you.

Ryan DeRoche, my friend and colleague, was badly injured in a mountain bike crash in Spain in March. He wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. He was simply commuting home from work, riding his mountain bike along a footpath near the city of Girona. His front wheel got hung up on a rock or root, and he went over the handlebars. His neck hit the ground first, and he shattered his C4 vertebra. He is now in a rehab facility in Boston, Massachusetts, working toward someday walking again.

In a way, Ryan was very lucky. He didn’t hit his head in the crash, and when he was found, he was able to tell the person who found him who to call and how to get in contact with his friends in Spain. Not everyone who experiences an incident, whether in training, commuting, or just out for a spin or run around the neighborhood, is so lucky. If you have an accident and aren’t able to speak for yourself, who will?

During the 2011 Tour de France, I am donating all of proceeds from my affiliate program with Road ID to Ryan’s recovery. To protect yourself, a friend, or a loved one, and support my friend Ryan, purchase a Road ID through this link. http://bit.ly/ryanroad

The Road ID website doesn’t look any different when you click through that link, but there is a referrer tag built into the link that will assure that your purchase gets credited to my account and passed on to Ryan’s recovery.

For additional information on Ryan, check out the blog I wrote shortly after his accident:

https://jonvick.com/2011/03/08/road-id-protect-yourself/

And this entry about my TdF11 Fundraiser:

https://jonvick.com/2011/07/02/road-id-and-the-tour-de-france/

As well as this article in his local newspaper:

http://melrose.patch.com/articles/melrose-cyclist-on-the-road-to-recovery-after-spinal-cord-injury