TransAm Ride 4 TBI

I am a runner, cyclist, and triathlete. I am also a nationally certified, and NY state licensed athletic trainer (field of sports medicine).
As an athletic trainer I evaluate and help numerous athletes every year that have suffered concussions. I also have friends who have suffered or have family members who have suffered life altering traumatic brain injuries (TBI). All TBIs are serious, and though most clear up in a matter of days or weeks, some can have long lasting effects. Little is known about them, and they are often misunderstood. Many suffer from them without anyone else recognizing what they are going through. It is often considered a hidden injury, because unless you are the one suffering, the suffering goes unnoticed.
For many years I have wanted to either run or ride across the United States, but for many reasons I never did. Last year a friend I decided to finally do it. We are going to start July 9, 2017, on the west coast and steadily ride our way east. Depending on the day, we hope to do anywhere from 120-180 miles a day. We will carry all our gear, food,and water with us, and will mainly be camping along the way. This will be a pretty big accomplishment for us. We expect the ride to take us about 3 1/2 weeks. I have ridden 298 unsupported miles in 1 day (19.5hrs elapsed time, with total of 18hrs riding) with one other person, and I have run a 100k road race (10.5hrs), but I have never done a multi day adventure like this one.
I decided to use this ride for not only personal enjoyment and achievement, but to help a worthy cause. I am using this ride to raise awareness and money for TBI. The more money I can raise, the more people that can be helped, and the greater awareness of this hidden injury that can be raised. I am currently working with a group (https://bianys.org/) that works with TBIs and have website for donations (currently disabled). All money raised will go to the group, and I am funding the ride on my own.
I will be blogging (see right side of page for most recent posts) about the journey as well as posting here and on other social media.

https://www.crowdrise.com/transam-ride-4-tbi

When making donations you have the option to pay the transaction fee and have all of your donation go to #TBI BIAofNYS, or have it taken out of your donation. They charge 10% if you pay transaction, but only take 5% of donation if you don’t pay it. I recommend if you want to pay transaction, so “all money” goes to to #TBI, that you just include an extra 5% in your donation (multiply amount you want to donate by 1.05) instead of selecting option to pay it yourself. That way the you pay less for the transaction, AND you can claim it in your taxes. So for $20 donation, multiply by 1.05 gives you a donation of $21 ($20 to TBI, $1 for fee) and you can claim it all on taxes.