This Weekend: 50K & 100K “Ride for the Rock” Benefit Cycling Event

This year’s annual Ride for the Rock to benefit the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina will take place on March 6, 2010. Registration starts at 7:30am (rain or shine!), and roll-out begins at 9:00am from the parking lot of the Whole Foods Market in Cary, NC (please park at the back of the lot).

There are two loops–100K and 50K. The ride is fully supported, with multiple pit stops and a sag wagon. Registration is $15 in advance, $20 day-of. Tee shirts are available for $10. Join the HensonFuerst bike team–we’re 30 strong and growing! (Call us, or email ThomasHenson@lawmed.com)

For more information, or to donate to the ride, visit the sites for the Brain Injury Association of NC or the Capital Cycling Club.

2010 “Ride for the Rock” Poster

How the Ride Began

On July 31, 2005, Mark “the Rock” Ornitz sustained a life-changing brain injury during a group ride when he crashed head first into a telephone pole while trying to avoid a rider who had fallen.

The severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) stopped just short of killing him, but has left him (and his family) with a long and arduous journey of rehabilitation for his ongoing deficits, including intractable pain in his paralyzed right arm and 24-hour medical supervision.

Mark’s family is overwhelmed–physically and financially–and they have been astonished to discover that there is a lack of appropriate resources in North Carolina to help families and patients deal with this type of ordeal. His family wonders what will happen to “the Rock” when they are no longer able to take care of him.

They are not alone in this circumstance.  More than 180,000 North Carolinians suffer from brain injury—this is 5 times greater than the cases of multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, AIDS, and breast cancer combined! Yet in North Carolina, Medicaid does not help people with head injuries if they are older than 22. Nor are there affordable residential facilities that understand how to care for brain injured residents.

Mark’s teammates at The Capital Cycling Club (www.capcycling.org) honor him by keeping his name on their team roster. In addition, they have partnered with the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina (www.bianc.net) to conduct the Ride for the Rock to raise awareness of TBI, promote safety among cyclists, and raise funds. Their mission is to offer help, hope, and a voice to people with brain injury and their families.