Get ready to mark your calendars again! Matt, Lou, Libby and Jim will take to the road once more! Not content to rest on the laurels of success of last year's Ride for Research, they will embark on a bigger and braver adventure in the summer of 2008. Their 'driving' ambition, along with the encouragement and help of www.stepnow.org and its members, has given birth to a unique and exciting undertaking - a Ride for Research 2008, from Amsterdam to Zagreb - let's call it the A to Z of riding for spinal cord research. Whatever is out there along the way, they will cover the a to z of it you can be sure!

The plan is that late in June of 2008 Matt and his steadfast team will start out from the Vondel Park in Amsterdam heading southeast through the Netherlands, over the border into Germany. They will continue down through the german countryside, leaving the flatlands of home behind them, passing through Bavaria to reach the Austrian border. On through Austria and a most arduous stretch of mountainous and breathtaking scenery they will reach the northern part of Italy and begin to roll down the hills until they arrive in Venice. From there they will skirt the Adriatic coast moving into Slovenia and beyond into Croatia where their final destination (estimated to be the end of August) will be the city of Zagreb. A welcoming party will greet them with open arms!

All this is undertaken to raise awareness of the need for support of spinal cord research on every level - but most importantly from governments and legislators. The science for a cure for paralysis within the fields of stem cell research and regenerative medicine is moving at a promising pace, but without continued and significant funds there is a real danger that valuable projects will not survive. Matt and everyone at stepnow want to make sure that doesn't happen. Our cure depends on all of us being active in keeping that scientific progress alive.

The clock is ticking and preparations for the Ride for Research 2008 have already begun......
If you wish to find out more, or to take part, help in any way, please visit the  Stepnowride website - we'd love to see you there!

Stand Together to End Paralysis - Now!
www.stepnowride.org