 ２００４年に自転車でアメリカ大陸横断をしたMichael Sandler氏が、この夏にインラインスケートで挑戦すると、今年２月に発表。しかも毎日１００マイル（１６０キロ）滑り、ロサンゼルスからニューヨークまで全長４０００マイル（６４００キロ）を４０日で走破するという無謀とさえ思える、その内容に驚きました。そのMichael Sandler氏がケガをしたという話が流れましたが、今まで情報不足で状況が分りませんでした。その後の様子が少し分りましたので、ご報告。
He will be skating from LA, California to NYC at the rate of 100 miles per day. He did it last year on a bike and wants to do it on skates this year because he hs discovered the joys of skating and wants to share it with the world. He also wants to raise funds for ADD a cause he holds near and dear. Here's his letter:
Dear Fellow Skaters!
Would you like to bring back some of the early excitement and enthusiasm our sport enjoyed? Do you wish to see more kids taking up the sport, find the pure joy in skating, and seeing inline skating once again grow in popularity?
This summer we have an opportunity to garner national attention for the sport of inline skating and reach the hearts and minds of thousands and thousands of potential skaters.
My name is Michael Sandler. Together we have the opportunity to help rejuvenate our sport. I am a skater and adventurist and focus all of my efforts on charity events and helping others. Last year I did a 5000 mile, 40 day, solo bicycle ride across America to help students and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. I received national attention on CNN, the national morning shows, and interviews by over 40 newspaper reports and 20 television stations. This year I have even more exciting plans involving inline skating!
Beginning August 6th of this year I will make a similar journey, 4000 miles in 40 days from L.A. to New York City on my inline skates to help those with A.D.D. and to help bring inline back into the hearts and minds of Americans and the world. (see my web site http://www.bladeacrossamerica.com) . Skating is my passion, and I would like other to see how joyful inline skating can be.
I could use your help. If you or your club is in any of the states I’m traveling through (see below) it’d be great morale booster and rallying point if you could organize a skate to coincide with a leg of the journey. This trip has been approved as a world record attempt by Guiness book, so I can’t take any mechanical assistance, but “skating a leg” would give your club local and national publicity. Just picture a group of skaters rolling into town in front of television cameras, reporters, and the press. Think of people seeing us on T.V. and the excitement it would generate. Together we can promote the sport and take the journey to an entirely new level.
In addition to skating a leg, or if you’re not along the route, we can use assistance in dozens of other ways. We’re in need of volunteers, business, marketing, medical, and publicity assistance; equipment, clothing, and nutrition, sponsors and donations, not to mention many other things and assistance to make such a challenging journey a reality.
Dare to dream, and dream big. There are no limits in life and what we can accomplish if we believe in ourselves and work together.
I look forward to hearing from you, and feel free to check out our ever-improving website at www.BladeAcrossAmerica.com .
Hope to hear from you soon, and enjoy the day!
Sincerely,
Michael Sandler
Blade Across America & Attention Deficit Disorder Education Foundation
mrskater@addamerica.com
Office: 1-800-518-9510
Cell: 970-308-4357
Blade Across America for Attention Deficit Disorder
4000 miles in 40 days from L.A. to New York City : August 6th 2006 |
| Trip Route:
Beginning August 6th in Los Angeles, and finishing September 14th with the escorted crossing of the Hudson into New York City, the trip will be a "smiley face" of the U.S. traveling through the south and 18 major cities in 15 different states.
Planned cities (in order) include: | · Los Angeles, California
· Phoenix, Arizona
· Tucson, Arizona
· Ciudad Juarez, Texas
· Austin, Texas
· Houston, Texas
· Baton Rouge, Louisiana
· New Orleans, Louisiana
· Jackson, Mississippi
· Birmingham, Alabama
· Atlanta, Georgia
· Charlotte, South Carolina
· Richmond, Virginia
· Washington, D.C.
· Baltimore, Maryland
· Harrisburg, Virginia
· Allentown, Pennsylvania
· New York, New York | 
5000 Miles in 40 Days for AD/HD!!! on a bike |
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The Inline Planet : Skating for Attention Deficit Disorder 記事によると、４月２日、インライン練習中に道を曲がったところで横切る子供と父親を発見！衝突を避けようと路面にスライディングして身体を強打、腰と腕と足３ヶ所を骨折したそうです。２ヶ月は松葉杖、４ヶ月目で腰のピンが取れ、６ヵ月後に滑ることを許されるようです。この事故により計画は２００７年まで延期となりました。| On an inline mission<?td> | | Injury delays but doesn't deter skater from his cross-country goal | | By KELLI LACKETT KelliLackett@coloradoan.com | Small things can derail big goals.
Michael Sandler's goal is to inline skate from Los Angeles to New York - 4,000 miles in 40 days - to set a world record and raise awareness of Attention Deficit Disorder.
But a toddler got in the way.
The little boy waddled across Sandler's path April 2 while he was training on a Boulder bike trail. Sandler rounded a curve to find the boy and his father in the trail, and Sandler had to throw himself backward to avoid hitting them. Landing on the pavement, he broke his hip and arm and fractured his leg in three places.
The accident has delayed his cross-country trip, which was scheduled for August and September.
Ironically, Sandler had moved last fall from Fort Collins to Boulder temporarily because it's a safer place to inline skate, he said.
"Boulder has a lot wider and smoother bike paths, and there are less bridges on the bike paths," Sandler said.
The accident put a monkey wrench in Sandler's plans, but he's a firm believer that all things happen for a reason.
"I see tremendous positives out of this setback. I see it as a challenge," he said.
Interest from film producers considering making a documentary of the trip spiked after the accident, the 35-year-old Sandler said. | 
Michael Sandler |
"After the accident, people kept calling me and saying 'Michael, you've got your hook,' " he said. "Now the odds of this not turning into a professional documentary are almost nonexistent."
According to his doctor and physical and occupational therapists, Sandler is two months away from walking without crutches, four months away from being able to skate again and six months away from having the pin taken out of his hip. He's postponing the cross-country skate until at least spring 2007.
"After it happened, I was thinking maybe I shouldn't be doing this," Sandler said. "But now I have to do this because of the story and the comeback."
"Courage is not setting the world record, not winning the Olympics, but picking yourself up from an accident or cancer - being positive and saying 'I'm going to make it.' "
Picking himself up and persevering is something Sandler has been doing all of his life. Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD, at age 6, Sandler has struggled with many of the symptoms of the disease - impulsiveness, a short attention span, hyperactivity and difficulty following through with tasks in educational and work settings.
"Medication helped in many ways," Sandler said. "But it didn't answer the functional questions. How do I juggle multiple assignments? How do I budget my time? How do I get along with others? How do I get things in on time?"
It wasn't until he was in graduate school at Colorado State University, pursuing two master's degrees in business and computer information systems, that he mastered those skills and was inspired to help others with the condition.
In 2004, Sandler cycled across America to raise awareness about ADD. He rode 5,000 miles in 40 days from Portland, Ore., to Washington, D.C.
While looking for his next challenge, Sandler's research revealed that the longest anyone had ever skated across country was 2,600 miles in 79 days from Florida to San Diego. A marathon, or 26.2 miles, is considered a long distance to skate, Sandler said. At 100 miles per day, Sandler will be skating nearly four marathons every day, with no rest days.
Supported by a team driving electric vehicles, Sandler will take a southern route through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana and then head north, stopping at 20 college towns along the way to talk to people about ADD.
His goal is to raise a million dollars for the foundation he started called Attention Deficit Disorder Education Foundation to provide scholarships to students with ADD and potentially to coach ADD students, helping them get into and succeed in college.
Originally published April 20, 2006
| Courtesy of Michael Sandler | 
Despite a recent injury, former Fort Collins resident Michael Sandler still plans to skate 4,000 miles across the United States. | 
Michael Sandler displays the staples sealing an incision that was made when he had reconstructive surgery of his leg following an April 2 inline skating accident. His femur was broken in three places as a result of falling to avoid hitting a toddler in his path on a Boulder bike trail. |
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The Inline Planet : Accident Postpones Blade Across America
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