What a weekend!!
It was a fabulous Friday ride from the Bridge to Tiburon and back. Newbie Rachel came out to ride with us, and after the stop at Peets in Corte Madera, proceeded to ride over Camino Alto. All of a sudden we heard a loud blast-- it was Rachels tire! Apparently she had over inflated it (the bike shop told her 120psi, when actually it should have been 102psi!) and it eventually gave way. Rachel had no spare tube, no tools, no nuthin.... luckily I had a tube and CO2 to spare so we got her fixed up and back on the road in no time.... that was Friday
Saturday, Daniel and I ran 6 miles with our AIDS Marathon pace group. I am still amazed at how do-able it has been for both of us. We are meeting lots of fun people too, so it makes it nice to chat and passes the time quickly. After the run we decided to chase down the CAT 1 ride to Tiburon that was riding in the rain, so we found a bunch of riders and passed them in the car, ringing cowbells and yelling "go Riders!!".... they thought it was fun and we had a hilarious time doing it!
Sunday we collectively decided to cancel the Pt. Reyes Loop ride due to rain. Of course, an hour after we canceled, the sun came out and although it was windy it turned out to be a nice day to ride around town. A couple of other riders and I decided (after eating breakfast of course) to do a little ride out toward Lagunitas, turned around did a little ride over Camino Alto to Mill Valley and then came back. A total of 25 miles, so the day was not a total loss.
Three of the guys-Brian, Peter and Lawrence- who came out to possibly ride (even tho it looked like rain) went ahead and rode the route anyway and had a good ride, although they said there were head winds for the first 25 miles of the ride. Ugh! The ride back over White's Hill was nice and fast because the wind was so strong that it helped push you back over the climb!
Good day for all, see you on a ride soon!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
The AIDS Marathon too!
This year not only will I ride 545 miles in ALC 6 to raise money for the SF AIDS Foundation, I'm also running in the AIDS Marathon in San Francisco (the SF Marathon) on July 29th to raise money for the SF AIDS Foundation. Much like AIDS Lifecycle I am required to raise funds in order to run- $1800 to be exact.
If you'd like to help me out by donating, please consider doing so ( I can't really go back and ask the same people who I asked to donate to ALC- it might come off as a little greedy!) at my homepage for the AIDS Marathon.
Any little bit you can donate would be great! I think most of you know how hard it is to fundraise, imagine doing it twice in one year!
If you'd like to help me out by donating, please consider doing so ( I can't really go back and ask the same people who I asked to donate to ALC- it might come off as a little greedy!) at my homepage for the AIDS Marathon.
Any little bit you can donate would be great! I think most of you know how hard it is to fundraise, imagine doing it twice in one year!
What A Ride Looks Like...
I've gotten feedback and questions from riders regarding the "organization" of official ALC training rides lately. So to clear things up for folks (who happen to be reading my blog at the moment) here's a little insight.
Generally leading rides is a whole lotta fun for me, and sometimes it can also be alot like herding cats... :-) but I digress...
All Ride Leaders are required to be at the meeting place at the designated meeting time, or earlier. Generally, as a captain I try to get there about 15 minutes earlier so that I can get my gear on, set up and greet those riders who get there early. At the meet time I usually have one of my co-leads start leading stretching, all the while I'm reminding folks who havent yet signed the waiver to do so. If you are participating in this Official ALC training ride you required to sign the waiver. You are also required to wear a helmet. Hell anytime you ride with ME, official or otherwise, you are required to wear a helmet. I don't feel like being the one to clean your brains up off the road because you weren't wearing a helmet so I won't let you ever ride with me without one, period.
I also will yell out what time it is and remind folks that we ride out at XX time to get you moving faster and ready to ride out when we do. PLAN AHEAD- 30 people on a ride get rather annoyed if they have to wait for 1 person to get going...
Stretching goes on for about 10 to 15 minutes. 15 minutes after meet time, I gather everyone around and review the route. I try to point out and even do a major red flag alert about dangerous spots along the route (ie; descending White's Hill into Fairfax). After the route review, I really make people gather in closely to read the safety pledge with me. Mostly I make people gather in so they feel they are part of the group, and also because by then my voice gets scratchy and I get tired of talking. By rideout time or maybe 5 minutes after, depending on the size of the group- we are on our bikes and riding.
Generally I have 1 or 2 leaders lead out, but they don't take the absolute lead because we are required to ride at the posted pace, (ie; CAT 2 is 10-12mph) and our main concern is to pay attention to those folks who are riding at the back of the pack. We always have 1 or 2 Ride Leaders as the "sweep". Usually I will take the last leg of the ride and ride as the sweep, to make sure that every single person on the ride has made it back to the starting point safely. I then check to make sure I have the same number of sign outs on the sign out sheet, as I did signatures on the Ride Waivers that morning. Note: the Sign Out Sheet is a different sheet as the Ride Waiver signature sheet, and it's usually left on the windshield of a designated car.
Riders at the back of the pack are usually those who are doing ALC for the first time, heck maybe haven't even been on a bike in 20 years, and need more attention than those who bust out at a 22mph pace! Make sense? I don't need to take care of fast riders- they are capable, believe they are capable, and if they need help with the route then can stop to read their route sheets or wait for a rider to come up who does know the route.
You can ride at whatever pace you are comfortable with, but it must be at least the minumum Posted Pace.
After a ride, alot of times the ride leaders will get together and go somewhere to eat. You are welcome to join us, just hang around until the last Ride Leader (usually me) gets in, and ask us if we have any plans to eat afterward! This is a great way to get to know other folks and find out LOTS about the Ride in June!
COME OUT AND RIDE!!! :-D
Generally leading rides is a whole lotta fun for me, and sometimes it can also be alot like herding cats... :-) but I digress...
All Ride Leaders are required to be at the meeting place at the designated meeting time, or earlier. Generally, as a captain I try to get there about 15 minutes earlier so that I can get my gear on, set up and greet those riders who get there early. At the meet time I usually have one of my co-leads start leading stretching, all the while I'm reminding folks who havent yet signed the waiver to do so. If you are participating in this Official ALC training ride you required to sign the waiver. You are also required to wear a helmet. Hell anytime you ride with ME, official or otherwise, you are required to wear a helmet. I don't feel like being the one to clean your brains up off the road because you weren't wearing a helmet so I won't let you ever ride with me without one, period.
I also will yell out what time it is and remind folks that we ride out at XX time to get you moving faster and ready to ride out when we do. PLAN AHEAD- 30 people on a ride get rather annoyed if they have to wait for 1 person to get going...
Stretching goes on for about 10 to 15 minutes. 15 minutes after meet time, I gather everyone around and review the route. I try to point out and even do a major red flag alert about dangerous spots along the route (ie; descending White's Hill into Fairfax). After the route review, I really make people gather in closely to read the safety pledge with me. Mostly I make people gather in so they feel they are part of the group, and also because by then my voice gets scratchy and I get tired of talking. By rideout time or maybe 5 minutes after, depending on the size of the group- we are on our bikes and riding.
Generally I have 1 or 2 leaders lead out, but they don't take the absolute lead because we are required to ride at the posted pace, (ie; CAT 2 is 10-12mph) and our main concern is to pay attention to those folks who are riding at the back of the pack. We always have 1 or 2 Ride Leaders as the "sweep". Usually I will take the last leg of the ride and ride as the sweep, to make sure that every single person on the ride has made it back to the starting point safely. I then check to make sure I have the same number of sign outs on the sign out sheet, as I did signatures on the Ride Waivers that morning. Note: the Sign Out Sheet is a different sheet as the Ride Waiver signature sheet, and it's usually left on the windshield of a designated car.
Riders at the back of the pack are usually those who are doing ALC for the first time, heck maybe haven't even been on a bike in 20 years, and need more attention than those who bust out at a 22mph pace! Make sense? I don't need to take care of fast riders- they are capable, believe they are capable, and if they need help with the route then can stop to read their route sheets or wait for a rider to come up who does know the route.
You can ride at whatever pace you are comfortable with, but it must be at least the minumum Posted Pace.
After a ride, alot of times the ride leaders will get together and go somewhere to eat. You are welcome to join us, just hang around until the last Ride Leader (usually me) gets in, and ask us if we have any plans to eat afterward! This is a great way to get to know other folks and find out LOTS about the Ride in June!
COME OUT AND RIDE!!! :-D
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
MySpace addict...
Ok I used to laugh when my friends would talk about how addictive MySpace is... little did I know that a year later I'd be an addict too! Wanna see it? Ok I'll let ya
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Get it. Read it.
The Ride- How to Ride your Bike from San Franciso to Los Angeles Without Even Dying.If you ever wondered (or heck, if you are wondering now) what it's like to go through training for AIDS Lifecycle, get Russ' book and read it. He covers it all. All the nervousness, all the excitement, all the "what ifs", and all of the "what do I do nows". You can order it directly from him and proceeds go to ALC. Or you can order it from Amazon (and not a whole lot will go towards ALC), your choice- but read it if you want to know what you're in for!
You can go to Russ' website Here
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Running....and Cheering!
So today was the first day of training for the AIDS Marathon.
They had us run at a "conversational pace" for three miles. You had the option to walk for part of it if you needed to, but basically it was just a run for them to time you and see what your pace is. I fall into the 12 minute mile pace, not bad considering I have never run a step in my life. That was the first time I'd ever run 3 miles without stopping to walk, or without stopping entirely.
Daniel kept the pace with me, and he slowed down whenever I felt like I was going too fast. I'd just say, "um... I think I need to slow down" and he'd immediately slow the pace. It was fun because we got to talk and laugh through the whole three miles. I'm impressed at us both, we really are fitter than we thought. Must be all that cycling.
The run was at 8am, so we were home by 10am, just in time to park at the top of Camino Alto to cheer for those ALC riders on a training ride to Fairfax. It was a lot of fun for us, and a lot of fun for the cyclists who rode by- ALC'er or not, we got great feedback for standing there ringing the cowbell, just like in the Tour!
You know it's an AIDS training ride when you hear cowbells at the top of the hill and Madonna blaring on the speakers!!
They had us run at a "conversational pace" for three miles. You had the option to walk for part of it if you needed to, but basically it was just a run for them to time you and see what your pace is. I fall into the 12 minute mile pace, not bad considering I have never run a step in my life. That was the first time I'd ever run 3 miles without stopping to walk, or without stopping entirely.
Daniel kept the pace with me, and he slowed down whenever I felt like I was going too fast. I'd just say, "um... I think I need to slow down" and he'd immediately slow the pace. It was fun because we got to talk and laugh through the whole three miles. I'm impressed at us both, we really are fitter than we thought. Must be all that cycling.
The run was at 8am, so we were home by 10am, just in time to park at the top of Camino Alto to cheer for those ALC riders on a training ride to Fairfax. It was a lot of fun for us, and a lot of fun for the cyclists who rode by- ALC'er or not, we got great feedback for standing there ringing the cowbell, just like in the Tour!
You know it's an AIDS training ride when you hear cowbells at the top of the hill and Madonna blaring on the speakers!!
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