Shout out to Mike's Bikes San Rafael!

I just wanted to give a big ol' THANKS to the guys at Mikes Bikes in San Rafael. Who gave my Cannondale one last look over on Wednesday before I make my way to LA on AIDS Lifecycle 6!

Adrian (my personal bike mechanic!) and General Manager, Jon Gomez have always treated me like royalty. I first started bringing my bike to them when they were both out at Mike's Sausalito. (Oh and hey a big shout out to Bryan and the gang at Sausalito too-- they are always helpful to us when we bring riders in from our ALC rides.. either to get stuff fixed or to use their bathroom.)

Adrian had Murray (the Cannondale guy) go through my bike with a fine tooth comb because I was complaining of a "clicking/ticking sound" as my left pedal hit 9 o'clock on each revolution. They switched out the rear cassette, the chain, greased the bottom bracket and did everything possible... and we are all hoping that the sound doesn't come back while I'm on this 585 mile trek! (Or we will ALL be going crazy over the sound!)

Luckily, Cannondale is a major sponsor of the Ride- so if it does happen again I can take it over and have them look more closely at it, not something I'm really looking forward to so let's just hope it is all fixed.

Anyhow- THANKS AGAIN MIKE'S BIKES for being so supportive of me, my riders and AIDS Lifecycle!!

(stop by the store on 4th street in San Rafael and give the boys a pat on the back!)

Some answers to questions people have asked me....

1. The hardest day is Day One.
Mostly because you will not have gotten much sleep the night before!

2. Ear Plugs are the most important thing to remember to bring.
Imagine if you didn't get sleep before Day 1, what it would be like not getting sleep before Day 2!

3. Afternoon Routine.
-Park the bike, pump up the tires. (You'll lose a little air overnight, but you can always ride to rest stop one the next morning and pump them again. The lines in the morning for bike pumps will be long!)
-cover your bike seat
-take your bottles, helmet, etc with you. rinse out your bottles sometime before bed.
-get your gear bag, tent and set up your tent
-eat dinner (do this before showering or you could get a nice sugar level drop while you're standing in the shower and pass out!).
-take a shower, if you can- bring one of those microfiber towels on the ride for your hair, it gets most of the loose moisture out and then your hair won't be soaking wet all night.
-listen for evening announcements.
-fill your water bottle with water for overnight sipping. Also bring a snack back to- your tent because you will wake up in the middle of the night starving!
-bring a headlamp (rather than a handheld flashlight) on the ride. When you go to the porta pottie in the middle of the night, be sure to "flashlight inspect" it before you enter. Sad to say but some people have a problem with aim.... think of this in the worst possible way and you'll know what I mean.

4. Morning Routine.
-get up (turn off your alarm clock before you leave the tent- if you leave it on snooze your neighbors will smack you when you return)
-get in the porta pottie line.
-go eat breakfast (bring your morning toiletries and towel with ya so you can wash up after breakfast)- if you want some french pressed Peets coffee, come find me.
-wash up
-get dressed
-take the tent down
-roll your bag and your tent over to the gear truck
-stop by morning "cyclist" Yoga with the Yoga Nazi (no really, it's good for you and you will end up doing it anyway by Day 3 so you might as well get in the habit early!)
-fill your water bottles, re-set your cycle computer to zero, take pictures.
-Ride out- no later than 7:30am or you will be behind all day!!

4. Trust me a rolling duffel bag is what you want. Even the most experienced backpacker won't want to carry his bag 100 yards after riding over 100 miles in the heat and/or wind.

5. Day 2 (Santa Cruz to King City) will be WINDY. Plan on it.
Definitely stop for artichokes, but don't get the deep fried ones, get the steamed ones. There will be a long-assed line for the fried ones, and no line for the steamed ones. The fried ones will come back to visit you- the steamed ones will be good fiber!
Trust me on this one.

More to come as I think of them....

Our Final Friday Ride....

Our last Friday ride was to the Fat Angel Bakery in Fairfax. Nice, new, clean bathroom and the gals that work there were so nice! (I emailed them beforehand to let them know about 20 of us were coming by that morning). The Fairfax Coffee Roastery is closed. The guys sold it and rumor has it that the new owners will re-furbish and open under another name. But of course it will still be a coffee house! yay, I think.

In the meantime, give the gals at the Fat Angel Bakery your business next time you ride that way. Their savory scones will definitely help you up and over White's Hill!

The Final Friday Ride gang... we're ready to roll on June 3rd!

Looking for a tentmate?

My good friend Dave Kim has set up a website for ALC riders who would like to get connected with a tentmate BEFORE having to stand in line and be assigned one on Day Zero and get the luck of the draw...

The Tentmater website is HERE

Basically, you go on and provide your profile info. It's free. You can view the person's picture (if they post one) and their info by clicking on the little magnifying lens icon under "view". Then, if you think it might be a good match, drop them an email and see what happens.

Once you get "matched" don't forget to remove your profile so that others are not sorely disappointed by your unavailability! (and they won't have to waste time figuring out who's matched and who's not!)

Thank You Super Dave!

Bloggin'

On AIDS Lifecycle 4 I was lucky enough to be asked to be a blogger on the ride, which is how this whole blogging thing got started with me in the first place.

It was hard to remember what we did each day because the ride always goes so fast and is quite a blur, so I had my friends come into the bloggers tent each evening to help me remember what went on.

If you'd like to reminisce with me, the link to the blog is HERE.

On my end it's weird to read, as alot of the folks I rode with that year are not riding anymore (eventually they all stop riding to get on with life... LOL!)

Patrick, my favorite massage therapist is now one of the Captains of the Massage Team this year, so make sure you introduce yourself to him and tell him he's famous. He'll blush.

TWENTY MILES!!!

So this past Saturday, Daniel and I ran our longest run ever with our AIDS Marathon training group. We ran 20 miles!!

Afterward, we walked down to Ocean Beach and walked into the water to cool our leg muscles. The freezing water made us scream, (you should have heard Daniel sing opera!) but definitely helped in constricting the blood vessels in our legs and helping curb the inflammation that was already occuring in my legs right about mile 15!

It worked apparently, because I was able to get up this morning and ride the Three Bears in Orinda.... ok only 23 miles but hey the fact that I could even get out of bed was a feat in itself!

Here are a few pics of our group during the run.. yes those are stairs, and a purple head!!

Those are waay fake smiles, we were dyin'!

The Last Tib Loop...

"Friday Hooky Players..."

... was Friday, May 18th. Our last official ALC Friday Ride is next Friday May 25th with a ride to the Fat Angel Bakery in Fairfax.... because we Ride to Eat on Fridays, you know.

"GOOD MARKETING"

Michael (my ride husband) and I have decided that somewhere along the line, I must have picked up some good marketing for myself.

I have never, and I mean NEVER- been a fast rider, EVER. My best average speed ( and this was when I weighed 2grams) has probably been about 15mph. On average I do a good clip at 13mph.

That's it!

I keep coming upon people who say, "well you're a fast rider, so....." and I'm always flabbergasted. I ride ALOT, but I don't ride alot very fast. Most of the people I ride with ride faster than me, but are kind enough to wait for me at the next stop.

So for those of you who are thrilled to catch up with me, or hang with me and pass me on a good climb- you're probably doing very well compared to how you did when we first met early on in the training season, but you are definitely going to surpass me in your average speed because I AM NOT FAST AND I'M DAMN PROUD OF IT.

I just have a good Marketing Team, I guess.

My first ALC was ALC 2

Oh yeah, and I rode my first AIDS Lifecycle with a Crab on my helmet. He looked more like a lobster, I think. He retired that year- looked pretty funny flying down the evil twins.

Day 6, ALC 2

Yep, that's me.... about 20 lbs heavier in 2003! wow...

How it all started....

People ask me if I've always been a cyclist. The answer: Nope!

I started cycling the year after I turned 40, determined to get fit and get my cholesterol count down below the startling 283 count that hit me in the face when I was 39....(5 years later its down to 175, still could be better but hey! it's down!)

Cycling all started with AIDS Lifecycle 2 in 2003. Er, well actually it started just before ALC 1, in April 2002 when I met Glenn Hammerson at a dinner party. He was getting ready and training for "this bike ride from SF to LA to raise money for AIDS" in June. He convinced me that I could easily get ready for next years ride, or something like that. I must have drunk alot that night because I actually agreed!

Yes- You can all blame Glenn. He is the reason I got on my bike in 2003 and never stopped riding AIDS Lifecycle.... it's his fault. (Track him down on the ride (he ride fast), and tell him what you think of that!)


Well, ok he and few others who I met while training for ALC 2 in 2003:

We used to call ourselves 5 chicks and a dude- (Patrick liked to say Bosley and his Angels)

Emily, Cami, Vilma, Me, Tammy and Patrick, Day on the Ride for ALC 2!

We all met on various training rides and eventually all ended up together that week. It was a love/hate/cranky bitch/best friend sort of week, where you realize these people are true friends because they see you at your worst and still love you afterwards- well mostly (you'll read this later after the Ride and know what I mean) but one where we completely bonded over having ridden EFI (Every F'ckin Inch!) that year. We became members of our own originally founded "Club EFI".

My first ALC will always be my favorite ALC because it was my "first" and everything was so new to all of us.

Along the way that first training year, Tammy, Cami, Emily and I met our favorite training ride leaders: Eric and Peter. They were the first TRL's to get us up to Alpine Dam and back down without killing ourselves! And this was when we used to start rides from McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park, imagine! They have become and are still, very good friends to us. They too are riding ALC this year (you can blame THEM - as well as Ferd Garcia- for me becoming a Training Ride Leader too)

Peter, Tammy, Eric and I- Alpine Dam April 2003

My first ALC, I weighed about 145 lbs. By the ALC (3) I was down to about 120, which was my fastest cycling/lowest weight ever. But alas, you know I ride to eat so now it's evened out at a comfortable 130 (give or take, mostly give). But this is my favorite photo of me on ALC 3 with Jeff Smith as the "Sweet Transvestite" at Rest Stop 2:
I can't wait to see what all the Rest stops have in store for us this year!!

Pos Peds/ Safety/ Keeping the Ride alive!

One of the most fun rides I've lead is the Jonathan Pon Memorial 2 day ride up to the Russian River and back this past weekend. The weekend is organized by the Positive Pedalers. The ride is much like the energy of what the actual ride is like, along with catered meals, camping overnight, and feeling what it's like to ride two days in a row after sleeping (or not sleeping) among all the snoring..

We met in Sausalito Saturday morning, started with stretching and moving on to the expectations of safety- both on this weekends ride, and the Ride in June.

Saturday morning before ride out. I must have been saying something funny because everyone in the picture is laughing..

I also did what I always do about this time (May) each year, before each training ride. I make people remember why it is they are riding. I remind them that it's not about finishing first, or riding fast, or even riding every mile. It's about the Cause. Raising money for the Cause, and raising awareness for the Cause.

I remind them that there are those among us who are HIV+ and feel very fortunate to be riding with us, and there are those who are not among us because they are too sick to ride. That for all of us who are healthy, that gnarly uphill has a great down hill, that every cloudy sky clears for us.

But for those who live with AIDS or are HIV+, there is no downhill. There is no sunny clear sky- not yet. And what we are doing is too important to jeopardize the continuation of AIDS Lifecycle. But we will jeopardize it if we are unable in the future to get permits to ride the route because we show that we are selfish riders who cannot ride safely or share the road.

So think about it when you ride in the next 3 weeks, and when you begin your journey to LA.

Practice being a safe, law abiding, "single file ALC rider". The money we raise is too important to lose, don't you agree??

Rod Wong raises thousands and thousands...

My friend Rodney Wong (rider #4985) was one of the top fundraisers for AIDS Lifecycle 5 in 2006. He raised over $21,000.00 last year (I'm estimating because I don't remember the exact amount!) This year he is already at over $26,000.00 and I'm guessing he'll be at $27,000.00 by the time we ride out on June 3rd.

TRL Rod offering a newbie good advice on fundraising...

The reason I talk about this is because Rod was invited to the Leadership awards dinner put on by the SFAF on May 3rd. And lucky me, got to be his guest! We were honored to be sitting at the table hosted members of the Board of Directors for SFAF, and they were all in awe of Rod and his fundraising skills.

"How do you do it?" they asked. His answer, " I ask. I ask a thousand people". Rod put out a thousand letters this year and thus he is already at $26,000 and counting. What a guy!

So the next time you see Rod, tell him he is awesome. Better yet, send him an atta-boy via a message of support on this homepage.

"... It's what I enjoy doing..."

...... when I'm not riding, or running, that is.

Day On The Ride 2007- my new calling as a cowbeller...