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 2003My 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!!
I can't wait to see what all the Rest stops have in store for us this year!!
