Keep in mind, this is my personal blog... my annoyingly picky comments are my own....
1) What happens if I don't raise the minimum by Orientation Day? Well, you have some choices: a) don't ride b) put up a Donation Guarantee on your own (again- see your participant center for the details on the donation guarantee program) c) fund the rest entirely yourself (without doing the donation guarantee). You must have $3k in your account on Orientation Day or you may not ride on ALC 8.
2) Do my donors get a refund if I don't ride? No. This is a fundraising ride, they are not "paying you" to ride, they are donating money to the SF AIDS Foundation and you needed to fundraise a certain amount of money to do this ride. This is a tax deductible donation too, by the way.
3) If I have already made my minimum and I have more than $3k in my account, can I transfer funds to another rider? Once the money is posted to your account, it is your fundraising dollars and funds not transferable. C'mon people, its about raising lots of money for a very important cause!! Everyone should be working hard to raise their own money...
However, if someone hands you a check made out to ALC... you could consider giving that physical check to someone else... but just remember that anyone who donates money to YOU thinks that they are donating to YOU. They will get a donation thank you letter from the Foundation thanking them for making a donation to XYZ Rider, if that money is not posting to your YOUR account then they will get a letter thanking them for their donation to that person you gave the check to... does that make sense?
4) How do I get a tent assignment? Well, you can do it online if you raise your minimum $3k by May 15th. Once you hit the minimum, a notice will show up in your Participant Center (there's that word again!) If you have a tentmate in mind, then if they are at $3k too, you can do online tenting. If not, then you will need to go to Tent Assignment on Orientation Day (aka Day Zero)
5) How big are the tents? 8' x 8'
6) How do I get home? You are responsible for getting yourself home from the Ride. If you are in SF and want to ship your bike back to SF, you can do so via McCollister's. Information on bike shipping can be found in the Travel Planner (again, that's in your Participant Center). If you are in L.A and need to ship you bike up to SF for the start, again my suggestion is to use McCollister's.
7) What is Red Dress Day? Red Dress day is a special day where all riders wear something red on Day 5. With all of us riding the hills between Santa Maria and Lompoc, we look like one big red AIDS ribbon. It's quite a sight! Wearing red is not mandatory, but I will tell you the first year I wore pink because I didn't own anything red and I still felt pretty out of place!
8) Packing? Your sleeping bag, pad (or air mattress) and all of your gear needs to fit into one bag that cannot exceed 50lbs (okay really its more than that, but do your gear truck roadies a favor and try not to exceed 50lbs). It's easier if your bag is on wheels, but again not mandatory if you are ok lugging it from one spot in camp to another. Each camp is set up differently so you never know how far your gear truck will be from your tent grid.
9) Weird things I pack? A cheapie shower cap to put over my seat at night while its in bike parking. Parking is outdoors so you will get quite a bit of dew on your bike. Also I carry a little collapsible tote bag (it folds down to about 2"x3" and has a keyhook on it - sportsbasement carries them) that fits in my seatbag. At the end of the day, I open up the tote and put my helmet, gloves, and water bottles into it so its easier for me to carry around... from there I go over to the truck to get my gear bag so I don't want to be trying to carry all of my crap in my helmet hoping that it won't fall out and be lost!
10) What if I can't ride every mile? Then get off your bike and take a sweep to the next rest stop and from the rest stop wait for the SAG bus to pick you up and take you to camp! Don't hurt yourself trying to be the martyr and ride every mile. You have already raised three thousand dollars!! you are already a hero!!
that's it for now... or at least all that I can think of for now.
