"Cowbelling...."

Juliebrown, Marybeth McSwigan and Mark Smith at the top of White's Hill 3/30/07

If there is ever a Roadie job in AIDS Lifecycle that involves driving to the top of each hill and ringing a cowbell for all the climbing cyclists, that's what I'll sign up for. It's a ton of fun!!

A ride with Ananda

Most of you know that I work in the South Bay but live in Marin. Besides having a gnarly commute (it's not that bad, I stay with my 85 year old mother every other week), it means I get to ride in some awesome places with little or no "after work" traffic.

Yesterday, David Gaus and I rode after work with our "newbie" friend and co-rider, Ananda.
We took her from the Pruneyard in Campbell, out and over to Cupertino and around Stevens Creek Reservoir and oh yes, up Mt. Eden road- hey, you tell me you wanna practice climbing hills and I'll take you out to practice climbing some hills. We stopped at the top of Mt. Eden to take some pictures to commemorate Ananda's accomplishment.

Me and Ananda at the top of Mt. Eden road with...
David (he lives in Hollister!)

After Mt. Eden, we look her on a little climb through a McMansion neighborhood, and then up Pierce Road to the Mountain Winery entrance. Then down down down on Highway 9 thru Saratoga and back to our starting point at the Pruneyard. Afterward, we went to Togo's for dinner, YUM!!

10 miles running....20,000 miles riding!

This weekend was rather momentous. I ran 10 miles on Saturday for the first time ever! (I'm training through the AIDS Marathon folks - for the SF Marathon in July, ask me about it when you see me.)

And then, on Sunday my odometer rolled over 20,000 miles. I've ridden 20,000 miles since my first pedal stroke in February of 2003. That's 4 AIDS Lifecycle rides and many many Tib Loops!

The Solvang Century

Although I've ridden just about every organized Century and Metric Century in Northern California in the past few years (some of them twice!), the Solvang Century was one I'd never done before Saturday.

It's a beautiful route, and would've probably been pretty easy if it wasn't for the gnarly headwinds for the first 45 miles! And then, all of the significant climbing comes at about mile 80, so by then I was so beat that I couldn't truly enjoy the view at the top of the climb but that's ok- Solvang is a pretty cute town!


After the ride (which was about 7 hours of sitting on my bike seat- not counting rest stops) we were exhausted and decided we'd pig out on pizza.

We don't look too bad considering what we went through...

But I don't think I need to ride a hundred miles in one day for awhile, right Donald?

Silverado Trail, Napa Valley

One of my favorite rides is up and down the Silverado Trail. It is a 28 mile ride up to the town of Calistoga where we stop at the Palisades Deli on Lincoln for lunch. Then it's back down the Silverado trail to Napa for a total days mileage of 56 miles. There are no hills, well ok very small rollers and the day is enjoyable for everyone. Yesterday we made record time for a group of 26 people. We were all out and back (with lunch!) in 4 hours and 45 minutes. That is pretty darn good for folks who average about 14 mph.... be proud!

Here's our stretching techniques:

And this is what the Napa Valley looks like in March:

GG Bridge to Woodacre

Friday, March 2nd- Golden Gate Bridge to Woodacre

Friday rides are taking off! Every week we have different people who come out to ride, having taken the day off to ride. And each week the people count gets larger.... this week there were 18 of us riding. We have only about 12 more weeks left 'til we ride out on June 3rd.
Today was 40 miles.... each Friday we'll try to mix it up and add in more miles too. Come on out and ride with us, it's a blast!

Riding, Running,Cheering, Riding...

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!

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!

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

Friday Ride- GG Bridge to Tiburon 32 miles.
(There were 20 of us! Don't you people work?)

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

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

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!!

Riding in the Rain.... and Beau's New Bike!

All of us with bike envy!

It rained today... but more on that in a moment! Beau came out to ride with the Friday Riders on today's ride from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Tib Loop. Beau's bike is "special" (no I don't mean it THAT way). Beau has the limited edition Cannondale AIDS Lifecycle Bike -he won it at the Kick Off Party earlier this month. (see previous post with pictures).

We rode out of the Conzelman parking lot- down down down the Ft. Baker bike path toward and through Sausalito. I felt a few sprinkles on my face as we road over Camino Alto, but they stopped falling as we rode the rollers of Paradise Drive toward Tiburon. We stopped in Tiburon for a "snack" at Sweden House and as we sat snacking the rain really began to fall! By the time we finished eating and headed out it was once again a slight drizzle until we hit Sausalito and the climb back out of Ft. Baker. Right about there it started to come down a little heavier but nothing too miserable.

It wasn't bad, the rain riding- I just felt bad for Beau, whose new bike now needs a thorough cleaning!!

California Cold Weather Wear...

My thoughts on layers? Last Friday and Saturday I rode in 35-40 weather and had on a long sleeved base layer, long sleeve wool jersey, a windbreaker, shorts, wool knee high socks under tights, a fleece watch cap under my helmet, and long fingered gloves. Oh yes and Pearl Izumi Amfib shoe covers over my shoes (they're light fleece lined!)



Once I got moving this proved the perfect amount of layering, in fact eventually I took off the windbreaker only to have to put it back on on the downhills. You don't want to overdo the layering because you want to move, and even if it's cold you will sweat, and that sucks if you get all sweaty and then have to ride downhill in cold. Think "wind chill" on your sweaty body.

I think it's the toasty headcover, finger covers and foot covers that keep me warm.

Here's a pic of my favorite cap, which you can also monogram! Sorry all that was available was this teensy image from Land's End.

Consider signing this online petition...

California's "Share The Road" License Plate petition can be found here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/str1234/

How to warm up for a ride...

My routine is right here. Thank you michael. (it really does work to keep you warm!)

A cold day on Tam

Saturday the 13th we rode out from San Anselmo to the East Peak of Mt. Tam. It's only 37 mile loop, but with about 90% climbing. The day was sooo cold, but also so clear that the views were amazing. You can take a look at more photos on my Webpage

Here's a view of SF from the East Peak of Tam,

and us somewhere between the 7 Sisters... (before the East Peak though)

It sounds crazy to do so much climbing this early in the season, but to tell you the truth as cold as it was, it ended up being a really nice ride because you basically stayed warm (if not hot) during the entire ride.... until you descended the mountain.

We ended this fantastic day with lunch at Joe's Taco Lounge in Mill Valley.

Call me Crazy....

Call me crazy....

A couple of months ago, Daniel said he wanted to train for the AIDS Marathon (as well as AIDS Lifecycle) which takes place July 29 in SF. It also benefits the SF AIDS Foundation, so since I am a Foundation groupie I figured what the heck, I'm up for the challenge, and I've never run a step in my life!

Last Saturday after the Three Bears ride, he started talking about it again to a few folks sitting around eating at the Greek restaurant Alekos (in Orinda). Robert Blake (no, not THAT one) was sitting nearby and started thinking... this could be a good goal for the year!

So this past Wednesday, the three of us went to an info meeting for the AIDS Marathon. The training schedule didn't seem TOO bad, and we could cross train by cycling so all three of us signed up to run 26 miles in July.... after riding 545 miles in June!

Call us crazy...

I'm sure you'll be getting fundraising letters from us soon!

Cannondale and AIDS Lifecycle

Cannondale created this bike for AIDS Lifecycle.

It's ALC blue and orange and has "Ride to end AIDS" printed on the top tube. Mike's Bike's will be selling them here in Northern California with limited quantities. It was a pretty nice paint job and made the bike look pretty sweet! This bike was one of 6 assorted bikes and gear that were raffled off at the ALC Kickoff today.

Beau Thomson, TRL and Pos Ped and who has recently proclaimed that he has OCD for ALC was the winner of this bike.... so perfect for Beau!!

I look forward to seeing these out on the road!!