Day on the Ride

Distance 64.0mi
Moving Time 5:03:34
Elevation 4,626ft
Avg Speed 12.7mi/h
Max Speed 38.9mi/h

Thanks Julie Brown, AIDS/LifeCycle staff, including Cyclist Rep Meredith Slater, Cyclist Rep TJ Chaparro, Sarah Bullock Cyclist Rep and all the volunteers for Day on the Ride ("DOTR"). What a great, fun way to introduce us newbies to what life will be like during our 7-day, 545-mile journey in June.

The day started with light rain until about half way to our first rest stop. The beginning of DOTR was filled with excitement in the cold, drizzling morning. I looked over and saw a guy in bike shorts and a a vest. You've got to be kidding? When Julie wanted us all to get closer to the staged area so we could hear her announcement, she mentioned that it would be good for us to all huddle up to get warmer. So I asked the guy, Kyle Nishkian, "How do you keep warm?" He smiled, shook his head and said, "Poor planning." When I later bumped into him at our third rest stop, he had arm warmers that a friend lent him. The morning was quite cold, so I'm sure he didn't enjoy the early ride and he confirmed it when he told us everything that could go wrong, but the day warmed up.

During lunch, I got to meet Sasha and David Madfes, the daughter/father team cycling with Team Mary and spend a bit more time with Mr. Madfes on our third rest stop. Read about Heroes in the Fight: Meet Sasha and David.

But, the day was fantastic. One mishap with a wipeout, but she just got a few cuts, but nothing major. Hope you enjoy the photos.

First rest stop

Gorgeous rolling hills of Marin

Third rest stop - missed taking pictures at lunch

Yup! Kyle with his borrowed arm warmers.

Art with David Madfes (Heroes in the Fight)

Pasta dinner

TJ hamming it up with Sarah

First time to the top of Mt. Diablo

Distance 74.1mi plus 2 that wasn't included at the start of the ride and 2 to/from BART
Moving Time 6:24:30
Elevation 6,158ft
Avg Speed 11.6mi/h
Max Speed 30.6mi/h

Quite an amazing ride led by Mary Vencill with co-leaders Greg Nichols, Don Brown, Dawn Tso, Suse Whitehead, Arjan Bok and Kathy O'Brien AND M doing SAG and rest stops.

Because of AIDS/LifeCycle I have now visited Mt. Diablo twice, but today was the first time to the top of Mt. Diablo and cycling up the last 200 feet literally kicks butt. I don't think I could feel my derrière the last 30 feet of climbing, but nothing was going to stop me from cycling to the top. WHEW! Cycling down the mountain was not fun for me. I'm afraid of heights and one could go very fast down Mt. Diablo, but as you can see from the stats above, I maxed at 30.6 mi/h. It was cold and I was braking as much as I could to stop from going any faster and off the cliff. Had that happened, I wouldn't have been able to do the June 1 to 7 ride.

All-in-all a fabulous ride even though the climb was challenging. I was ready to end the ride by our 4th rest stop, which was our lunch stop. We cycled on ...

We're doing it ...

in 12 weeks, with 231 donors, we're now over $27,000. For now, we're one of the top 10 fundraisers. I'm still going to work hard so that we can exceed the goal by thousands and help make a world of difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS!

And what do I think of the other side of Palomares

Distance 86.4mi
Moving Time 6:55:19
Elevation 6,936ft
Avg Speed 12.5mi/h
Max Speed 36.7mi/h

I thought yesterday was a lot of climbing. Today's ride was led by Mark with Co-Leaders: Kathryn Chess, Judy Gerber, George Harrison, Bob Golden, Rachel Carl, and Hugo Sosa - Mary Beth and Nicole were Rest Stop/Sweep support.

Boy, oh boy, oh boy. We climbed upper Pinehurst to Skyline Drive for a break at Sibley Park. After our break at Sibley, we rode south along Skyline Drive, past the Oakland Zoo, and around Lake Chabot to Castro Valley for our lunch break. From there, we cycled east over the Dublin Grade, then headed south to Sunol for another break. After that, we cycled along Hwy 84 before turning right to climb Palomares (the reverse direction from yesterday) on our way back to Castro Valley, then up, up, up Redwood Road, up and over lower Pinehurst, then up and over Moraga and finally to Orinda BART.

The climb to Palomares yesterday seemed challenging, until we went up the other side today, which had no respite from a continuous incline. At least yesterday, there were a few flat spots. So after 86.4 miles of riding today, I thought I was going to ride for another hour for over 100 miles. The need for a new a - - after the 86.4 miles made me head on home to celebrate the holiday with John, which was a much better idea.

So what was today's ride about

Distance 81.0mi
Moving Time 6:48:52
Elevation 5,052ft
Avg Speed 11.9mi/h
Max Speed 38.5mi/h

Lots of climbing today with Facilitator: Mary Vencill and Co-Leaders: Aaron Lewis, Dawn  Tso, Steve Wedgwood, Don Brown, and Arjan Bok, with Em and M as SAG. Today we rode out to Moraga, over Lower Pinehurst and Redwood Road to Castro Valley (rest stop 1), then south on Palomares Road and Hwy 84 to  Sunol (rest stop 2). Then we rode some easier miles to Pleasanton and Alamo and, then back to Orinda without too much more climbing, except for one last climb as we went up Mt. Diablo Blvd, to Acalanes and up the Frontage Road.

At the crest of Palomares I could see M with provisions, I started calling out her name as I got closer to the crest. Boy did I need that banana, orange, mixed nut bar, mini Twix and Three Musketeers, and water. The gorgeous view from this crest is below.

I had no back pain throughout the ride, so the bike fit two Fridays ago helped. Let's see how I fare tomorrow which will be a longer ride and look similar to today's ride, but longer.

A recovery we will go ... to Rosie the Riveter Museum

Distance 36.7mi
Moving Time 2:44:30
Elevation 804ft
Avg Speed 13.4mi/h
Max Speed 24.2mi/h
Heartrate 177bpm avg / 246bpm max

Yesterday was another cross training day with Chris Davis. Trying my best to open up my hip flexors. The stretches and strengthening exercises have me grimacing, but not as much as when Ben took that foam roller to my quads.

Today's ride with Bill Harwood was a nice slow, flat route to Point Richmond - such a cute, quaint town. We ended up at the historical Rosie the Riveter Museum. What a treat! We took a few fun photos.

Wow, another huge donation

Kim Roper, you are wonderful for donating $450 to help in the fight against AIDS! Thank you.