Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Chris' LiveJournal:

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Sunday, June 25th, 2006
4:40 pm	Full circle I haven't said much here since the end of the ride, so let me start with a little bit of a quick update. I was in quite an interesting state for several days after returning to Fresno. Since I never went to a doctor, I still don't know what hit me so suddenly about five and a half days into the ride -- perhaps the gastroenteritis that affected dozens of riders, perhaps food poisoning from the water stop on day 2, perhaps something else entirely, I'll never know. But the result was that my health deterioriated on the last two days of the ride, and I was basically not eating anything. And since I was likely not even metabolizing whatever food and Gatorade I took in, I essentially rode the last 100 miles of the ride without any nutrition. No wonder I was in the shape I was in. But after about a week of being home, I started to get better, and my digestive system became more like its usual difficult self. And I slowly started riding again. Very slowly at first, because we're having horrid early-summer heat here. But yesterday I headed out from San Francisco for a nice 49-mile ride up into Marin County and back. And since I didn't hurt afterward, that reassured me that, yes, I've survived ALC5. This morning was the grand finale of it all -- riding in San Francisco's annual gay pride parade. I joined about 100 other ALCers, and we were right at the front of the parade. Sure, the hundreds of thousands of people lining the route weren't there just for us, but their cheers were genuine, and I had the sense that a year-long chapter of my life was coming to an end. And yes, I think I shed at least a tear or two. What a year it's been. When I signed up for ALC5 one year ago at the parade, I was not at all certain that I could physically complete a seven-day ride of more than 540 miles. I also was not at all certain I knew enough people in order to raise the minimum $2,500 needed in order to ride. I learned that I could indeed ride such a ride -- in fact, under some very grueling conditions at the end, and I learned that I have a wonderful bunch of friends who came forward with a whopping $4,215 for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. I made some new friends, and I confronted a lot of personal and professional issues along the way. And I rode a grand total of 7,062 miles in the past year. So as this chapter of my story closes, it was almost inevitable that I'd begin a new one. Today I made the same walk I made a year ago: to the ALC booth at the pride festival, again to sign up for next year's ride. The challenges will be different. I've already proven that I can ride the whole route. Perhaps I can learn to enjoy it a bit more this time and make even more friends. I plan to become a training ride leader so I can help others conquer their demons and ride every mile they can. And, with your help and the help of others, I hope to break the $5,000 fundraising mark next year. The details on AIDS/LifeCycle 6 will start to appear online later this summer. I'll have a new rider number (I won't be so "1337" anymore, alas), and you might have to look around aidslifecycle.org in order to find me. But I'll be there, because once again you and I will be making a difference. This concludes this journal. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 11th, 2006
3:23 am	Greetings from Los Angeles! I have successfully completed every single mile of AIDS/LifeCycle 5, and I'm now in the hotel in West Hollywood, leaving tomorrow morning to drive back up to San Francisco. My apologies for losing the ability to voice-post here partway through the trip. However, I recorded the posts anyway, and if I figure out how to do it, I'll put those up here as well in the next few days. Today was a very difficult day, especially since I'm suffering from some type of gastric dysfunction -- either the infection that was going around camp (at least two dozen cases reported), or a possible case of food poisoning at a restaurant I visited along the route. The scale here in the hotel says I lost 12 pounds during the ride -- which would be highly unlikely, except for the very real possibility that I'm somewhat dehydrated at the moment. I've got almost 300 photos that I'll start making available in the days to come. Thanks to all of you for your support and interest. (Comment on this)
Friday, June 9th, 2006
9:12 am	He's OK Chris just wanted to let everyone know that everything is going well - he's just maxed out the amount of voice posts he can make for now. I think he'll post more when he gets to LA, or when he returns to SF this Sunday. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 7th, 2006
6:15 pm	Voice Post VoicePost 535K 2:32 (no transcription available) (Comment on this)
9:05 am	Voice Post VoicePost 267K 1:16 (no transcription available) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 6th, 2006
5:16 pm	Voice Post VoicePost 749K 3:44 (no transcription available) (Comment on this)
Monday, June 5th, 2006
8:35 pm	Voice Post VoicePost 585K 2:43 (no transcription available) (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 4th, 2006
4:36 pm	Voice Post VoicePost 382K 1:47 (no transcription available) (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 3rd, 2006
5:38 pm	ALC5 Day 0: Orientation Photo gallery (38 pictures, none of me) is here. OK, now it's real. I spent three hours inside the cavernous Cow Palace this afternoon checking in my bicycle, checking myself in, buying stuff, watching a video, getting a tent assignment, and putting numbers on my bike. It's already a blur, but there was one of those moments at the beginning of the orientation video where the enormity of this journey hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. This is no longer about all those other people I've seen do this before. Now, I am part of this. And the two wristbands that I cannot remove for the next seven days are a constant reminder of that. Now, my goal is to stay low-intensity for the next three hours. A good filling carb-loaded dinner just up the street in San Francisco, a quick viewing of tonight's episode of "Doctor Who" (if the blasted download ever kicks into high gear), then off to bed with a wake-up call for 3:30 a.m. It's fair to say that my stomach is tied up in knots in ways I never thought possible. Yes, I know how much training I've done -- as do all the people who have repeatedly told me today that I'm plenty ready for this event. But this is still something unlike anything I've ever attempted before. And even if, for whatever reason, I turn out not to be an "EFI rider" (every f---ing inch), it's still quite an accomplishment -- and I've raised more than $3,900 for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (thanks, of course, to all of you). Be sure to check here daily for voice-post updates from the road. You can see more coverage of the ride each day at http://experience.aidslifecycle.org -- and that's also where you can send me messages of support that I can read (but not reply to) each night in camp. Today was the preliminary. Tomorrow starts the unknown. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 29th, 2006
10:45 pm	More places to follow this year's ride While this here journal is the place to be for (hopefully) daily updates by me from the road starting Sunday, there's also the official ALC website, which will be producing a whole bikeload of multimedia content for each day of the ride. By going to http://experience.aidslifecycle.org you'll be able to see photos from each day (with any luck, I will not be in them), you'll get to see our route maps, and you'll get to read the very same daily newsletter that we'll get in camp each morning. It'll be almost like being there -- except you won't be sleeping in a cold tent and waiting in line 30 minutes to use a porta-potty. There also should be a place where you can send messages to me in camp. I won't have any type of Internet access, but the ALC staff prints out these messages and puts them in a binder for everyone to see (so they're very public; you've been warned). (Comment on this)
7:18 pm	Packing anxiety tackled Yay, my bag weighs 46 pounds fully loaded -- and I think it's just about fully loaded. So even if I've forgotten something, there's still some leeway. (The official weight limit is 70 pounds.) What I didn't get in the bag, alas, was any type of pillow. They said to bring a small "camp pillow," but I was hoping one of my spare small pillows would do the trick. It made the bag barely able to close, so that's bad. I'll do the alternate method -- bring a pillowcase and stuff it with clothes. Speaking of clothes, I've brought almost nothing to wear while in Los Angeles, which I suppose is OK, since I'm going back the very next day. I don't think anyplace will have any type of dress code anyway. Now I can spend the next three days just double- and triple-checking to see what I've forgotten. And I'm sure I'll forget something. But that's why we've got stores along the way. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 28th, 2006
5:14 pm	Training rides 23 and 24 I've decided that 1 Marin County mile is roughly equal to 1.2 normal miles. On that basis, my 83-mile ride Saturday was functionally equivalent to a century. About 50 of us ALCers braved the chilly early-morning wind and took off from the Presidio just after 7:30 a.m. And from there it was up and down and up and down, over and over and over again, all day long, with nary a flat stretch of road in sight. Camino Alto, White's Hill, Olema Hill, Cheese Factory Hill, Nicaso Hill, White's Hill again, Camino Alto again, and the final climb out of Sausalito to the Golden Gate Bridge -- and those are just the highly significant climbs. I take comfort in the knowledge that no actual day of the ride will be as hilly. That said, and again noting that this is a ride and never a race, I managed to finish 16th in the field, even after taking an extended break to help another rider change his flat tire. Now, I'm not a fast rider, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's rare that I actually pass another rider on the road, and I'm almost always being passed, especially any time any sort of hill is involved. What's my secret? Getting in and out of rest stops. A challenge for the ride will be balancing necessary rest stop time with the opportunity to enjoy the various forms of entertainment along the route. It's all too easy to just ride from point to point to point and not fully be part of the experience, and I don't want that to happen. That said, though, getting into camp early will give me all the more time for much-needed rest. This morning was a far easier effort. Since it was the last official training ride of the season, it was a short 24-mile loop with only a couple of hills (although I turned it into 29 miles by showing up early and doing a little mini-loop around the starting point). My average speed for the whole thing was (for me) a very impressive 14.5 mph, and the hills that once made me overly tired were now just minor annoyances. And after the ride, it was time for fun! We went across the street and took over the local Starbucks, where cake was dispensed along with useful tips for surviving the ride. My tentmate, Erhan, was there (not pictured, however), and we started making plans for how to get through registration day at the Cow Palace. And that's next Saturday already -- so close! As they say, he's good people (so don't worry, Mom). So concludes the official training season. Holy crap ... it's almost here. It's almost starting to sink in, but I've been so busy that I don't think the enormity of what's ahead has fully registered lately. This week is busy as well: packing, finishing up work, and yes, maybe a short ride or two just around town so that my butt doesn't forget what the seat feels like. But come Thursday or Friday, I'll be off to San Francisco to begin this adventure, wherever it will take me. Thanks to my generous donors, I now qualify for a nifty ALC fleece vest that I can wear on the chilly mornings in camp. If y'all can get my total up to $5,000 by Friday, I'll get the super special commemorative jersey for this year's ride. And you'll be helping the San Francisco AIDS Foundation do its good work. And I'll be bicycling 585 miles. So you've got the easy part of this deal. Here is the link to donate. Miles this month: 739 Miles this year: 3,418 (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006
8:38 pm	Midweek redemption After a particularly stressful day at work, I came home and knocked out a quick but hilly 40 miles in the low foothills northeast of Fresno. Included in that distance is a 3.6-mile stretch of road that's used by the local cycling club as a measured time-trial course with a decent altitude gain of several hundred feet. I don't time myself every time I go up there, but here are the results I've logged: 9/3/05 16:20 11/20/05 15:25 4/13/06 15:45 5/23/06 14:40 So yay for me. And my average speed for the entire ride, including about 1,500 feet of climbing, was a very respectable 15.1 mph. But for some quick humbling comparison, the club's guidelines for the time trial indicate that times of 12-16 minutes qualify as a "C" rider (roughly Category 3 on the ALC scale), and they have many, many "D" riders, which is defined as being able to do the climb in less than 12 minutes. That's one of the things about riding around Fresno -- the local cycling populace is so racing-oriented that it's tough to find touring-speed folks to ride with. Miles this month: 626 Miles this year: 3,305 (Comment on this)
Monday, May 22nd, 2006
7:54 pm	Starting to wind down I did indeed travel to Lodi this weekend to ride the Lodi Sunrise Century for the third year in a row. According to my log, I knocked 22 minutes off my actual ride time from last year, and my elapsed time including stops was just about 8:30 -- a much better showing, assisted partly by the cool temperatures and near-total lack of wind. I figured Sunday would be a washout, but I went to San Francisco anyway. After briefly waking up early, noticing the light rain, and then sleeping past the start time for all the official ALC rides, I woke up later in the morning to see that the rain had apparently stopped. So I finally got on my bike at about 11:30 and headed off across town, going nowhere in particular. I made my way to the Golden Gate Bridge and decided on a lark to head up into the Marin Headlands, up some very steep hills that I'd never done before. This took me to the amazing view from the top of Hawk Hill -- alas, since I didn't know I was going to be there, I didn't take my camera, so you'll have to make do with this random photo from the same spot, taken by someone else. I started to head down into Sausalito, but the first couple of raindrops hit me, and I decided to turn around and head back to San Francisco. A wise choice, because within about 15 minutes of ending my ride, the skies opened up with rain and didn't stop for several hours. My ride for the day was only 22 miles, but they were mostly very hilly, so they were "quality" miles. Less than two weeks to go now until The Ride, and I'm of a thousand different thoughts and emotions. I'm excited that the time is finally here. I'm nervous about the physical challenge. I'm anxious that I haven't yet figured out how I'm getting back from Los Angeles to San Francisco at the end. I'm worried about how my state of mind will be after the event. And I dare say that right now I'm teetering on the precipitous edge of overtraining. This afternoon was a picture-perfect day in Fresno, and I had no desire whatsoever to get on my bike and go anywhere. I need to shake this in the next couple of days, get in a few more rides, and then spend next week getting rested and ready for the big event. If you're in the Bay Area and are considering heading down to Los Angeles for the finale, give me a holler, because I might want to bum a ride off you, for me and my bike. Otherwise, it looks like I'll be renting a car in the next couple of days. And it's still not too late to donate online. If I can get my total up to $5,000, I get a very nice commemorative jersey that I can't otherwise buy or get. I've got more than $1,800 still to go as of this writing, but maybe, just maybe, you can help me do it. Miles this month: 586 Miles this year: 3,265 (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 18th, 2006
9:53 pm	The rain returns The weekend weather forecast calls for rain all the way from Friday night through at least Tuesday. This is highly unusual for this time of the year, and this has me worrying (even more than I usually worry) about what kind of weather we might encounter during the ride. More presently, however, it ruins my carefully made plans for training this weekend. Two rides in Marin County just aren't going to cut it, with both days forecast to be wet. So, as it sits now, I'll probably do the Lodi Sunrise Century on Saturday, but that means being on my bike in Lodi at 6 a.m. Saturday -- which means either getting up ridiculously early, or spending the bucks to get a motel in Modesto or Stockton (every reasonably priced motel room in Lodi is long gone). Either way, when you add in the registration fee for the ride, it's an expensive proposition. Onto other things, though, and the main reason for posting tonight: If you're planning to be in Los Angeles for the closing ceremonies on Saturday, June 10, here are the particulars: Location: VA Center 11301 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90073 The Closing Ceremony for ALC 5 is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. All the Cyclists will be in before then (we make sure of it). Cyclists will line up and ride into the ceremony together, where they will be joined by the Roadies. The celebration should last about an hour. Spectator Parking, for the family and friends who will come to cheer you in, will be available in Lots #6 and #2 and will cost $7 per vehicle. No pets, please! Dogs are not allowed on the Wadsworth Theatre Grounds. Please leave your pets at home. DIRECTIONS TO SPECTATOR PARKING From the 405 Freeway (South): Take the 405 Fwy. South and exit at Wilshire Blvd-West. Make a RIGHT onto Wilshire Blvd. at the end of the ramp. Stay to your RIGHT and immediately exit onto ramp for the “Wadsworth/Brentwood Theatre.” At stop sign, make a LEFT onto Bonsall Ave. and proceed forward to stop sign at Dowlen Dr.-West. Make a RIGHT onto Dowlen Dr.-West and follow the road to Lot 6 which will be on your LEFT. (Lot 2 will be utilized once Lot 6 is full, and you will be directed there if necessary.) From the 405 Freeway (North): Take the 405 Fwy. North and exit at Wilshire Blvd. Stay to the LEFT as you exit and follow the signs for West-Wilshire Blvd. The exit ramp circles around and empties you directly onto Wilshire Blvd. Proceed forward and cross under the 405 Fwy. Once you clear the 405 Fwy., stay to your RIGHT and immediately exit onto ramp for the “Wadsworth/Brentwood Theatre.” At stop sign, make a LEFT onto Bonsall Ave. and proceed forward to stop sign at Dowlen Dr.-West. Make a RIGHT onto Dowlen Dr.-West and follow the road to Lot 6, which will be on your LEFT. (Lot 2 will be utilized once Lot 6 is full. and you will be directed there if necessary.) And remember, Los Angeles in June can be hot and sunny, and you may have to walk up to half a mile from parking to the ceremony. Plan accordingly. Finally, here's my last plea for donations. If you haven't done so yet, this is your last chance to make an online donation to support the worldwide work of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Donate here. Thank you! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 16th, 2006
7:47 pm	Dispatches from the road The next post you see in this journal is a sample voice posting. If you're able to play it, this is a good thing. Why? Because I plan to use this journal to give you updates from the road when I bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles beginning June 4. (Comment on this)
7:46 pm	Voice Post VoicePost 93K 0:26 (no transcription available) (Comment on this)
Monday, May 15th, 2006
11:16 am	Two days, 180 miles By most accounts, that probably means I'm ready for The Ride. Saturday started extremely early, with me on the road at 4 a.m. to head to Morgan Hill for the I Care Classic century ride. Unlike the warm 70 degrees here when I left, it was foggy and in the upper 40s in Morgan Hill at start time; good thing I packed my jacket at the last minute. But the weather turned, and by the end of the day, it was quite hot indeed, with temps in the mid-80s. The good news was that I finished the 100 miles in 7:09 of riding time, which at the time I thought was my fastest century ever, but I was wrong; my January ride with the Fresno Cycling Club took only 7:07. Saturday, however, I took my time at the rest stops, spending nearly two and a half hours total off the bike, delighting in the food and simply taking it easy. Why? Because I knew that an equally tough ride was ahead: Sunday's 80-mile ride from Palo Alto to the beach at San Francisco (pictured) and back. This was a moderately difficult ride along the hilly interior of the Peninsula, climbing small hills over and over and over again, and four brief stretches of riding on eight-lane Interstate 280. (Yes, it's legal.) But I made it up and back in one piece, at a reasonably good pace, helped in part by having my ALC tentmate, Erhan, along with me as a riding partner. It's very true that the miles go much more easily when you're consistently riding with someone, especially on a day with record heat, as temperatures were pushing 90 degrees. How do I feel today? Not too bad, considering. I'm still hungry (bad, bad), and I've been flirting with a headache, and some of my tender manly spots are a little more sore than they should be. But all of those can be dealt with. An interesting aside, though. With so much time on the bicycle this weekend and so little time (i.e., none) for anything else, it was interesting to see how my perspective on the world was temporarily altered. Things seemed OK, if only for a while. Already today, listening to the news and interacting with the local citizenry, things don't seem nearly as nice, continuing a recent trend of post-ride days putting me into a mildly foul mood. Just two more training weekends! From here on out, they won't be as long as this one, but I'm still considering two options for this weekend: riding the Lodi Sunrise Century for the third year in a row; or, weather permitting, a 40-mile ride in Marin on Saturday followed by a challenging 95-mile ride up there on Sunday, both of which are official ALC training rides. Miles this month: 423 Miles this year: 3,102 (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 7th, 2006
8:50 pm	Kirch Flat Century I never thought I'd be saying this, but I took it easy this weekend: "only" a single 105-mile ride. The Fresno Cycling Club's Kirch Flat Century took place Saturday. I knew it would be challenging -- many tough climbs, and a tight nine-hour time limit, thanks to the generally fast nature of the local riders. Fortunately, when I arrived and checked in 25 minutes before the official 8 a.m. start time, there wasn't anybody or anything keeping me from starting, so I took off all by myself and started heading toward the Sierra foothills. I was by myself for about the first 23 miles, maintaining a decent (for me) pace of about 15 mph, thanks to some slight tailwinds. Then I hear my first "on your left" of the day, and a pack of fast riders quickly overtakes me. Turns out they were with Team in Training, and their support vehicles quickly followed. In fact, a large part of our route was overlapping with TnT, so they would be a constant presence throughout the day. Soon after that, the first club riders overtook me; they were easily exceeding 20 mph, but one of them still said, "It took us forever to catch up with you." After the first rest stop at mile 28, however, things changed quickly. That's when the climbing began. First up was a steep 700-foot climb, then miles of rolling hills, a 300-foot climb, and then a nasty 4-mile climb of just over 1,000 feet. That took us to the halfway point and lunch, overlooking Pine Flat Lake: And who says Fresno isn't beautiful. By then I was in the middle of the pack of club riders (OK, in the rear part of the middle of the pack). That big climb meant a big descent, and as usual, I tried to hold my speed to something reasonably sane -- generally 25 mph or less, giving even more riders the chance to overtake me. Since I was starting to see the hours melt away, I blew past Rest Stop 4 and immediately went for the worst climb of the day, a 1.2-mile ascent of Maxon Road that gains a whopping 650 feet of altitude. I inched my way up the hill, rarely at more than 4 or 5 mph, and even stopped for a break at the Forest Service ranger station a mile up the hill. I was counting on getting some water there (since I'd skipped the rest stop), but a notice was taped to the faucet indicating that the local supply had recently failed its bacteria test. Oops. And that might have been a very good thing indeed. For when I returned to the road, reached the summit, and began to descend, I came across about half-a dozen riders who were stopped, practically in the middle of the road. Why? A rider had gone down on the descent and had a nasty, torn-up bloody leg. Apparently a car coming in the other direction had taken a curve too wide, and the cyclist had noplace to go. And the car drove on without stopping. Had I not detoured into the ranger station, that could have been me. Someone else was already calling 911, so I called the ride dispatch and stood up the road to slow down traffic and direct people away from the incident. Finally, two SAG vehicles showed up and started dealing with things, so most of us started to head back down the hill, and then back up the final climb of the day, to the top of 1,900-foot Wildcat Summit and, at mile 73, the last official rest stop. I had exhausted both water bottles by that point, so I drank heartily. The next leg of the ride was wonderful and fast -- a descent from the summit all the way to the 420-foot level back near Clovis. After the initial winding descent, the slope was fast and gradual, allowing me to maintain speeds of between 20 and 30 mph. That was a very good thing indeed, because it put me back on schedule to make the 5 p.m. route-closing time. But I was in desperate need of a restroom (the organizers didn't supply any porta-potties!), and my liquid consumption had gone way, way up in the afternoon heat. So I had to take one more unofficial rest stop at a convenience store at mile 88. Coupled with the headwinds that had arisen, that started to make my time in jeopardy. Fortunately, however, I pulled into the finish line at 4:55 p.m., just five minutes before closing time, and still in time to have a few bites of barbecue and salad before it shut down for the day. 97.8 miles -- awful darn close to the 98.0 official miles on the route sheet, which was also very good, because I made the route sheet and map myself. But I wasn't done. For me, a century isn't a true century unless it's 100 miles, so I got back on the bike and started a short loop around Clovis. I kept going, and by the time I was back to the finish line, I had increased my total for the day to 105 miles -- my highest one-day total ever (by just one mile), and equal to the length of the longest day on AIDS/LifeCycle (although the 105-mile day on ALC isn't nearly as hilly). Sunday, I decided to take the day off. Why? Each of the next two weekends has a century ride on Saturday plus another long ride on Sunday. I felt like I needed rest, and this was one of my last best chances to get it this month. Next weekend is the I Care Classic century in Morgan Hill, followed the next day by an 85-mile ride from Palo Alto to San Francisco and back. Miles this month: 171 Miles this year: 2,850 (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 30th, 2006
9:49 pm	Training rides 19, 20, and 21 (or "52 plus 76 plus 68 equals YAY") A long weekend, three opportunities to ride, three rides completed, including Day on the Ride, for a total of 196 whopping miles! More about Day on the Ride in a minute. First, the preliminary. Friday was a 52-mile ride from the Presidio out to Lagunitas and back -- along the exact same roads I'd be traveling the next day on Day on the Ride, and a duplicate of a ride I did back in January. Mostly uneventful, and even a bit of a familiar pattern: I was with the group up until about the first break. Then, because the break location had been moved to about a mile earlier than I'd had previously on that same route, I ended up going right past the break, and I instead took a quick pit stop up at the usual stopping point in Fairfax. That left me all by myself to conquer White's Hill -- which, while still difficult, was beginning to feel at least mildly familiar. I reached the lunch break in Lagunitas all by myself, and I had my food and was just about ready to leave when the first couple of other cyclists arrived. Thinking I'd need extra time on the return hills, I took off and, yet again, found myself completely alone almost all the way back. When I returned to the Presidio, only two other riders had signed back in -- one who flew past us all early on, and another who (if I remember correctly) didn't do the whole route. As much as it could be, 52 miles almost seemed like a non-event. But I had to get to bed super-early Friday night, because I had to be in the Presidio at 5 a.m. Saturday for check-in of Day on the Ride. This would be something different. Nearly 600 riders, full road and rest stop support, and yes, that nasty 5 a.m. check-in, just like on the real Day 1. I think I was only about 10 minutes late, but I still managed to get a parking spot in the very first row of vehicles. Five minutes later, I was checked in and had my cycle number, helmet number, event wristband, and lunch wristband, so I had 90 minutes to kill before the ceremonies began. The weather outside was somewhat frightful -- a dense fog that occasionally erupted into a light, annoying drizzle, with bone-chilling winds and temperatures somewhere in the upper 40s -- so I spent a lot of time inside Sports Basement, which had gracefully opened their doors several hours early, just for us. I thanked them by spending $8 on a neck lanyard that I could attach my camera to, so I could more easily take photos while riding. Make note of that. At about 6:15, I made first contact with my potential future tentmate, Erhan, whom I had contacted through Dave Kim's highly valuable Tentmater website. We chatted about random topics and milled around the parking lot (giving me the chance to catch up with Paolo for the first time in several months, until ceremonies began, with the requisite official speeches, followed by the official stretching and the official safety speech. Don't worry about the weather, we were told; the organizers had just been up in Marin County, where we were headed, and "it's sunny up there." Then at about 7:15, we were on the road, and within minutes we were on a cold, windy, chilly, wet, drizzly Golden Gate Bridge. Sure, there was excitement, but except for the event photographer we passed just before the bridge, it didn't really feel all that much different from the many training rides I'd already taken across the bridge. And the pesky drizzle didn't help things, either, particularly on the long descent into Sausalito, which is scary enough in clear weather. (On one ride very early in the season going down that hill, I came this close to falling at about 25 mph when I hit a slick metal cover in the road. And other riders have apparently gone down there as well, so caution is always advised. Yet I still see people taking the hill at 35-40 mph. More power to them, but hey, that's not me.) Up and over the hill on Camino Alto -- just like I'd done the previous day. Erhan, who had been riding fairly close to me, decided to go on ahead on the climb up Camino Alto -- a pattern that would become more familiar as the day went on. I saw scattered riders here and there, but no great crowds or massive packs of riders. (And shame on the rider in front of me who went through nearly every stop sign in Ross, Kentfield, San Anselmo, and Fairfax.) And imagine my surprise when I call out "on your left" to pass a rider, and he responds with, "Hey, it's Mr. Fresno!" Someone from last weekend's rides. The crowds returned quickly, however, when I reached the first rest stop, at mile 18. I had heard that "waiting in line" ranked high among the most popular rest-stop activities, and sure enough, there was a long, long, long line (10 minutes? 15?) for the five porta-potties. Fortunately, there was no line for snacks and Gatorade, and I got back on the road soon enough, accompanied by Erhan and a small pack of other riders. They were at the next intersection, trying to read their route sheets, so I told them just to follow us as we turned onto the main road out of town. Sure enough, we got out of town quickly, and we were all by ourselves in the bike lane, but then about a mile up, there was an intersection where a volunteer was directing cyclists onto the road ahead of us, from a side street. Oops, the official route had stayed off the main road until that point. No foul -- and, if you ask me (even though you didn't), our route was a far easier route that was equally safe -- and didn't have a single pesky stop sign or traffic signal, unlike the official route. And then the real climbing of the day began. In this second leg of the ride, three major climbs offer a daunting challenge. The first (pictured) is White's Hill, which I'd just done the day before, so it wasn't all that awful, even though I soon enough heard Erhan going "on your left" as he went by me. Next was a climb of similar difficulty up Nicasio Valley Road -- during which a Highway Patrol car raced by with lights and sirens going. I was worried that something had happened on the ride further up the road, but I never saw anything, so I'm guessing not. And the third climb of that leg was at mile 30, right before lunch, a particularly ornery climb up Point Reyes-Petaluma Road. I'd done it at least once before, on a solo 100-km ride I did in the area last year. But I'd never done it on a trip starting all the way back in San Francisco. I turned to the strategy that's come to serve me well -- just shift down to as low a gear as I need to keep going without overly exerting myself, and just keep pedaling, no matter what the speed. Even at about 5.5 mph, I still managed to pass several cyclists (and was passed myself by about the same number). Then as I round a curve about two-thirds of the way up the hill, I start to hear music. Oh good, I thought, someone up there to cheer us on. Yes, a volunteer is handing out licorice sticks on the fly. But there's someone else there, too. It sure looks like ... could it really be ... yes. Ginger Brewlay, the alter ego of Ric Uggen, who stands near the top of the biggest hill on every day of the ride, who can no longer ride himself because of AIDS, was there in a faaaabulous outfit, cheering us? And cheering me? That was my moment. Ten months after signing up for this event, and nearly two years after I started riding in earnest to get ready, it finally hit me: This thing is real. It's almost here, and I am part of it. (On edit, a day later: I still haven't confirmed that was really Ginger Brewlay up there, so if you know for sure, just let me know. The feeling was still the same, though.)Alas, it wasn't Ginger Brewlay after all, as Mr. Uggen so helpfully points out below in the comments. But oh my, Ginger is reading my journal! *quiver* As much as I could get the tinglies while still pushing my way up that hill, that was my tingly moment. There was, of course, more hill still to come, but somehow it seemed easier. And at the top of the hill, I had another opportunity to experience what the ride is all about: Another rider had just pulled over, so I called out (as we are supposed to do), "Are you OK?" Most riders just say "yes" or give the approved thumbs-up signal, but this one didn't. He started some explanation about how his rear tire was bulging out of its tube. So I stopped right then and there. While he was perfectly capable of fixing his tire, I stopped to caution passing drivers, and to give the thumbs-up to passing cyclists so they wouldn't keep asking. And within a few minutes, the tire was fixed, and the other rider took off down the hill. And I quickly got whacked back into reality going down that hill. As I was approaching the lunch break, I decided to take a picture of the volunteers waving me into the rest stop. So I reached down to pull the camera out of my jacket, where the camera strap was securely attached to that lanyard I'd bought. It didn't quite want to come out, so I tugged on it a little bit more, and a little bit more ... and oops! My camera just flew out of my hand and crashed onto the road at 20 mph. I stopped as quickly as I could (no other riders nearby, fortunately). No vehicles came along to crush the camera, and I ran to retrieve it -- and, miraculously, save a couple fresh dents on the sides, the camera was in full working order, all in one piece. I pull into lunch just a bit more humbly, and Erhan is already there. Our box lunches were a hefty $10 each, prepaid, but they were worth every penny -- a huge box with a turkey sandwich, cookie, chips, pasta, and drink. We hang around, perhaps, just a bit too long, because after lunch and heading back up that hill, a support vehicle marked "CABOOSE" passes in the opposite direction. That means, supposedly, that there are no other riders behind the caboose, so the last rider was just a few minutes away from lunch, maybe an hour or so behind us. And for once, I look behind me and find that Erhan isn't there, thanks to a little bit of cleat trouble when leaving lunch. The next 16 miles into Samuel P. Taylor State Park are mostly downhill, and they're almost completely uneventful. Sure enough, Erhan eventually catches up to me, and as we enter the park, there's an amazing development -- the fog lifts, and the sun comes out, allowing me to finally shed my jacket. And without the jacket to tuck my camera into, it just sort of hangs there in mid-air, flopping back and forth, so I decide to unclip the camera and stash it safely in my back pocket. After the ride through the park, we come out in Lagunitas -- right at the spot at which I turned around the day before. That means that, from this point forward for the last 26 miles, the ride is exactly the route I'd just done. And indeed, there's not really all that much to report. No line at the porta-potties this time, though! Back over Camino Alto, back through Sausalito, back up to and across the Golden Gate Bridge, back down into the Presidio -- a route I've done countless times now. Of course, those rides weren't Day on the Ride. The fog has returned, so I've put my jacket back on, and I've put my camera around my neck once again, because I want to capture the end of this big ride. I round the corner into the parking lot of Sports Basement. I think I hear a couple muffled cries of "Yay!" (Actually, I think one of those was me.) But other than that, nothing. No big "FINISH" sign, just a volunteer directing me to the bike parking area. A bit of a letdown! (Turns out that there was a group of, for lack of a better word, pompom girls who were cheering riders in, but they were taking a pompom powder when I arrived.) After a yummy spaghetti dinner during which Erhan and I compare notes on the ride, I head over to the massage area for a complimentary 15-minute session to put my lower back in order (very well done!), and then it's ready to leave. A quick chat with Erhan reveals that, yes, we will be tentmates in June, which is a very good thing indeed -- one fewer thing to worry about. (Now, I need to check into the hotel and transportation arrangements down in Los Angeles -- last I checked, another friend is supposedly taking care of those.) The bottom line for Saturday: Even after two consecutive days of riding, I'm not in any untoward pain, and I rode at a decent pace of nearly 13 mph on both days. Can't really argue with that. But can I come back for more? Why not, I decide. Sunday morning was full of training rides all around the Bay Area, so I pick one that seems familiar: an 68-mile East Bay route from Concord to Sunol and back. It's familiar because, back in 2005 before last year's ride and before I'd signed up, I rode that route as part of an ALC training ride (guests are always welcome on the rides), and it was that the camaraderie of that ride that helped persuade me to commit to doing ALC. In a form of returning to the scene of the crime, I figured it would be interesting to see how much of a challenge that ride would pose for me a year later. A good idea in principle. I had failed to fully comprehend that last year's ride was classified "mostly flat," but this ride was classified "rolling hills with some steep climbs." And sure enough, the ride began with a big, big difference. Instead of staying in the valley, we quickly started a long, nasty climb up into the east side of the Berkeley Hills. And the rolling hills continued through about the first 12 miles of the ride. The good news is that my slow-and-steady pedaling carried me on through yet again. The other good news was that I could turn around at any point after that and have a mostly-flat ride back to the starting point, so I wasn't committed to the full distance. But I made it anyway. I reached the lunch point and had a quick bite to eat, and announced that I was going to leave a few minutes early so that I could get a head start on the few hills going back. (Sound familiar?) And, 14 miles later, there still weren't any riders behind me. But what's that up ahead? I think I see a "RIDE LEADER" helmet cap on that one rider. And other rider is waving at me! It's Paolo!? He's not on this ride! No, but they were part of a group doing one of the other rides, and we happened to be on the same stretch of road at the same time. We followed along in reasonably close proximity for a few miles, until I had to take a pit stop for Gatorade and restroom. But that was it. All the way back to the start point, another 14 miles, for a total of more than 68 miles. Not another one of our riders in sight. And at the end, I even signed the sign-out sheet (giving appropriate thanks), loaded the car back up, changed clothes, had a snack, and walked to the bank for some much-needed cash. And after 25 more minutes, still no other riders. Needing to start back to Fresno, I took off and headed home. My time on this ride was 5:13, compared to the 5:00 even I had on the Concord-Sunol ride back in 2005. But two things: The 2005 ride was over the mostly-flat route, and I didn't already have two consecutive high-mileage days. And four hours after returning home, I still don't hurt, although I'm still wide awake, despite having a melatonin pill inside me. I've just spent nearly an hour and a half writing all this. Three consecutive days of high-mileage riding would seem to suggest that, this time for sure, I might well be ready to ride. And during Day on the Ride, something finally clicked -- not only is the event now fully real for me, it's also an event where I finally know many of the people I'll be riding with. I no longer felt alone. And it's only about a month away. Since April ends in about half an hour, here come the numbers. And if you'll allow me to brag for just a second, the numbers are quite impressive. The most I'd ever bicycled in a month was 703 miles in May 2005. And in January-April 2005, my total mileage was 1,857. (Yes, my logs are that detailed.) And now ... Miles this month: 859 Miles this year: 2,679 (Comment on this)