and the journey begins...

I remember my first bike ride after I signed up for ALC (AIDS LifeCycle). It was in September 2005. I rode on a bike trail, completely flat road with no traffic. I had to rest for 30 minutes and catch my breath after 9 miles (14 km). Last Saturday I rode 100 miles (161 km), including hills and traffic. Talk about progress!

This Sunday I am starting to pedal down to Los Angeles. Yes, time has come. The 7 day, 585 mile (941 km) journey is about to begin for me and 2800 other people. I spent a lot of weekdays and weekends on saddle to get ready for this. I neglected some of you because I was busy biking or I was too tired after a ride. But it was your support and encouragement that kept me going. I raised $5235 with the help of 77 friends. All of this money goes to San Francisco AIDS Foundation and will be used to help people living with HIV. No matter how much donation you made, each of you helped the fight against AIDS and you should be proud of yourselves. I am proud of all of you and happy that I have such supportive friends!

I will take lots of pictures along my journey and share them with you after I am back. ALC setup a website where you can follow our ride down the California coast. It is at http://experience.aidslifecycle.org/ You can also leave messages for each rider, but we won't be able to return them.

You did your part, now it is my turn.

Thanks to all of you!

With Debra's second donation yesterday I reached my goal of raising $5,000. Thanks to all my donors and thanks Debra! Now my job is to complete 585 miles of riding w/o breaking any body parts and come back home in one piece :-p

End of training...

Exactly one week from today I will be on my way to Los Angeles. Only one week left to the big ride... Today we concluded our training rides with a 25 mile loop. It was a "wrap up" ride that ended with a small party at Starbucks. No more rides until next Sunday. Now it's rest time!

Yesterday I completed my second century ride (i.e. 100 mile ride). I rode from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay and back with Doug. It was a fun ride. I thought there wouldn't be any hills but I was wrong. There is quite a challenging hill about 8 miles south of Half Moon Bay.

So I guess this is it... Months of training is over. I still feel like I haven't done much training although all the ALC veterans say I shouldn't worry and that I am ready. I know as the big day approaches I will get more and more nervous. But I am also looking forward to it. I've met some very nice people and I am sure I will meet more.

180 miles in two days

For the first time I tried a "back to back" riding, i.e. I rode my bike on two consecutive days. On Saturday I completed my first century (100 miles - 161 km) by attending the I Care Classic charity ride. I started the ride close to 7 am when the temperature was 50 degrees at Morgan Hill and completed it at 4 pm when the temperature probably hit upper 80s maybe even lower 90s. This was one of the hardest bike rides I've ever had! At the end of the ride, my legs were completely sore, my arms and legs were like bug magnets, with little flies stuck on my sweat and sunscreen (yuck?) and my eyes were totally red and itchy. I wasn't even sure if I could have the energy to shower let alone wake up early the next morning and go for an 80 mile ride. But I did it! On Sunday I joined a small group of ALC folks for an 80 mile ride from Palo Alto to Ocean Beach in SF. It was one of the best bike rides I've ever done. We took Skyline Blvd all the way to the ocean. Lots of rolling hills and then a loooong downhill through Daly City down to Great Highway in SF. Ocean view and ocean breeze was just perfect. After a quick lunch in the city, we got back on our bikes. This time we had to ride up that loooong hill through Daly City. There was no more an ocean breeze, instead weather got hotter and hotter. Hills started to get more difficult to ride. My left knee started to hurt by mile 45 or so, then the right knee did the same thing around mile 60. Towards the end of the ride I got even slower. But I was able to complete the 80 mile ride and get back to Palo Alto safe and sane. When I got in my car I checked the temperature: 97 degrees!

Can you spot me?

Efrain sent me this picture that he took last week during the "Day on the Ride" event. This is the first rest stop where there was a long line for the porta potties. Can you spot me? It's not hard, just check for the guy that is seriously in need of using the bathroom and can't help but act silly ;-)