Red Dress Day

Section "H" is our home away from home

Day 1

"good morning riders!"

Opening cermonies. Up at 4 AM. I think a sighting of ALC Roadie and former rider Ginger Brulee is a good omen. Almost time to ride out. Wish us luck! They say not to clip in when we first ride out. Hope i dont crash. I'll let you know...

Orientation Day!

As i write this, Alana, Dahlia, and I are sitting in a darkened Cow Palace waiting to watch the mandatory safety video.
Mom and Dad plus Ollie and Rufus dropped me off and so we begin...

"oh good lord!"

That's what my grandma had to say when i told her what was about to do. I am visiting her tonight, on the eve of my departure. She also said "i knew there were a lot of dumb people but i didnt know you were one of them".
She's all hopped up on oxygen, but she knows what's up.

More shopping...

...and coffee. We rode to pacific grove to get more bike stuff and have some coffee. I'm afraid to think of how much money i've spent on bike stuff for the ride, but nobody said curing AIDS was cheap.

Pebble Beach, next stop Cow Palace - by Alana

Three days and counting until the ride and we need a lot more time to
train! oh well. Thankfully, Jen's voice is coming back - still raspy
but healing slowly. We rode around Pebble Beach and found someone who
looked a lot like Jen's mom - so we talked her into taking a picture.
Oh, and Rufus made an appearance.

Quick stop in the bike shop for some socks and nifty head band.

Jen made a new friend - he won't be doing the ride with us. But,
arrr... he'll be there for moral support.

We rode around Pebble Beach to Pacific Grove then to the Monterey
Aquarium for some fun with Otters (and Penguins and all the other
cool ocean creatures). You ask...are we really wild about Otters? YES.

Oh, and Jen got some cool new sunglasses that guided us home.

Stay tuned for gay Burning Man. xo, Alana

We're on our way

Alana and i left town today, stopping on our way to SF at my parents' house. Rufus helped us pack the car and we were on our way. I have been sick and literally have no voice so it better get better before the ride...

If it's tuesday, it must be chevy chase

Lots of people came out today. The ride is getting close.

The top don't stop

my riding buddy, alana, made it to the top of the chevy chase hill this morning without stopping. A definite milestone.
we went on to conquer lida, another hill up by art center. We leave sf in 2 weeks and 2 days, and we are getting a little more ready every day.

I'm mobile now

I'm blogging this from my phone! Cel service permitting, I will be transmitting my escapades while I am on the actual ride june 3- 9 so stay tuned.
This morning alana and I went on the eastside posse's 'griffith park' ride, but since the park is still closed after the fire, we rode to the amazing
Brand library in glendale. If you've never been, you should go. Its full of great art books and the building is beautiful. everytime I go I see bridal parties taking photos there.

Rufus is working for me

While I am out riding my bike

when you're riding for AIDS, drink lemonade

SATURDAY: 70 mile training ride from culver city to palos verdes and back again.
on the way to culver city on saturday, alana, dahlia, and i were running late and i was all cranky because i wanted to get there early and have coffee. we roll up just in time and there's pedro with a giant coffee to share. what a friend! pedro has been such a great help to me in my training, first on the echo park brite spot ride, then chevy chase hill, and finally on this exhausting culver city/palos verdes ride.


me, alana and dahlia in palos verdes. we climbed all the way up there. look at the view!




i got a flat on the road and these two dudes were nice enough to stop and help me change it. thanks dudes!

lemonade! that cool refreshing drink! these kids were selling pink lemonade, popcorn, and orchids on the side of the road. ummm, ok. we like to support local business, so it was lemonade and popcorn all around. i couldn't fit an orchid in my fanny pack, though. oh well. next time.

am i awesome?

yes i am!

this morning i rode to the top of chevy chase without stopping. i still have a long way to go in 3 weeks, but i am improving little by little. yesterday alana and i did chevy chase and i stopped about a billion times. she totally kicked my ass. but today i went with pedro and co. and i huffed and puffed but i made it all the way up there.

you know who else is awesome? all the people who are donating towards my fundraising goal. i'm really amazed at people's generosity. tomorrow i'm doing a 70-miler from culver city and around palos verdes. wish me luck!

hurts so good

today i had bodywork by my magical friend, crespin. now, you may say "ohh, you had a massage. that must be so nice for you", but it is more than that. he makes me hurt in places i did't even know i had, but i love him for it and when i walk out of his house i am lighter and more free. he told me why my arms probably hurt so much when i ride the bike, yet my legs are a-ok. you'd think when you bike miles and miles up steep hills, it'd be your legs, right? appparently not. it has to do with my very tight thighs and the muscles squirming their way up around my spine until they get to my arms where they say "ow! ow! ow!"

crespin is so generous in so many ways. one of those ways includes donating some bodywork sessions to me to help me train for the ride. ladies and gentlemen, he is a giver.

tomorrow in the wee small hours i meet with the beautiful alana, when we will ride the hills and live to tell.

chevy chase hill

i guess i am getting old, because i dont even mind getting up early anymore. that's just how i roll. well, i guess more like getting when most people do... anyway, the point is, early-ish this morning i met pedro and some other awesome people and we rode up chevy chase hill. i only had to stop once and that's a pretty steep 3-mile climb. i think i am getting stronger.

then i went to yoga (gotta cross train for the ride and stretch out all those muscles that get so tight riding up the hills) my yoga peeps are so radical. tara, jo, and sara all donated some money for me today right there after class! tamar and benj had already kicked down. i am so overwhelmed by people's generosity. tara and sara, as well as greg and tony, are doing city yoga's yogathon for habitat for humanity. that's 24 straight hours of yoga! and people think I'M nuts!

also today, griffith park caught on fire. the same griffith park that is the home of "garbage truck hill". i was going to ride that one on thursday with the hollywood east side posse. now i wonder what it'll be like up there. i guess we'll see.

thank you! thank you!

i just really want to thank the people who have already donated towards my fundraising goal. i really appreciate it. it makes me feel really good to know that there are people out there supporting me and donating to a worthy cause. thinking about it is going to make my training ride up chevy chase hill tomorrow morning that much sweeter.

if you haven't already done it, please go and just give what you can.

thanks!!

65 miles!!

yesterday i rode 65 miles. that is about 3x as far as i have ever ridden in my life at one time. we went from santa monica down the coast around palos verdes and back. they call it "the full pretzel". i went with my friend alana and at the end, my arms hurt so much i had trouble eating my pho at gingergrass, but i did it! now i am not so scared. i know i can do the ride, one way or another. thanks god for those padded bike shorts! i am sorry i ever doubted them, dorky or not, they are a miracle. : )

i really am doing it!!

ok, so here it is:
i was all set to do the ride, and then some really big work stuff came that would have made it impossible to find the time to train and do the ride, and then, lo and behold, last week it all went POOF! leaving me feeling very disappointed and with a scant 4 weeks to train and fundraise and figure out if it was humanly possible to do the ride.

well, i may be insane, but i am doing it!

i went on a training ride last thursday to see if the ride leader though it was at all possible for me to get my ass in shape in time. i was pretty scared, and i huffed and puffed all the way up the chevy chase hill in eagle rock, but he said if i buckled down in the next few weeks he thought i could do it!

so please, support me and my insanity and
donate. it'll make you feel good!

garbage truck hill

for my second training ride, i decided to meet up with the "hollywood east side posse" that meets on thrursday mornings at 6:30 am. that is not a typo. most people would say i am not exactly an early riser, but that seems to be when most of these bike thingies meet, so i added "get up early" to the list of things i am going to try (along with "ride a bike"), even though it's not the way i usually roll.
well, it started off badly because i set my phone alarm but mistakenly left the ringer off, so i woke up waaay too late. i rushed out the door (forgetting my camera, so sorry, no photo) and then i ride halfway to the meeting place (ok maybe to rowena and glendale) and i realize that in my haste i have forgotten my mandatory helmet.
so i turn around and go home, and very nearly crawl right back into bed, especially because now i am so late that i am sure they're going to have left without me. but i decide that even if the others are gone, i can still do some sort of bike training on my own. i throw the bike in the car and head to the coffee bean on hilhurst (which is the meeting place)
i hate driving the bike somewhere for a ride when i can just ride, but i am running so late and i want to at least try to make it. i get there in the middle of the safety speech, but everyone is really nice about my tardiness and not stank at all. i'm the last one to ride out, but i'm off. i'm chatting with one of the ride leaders and trying to be casual, but i am getting nervous about the upcoming hill. if its the one i'm thinking of, i rode it once before with a friend and it was SO STEEP and SO HARD. i had to get off and walk the bike at theh verry end. that time it was pitch black out and we were riding up to the newly opened observatory. i had even less bike experience then, but i am still not looking forward to the same climb.
its still really early and as we ride thru griffith park we see a coyote out for his morning jog. i'm glad rufus isn't with me. i think he'd make a deicious breakfast for a hungry coyote.
as we pass travel town and turn, i realize that we are in fact taking the same route up to the observatory that we took before, but i try to act nonchalant as i start to climb the hill. i am breathing really hard and i feel like my lungs might burst but i make to to the first rest stop where there is already a big group of people hanging out and talking. i am so winded that i cant speak at first, but i made it up and i'm not the last one.
on the next section of the hill i am going so slowly i nearly fall over and get all wobbly, but i make it!!

after that, it's downhill and its so fun to ride so fast after going so slowly. at the bottom i rteat myself to coffee and a danish and bro out with my fellow cyclists, where they drop some science on my about how i NEED $200 cycling shoes to clip into my pedals. biking: i'm in it for the shopping.

my first training ride

i finally went on my first official AIDSlifecycle training ride. i was a little intimidated, but that's a really big reason i'm doing this whole crazy adventure: to try new things that are way beyond my comfort level. so here i am about to ride 25 miles on the triple town tour ride: los feliz, atwater, and glendale. it was fun and not too hard for me, and i met some really nice people.
i was the only person wearing jeans and i totally got busted for it. this woman rode up next to me and asked me about my bike (which is awesome and i love it, so i was totally like oh yeah blah blah my bike blah blah..) and i tell her that i just got it and i'm new to biking and she kinda laughs at me and points down and goes "i know. you're wearing jeans" wow. its so funny because i did buy some of those extrememly dorky padded cycling pants (mine are capri-length. like leggings. so hot right now) but i didnt know if i should wear them. (plus they aren't exactly the most flattering item i own)
i thought maybe they were overkill for a 25 mile ride, but how wrong i was. everyone else was all decked out in full-bike regalia. i think bike shops must see the ALC people coming from a mile away and think "cha-ching!" there is so much you are required to buy, and then so much more that everyone else seems to have. a bike computer? do i need that? i probably do, but not right now. sure, there is a big part of me that is like "cool! i'm into this just for the shopping", but i also dont want to buy a bunch of junk i don't need just because i am new to a sport.
i had to wear my goofy helmet (its required on all the ALC training rides) and i had to get up early, but i did it. sure, i got a little lost at one point along the route and had to backtrack, but it all worked out in the end.

rollin' on the river

suzy and i went for a nice new year's eve afternoon ride, with a stop for food in atwater. now i'm taking a little training break since my back has been hurting. i think i need to pay a visit to my friendly neighborhood bodyworker, crespin rosas. he is an amazing person and and a talented therapist. he does structural bodywork, which is very intense but so rewarding physically and otherwise. i'm sure he can fix me up.