The cycling day on Friday was dedicated to Devon. Devon was one of my first AIDS LifeCycle sponsors, a few weeks ago when I was just starting training and fundraising. The fundraising is for the life-saving services offered by San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The training for me as I prepare to ride 545 miles from SF to LA, June 2-8, 2019 as part of AIDS LifeCycle.
One evening in December, I was totally going to ride to work the next day, but then in the morning I got up feeling maybe a little bit tired and not exactly up to it.
Then I saw that Devon added to my fundraising in memory of her great cousin and shared my social media post with her friends. That helped me get over myself, stop making excuses, and get my butt on the bike that morning. Who am I to be lazy! That was the first time I so clearly felt the difference my friends make when they donate on my behalf. Instead of tired, I felt inspired!
Especially coming from Devon. I met her at my first yoga teacher training a few years ago, and she is definitely one of the best friends I made in all the yoga teacher training. I like hanging out with her because she eccentric, and it’s nice to feel you are not the only one who is slightly weird. And she’s been such a good friend over the years! She invited me to her homes many times, helped me bring a musical instrument back into my life, invited me to events… the list goes on! Also, Devon is a badass cyclist. One of the reasons I got into cycling training is that I wanted to be as badass as Devon was, so her support means the world to me!
So far I was riding to work one way and then adding public transportation to go back. On this training day I rode to work and back. Plus added about a mile to the morning leg, making a total close to 20 miles.
It was raining all the week before that, it was great to get some cycling in finally! The day before, I felt impatient with all the rains and it wasn’t raining that much in the morning, so I considered risking it. I am glad I didn’t, because this is what it looked like out of the bus a few minutes later:
On Friday it was a different story. No rain, no fog even, and I saw a lot of green thanks to all the rain.
As I was riding through this industrial bit (I think this is Tunnel Ave just as I got off San Bruno Ave), I was thinking of Devon’s advocacy for SF bicyclists and how much more still needs to be done. It would make a huge difference when the part of Bay Trail planned around here gets completed, whenever that happens! Bayshore to San Bruno to Tunnel is a tolerable way to get through, but still, there is high speed traffic, long lights, buses competing with bikes and cars for the same lane, and terrible pavement!
The Bay Trail thankfully re-emerges around Brisbane. This time, once I got to South San Francisco, rather than cutting across and riding roughly parallel to US-101, I stayed on the Trail a little bit longer.
Ah, this is so much better. Bay Trail in South San Francisco with a Lime Bike on it 
Speaking of limes, here is my foot with lime shoes. No relation
I rode by the Oyster Point Ferry, then on much quieter streets than those right by the highway exits. I snuck up to work from a different street than usual and that solved a mystery! I would often see cyclists riding on that street and wondering what’s there. The Ferry! A great way to get to Alameda or Oakland.
The days are getting longer and I figured I was familiar with the road enough to ride the last bit in the dark, so I rode back all the way. There were road work signs on Tunnel Avenue which I found annoying in the twilight, like I don’t have other things to worry about! And the pavement seemed even worse that usual! Argh! Oh, wait, the road work is to FIX the PAVEMENT. Never mind. Thank you! There is progress after all.
In case this is the first time you are reading about my thank you rides, in a previous post, I tell more about them.
Love letters understated 