My preparation for AIDS/LifeCycle, a 545 mile bike ride from SF to LA coming up in two weeks has been going all well, and it’s almost like my main struggle is to keep my readers and my sponsors up-to-date on what has been happening! You can still sponsor me by donating to AIDS LifeCycle via my fundraising campaign.

This thank you ride took place a month ago. That day, I rode about 85 miles total. It is dedicated to my former coworker Diana, yet another wonderful person I had been so lucky to meet and work with. Diana is a wonderful example of somebody who can be incredibly warm, gentle, and supportive, and yet stand her ground firmly and really be there for those who rely on her. Diana: thank you so much for supporting me. Knowing that reminds me to stay caring and loving regardless of the physical challenge.

This was one of the official training rides I went to, and a lot of it overlapped with a previous ride I wrote about (here). This time we went a few miles further, all the way to Point Reyes.

My regular readers probably would expect me to fret about something on this ride, even though I semi-committed to not dwell much on the fretting last time I went to an official training ride and wrote about it. Oh well. You know what it was? The wind! It was crazy how windy it was. When I was crossing the Golden Gate bridge on the way back late afternoon, the bridge was singing from all the wind, and the cyclists and tourists had such a hard time controlling their bikes that I was surprised nobody got blown off the bridge!

But I am getting ahead of myself. It was cold and windy when I left home in the morning, and I started fretting about the wind immediately. When I almost crossed the entire city and was about to roll down the last hill on Polk Street, I realized that I was so busy fretting, I didn’t observe any actual difficulties crossing the City, like the hills or the wind slowing me down.

That reminded me that after all, this is all practice, and I have been getting stronger over the past few months, so a little wind just means everything will take a little longer.

On this ride, I made a point of taking pictures of the rest stops, since I covered most of the scenery before. But there is some scenery too. Here we go…

After the roll out, I shifted my fretting toward how noisy my chain was: it got dirty after the somewhat wet Woodside ride and I didn’t get around to having it cleaned or lubed. One of the ride organizers even suggested I stop by our SAG car and ask them to help me with that. (I think “SAG” stands for “Safety and Gear”) In a few miles, I found the SAG car parked on top of Camino Alto in Mill Valley, and while my chain was taken care of, I took a few pictures from the hill. What a beautiful day, especially when the trees block the wind a little bit.

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Just like on the previous ride our first stop was Fairfax Coffee Roasters, and then we stopped by Rancho Nicasio, on the Nicasio Valley loop. Here is a view of cyclists hanging out by Rancho Nicasio and a beautiful countryside view from the building’s parking lot.

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After Rancho Nicasio, we continued on the loop around Nicasio Reservoir. I stopped there, because it looked so startling with the little waves created by the wind. Then the route took us toward Point Reyes. Yet again, even though I was getting a little tired and definitely ready for lunch, it was so incredibly exciting to explore the places I normally don’t go to. One example of surprise, a little house painted with the iconic 10,000 buddhas. I did not expect that at all. I must have heard at some point that the artist, Amanda Giacomini, lives in Point Reyes, but because that is normally so far for me, that just didn’t register.

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Our lunch stop was in Point Reyes, and then we headed back the easier way, stopping in Fairfax again on the way back. Here are a few pictures of hungry bicyclists having descended upon Point Reyes and then later on Fairfax Coffee Roastery.

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This was my fourth ride with this group, and I liked how I started getting to know people a little bit, and how even with all the wind an 85 mile day was quite nice.

Many thanks to all my readers for sharing this with me, extra thanks to my sponsors, and this time especially Diana! My readers are welcome to continue continue contributing to AIDS/LifeCycle via my campaign.

At this time, with just two weeks left to AIDS LifeCycle, I probably will not get around to writing a special thank you post to the new sponsors before I take off, because there is a bit of a backlog of the rides dedicated to the earlier sponsors that I didn’t write up yet (what a great problem to have!). Either way, as my sponsor, you get to help SF AIDS Foundation and LALGBT Center to provide life-saving services to their communities, you will help me stay maximally inspired during the ride, and I’ll keep you posted during or after the ride with more adventures!

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