17 posts tagged “charity ride”

Short story:

• Saturday morning: AWESOME. 25mph pacelines [while my cardio system allowed it], great fun.
  
• Saturday afternoon: My it band acted up in a nasty fucking way and I had to get driven in to camp because I couldn't walk. I saw a massage therapist that night and she spent some time loosening shit up.
  
• Sunday morning: I was stiff as hell but not in pain and took it super easy in the morning
  
• Sunday afternoon: Fog burns off, weather heats up, I feel great and complete the ride without issue.

Longer story:

Doing this ride a second time was a lot different than doing it the first time. The most obvious difference, to me, was how much more prepared I was this year. I mean, I obviously wasn't adequately prepared for the cold on Saturday morning and suffered the consequences. But, as to my physical fitness level, the ride was MUCH more doable this year than last. It even got to the point where I would be cruising past points I remember stopping at last year because I was so tired.

It was also a ton of fun (as it was last year!) to ride with The Anti MS Crew. We splurged and bought full team kits which we all wore on Saturday. We looked pretty smashin', if I say so myself. It was fun to be able to recognize people from a distance. Plus, it's a nice memento from the ride.

I'm a little sad I won't be able to do the ride next year (I'll very likely still be doing the cross country tour which I swear I'll talk about soon) - but it was great to do it a second time.

Sorry for not posting anything today [Sunday] during the ride - I left my phone in my gear bag in the morning. Oops.

Thank you all for the texts, etc. Hope your weekends were great :)

One last training ride before the Waves to Wine ride charity ride (for Multiple Sclerosis) next weekend! Doing a three bears loop (38mi, 5000ft climbing) with a few members of the team.

Want to Donate? http://tinyurl.com/5u3hta

So it's 1230am. I have to be up in three hours.

My bag is mostly packed and I'm about as prepared as I can be. I know I'll forget a bunch of semi critical things but so be it. Today is a paltry 80 miles. Plan: I'll awaken bright as a bird, slug down a protein shake, eat a huge pb&j sandwich and possibly down an energy bar. I'll then proceed to don my spandex armor and get a ride over to the cow palace with Zach.

After that I just do what people tell me. Bike over here? You got it, boss.

Here goes nothin'!

So Saturday was my third, and final, official training ride for the AIDS LifeCycle. It totaled 108 miles (my very first century!) and took the entire day. It was definitely challenging as the afternoon brought 100+ degree heat and a relentless headwind that didn't let up for hours. The ride took pretty much everything I had. However, I'd do it again in a heart beat. It was a lot of fun to ride with the people I met and the overall experience was great.

I've said it before but I'll say it again: only amazing people ride charity rides. I haven't met anyone whose less than that awesome friendly person you want to hang out with yet. It doesn't matter your age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identification: you're instantly amongst friends on these rides. Everyone cares about everyone else. I was riding with a group of about 10 riders on Saturday and one gal started to bonk pretty hard near the end - so we all stopped and hung out while she ate and drank to regain energy. Sure we could have been home fifteen minutes earlier but it was a lot more fun to talk and encourage her than to just ride those last five miles without her. It's an honor to ride with these other riders and roadies and I can't wait to witness the actual ride.

In short: I'm about as ready as I can hope to be for June 1st. I've raised almost $3,000 and I've pushed myself harder than ever before on my bike. I've never ridden a century (100 miles) in one day and I've never climbed Mt. Diablo before yet I've done both in the past month. It's great to know that even after my injury I'm still in shape and able to hold my own on the bike.

Thanks again to everyone whose supported me (verbally, financially, emotionally) throughout these incredibly trying past few months. It means a lot to me. And yes, I know you know that already - but I'm going to keep saying it. Thanks.

So yesterday I went on my second ALC official training ride. I'm definitely getting into the game a bit late - and it's been a bit rough on my body - but I got out there and rode 85 miles yesterday. It was just over 7.5 hours on the bike and a solid 12 hours from time leaving my house to time returning to my house. I'm not entirely sure but I think that's a one-day record for me.

I got an excellent night of sleep last night and awoke to a lot of muscular soreness and a bit more soreness in the knee than I'd like. I've been icing/ibuprofening in an attempt to keep the swelling/pain down. I think it had to do with seat position as I had to jack my seat up a good half cm to get better leg extension - I think that was what was causing the pain - too much bend in the knee. Towards the end of the ride the pain had alleviated with the seat height increase.

Anyways - I'm in good spirits and feeling nervous/optimistic about the ride. I was told that this 85 mile ride we did was way harder than any day on the ride - so I'm optimistic.

Also, in other excellent news: With all of you amazing people's excellent help I've hit my fundraising goal / minimum to ride! Thank you /so/ much to everyone who has donated. I've raised $2,760 so far - which is a pretty staggering number.

I've got a few mix CDs I'm going to try to pump out this week and one or two prints left to deliver.

For those who missed the Facebook message I had sent out:

Donate $100 - Get a custom mix cd (hour long one-track seamless mix style)
Donate $150 - Get a matted print (your pick from prints.nontent.net)
Donate $200 - Get one of each

http://www.aidslifecycle.org/2004 is the donation URL. I still have another week or two (I believe) to raise funds - so if you've been meaning to or have had plans of donating now is the time!

I'm now four weeks out from my collarbone surgery. I still have limited mobility in my right arm and, sadly, I'm still a long ways out from being completely healed. The good news is that the pain is almost completely gone. Now, obviously, if I extend my arm in a weird way or put any kind of pressure on the collarbone it hurts like the dickens. While I have no idea how far along my healing process TRULY is - I'd like to hope that these are indications that I'm healing fast and everything is going great. I'm completely off all pain medications at this point which I'm very happy about.

Training is a little more tricky.

With this injury, I have (obviously) had to dramatically scale back how hard I push myself and carefully regulate how hard I work while training in the gym. The absolute last thing I want to do is further injure myself because I was too impatient to wait a few additional weeks. So, that being said, I'm very slowly ramping up a cardio regime. My goal is to work up to an average of four to six 30-45minute high intensity (160 beats per minute+) cardio sessions a week. On top of that I'm deciding the best way to squeeze in a leg weight workout. The glaring problem with the weight workout idea is moving the weights around - but I'm sure I can ask friendly folk in the weight room to help out.

This leaves the third pillar of my AIDS LifeCycle preparations: fundraising. Surprise, surprise, sitting at home all day means I can't go out and talk with local businesses and talk with my friends to try to raise money for the ride. I have a few ideas on fund raising opportunities once I'm a little more mobile - so hopefully this will clear itself up once I get moving again. I'm a little bummed that I can't do much besides post on the internets and talk with friends right now - but it is what it is. I'm just about 30% of the way to my goal - so I've a substantial way to go, but it could always be worse!

http://www.aidslifecycle.org/2004

Why am I doing this?

I have two close friends who have been diagnosed with MS and they are some of the most outstanding and wonderful people I know. They've helped me through hard times and have stopped at nothing to continue to live their lives the way they want to live them. I really admire their courage and dedication and want to help out by doing this charity ride.

What will I be doing?

I'll be biking 150 miles during the last weekend of September (29th-30th), and have raised $2000 to help both finding the cure and aiding those already afflicted by MS. I would sincerely appreciate it if you would consider donating and helping me reach my goal. It would mean a lot both to me as well as those affected by MS.

What can you do?

This is a charity ride which means I'll be raising money to ride. A number of amazing, generous people have donated, and I can't thank them enough. As of this update I've passed my original goal of $1000, upped my goal to $2000, and have met that as well. I am obviously still accepting donations but have met both goals thanks to the help of so many people. If you haven't donated yet, and still would like to, it would mean a great deal to me and those afflicted if you'd do so. Plus, you'll sleep sounder at night knowing you're an awesome person whose contributed to fighting a disease that has no cure and affects people for their entire lives.

I'm an awesome person with a big heart and I want to help!

Updates / Relevant Posts:

My New Bike
My Training Regime
First Tiburon Loop (short video)
A heart felt Thank You
Waves to Wine 2007 Update

So it turns out Dave Patterson, one of the professors who helps run the RADLab (one of the two labs I'm working with this semester) is also doing the Waves to Wine ride. I noticed he had his donation page up during a meeting this morning so we started talking about the ride and he ended up inviting me to join the team he's apart of.

Joining a team doesn't change anything for me personally -- all of the donations still count towards my personal total, and my 'best donors ever' list still reads all of the best donors ever. In addition, however, the combined total of all team member's' donations are counted towards a 'team total' which is tracked separately. With the addition of the donations by all of you awesome people the 'Anti-MS Crew' is now in the top five Family & Friends teams with a total of just over $21,000 raised all said and done. Wow!

Also: I added a photo to my waves to wine profile page, so if you want to see just how goofy I look in a helmet and cycling clothes, you're more than welcome to laugh at me.

When I first decided I wanted to do this ride I set my goal at $1,000 because it was a nice round number and felt like it would be a great accomplishment. I didn't realize I'd raise it so quickly.

After raising the $1,000 I doubled my goal to $2,000 and switched my ride from 110 miles to 150 miles.

Now, today, 8/28/2007, I've met my second fund raising goal of $2,000.

I really want to thank each and every one of you (anonymous donors, you know who you are!) for donating to my ride. It feels really awesomethat so many of you are willing to support me in this ride and support those afflicted by MS at the same time.

Since I've reached my goal (but will obviously keep accepting donations to anyone who hasn't yet donated), I'm going to shift gears (ha ha.. ha...) and preach the benefits of volunteering for the festivities during the weekend of the 29th and the 30th.

Want to help out without pedaling 150 miles? Volunteer!

Here's a huge list of opportunities available for volunteers.

Here's a few positions that would be a great way to spend a weekend:

• Face Painter - Paint creative pictures on faces at festivity sites.
• Hoopla - Decorate Finish Line site at Sonoma Mountain Village and Lake Sonoma, then cheer riders across the Finish Lines.
• Rest Stops - Assist with set-up and take down of route rest stops. Man rest stops during the ride.
  
• Hydration Station - Stock and serve water and sport drinks.
• Information Booth - Answer questions and distribute materials.
• Motorcycle/Ride Marshal - Patrol route to help with rider control. When needed, respond to emergencies and traffic situations.

I don't know about you but face painter sounds pretty badass.