Category Archives: AIDS/Lifecycle
A little fun on AIDS/Lifecycle 9
June 20, 2010 – 02:34
Here’s a sample of the fun and humor that’s encountered during the ride. As you can see, it’s a party everyday!
AIDS/Lifecycle 9 Slideshow
June 20, 2010 – 02:27
Thanks to my donors and to those who supported me during the AIDS/Lifecycle 9.
It’s been a week since ALC9 ended and I’m recovering well. I do have to admit that I miss riding my bike through the beautiful landscape between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Here’s a little slideshow of my journey.
Bike fixed at Sports Chalet
January 25, 2009 – 23:08
Despite what people might say about having your bike serviced at a major sports shop, I was pleasantly surprised how well my bike performed during the last training ride. The guy at Sports Chalet at Eastridge in San Jose did an excellent job!
Prior to getting it tuned up, thinks were clanking all over the place. Actually, things were clanking like crazy during the last 15-miles of ALC7. Kinda sucked, but nothing was going to stop me from making it to the end, not even a lot of grinding and clanking. Needless to say, it sucked when the last stretch of the ride was uphill into the Veterans Center in Los Angeles. The bike made it 530-miles without a problem and without a tech looking at it. Not bad for a $550 bike.
Anyways, I’m riding again this year during ALC8… same bike… but this time, I’ll be sure to make sure I get the thing regularly looked at.
Unfortunately, I’m missing 2 rides… I’m going to make it up in the next week or so. Maybe a trip down to Gilroy or Fremont.
Parenting and ALC8
December 30, 2008 – 03:53
Okay. This thought has been going through my head for a while. Next week, we’re expecting the birth of our second daughter… this coming year is going to be an interesting one. Somewhere between the other kids, the new baby and work, I’m going to have one busy 2009.
Luckily, my wife’s fully supporting ALC 8.
AIDS/Lifecycle 8 Web Page
October 1, 2008 – 00:58
My new AIDS/Lifeycle 8 web page is now up (and ready to accept donations)! I haven’t put anything on there yet… but here’s the URL.
Thanks for the video Perry and some ALC memories
September 30, 2008 – 23:59
A friend of mine who I haven’t seen since college (you don’t want to know how long ago that was) sent a nice surprise. He taped the closing ceremonies for AIDS/Lifecycle 7, compiled the highlights and sent it to me! AWESOME! Thanks Perry. It brought back a lot of memories!
While there are many highlights in my life like graduating from college, meeting my wife, getting married and having children, this event is a little different. I’ve never done anything to challenge myself at this level. Now that several months have gone since the ride, I’ve had time to think what I walked away with.
First of all, I’ve never challenged myself in this way. This ride took its toll not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
Riding great distances on a daily basis is an incredible feat, particularly when I’ve never done anything like this. This ride was the first time I ever rode beyond 70-miles, and to do it on consecutive days… even I was surprised.
Mentally, the ride is what you make of it… there’s a good chunk of solitary time, where it’s me, my bike and the road. There were many friendly people along the way, both on bikes, the support crews, as well as well wishers along the way… everyone supported each other, and made light of the great distances we were all traveling together. I had a lot of time to think about… well… everything.
Emotionally, there were some incredible personal milestones… there were moments along the way when emotions were so incredibly strong that tears would go streaming down for no particular reason. Maybe the concept of seeing familiar things I’ve seen maybe hundreds of times and knowing their relative distance from home. Then there’s the times I just wanted to quit from mental exhaustion. Ironically, physical exhaustion never got me. It was all the tricks my mind played on me, telling me that I can’t go on. Then it reminded me of everyone who thought I was crazy for doing this ride, who didn’t believe that I could make it to Los Angeles. I cried at those too because I started believing them.
Thing single most powerful personal event during the ride was day 6 – 90 miles from Lompoc to Ventura, when I almost quit several times in the last 25 miles from Ventura. I was exhausted with only 1 rest stop remaining. Had I stopped, I might have quit and taken the bus into camp. Thinking back on it, while it might seem like a small decision, it was one that made me think about why I did the ride. More importantly, if I quit, everyone who told me that I couldn’t make it would have been right. There was no way I was going to let any of them gloat… I realized that I had to prove to myself that I could complete this leg of the ride.
I made the conscious decision to skip remaining stops because getting off my biked spelled certain defeat. Needless to say, I started getting emotional — my mind was telling me to stop and it started tricking my body into thinking that I needed to stop too. It’s a good thing I didn’t listen to my mind — once I merged onto 101 from Highway 1 along the Ventura Freeway, I resided on the fact I was going to complete this leg and got my rhythm going and made it into Ventura… and at the end, I was still able dismount without falling off my bike 
In Ventura, my parents, my son and my friend Al (we were the only two who ended up riding of a much larger group) were waiting. From a distance, I could see that they recognized me and I could see my mom starting to cry. My dad, who’s normally not an emotional person was also getting a little emotional. Any doubts they had about me completing the ride were gone. More importantly, I broke mental barriers to complete what I thought was going to be impossible.
The next day was an easy ride into Los Angeles.
Oh yeah… if you don’t already know… if one time isn’t enough… I’m officially registered for AIDS/Lifecycle 8!
Photos from AIDS/Lifecycle 7
June 17, 2008 – 09:18
I’m slowly putting the photos up on Flickr. I’m not editing the photos very much. I’m mostly weeding out mis-shots.
Travis Wise on Flickr followed the ride and got excellent shots. If you go through the photos, you’ll find me talking to Angela on the phone. His photo collection can be found at Travis’ ALC7 Photo Collection.
I rode my bike to LA
June 13, 2008 – 10:55
I actually did it! I rode my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles, less 40 miles (more on that later).
“Overwhelming” and “impressive” are the words I have to describe my experience on ALC 7. The people are incredible, the staff was incredible, the roadies were all lifesavers… and what I didn’t anticipate is how close everyone got during 7 days that really tested my endurance and dedication to this cause. I could feel the sense of community during the first day, but as day 7 approached and went, there was a sense of community that I’ve never felt short of my own family. Everyone was so incredible supportive – on the last few days, it was so easy to simply quit and board a sweep vehicle, I didn’t because of the support of every rider I came across.
In short, not only did every rider and roadie contribute over 11.4 millions dollars to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, we all increased the awareness of the cause to those who donated.
Some of the fun highlights are:
- My bike cost me $540 dollars – that’s $1 for every mile I rode
- My cyclist number was 1545 – get it?
- Longest single distance travelled – 90 miles from Lompoc to Ventura
- Fastest downhill speed – 47 miles per hour
- I don’t like camping, and I really don’t like porta-potties
- Hill training is essential for the ride — particularly long, drawn out ones. Flat, level land might as well be hills because I was always working at moving.
- I really started to like hills, because at some point, there’s a downhill somewhere along the lines
- California countryroads are incredible by bike (not the motorized kind)
- My slowest speed – 2.5 miles per hour up Quadbuster
Since I was on my bike for anywhere between 8 and 10 hours, there’s a lot of time to think. At some point, I was wondering what a superhero must feel like — my conclusion to that question was that being a cyclist or a roadie is the closest most people will ever get to experiencing that feeling. Why? Most of the cyclists and roadies were there knowing that we were all doing something altruistic. We raised money for an incredible cause, and we were riding our bicycles or helping cyclists who were increasing not just the awareness of the cause, but helping communities along the way, but directly and indirectly.
I’m ready to do it all again, but next time, I’ll train a lot harder than I did. Given I only got sagged once (day 2), I did pretty well. Also, given that I’m willing to do it again and recovered within a few days… I just need to work harder to improve my overall performance, particularly on hills.
Thanks to everyone that supported me financially and spiritually on this ride — you folks are the ones that made it possible for me to do this.
If all goes as planned, I’m planning to be riding for ALC8!
ALC 7 Starts This Weekend
May 30, 2008 – 22:35
Again, thanks to everyone who has helped support me through this incredible journey. If I haven’t said it enough, AIDS/Lifecycle 7 starts this weekend. As a start assembling everything I’m going to bring on this incredible ride, I started thinking about how much I have changed in the months leading to this incredible event.
If you asked me a year ago whether I could ride 50-miles for fun… I would have said you were crazy! If you asked me whether I could raise at least $2500 for charity, I would have said you were crazy!
Guess what… those things happened, among many other terrific things in my life. As I prepare to embark on this crazy ride, it’s hard to believe how quickly time has gone by. I’ve met so many incredible people along the way, both those who have supported me as well as those who work or volunteer for the AIDS/Lifecycle as well as the various participants I’ve met over the past year or so.
I really want to recognize how much my family and my kids have supported me on this, and the support and encouragement from faces from the past, friends I haven’t talked to or seen for years, co-workers, and complete strangers who are now good friends. It’s incredible how news spreads!
On Saturday, I will attend the ALC Orientation at the Cow Palace in San Francisco with my riding partner (not really because he rides a lot faster than me ) and tent mate, Al Milan (#1488).
Thanks to my parents, my son will be following me down to each city we will camp at – I hope my son will learn as much as I have about taking part and how terrific it is to take part in something incredible. My wife, daughter and my sister won’t be able to follow me down to Los Angeles, but they will be meeting me in Los Angeles for the closing ceremonies.
Sunday, June 1st is here and I’ll be there ready to ride….
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