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!