AIDS TRAINING: paradise loop vol 3.0

Due to last weekends rainout, we are going to try and do paradise loop yet again. Same deal, sports basement in presidio at 9am on saturday. We roll by 9:20. Holler at me with any questions. See ya there!

ps. bring some snacks. we may or may not stop for lunch somewhere... but bring snacks just in case! You can always buy them at sports basement. LET US MASS

upcoming ride for 02/11/2012

Since attendance last week was pretty low and we have added some new faces to the rides, we have decided to just do a repeat of the paradise loop for this saturday. Having now done it myself, I can attest that it is a really nice, really easy ride for anyone who wants to hop on the training band wagon before things start getting real. The ride is really pretty and none of the hills are too harsh. So I stress this again, if you are not already a primo cyclist and you have interest in doing these weekly rides... you should consider joining us on this one before the mileage gets out of bounds for beginners.

Per usual, we will be meeting at sports basement in the presidio at 9am. Rolling out by 9:20.

here comes a link to the ride! http://www.aidslifecycle.org/training-ride/library/tib-loop-from-sports-basement.pdf

The Tortoise and the Hares

I'm now officially a Deadly Rigs maniac, aka blog contributor. Word. AIDS LifeCycle training is upon us. So…every Saturday morning, we ride. And every Saturday morning, I'm the only cyclist in our pack with bazoombas instead of balls. I wish there were a few more lady cyclists on the road, to offset the musky male spandex that whizzes by me weekly. Instead, I end up talking to the guys about whether or not to don underwear under cycling shorts (verdict: skip the undies).

Captains B. Steegs and Patchy Crawford are amazing cyclists, strong and athletic, with calves like Lance Amstrong's, only beefier. But when a pack of dudes rides, they race to the finish.

Here's my bike, sometimes far behind:

I am the tortoise in this fable. Slow and steady. According to Aesop, I'm supposed to win the race, right? As it were, the hare is quite a bit stronger than this tortoise, so I can never catch up. Those swift rabbits wait for me at the top of the hill. That's where they're supposed to curl up and nap til sundown, while I soar by in a graceful flash. But guess what. Cliff bars and five-hour energy shots weren't around in Aesop's day. The rabbits wait for me to catch up, only to zoom off again! It's motivating and definitely challenging, but a tad mentally discouraging too.

During the upcoming months of training, Aesop's fable will be rewritten my way. I don't even know what that means, but my subconscious is humming that "Rock Steady" song by the Whispers. Timeless:

We crushed a gorgeous 48-mile trek through Tiburon and Paradise Drive last weekend. Aside from the post-ride Little Chihuahua burrito, my favorite part of the day was rounding a bend only to see Brian peeing in the woods and waving at me with his free hand. For a short while, the tortoise was winning!

training: paradise loop volume 1

Our training continues. After a little bit of a hiatus due to vacationing in ft. lauderdale where the young are OLD and the old are ANCIENT, I have gotten back in the saddle to continue training for the aids ride. Last saturday we took a lap around the paradise loop. According to many, this is one of san fran's favorite medium difficulty rides. This was, in my opinion, the first real training ride. The entire trip ended up being just under 50 miles as we left from sports basement in the presidio to head across the bridge, blast through saulsalito, head up a decent climb and down in to the tiburon peninsula. The ride was full of rolling hills and coastal views. It was a super pretty ride, and honestly pretty damn mellow. I enjoyed it. I think we are actually going to do it again this saturday since only 3 of us managed to make it for the ride last weekend. Going in to it, I wasn't sure if I was going to be sore, or exhausted, or what, by the end. Turns out I was none of the above. We got back and I felt completely normal. I wasn't even really tired. I guess this old man can still ride 50 miles and feel like a champion.

Here is a pic of my whip cold chillin by the water in rich person land:


Anyway, in other news. due to some stellar fundraising abilities... George and I have earned aids life cycle wind vests. Here we are looking hard as shit:





Lastly, I am going to get better at posting about our training rides on the blog starting NOW. You can check back here each week to see what is up with the rides. I will try to get the info posted by thursday nights as long as I don't get consumed by 1s and 0s at work.