AIDS/LifeCycle 2019

Morning at Camp 6 I woke on the morning of Day 7 cold. I knew I’d be cold since we were by the beach. Instead of changing in my tent, I decided to go change in the shower truck. I saved my rubine red club kit for the final day. This would make it easy for my sister and friends to spot me at the finish line. After changing, I did the usual… brushing my teeth, going to the porta-potty. Then it was back to my tent to finish packing up and taking down the tent for the last time! ...

Morning at Camp 5 On Day 6, it was back to the 4 am alarm clock. I woke up still feeling like I caught a cold. I got a cup of tea at breakfast to make myself feel better. After breakfast, I lined up at the medical tent for more moleskin on my blisters. When the medical tent opened at 6 am, we split into two lines, one for butt medicine and the other for everything else. What is butt medicine? I also asked for some cold medicine at the tent, but they didn’t have any. The medical staff advised me to ride part of the route and rest instead since the next day was the finish line. I wouldn’t want to miss that! How I interpreted it: Ride the 80+ mile route as fast as I could so I get to camp early to rest. ...

Morning at Camp 4 Two things were different on Day 5. First, my alarm went off at 5 am instead of 4 am because the route was only 42 miles. There was no point riding out early since camp would not open until the usual 1 pm. Also, Day 5 is Red Dress Day. We wore red on Day 5 to raise AIDS awareness. Waking up at 5 am made put me in a good mood. I was extremely happy packing up my luggage and tent in the sunlight. ...

My bike computer ran out of battery 10 miles before the finish. I continued recording on my phone. Morning at Camp 3 Once again, breakfast at around 5:30 am. I got the usual eggs, potatoes, and bacon. There were also French toast sticks, mini donuts, and bagels that morning. I wasn’t sure why I got both the donut and bagel. How can a bagel even taste or sound good next to a donut? Obviously, I didn’t finish the entire bagel, even a mini one. ...

The route for Day 3 was entirely inland and included the Quadbuster! Morning at Camp 2 Alarm off at 4am, changed into kit, brushed teeth, trip to porta-potty…my morning was the same as the day before. I got a breakfast of quiche, hashbrown triangles (I love hashbrowns!), croissant and pastry and ate it with the “morning paper”. I finished breakfast at around 5:45 am and I needed to visit sports med to tape my ankle again since I had to remove it when I showered the day before. Sports med didn’t open until 6 am, so I went to foam roll and got into the already long line when it opened. There was usually a long line in the morning, but the wait wasn’t very long since most people go just for taping. ...

Morning at Camp 1 My alarm went off at 4 am and I got dressed in the tent while my tent-mate went to brush his teeth. I already took the Ziploc bag containing my Day 2 clothes out of my duffel the previous night already so I was able to get dressed pretty quickly. Day 2 is Safety Day, so I wore my jersey with orange sleeves and an orange cap with safety cones printed out it as a reminder to Ride Safe and Be Safe. I deflated my pillow and sleeping pad and started packing until my tent-mate came back. Then, it was my turn to trek to the sinks to brush my teeth and line up for the porta-potties. By the time I came back from brushing my teeth, packed up my stuff, and returned my luggage to the truck, I already had 19 exercise minutes: ...

Pre-ride out Day 1 finally came!! I got up at around 3:45 am to get to Cow Palace by 5 am to drop off my luggage, attend the opening ceremony at 6 am followed by the ride out! I woke up in the morning and couldn’t believe I actually slept the night before and was all dressed by 4 am. Not a bad start to the morning! ...

What is AIDS/LifeCycle? AIDS/LifeCycle (ALC) is a fully-supported 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise funds for the life-saving services offered by San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. It passes through 58 towns, 8 counties in 7 days. To participate in the ride, each cyclist fundraises a minimum of $3,000. I am very grateful for everyone who has donated and brought me well over this $3,000 goal. The funds raised will go to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation since I am signed up in San Francisco Bay Area. Here’s the website to learn more about ALC: https://www.aidslifecycle.org ...

Day on the Ride is a practice run for AIDS/LifeCycle (ALC). This is my first year riding ALC, so I figure I should participate to see what I got myself into. A photo before roll out. The ride started in Daly City, so of course, there was fog. The first part of the ride was enjoyable, with a little bit of a climb on Skyline, not very steep or difficult at all. ...