It rained for about 30 of the 103 miles that I rode. I discovered that my road bike is not meant for riding in Mud. The pedals and shoe clips filled with mud and made it difficult to clip in and out. The derailers, sprockets and brakes didn't work well under those conditions. The last 10 miles were in the dark, pouring rain and a decent headwind. Before rain the average speed was in the high 16's. At the end of the ride the average was 14.5. Overall despite the difficult conditions it was a great ride. The scenery was incredible. One humbling embarrassing moment at the Santa Barbara pier when I my right foot was clipped in and I tipped over to the right and landed on my side. Hadn't done that since first getting the speedplays. Scraped the knee. With over 50 miles left to ride it had me a little worried but the pain disappeared after a couple of miles. At least the people near by were entertained. A long ride on the Wednesday is not in the cards since the bike needs some maintenance . Just as well since I'm a bit sore.

a break in the rain. on the 101. mile70

getting rained on.

another view of the peir. its clear but i just heard thunder

the pier at the end of state street.

Sand sculpture

Cabrillo beach. mile 49

The Parrot Menagerie

beautiful. wish i had a real camera with me.

La Connchita. mile 28

not raining here yet. on my way to Santa Barbara.

beautiful sky

Mile 12. The Harbor bridge smelt like a sewer! Could that little bit of rain have caused a spill?

the checkup

Looks like I might be in for the invasive test tour once again. I'll know more later today.

over 1700

I've just been informed that the pledge amount now is over $1700! Thanks to a very generous donation from Carousel Schools!!!! THANK YOU

Carousel Schools offers an early intervention and non public school programs. They are an exceptional school.

training ride 1/29/07

Time to climb the Santa Susanna again. Total ride was 59.5 miles Averaged 15.5 mph and 2600 feet of climbing. Wanted to ride longer but it was time for my annual kidney checkup. When you only have 1 you have to take good care of it. Tomorrow sure be a longer ride.

training ride 1/29/07

Publish

118 in Moorpark. mile 31. Better turn back now if I'm going to make the Doctor's appointment.

118 freeway Simi valley side

Sant Susanna pass valley side. mile 14

mile 8. lots of coyetes here

Training ride

Hoping to make this the first of three long training rides on consecutive days in order to get used to riding long daya after day.

Thank You

A big thank you to Gina and Stewart for your generous contribution

me at the party

Karen at the kickoff party

kickoff party

training ride 1/26/07

101 freeway. Mile 45 with 460total feet of altitude gain on the ride. Ride today 48 miles but it was about as difficult as the 80 miler because of all the climbing.

training ride 1/26/07

Surprised to see my niece Jesse at the Rustic Canyon Grill!

training ride 1/26/07

2nd view from the top of Old Topanga Canyon road.

training ride cont.

2nd top. 1550 feet. view 1

training ride 1/26/07

Old Topanga road. This is where the tough part of the ride begins. To the 2nd Topanga top

training ride 1/26/07

Topanga top #1 1500 foot altitude

training ride 1/26/07

to the 1st of the Topanga tops.

HIV/AIDS Stigma Page

HIV/AIDS Stigma Page

I came upon some hateful, homophobic message threads on of all places a bicycle forum. It reminded me that not only do we have to battle this insidious disease but also a human disorder that has been around for all our history. Prejudice.

HIV/AIDS cases increase in Portland

Portland Jamaica

mile 75 Completed 81 miles today. I was hoping to knock out a hundred but with the winds and short day it didn't happen. Did manage to burn 4500 calories.

surfing competition in Ventura. Where's Oboy? Didn't see his Van.

mile 50

lunch at Oxnard harbor. Crab ceviche for $8!

Catalina island at mile 15. Too bad the camera in the phone doesn't have a zoom. The Island was really clear today.

From the best of Craigslist

An open letter to Straights

cold and windy

I was planning on a 50/70 mile ride today but I wimped out. I was riding by a chain link fence and saw a Redtail Hawk driven into it. It was difficult to stand in the gusty winds much less ride. Guess it's time for some cross training.

Cold in the Valley

This my not be cold where your from but for us wimpy Southern Californians this is serious cold!

Nano Raffle

Karen will pick up a Red Nano today for the first fundraising raffle. The RED Special Edition Nano. Apple will give a portion of its purchase price to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.
So this will be a charitable double whammy. A donation to to Join Red the Global Aids foundation and the proceeds from the raffle going to AIDS/LIFECYCLE. I'm thinking that the raffle ticket prices will be $5.

Margie, Thank you so much!

Lanny thank you very much for the donation.

Maria, Thank you very much for that generous donation!

Scott, thank you so much for the extremely generous donation and your kind words of encouragement. Also Bobbie, thanks for the donation and the inspirational message.

Commute

Back to commuting by bicycle this morning. A little over 18 miles, so I usually ride around campus or do some loops to get an extra mile or 2 in. The Wooden center is open at 0530 again. The wind made the easiest part of the ride much more difficult. The ride home is usually 21 to 26 miles depending on route. It also involves a lot more climbing. 40 miles total for the day with 2200 feet of climbing. Lots of traffic on even on the side streets. I found out that PCH was closed due to a fire in Malibu. Maybe that was the cause. Hope no one was hurt.

dining at Dukes. The name of the ride, taken from the San Fernando Valley Bicycle club website. http://www.sfvbc.org/ Their rides are in PDF format, very easy to follow and very accurate. Todays ride totaled 48 miles. I'm going to start picking it up soon and log some longer rides. Also need to do some cross training.

the beach

this time with Karen.

the channel islands. the ventura ride was so nice i decided to do it again.

What do you think of this bike lane? The picture before this one shows the barrier closer. From the marks it looks like cars have run over it. It did give a sense of security.

moon rise over Camarillo. Total ride length 57 miles at a slow 13.4 mph average.

Wetlands