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The Day is Here!

June 3, 2006 - I went to the Cow Palace today and checked in. I'm now wearing the little plastic wristbands that identify me as a member of this travelling horde who will begin its trek to Los Angeles tomorrow. I wlll be posting updates here, including GPS data that I am collecting as I ride. Thanks again for the amazing support!

Ten Days and Counting

May 25, 2006 - I just want to give another shout to everyone who's contributed so far- the total is over $4,500! I am well on my way to reaching my goal of $5,850. All y'all just rock. Thanks too for those messages of support on my ALC home page.

What a Difference a Seat Makes

May 20, 2006 - As I've mentioned before, my training has been a bit compressed this year. I did my first back-to-back long rides a few weeks ago. That was the first time I realized that my new bike (which totally rocks!) has a seat that doesn't totally rock, for me, anyway. It turns out that the wrong seat can lead to nerve damage and other unpleasantness. So I picked up a new saddle, and that has made an incredible difference. This weekend, I rode from SF up over the Golden Gate bridge, through Marin County up to Lagunitas and back, about 60 miles. I had to make it home in time to catch a plane down to L.A. to see my friends' production of La Cage (which was great gobs of good fun).

Bike to Work Day

May 19, 2006 - A day later than everyone else, I celebrated Bike to Work day with my little 770 and the GPS unit. I have managed to get the data out of the computer and onto a Google map showing the route I took. I am still working on the sleek automatic-upload part.

Totally Geeked Out

May 15, 2006 - I've debated whether to mention this, because it is still experimental, but I have gotten a hold of a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet and a bluetooth GPS receiver. Okay, Mark buys some new gadgets, hardly an interesting story, right? Well, the hope is that I will be able to use the 770 paired with my cell phone to transmit GPS coordinates to my web server while I am riding, so you the web-surfing public can see me in motion (as a little dot moving down a Google map). Also, this will help dispell those rumors that I will be hanging out in my backyard drinking beer with my feet in an inflatable plastic pool.

There and Back

May 7, 2006 - First of all, many thanks to the folks who have donated so far. After sending my emails on Thursday night (thus emerging from "stealth" fundraising mode), on Friday, I received $1,000 in donations. You all rock!!!

Mother's Day is coming, and I'm not going to be able to make it up to the folks' house in Sacramento next weekend, so I decided to go visit them this weekend, on my bike. I took BART to Pittsburg, and then rode 80 miles, through Antioch to hwy 160 and on up into downtown Sacramento. I got a late start, got a little lost, and had a couple of flats, so I couldn't ride the extra 20 miles to get all the way to the 'burbs before dark, so I had to call for backup (thanks, Dad!). Coming back on Sunday, I rode from the folks' house to the downtown train station (22 miles) and took Amtrak, then BART home. I will have to try this again another weekend, with an earlier start and more spares.

Ride, Ride, Ride

May 4, 2006 - You may feel like you are hearing about this later than you did last year... you would be correct. The timeline this year has been, well, compressed. So many distractions to compete with cycling: working, throwing a singles party on Valentine's Day, designing sound for a one-woman show now playing off-broadway, you know, the usual. But mostly, I blame the rain. Mainly because the rain will not argue with me when I say that. (Nor will many of my ALC friends, who are sharing my late-season training push.)

So far I have raised $1,600 and ridden approx. 500 training miles this season, including the 80+ mile Day on the Ride last Saturday and a killer ride up Mt. Tam last Sunday. There are 4 weekends left, and I'll be blogging on the rest of my training rides here.