4,000 miles to Boston

Leila is riding from San Francisco to Boston this summer to raise $100,000 for comprehensive care regarding HIV/AIDS. Follow her trip here!

[leilacrosscountry]

6/20 Davis, CA (83 miles, day 2)

Heading up to davis, we rode through Sonoma, Napa, Fairfield and took the van the rest of the way. For a team that wasn’t used to biking together nor withstanding the heat of 98 degrees F with no shade, it was a wise decision. We arrived into Davis around 6 pm :).

The morning at Santa Rosa was a delightful surprise when I noticed breakfast was made and ready for us at 7:30 am. It was a kindness I was not expecting since our mornings for this trip would often be before 7 am and who in the world gets up that early? Definitely not college kids (or post transitional adventurous college kids like me ;) )

As for the ride, I had been hoping to see some green rolling hills as we traversed through the wine country. There was some sense of proudness in wanting to share a cool part of California with all my non-Californian teammates. It was all brown, but still held some pretty awesome views and deserted roads for us all to ride comfortably.

This was also the day we realized that google maps, for all its technical grandeur is fatally flawed in that it routes us through the continent on bike paths that are not necessarily road bike friendly (geared for the mountain biking crew). A few gravel roads popped up in there throughout the day giving our hands a nasty shake and a few extra miles as we tried to reroute on to asphalt.

We hung out in a park for lunch, where we left Max behind. On this note, the team became apprehensive and nervous, because this meant that we were utterly on our own for the rest of the trip as far as making it happen. Making this trip real.

Later that evening we met up with my family in Davis and went to dinner at this delicious Italian restaurant.

The roads, my family, and the team excitement were the highlights…

But the best, was when we found a Trader Joes bag by the van late in the evening filled with goodies and a mysterious message from a Bostonian who happened to be in town. The person had left us things we hadn’t realized we needed (such as aloe vera), and a donation for our cause. We all jumped up and down with feverish excitement when we opened the gift and were amazed at the magnitude of kindness we didn’t expect to witness or receive from people.

[leilacrosscountry]

6/19 Santa Rosa (71 miles, day 1)

First day of the ride. I’d like to say there was an adrenaline rush of excitement that propelled me on throughout the morning but there wasn’t. It was more of a happiness, the realization that I was at the beginning of a great adventure that kept me smiling and laughing with my new teammates all day. A previous rider, Max, rode with us on our way out of the San Francisco bay- relieving Katelyn and I of our route coordinating roles for part of the day. It is our job to essentially create the turn by turn directions for the entire trip and lead the way most of the time in directions. We both have phone mounts, making it possible for us to consult maps on the road ;). We’re safe with it, I promise.

The first day was interesting. Each of us were discovering our paces and how we ride together as team. For those who had been training in flat areas, the constant rolling hills north of the SF bay proved to be a challenge. Haha. It was a bit easier for me because I had had the opportunity to train up some pretty nasty climbs behind the campus of my school.

A quarter of the way through, Max hopped into the van- assuming the role of support along the way. To be honest, I had hardly looked at the route. Suddenly I was in the front trying to figure out where to go next with all the turns through the urban towns. Secret twists would be hidden in the bike paths unbeknown to me. We got lost a few times, making me nervous because the day was already long.

We stopped at this wonderful cheese factory somewhere along the way, with a garden-like wooden over hang outside. Like a pro, Max unloaded the food and showed us the most efficient ways lunch could be done. It was more of a casual ride, with us stopping frequently to chomp down on foods and take a breather. The cheese was damn good. Especially the basil garlic feta mound that soon disappeared into crumbles. There was a small stretch of beautiful green shade after lunch, where all of us could escape the heat of a dry sun on our backs for a few moments.

The hills came, and we had a small accident with one of the riders. They had all been crawling up the hill on their bikes and a person had failed to mention that they were coming to a stop. The rest panicked and one fell over… After a few bike repairs and a debrief on how important communication was in the evening, we’ve been able to avoid repeats of that. :)

At Max’s house, we had a fundraiser/auction where we raised closed to 500$ for the campaign. People from all over the neighborhood joined (really awesome people) and were so amazed at the feat we had all set our hearts on doing. For us, it was simply day one. And we had 3,940 more miles to go…

[leilacrosscountry]

These days

A typical day on the ride begins with us all waking up at 6 am, or attempting to thereof. We have one rider who likes to wake up at the crack of dawn, and patiently waits for us all to come out of our slumbers. As we crawl out out of our sleeping bags some are unable to fathom the early sunrise while the others are already bursting with cheery energy that seems to emanate from nowhere. Needless to say, some of us are morning people and others are not. For me that has been a strange dynamic each morning until we get on our bikes :) I can’t follow my usual routine of silence until I leave my room- life and sound has to begin as soon as my eyes open.

For those of you who have been car camping, you can imagine the amount of stuff that comes in and out of the van as we move from place to place each day. The van driver for the day is left (with some help from the riders) to roll up the tents and clean up all the cooking gear. Essentially, it’s a hot mess each morning as we multi-task pulling on our diaper spandex, triple layering our sunscreen, repacking our bags, and figuring out the turn by turn directions that lead us away from this temporary home around 7:30-8am. By normal ride standards, this is far too late in the morning… but we’re working on it.

This is the van. It is our masterpiece of well thought out packing methodologies. It has been a source of stress and love for us all in its unfettered mess and the lovable support messages as it speeds by us on the road.

The first rest stop comes 20 miles into the ride (1-2 hours later depending on the terrain and whether people are still sleeping on their bikes). The van driver madly packs the car during this time, such that the trunk is filled to the brim and is able to fit 3 bikes in the back. They run to go get water, ice, lunch foods or miscellaneous items if necessary.

There’s always a sense of accomplishment when we get our first rest break because it means only 15-30 more miles till lunch, and at that point we’ll have finished more than half the milage for the day. Bursting bladders are relieved, bars and nuts are munched on, and water is replenished. We laugh, groan, stretch and re-apply sunscreen. There’s always another rest stop before lunch. Its awesome because the support van acts as a marker, breaking up what would otherwise be a very long day of cycling.

At lunch, the sacred cooler is opened and the cold cuts and hummus is revealed for consumption either on the shoulder of a desert road or on a beautiful picnic table with some shade (hopefully). The van driver is then showered with love (eh in an ideal world) for having set this up and made the sandwich experience so delightful. The riders hop back onto their bikes and continue down the road.

For most of this trip, we’ve been on long stretches of highways (the ones with less traffic overall) for our long rides. Personally, I’m starting to realize how rural America is as we travel through tiny towns one by one. Its beautiful. And we try to take pictures, but it doesn’t quite capture the changing landscapes that happen in mere days on a bike. We roll into our host family’s home, knocking on the door with excitement to meet new people and for the running water that is hiding in the house. Often we get in, get a tour, unload, shower, eat dinner, and hang out with the hosts for the rest of the night :). Learning about random life stuff as well as finally having time as a team to chill and relax together.

That’s a typical day of the ride. I want to get some photos up and share with you guys the basic highlights of each day that I can up here :)! Ask me if you want me to write more about anything in particular! :D

[leilacrosscountry]

Our lovable van never goes unmissed. It's such a sight for sore eyes :)

[leilacrosscountry]

Beginning a journey

Hi everyone!

I’ve been terrible at blogging so far, but I hope you’ve been able to keep up with the team’s blog and constant updates there! I promise to be better from now on. There will always be more updates to find on the team’s page because our social media team (my two fellow riders) are rockstars at doing this.

This summer I’m riding 4,000 miles for FACE AIDS, a student empowerment organization that helps to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS around the world. As an organization, the funds FACE AIDS raises goes to Partners in Health, a premier health organization that focuses on bringing comprehensive care to people who are in need of it.

For the longest time, I couldn’t articulate why I chose to go on this trip. To apply for a cross country ride with the expectation that I could fundraise over $10,000 for global health equity and for treatment of HIV/AIDS. It is a seemingly impossible task, but appealing for the very same reason. To put it into words or writing was too hard, so I found a way to explain what this ride is for me. I hope you support me in my endeavors and follow along my journey in this blog! :D

see the video here about why i ride! https://faceaids.fundly.com/leila-moinpour-the-2014-ride-against-aids-team

100% of the funds I’m raising for this ride will go to provide comprehensive health care to patients in Rwanda, one of Partners in Health’s most successful programs. The support goes a long way- 20 dollars can provide a year of health insurance for a family of six. And 100$ can help train community health workers so that they can ensure that people receive treatment.