Me & My Bike / by ALC rider #1905

photos and stories chronicling aids/lifecycle rider #1905. Follow along as I train & explore various parts of CA on a my bike. If you'd like to make a donation to AIDS LIFECYCLE on my behalf go to: http://www.tofighthiv/goto/samantha

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2015 is the year of simplifying.  To that end, all my posts about riding can now be found at sjsprecher.tumblr.com Follow along!

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Day 4. 89 miles. Halfway to LA!

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Day Three.

I'm not a niner fan. I'm wearing this outfit because I lost a bet. It's a life lesson - never make a crazy bet on your team during the playoffs. My team is the Packers. All day long I heard "Go Niners!" Every day has it's own challenges and celebrations. Day 3 begins with a short steep climb out of King City. The hill is aptly named Quad Buster. It ends with 11 miles of the roughest country road, rolling hills, with headwinds. Actually, the roads are awful for the whole day. They should call it butt buster. The highlight of the day is lunch in Bradley, a small town in the middle of nowhere. The kids run a BBQ fundraiser and make all the money for their school art program, for the year! We ended the day with a spa trip. My friend Jana drove from Fresno to Paso to cheer us into camp and pass out licorice to riders. Then she generously acted as our own private roadie and schlepped us to our hotel and to our spa appt. hello! Massages! It was amazing.

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Some pics from Day Two. I just wrote a long post that somehow got lost…hoping it turns up in drafts.

109 Miles Santa Cruz to King City

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Day One is a wrap! 84 miles from SF to Santa Cruz. We rolled out of the Cow Palace around 7am in a sea of cyclists. It's the one day on the ride where all 2500 cyclists leave at once. It's exhilarating but also very stressful because you get stuck in bottlenecks when it's unsafe to pass. We rode in around 4pm. What a difference a year makes. First, I slept last night! A good, solid sleep. And I knew what to expect from the route. This first day is the prettiest to me. We ride along the water and thru forests for a good chunk of the day. The Cabrillo Hwy is super gorgeous. I was able to take in the scenery, enjoy the rest stops, and have convos with people along the way. My love bubble managed to stay together for most of the day. We ebbed and flowed in our pace and, well, just had a great time. The body feels good. There was no line at sports med so I got a chiropractic adjustment. I feel awesome now. Hoping it doesn't come back to bite me tomorrow. We all looked great decked out in our new Team Popular kits. The black and pink was easy to spot and it was nice to have new design. The other teams didn't bring out their newest designs today. Rumor has it our rivals Team Unpopular are debuting theirs tomorrow. Actually, one of the Team Unpop fellas fixed my bike for me. Turns out my back wheel was out of alignment so the sluggish feeling I had all day was actually my back brake rubbing on my rim. OK, now to sleep. 109 miles tomorrow!

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Orientation done! I'm the #25 fundraiser overall. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am ready to ride!!

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My personal ALC "Love Bubble" finally together! We've come together from three different states to ride to end AIDS. After months of training, tomorrow we ride!!!!!

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1DAY TO GO!!! Here are some highlights from yesterday's travel to SF. I started the day $157 from goal and ended well over my very aspirational goal. As I was traveling I kept getting email notices that donations were coming in. I kept announcing, "I got another donation!!" and everyone in the group would cheer. It was exciting! Every step of the journey we connected with friends. I've never had an experience like this. Since people are coming from all over the country it was like a big camp reunion in the airport. My personal ALC love bubble is intact and ready to ride!

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GOALLLLLL!!!  2 Days to Go and I've hit my $25,000 fundraising goal.  121 donations (with 12 crazy two-timers) came together to raise a crapload of money for a great cause.  THANK YOU!  This gal is inspired to pedal. 

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3 DAYS TO GO

I could literally fit both of my children in this bag.  

I forgot how hard it is to pack for this.  It doesn't matter how many packing clinics and spreadsheets and ziploc bags I label, I feel like there's too much stuff...and then not enough stuff.  

Final repacking tonight.

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$557 to goal. Can't wait to see who pushes me over.

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Love is, what I got. Remember that.

4 Days To Go!

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5 Days To Go! The cold I thought I beat is trying to make a comeback. Back on the full assault of Emergen-C and zinc lozenges. I will not get sick! My bike is on a truck on its way to SF. I won't see it again until Saturday, when I pick it up at orientation. The packing has begun. I have all my outfits laid out now I just need to stuff them into the Red Wonder on Wheels. I'm determined not to overpack this year. I'm oooching closer to my enormous fundraising goal. I'm about $2500 away. It's looking doable!

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8 Days to Go! Today was my last training ride before I ship my bike to SF. We pulled together a good chunk of Team Popular and our good luck charms Julie R. and Tony. It was a beautiful day for a ride. Overcast skies kept the temps down and the crowds away from the beach. We had a relaxing ride to Malaga Cove, where we had coffee and bagels. Most of us climbed the hill and a few headed back. I could feel the cold trying to hang on as I made my way up the hill but yesterday's barrage of Airborne and Emergen-C mostly crushed it. I'm oooching closer to my enormous fundraising goal. I'm almost at what I raised last year. I'm feeling optimistic that I'll actually hit goal.

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I WILL NOT GET SICK! 9 days to go. I woke up this morning feeling like total crap. The girls were sick in the beginning of the week and I lack the ruthlessness to quarantine them. Spending today recovering so I can do my last training ride tomorrow with Team Popular before we ride out.

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I'm $4647 from my extraordinarily ambitious goal and oddly confident I'll be able to cover that ground in 10 short days!   I'm buoyed by today's phone call from LA Gay & Lesbian Center Board Member Bill McDermott to congratulate me on crossing $20K.  Out of the thousands of riders and roadies, only 33 of us have raised $20,000 or more.  So THANK YOU to my generous friends and family for your gifts. You give and I get the recognition.  I kinda like how this works!  

If you've been thinking about donating why wait?  Just click here.