May 17, 1999 Spring is here, and it's busting out all over the countryside. I returned this past sunday from a 170 mile, two day ride.   It was a fantastic experience, so i'd like to share a little of it. I've been preparing for the California AIDS Ride since December. One of the coolest parts of the Ride is built-in training support. Aside from the high availability
of training partners, there are organized rides, ranging from 15 miles to 90 or even more.

The AIDS ride itself is about 570 miles. we average about 90 miles a day for 6 days, with the last day a short 50. My very first training ride, which i did on a borrowed bike, was a mere 10 miles.  I rode from Duboce Triangle, near lower Haight, up through the Presidio and over the Golden Gate bridge.  I stood at the end of the bridge, at the foot
of the imposing Marin Headlands (a 2.5 mile climb) knowing that one day i was going to have to ride up that, and worse.

Not that day, however.

From that, I worked my way up to the Tiburon Loop, which was about 40 miles. I'm currently riding about 250 miles a week.  The bulk of it done on long weekend rides. Pedaling along at an good clip of 15 mph, you can cover a considerable amount of territory in 6-8 hours.  Fortunately, the bay area offers a spectacular range of
territory to experience.

It's not so much fun to spend that much time on a bike all by your lonesome. Fortunately, there are over 2500 other riders preparing for this event. That means organized training rides.  (to see a training ride schedule, check out
http://dolphyn.com/car6/schedule.html).  This weekend there was a special ride, up to the russian river on saturday, back on sunday.  We met at Ft. Baker in Sausalito, where there was a truck for the gear (plus food, they cooked for us as well).

The ride up was nice.  Sausalito, Mill Valley, Larkspur (hi paul), Fairfax, San Anselmo, the big fucking hill (white's hill) on Sir Francis Drake hwy just outside San Anselmo, San Geronimo Valley (hill), Nicasio (hill), Marshall (massive hill
dominating the entire landscape for as far as you can see) Petaluma (headwinds, headwinds headwinds, hill). big rolling hills, vast vistas, farms, ranches, wildflowers.  It was warm and clear. And beautiful, aside from the climbing (there was a goodly amount).  It is very satisfying to get to the top of a big hill and be rewarded with a beautiful view.

Sonoma however, has it beat. The twisty Bohemian highway rolls through the hushed stillness of thick redwood forest. Lush ferns and rich moss, burning neon green in my orange goggles, mattress the forest floor. Cute towns like Freestone (Organic Oven Baked  Bread), Occidental and Monte Rio sit nestled, amongst this breathtaking beauty, mostly
undisturbed but by audi driving weekend shoppers.

We camped here, some 85 miles from San Francisco.  About 110 of us,  near the russian river and a little postcard town called Duncan Mills (complete with sportsmans club and rodeo ring). I stretched, showered, ate.  I wandered down to the river afterwards and watched the sun go down over the ridge and settled in by a fire with some other riders. Two "berkeley boys" played stairway to heaven and other fine tunes on their mandolins for entertainment.
i slept.

In the morning we crossed the mighty Russian, and climbed out of the river valley. I was so completely taken with the magnificence of this lush valley and the river that shaped it, that i almost rode off the road when we crested the ridge
and i was greeted by the placid pacific ocean.

It was a clear morning.  Ihad my windbreaker on to fight off the chill.  We had a tailwind and rolling hills.  The highway was like a roller coaster. The descents would curl inland, bottom out on a banked road, and climb back
westward to the coast.  At the right speed, i could zip down a slope, shoot the slide, and catapult back up to the top of the next hill.
Cars?  This stretch belonged to me.  Fuck the brakes, i'd tuck in,  hammer down, zip around and power back to the top.

Let the cars pass.  Prepare for the next one.

This highway is legendary in songs that praise the car.  Try it on a bike someday.  It's a totally different experience.  I  became part of the landscape. I could smell the salt air, the blossoming flowers, the fish.  I  waved to the residents sitting on their porches sipping their morning coffee and admiring the view their pension fund bought them. There is nothing at all like it.   There isn't much worry about keeping my eyes glued to the road like in a car, because most of the time, I wasn't going fast enough for it to matter much.  Slowing is easy, I set my own pace.  Stopping is as simple as pulling the break levers. And i got to watch the tide throw itself mercilessly at the rocks, hear it punctuate the motion with crash.   i moseyed down the highway  until the next wacky twist in the road, which i promptly  attacked with a sly grin and
resh enthusiasm.

We rode down highway 1 all morning with a glorious tailwind. Eventually we started inland and climbed a few small hills. We stopped in Tomales about 35 miles out at a little bakery and had fresh baked goodies (if you ever find yourself in tomales, it's right across the General Store --  good stuff).  We ate lunch in pt reyes station, 56 miles south of where we started.  We then headed inland though the towering trees of Samual P. Taylor State Park  (beautiful camping), and a  reverse of the previous day's course from san geronimo.

I'm still buzzing as i write this.  I'm tired too, but not exhausted.  Good tired. I want to get up in the morning and ride a bit to work the acid out of my muscles.  Unfortunately i spent too much time writing this, so i'm not sure if i'll be able to get
up early enough to do it.

Next weekend i'm hoping to go to santa cruz to ride in the mountains. Maybe i'll remember to bring a camera with me.

-todd

Rider # 4199
California AIDS Ride 6
http://www.voyager.org/car6