I can’t believe it’s already April. It has been three weeks since our last ride on March 13. Between the Los Angeles 5K Run, the rain (which only came down on two consecutive Sundays, our normal biking days) and both of us getting sick (really sick!!), Sam and I did not have a chance to ride our bikes for three weeks. Naturally, I was concerned about getting back on our bikes for the first ride in almost a month. And on top of that, we were attempting to do our first century ride this training season. That’s 100 miles!!!

It was my first century since AIDS/LifeCycle 2003. But since I haven’t done any serious riding since then, it felt like I was doing a century for the first time. The longest ride we’d done this training season was just under 50 miles. Now, we’re doubling the mileage on just one ride. So yes, I was concerned. And yes, I was scared – scared that I couldn’t pull it off.

We got up bright and early and left the house by 5:45 am. We drove north to Santa Clarita, which is near Valencia and Magic Mountain, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles. The only bright side to being on the road that early is that there is no traffic, on Interstate 5 no less. We met up with Positive Pedalers, the riding group that hosted and organized the ride, at the Peet’s Coffee parking lot. It was the 9th anniversary of this ride, which was named after its creator, Paul Hulse, who has since passed away. Joining Positive Pedalers were other amazing training ride leaders and groups like the Chain Gang, Shifting Gears, Team Ventura and Team OC. About 200 riders participated.

The morning started off cold. It was 6:30 am after all. I made a decision to leave the jacket behind and kept on just a windvest. I took a chance thinking that it was going to get hot, since it had been in the 80’s-90’s. But it remained cold and overcast all day. While it was probably better weather for riding than to be in 90 degree heat, I was freezing my ass off in just a windvest.

After a heartfelt welcome by a member of Positive Pedalers, followed by the oh-so-important usual safety speech, we took off a little after 7 am. The ride headed west, mostly along Highway 126. The plan was to ride to the beach in Ventura and then back, roughly 50 miles each way. There were going to be five pit stops, including lunch along the way at the half-way point. So we would ride about 15-20 miles on each leg and then get a break at the pit stops. The century almost sounded easily doable.

The first 15 miles were quite uneventful. It was still pretty early, so the morning was relatively quiet. Did I mention that it was cold? Training ride leader Chris had told me that it’s best to take it easy at the beginning so your body can conserve energy. It was sound advice and we did just that. We rode a comfortable pace, nice and steady. When we got close to the first pit stop in Piru, Sam suggested that we keep going and skip the break. Normally, there are two main reasons for me to stop: replenish on water and to use the restroom. So far, I still had plenty of water in my water bottles and I was not in a rush to use the restroom. So I agreed to just keep going. When we rode past the pit stop I saw a long line of people waiting for the restrooms, so maybe it was a good thing to skip that pit stop.

The second leg was about 20 miles. It took us from the first pit stop in Piru to the second pit stop in Santa Paula, through the town of Fillmore. Along the way, we rode through beautiful, picturesque farm land and tons of orange groves, many were right off the side of the road. I was tempted to reach out and grab an orange or two. They were everywhere, even on the ground, and I felt so bad for the wasted fruit. One thing for sure, the oranges smelled so fragrant. It was so delightful riding through this area. By the time we reached the second pit stop, I was ready for a break (i.e. I needed to go to the restroom SO bad). The break was at Ragatz Bicycles and volunteers had set up a station with water, snacks, bananas and oranges. Even though I’m sure the oranges didn’t come from the groves we rode past, they still tasted mighty yummy!

The third leg took us all the way to the beach in Ventura. I didn’t care for this section at all. I was a little bored and perhaps it was because the surrounding area was less visually stimulating than the previous leg with the orange groves. Plus, I was starting to get tired. I felt like I was slowing down and struggled to keep up with Sam. I was ready for a break when we reached Marina Park, our lunch pit stop. As we were riding into the park, the first person I saw was Ginger Brewley. Ginger is a drag diva superstar who is one of AIDS/LifeCycle’s strongest supporters. Ginger has volunteered her time and energy on many AIDS/LifeCycle rides to cheer on riders. When I did AIDS/LifeCycle in 2003, I remember Ginger was always at the top of the toughest hills and at the most opportune spot when I most needed a spirit-boaster. Ginger is awesome. I did not know that Ginger was going to be at this century ride, so I was so happy to see a friendly face cheering us into our lunch stop. (Thanks Ginger!)

Because it was still so damn cold, Sam and I decided to eat quickly and get on our way. Subway lunch was provided. We ate, filled up our water bottles with Gatorade and got on the road. Even though we had wanted to take a quick break, I guess we must have been there for a while, because by the time I got back on my saddle, my butt was in screaming pain. In the morning, I had applied the magical “butt butter” or “butt balm” that many riders use to lather the buttock area. It’s supposed to reduce chaffing and make it a more comfortable ride. Well, on this occasion, it did not do the trick. I ran into a porta potty and reapplied more butt balm. It still wasn’t good enough, ‘cause my butt was still killing me. But what other option did I have but to grin and bear it. Ouch!

The next 10 miles riding out of Ventura was quite a pain (no pun intended). We were on Telephone Road (which made me think of Lady Gaga) and we must have hit every other red light. Bikers are legally obligated to follow the rules of the road, so we had to stop at every single red light. It was so annoying. Once we finally got off onto a less busy road there was a lot less stopping. Eventually, we made it to our fourth pit stop, which was back at Ragatz Bicycles. When we arrived, there were very few riders there. I was worried that we were at the end of the pack. I just hate to be one of the last riders. But Sam said there were still a lot of people at the lunch stop when we left and no one passed us on the way, so we couldn’t be too far behind. More riders showed up while we were there resting and refilling our water bottles, which made me feel better.

We didn’t rest long before we took off. This next leg from Santa Paula back to Piru was the worst part of the day. By then we had ridden about 70 miles and I was absolutely exhausted. It had already been the longest ride we had done so far and we still had another 30 miles to ride. Not only was my butt sore, the rest of my body was having problems. My elbows were tight and stiff, and the bottom of my neck in the upper back area was in excruciating pain from being stuck in the same position. There was very little I could do to fix the situation. I mean, it’s not like I could take my eyes off the road and look down to stretch my neck. My legs were beat and I found myself struggling to pedal. I even had to stop to take a break, something that I had never done before at a non-pit stop. I so wanted to give up and thought about all the ways to get out of the remaining ride. I thought about the people back in Los Angeles that I could call to come pick me up or maybe even calling for a cab. I also thought about asking Sam to go on and then come back to pick me up with the car. I swear I am not kidding. But I struggled on, bitching and cursing inside my head. Needless to say, I was incredibly excited to reach the next pit stop, our fifth and last stop of the day.

We stayed at this last pit stop for a good amount of time. It was in the quaint little town of Piru and it was also the same pit stop that we skipped at the beginning. The volunteers had set up the snack and water table under a gazebo by a little non-functioning train depot. There wasn’t much in the town, only a handful of little stores. It felt a little wild wild west. I got plenty of snacks at this break and filled up on Gatorade. We chatted with veteran training ride leader Doreen for a while, who, sadly, broke her foot the night before while setting up for this ride, so she wasn’t able to ride with us. I also caught up with Jim, the organizer of the century ride. When I did AIDS/LifeCycle in 2003, Jim was the leader of the Chain Gang, with whom I did most of my training rides. Jim trained me and I owe him a lot. He was the one who nicknamed a few of us first-time riders the “ducklings”. I miss Jim, so it was good seeing him.

Soon, it was time to go. Getting back on the bike was, once again, a pain in the butt. We got out on the main road (Highway 126) and headed east back to Santa Clarita. For some strange reason, I got a second wind and picked up some energy. I pedaled hard and got on a really good pace. I have no idea what came over me. Aside from the soreness all over my body, I felt relatively okay. I even rode ahead of Sam, who I’m usually trying to keep up with. Before I knew it, we were back in the Valencia area. We saw Magic Mountain, so we knew we were close. It was 5 pm when we rode into Peet’s parking lot. After 102.49 miles, we were done. Saying that I was happy to be done is quite an understatement.

I realized that, for me, doing a century is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge. Looking back, I’m not quite sure that I was mentally prepared. I psyched myself out from the beginning, thinking that we were not ready to do a century. Then, when the ride got really hard I wanted to quit. I need to work on this and get myself more mentally ready for June.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Aileen L.; Amy W.; Angela C. ; Anonymous (3) ; Carmina O. ; Christina Y. ; Daisy D.R. ; Emily Y. ; Jan K. & Ben W. ; Joanna L. & Phil Y. ; Lona C. ; Marshall W. ; Mimi S. ; Rachanee S.; and Ryan K.

I also want to thank Steve, AIDS/LifeCycle rider and volunteer, for letting riders use the wonderful photos he took.

After riding on the east side with Doreen the week before, we’re back with Shifting Gears doing another west side ride.  Now that we’re in mid-March, the early morning chill factor isn’t as bad anymore.  The March mornings have been in the 50’s as opposed to the mid 40’s earlier in the year.  Still, I rode with a jacket.  I’d rather be prepared than regret the decision to leave the jacket behind.

We learned from the east side ride that we need to pump up the tires before heading out.  Sam’s tires were a little low so we especially needed to pump them up.  Immediately, we ran into a problem.  The nozzle on the rear tire was bent, so it was not easy to pump air in.  We asked training ride leaders Chris and Mel to help, and they were able to get enough air into the tire for Sam to ride.  (Thanks Chris and Mel!)

The ride was a repeat of our Playa del Rey ride in January, except this time, we added a climb up Bundy Drive at the end.  So the ride started off fine, except we were at the end of the pack since we were delayed by the tire nozzle issue.  We joined our friend David and rode toward the coast, then down to Venice and eventually to Playa del Rey.  We caught up with the rest of the riders at our first pit stop on the bike path bridge that connects Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey.  We got off our bikes, rested, recorded a quick video and then it happened.  POP!!!  There was a loud pop and I knew immediately it was Sam’s back tire.  Sam said, “I didn’t do it!” followed by “MEL!!!!!”  Sure enough, the tire had popped.  It’s oddly fortunate that the tire knew to “die” right at the pit stop and not while he was riding.  Thankfully, I had a couple of old spare tubes on Sam’s bike (which was my old bike from AIDS/LifeCycle 2 in 2003) and they were still in good condition.  Mel was kind enough to help and as a result, gave us a crash course on how to change a tire.  (Thanks again Mel!)  After Mel finished, we gave Mel a couple of old wet-naps that had also been on the bike since 2003.  Mel opened one up and the wet-nap was completely dried-up.  I was SO embarrassed.  Fortunately, the second wet-nap was fine and he was able to clean his hands.  Note to self: buy new wet-naps!!

Most of the other riders had taken off by then, so when we took off, we were at the end of the pack once again.  We rode south toward LAX and then circled back north toward Venice.  We made our second pit stop at a coffee shop on Main Street in Venice.  Since the first pit stop didn’t have restrooms, I had been dying to go.  Was that over-sharing?  Oops!  We didn’t stay long.  Once we used the restroom and filled up on water, we took off.  We were following a couple of riders north toward Brentwood.  Right before Bundy Drive, the other two riders turned off to return to Helen’s Cycles.  David turned off as well.  So Sam and I ventured up Bundy by ourselves.

We had already ridden about 32 miles by then, and for some reason I was very tired.  Maybe it was because of the daylight saving time change (spring forward) and we lost an extra hour sleep. And it didn’t help that my left calf was bothering me just a little on the ride.  It was feeling like it wanted to cramp, but it was relatively minor compared to how I was feeling earlier in the year.  So I took my time riding up Bundy.  It was going to be a 2.5 miles climb.  Sam was having his own problem.  His chain kept wanting to change gears by itself when he was riding in a higher gear.  I was concerned that he might not be able to complete the climb because of the chain, but he was able to do it without having to stop.  He even rode ahead and I was just trying my best to keep up.  Fortunately, I had taken my jacket off at the second pit stop, because it was so hot by then and the climb wasn’t making things any better.  Eventually we made it to the top and it felt good to rest.

I put my jacket back on before getting back on the bike, because I knew it was going to be cold riding downhill.  And it certainly was.  It wasn’t long before we made it back to Helen’s Cycles.  When we were a couple of blocks away from Helen’s, we realized that we had ridden around 39 miles.  Sam was determined to hit 40 miles, so we rode around the block to add that extra mile.  We ended up with 40.16 miles. Hee hee!

When we got back, Helen’s was having a parking lot sale.  They had clothes on sale and were holding various bike workshops.  Shifting Gears was also there.  Chris had made a bunch of yummy treats and sold them for donations to Shifting Gears.  She made muffins, cookies and two types of brownies.  Of course, I had to get them all.  I was so hungry I practically inhaled everything.  Sam had taken his bike inside the bike store for them to check out his chain; while I was waiting, I almost ate Sam’s cookie too.  Almost!  I was about to bite into it when I saw him coming around the corner.  Once I was able to pry myself away from the rest of the baked goods, we started looking at the clothes and ended up getting a pair of Shifting Gears jerseys.  I can’t believe we had not gotten them sooner, since we’d been riding so much with the group.  Yeah Shifting Gears!  We also bought some new tubes from Helen’s, who was selling them for $6 a pair at the parking lot sale.  It was such a good deal that we bought four pairs.  We also ran into our friends Cindy and Sheri.  Dr. Ira was there, too.  He had ridden with another group earlier, and afterward stopped by the parking lot sale.  I told him about my left calf and he told me to make an appointment to see him and also bring my bike so he could check to see if he needs to make any adjustments on my bike.  Before we left, I couldn’t help but get two more brownies from Chris.  I’m telling you, they were SO good!!!

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Cindy C. & Kat K.

We joined veteran rider and training ride leader Doreen on an east side Chain Gang ride. Doreen has the distinction of being the only person who’s ridden all the AIDS/LifeCycle rides and all the California AIDS Rides (the predecessor of AIDS/LifeCycle.) So far, we’ve mostly been riding with Shifting Gears on the west side and it’s nice to ride with our east side friends again.

We met up with the other riders at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. The Aquatics Center had a swim meet going on at the same time, so there were lots of people and the parking lot was filled with cars. It was a little hard to find our group. When we got to our meeting spot, I immediately saw Loren, whom I’ve known since my first AIDS/LifeCycle ride in 2003. At that time, Loren was the Board Chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, but now, he’s the Board Chair of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. It was so good to run into him.

Before we even took off, the morning was already warming up. It was very unlike all our training rides so far where we had bone-chilling cold in the morning. I made a last minute decision to leave my windjacket behind, which ended up being a wise choice. I did keep my arm and knee warmers on, just in case.

We rode south out of the Rose Bowl and headed to South Pasadena. We were pretty close to our house and rode passed our neighborhood Trader Joe’s on Mission Street, which was fun. The ride took us through East Pasadena and into Arcadia, where we had our first pit stop. Up until then, we were riding in the back of the pack with Doreen. We had to pull over to pump up Sam’s tire, so we fell behind a bit. But we caught up with everyone at the pit stop.

I thought the ride only went as far east as Arcadia, but I was wrong. We kept going east and rode passed Monrovia and into Duarte. Near the second pit stop, we saw something that completely caught us off guard…a llama!! There was a woman walking her pet lama, named Copper (but I kept calling him Cooper.) I’ve never seen a llama up close and always thought they weren’t the prettiest of animals. But this lama was tall and looked quite majestic. It was beautiful. The owner was very nice and let us take a picture with Copper. Cool!!

After the llama break, it was time to head back. The route back was mostly the same, except we also rode through Temple City and San Gabriel. The entire ride was mostly flat. I didn’t realize there were no hills until we got back. Still, even though the terrain was flat, I was totally winded and exhausted. I was so happy to be done when we got back to the Rose Bowl. Total miles was 37.10.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Kenneth Y. & Elaine S.

After an aborted first attempt to ride Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and the next try where we got drenched with rain, we finally had a great ride along the coast. Third time’s the charm!

It was Oscars Sunday and we met up with Shifting Gears at Helen’s Cycles in Santa Monica. It had rained on Friday, so naturally we were concerned whether it would rain on us again on PCH. It was also colder than usual, probably brought on by the post-rain breeze (if there’s such a thing). Still, we were hopeful that we would have a good ride sans rain. The plan was to ride at least to Cross Creek Road in Malibu. If we felt up to it, we would continue on to Zuma Beach for a total of about 50 miles round trip, making it our longest ride to date.

The ride took off east toward the beach through the local streets of Santa Monica. After 4 miles in, we were on PCH and immediately, we saw the beautiful ocean. Sam and I live inland and we don’t venture out to the beach often, so it’s a treat to see the ocean, especially on a nice day. We spent the next 10 miles riding east along PCH to Malibu. During this stretch of the ride, I found myself having a difficult time catching up with Sam. I wasn’t terribly tired, so I was very surprised that I was struggling just to pedal. I even ate a full plate of spaghetti the night before to carbo-load and even loaded up on potassium and electrolytes with coconut water and bananas. I should have had plenty of energy in me. Other riders were passing me. I was happy to finally arrive at our pit stop at Cross Creek. I sure needed the rest.

We decided to do the optional extension and continue on to Zuma Beach. After all, it’s only 10 more miles and how hard could it be, right? It turns out that it was not as easy as we thought. The route from Cross Cress to Zuma Beach was nothing but a bunch of rolling hills. We went up and down, up and down. It was exhausting. Strangely, my energy picked up after the first pit stop and I felt pretty good during this stretch, despite the rolling hills. Before we knew it, we arrived at our second pit stop. I think the stunning ocean view helped lessen the annoyance of the rolling hills.

We didn’t stay at the second pit stop for long. We used the restroom at Starbucks and ate a couple of chocolate croissants (yum yum!) and took off. It was getting late and we still had another 25 miles to go on our return trip. We wanted to get home to feed the dog. The ride back was even more spectacular, since we were riding closer to the ocean. What a beautiful day!! We rode passed Cross Creek (our first pit stop) and decided not to stop again. Neither one of us felt like we needed a rest, so we kept on going. Once we reached Will Rogers State Beach, we got off the bikes to cross the underground tunnel to get to the other side of PCH. But we found that the tunnel was flooded from the rain, so we had to find another way to cross PCH. We ended up riding further down on PCH until we reached a pedestrian overpass to cross over. We created our own detour from there to return to Helen’s. We almost did a half century, logging 48.58 miles. A half century is 50 miles. Even though we were a couple of miles short of a half century, I was still pleased because it was our longest ride yet.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Mary & Shannon H.