Sunday, February 26, 2012

Help Us Get to $2000 each by March 15!!

Hello friends!

Thank you for visiting our training and fundraising blog! We both must reach 2/3 of our $3000 goal ($2000) by March 15th. PLEASE HELP US GET THERE!

Donate to Clay

Donate to Lisa

This weekend Lisa and I rode our first official AIDS/Lifecycle training ride together, and it was great. We joined about 50 other riders in the Marina District in San Francisco at the brisk hour of 8:30am on Saturday. We were as rested as we could be and ready to take to the roads of Marin County. As we kicked off the ride, we immediately hit the Golden Gate Bridge to lead us up a steep climb to the top of the Marin Headlands. For those of you who aren't from the Bay Area, the Marin Headlands are the hilly peninsula at the southernmost end of Marin County as it meets the Golden Gate Bridge (which leads to San Francisco). It's an absolutely gorgeous spot that looks down over the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline.

We both made it to the top and managed to smile for this photo, but I can't say this climb was an easy feat by any stretch! It's a pretty tough way to start your day!



After our rest at the top, we descended down and through the Headlands hills, down to Rodeo Beach, then out through Sausalito, and from there, we rode to Tiburon. Lisa says she's done this "Tiburon Loop" ride about 25 times in the past (but not anytime recently), but I had only done it once and had no idea where we were going. At one point we got a little lost. Luckily a really nice ALC rider named Brian helped us find our way. Thank you, Brian!

We briefly took a break, meeting some nice fellow riders over a "mini lunch," and quickly set off to finish this ride as quickly as possible.

The Golden Gate bridge is under construction so only one side of the bridge is open. Normally cyclists take one side and pedestrians the other. Currently pedestrians and cyclists share one side together, so crossing the bridge during the middle of of a weekend day was pretty crowded and stressful. Thankfully we made it, and both made it back to the car in around 4 hours. We rode 46 miles! That's our longest ride yet this training season. This ride was a reminder about how physically and emotioally challenging training can be. Today I am pretty sore and Lisa is suffering from a cough that started as she climbed the Headlands.

It's easy to feel like you just want to throw in the towel when you feel so exhausted. But we are resolved! We are going to just keep at it and we'll be increasing our mileage each week. We can do this!

We need your help! We're not training for ALC  just for the love of cycling. We're doing this to raise funds and awareness for the SF AIDS Foundation, to reduce new HIV infections, and reduce the stigma of the HIV virus. We are doing it in memory of our friends who've died of AIDS and in honor of our friends who live with HIV everyday. We're very commited to this cause and can't do it without you!

There are less than 100 days left until our bicycles depart San Francisco and head to Los Angeles. We ask you donate to us today. We both must reach 2/3 of our $3000 goal by March 15th. We dare you to donate $1 for every mile we rode this weekend. That'd be $46!

Donate to Clay
Donate to Lisa

Thank you, friends and family!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Wine Country Ride {and a BIG surprise!}


Yep, this past weekend Clay took me to the wine country. It was a surprise trip. Until the day we left, I had no idea where we were going. I only knew to bring my road bike, and that the weekend would include a training ride in a beautiful place!

We went to this really awesome B&B in Cloverdale and it was soooo pretty there. On Saturday morning we woke up and ate the yummy vegan breakfast that they made for us and headed out on our ride. We decided to do a loop from Cloverdale to Healdsburg and back around. About 37 miles.


It was truly a beautiful ride! On the way out we had tail winds and lovely blue sky.


After we turned around we (of course) caught a big head wind (duh), but the scenery was still pretty, so we powered through, including a Category 5 climb at mile 30 (OUCH).

When we arrived back at the car we had each burned a healthy 1475 calories and we were HUNGRY. Fortunately we brought some delicious lunch with us to the B&B and we ate every bite.


After lunch we decided a little cable TV on the fluffy bed was in order. After a couple hours Clay kept trying me to go out for a walk with her, and I kept declining. Little did I know she was trying to get me out of the room and out for a walk SO SHE COULD ASK ME TO MARRY HER!! I am such a dork.

Finally, I agreed to get up off the bed and turn the TV off, and before I had a chance to throw her plan off again, she got down on her knees, presented me with a stunning ring and proposed! I could not be more thrilled.


You can read more about what our engagement means to me on my personal blog.

We are still working hard to raise money for ALC. Please help us reach our fundraising goals if you are able! You can donate to Lisa's fundraising efforts HERE, and to Clay's HERE. We can't do it without you!

THANK YOU!!
xoxo
Lisa (and Clay)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

And we're off!


Hello and welcome to our AIDS Life/Cycle 2012 training and fundraising blog!

From June 3-9, 2012, we're riding 545-miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles to benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and make a difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS. We'll be training from now until then to prepare. Lisa did the ride in 1999 and Clay did it in 2007. We are both avid cyclists and are really excited about embarking on this challenge together.

Today marked our first joint training ride. We loaded our bikes onto our new racks (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and drove out to Orinda. From there we rode to the town of Hercules and back to Orinda, which is about 30 miles. It's a ride we've done many times, so there were no surprises. Clay's been training since early January, but this was Lisa's first major training ride (she was traveling for most of January), so we decided to do something easy.

It was so cold when we first started out, but we managed to warm up as we approached Pinole and by the time we climbed back up Castro Valley Ranch Road we even took our jackets off (see photo above).

We're really excited to be training together (finally). We'll be posting weekly updates on our training progress and adventures.

We both continue to fund raise as part of our effort, and rely on your support to meet our respective $3000 goals. You can donate to Clay here and Lisa here. Thank you for your support.

112 days to go!

Clay and Lisa