Share the Ride -- California AIDS Ride 8 -- Day One

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California AIDS Ride 8
Day One -- June 3rd, 2001
San Francisco to Santa Cruz
89.64 miles -- 5 hours, 41 minutes, 28 seconds (but who's counting?)

4:00am! Is there any human reason to wake up at 4:00am? Oh yeah, pancakes! What a host John is, and his partner, Ted, is an even bigger saint for making all of us pancakes and coffee. But even though we got up at 4:00am, we still couldn't get our butts out of the house on time. So, we all rushed around like crazy people trying to get out of the house. We loaded the cars (all three of them) and were just about ready to leave when I almost killed myself.

Rushing out of the townhouse in my cycling shoes (for those of you who don't ride, cycling shoes have slick soles and a big metal cleat on the bottom), I slid on the slate floor in the entryway and totally landed on my tailbone. All the guys rushed from the cars to see if I was dead. Not dead, but I was sure

in pain. Really banged my left elbow (my hand was numb) and my tailbone, and I felt like my brain was rattling around in my head. In retrospect, I probably had a slight concussion, but nothing was going to keep me from riding. So with a little ice, they loaded me into the car and we were off to Ft. Mason! A little late, but I was sure

the Ride wouldn't leave without us.

When we arrived at Ft. Mason, it appeared that everyone was just as late as we were. CHAOS! "Oh my God! I don't want to miss the opening ceremony! I have donors coming! It's almost 6:30! Shut up, Lorri,

you're going to have fun this year, so just relax." Whew! Okay. Well, as luck had it, everyone was really late so they started the ceremony late as well. "Oh my God! I have friends waiting for me in Burlingame! We can't start late! What if they don't wait? Shut up, Lorri!" Enough of the voices in my head. Let's have fun!

The opening ceremony was very moving. Joshua Rymer & Tim Frazer (CAR7 Team Schwab veterans and two of my wonderful donors) were there to share in the magic. I think we all cried when the Riderless Bike (a symbol of those lost to AIDS) was wheeled down the center aisle. Let the ride begin!

It took forever to ride out of Ft. Mason, but that was cool. Team Schwab rode out together and I was proud, as always, to be part of such an amazing group. The weather was perfect -- sunny and clear -- very unlike San Francisco weather. And there were people on the side of the road, cheering us on, all the way through San Francisco.

Since I live in San Mateo, I'd asked all my friends to come out to St. Paul's to cheer us on. The church has an unofficial pit stop every year for the AIDS Ride. But before we even got there, I saw Howard (who rode with Team Schwab last year) in Millbrae. And about three miles down the road in Burlingame, I saw his beautiful wife, Beth Stelluto (also from CAR7 Team Schwab). What a coincidence, but not really. Seems Howard called Beth as soon as he saw me and told her we were coming, so she came out to El Camino to meet us. While I was stopping to talk to Beth, my friend Nathalie Boucher drove by (fresh from Yoga class). Wow! I have friends. And there was a whole Schwab contingent at St. Paul's, including Elinore Robey and Lori Gremel, and my tentmate Tom Counts' wife Debbie and their beautiful children.

But the real highlight was still ahead. After playing around at St. Paul's for a while, I rode on. What a great feeling to ride in my own neighborhood on the roads I always train on. Soon, I'd be climbing the hill up to Crystal Springs Reservoir. This hill has great significance for me. When I started riding, almost two years ago, this was one of the very first hills I climbed. At the time, I still smoked, and wasn't in great shape, and I thought it was the highest, longest, hardest hill in the world. I stopped that day, got off my bike, and cried. I've climbed this hill dozens of time since, but I'll always remember that hot day in July, 1999.

Much to my surprise, at the bottom of this hill, was my dear friend and riding buddy, Kerry Kimmel. Kerry wasn't doing the AIDS Ride, but he came out to ride up this hill with me. This was, by far, one of the best miles of the entire Ride! As we're riding up the hill, Kerry said to me, "Do I look like I need help?" Apparently, he'd been waiting at the bottom of the hill for me for a very long time (we started late, remember?). And everytime an AIDS Rider passed Kerry, they asked him if he needed help. I explained to Kerry that AIDS Riders are just the nicest people in the world.

The rest of the day was just plain fun! Tom & I rode together all day and had a great time. Later in the afternoon, we hooked up with my friend Adam Paul, a rider I'd met doing the I Care Classic earlier in the spring. The three of us rode into camp in Santa Cruz early enough to relax a little and catch up with everyone we hadn't seen all day.....

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from Day One (in real size!)
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Created on June 30th, 2001 by Lorri Lee Lown
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