petaluma is pretty.

But Petaluma is far, far away- 95 miles roundtrip from San Francisco! So we went over the Golden Gate Bridge (btw, I'm so over riding that bridge), over Camino Alto, stopped for coffee in Fairfax, climbed over White's Hill, went over the unnamed Nicasio 
hill...

13 miles to Petaluma!

Are you ready to take it to the limit, one more time? Yes, he really said that.

And then we went over that damn cheese factory hill: Alpe du 

Fromage and this was the 1st time I have ever gone over these

hills without stopping. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it took

me so long, but it felt pretty amazing! And that's the truth,

Ruth!

Dave checkin' the route sheet at the Cheese Factory

some of my much faster co-workers... it's not a race. it's a ride. i know.

And just when I felt fantastic, we added another climber- the Wilson Wall

Dave is the little white jersey, up near the cows. I stopped & stretched.

But I got back on the bike & climbed up w/one of my favorite training ride leaders, Joseph. I love him! Doing AIDS/Lifecycle (ALC) is obviously very important to him since he volunteers this time, but it is also part of his training- he has done many marathons, just recently completed his first triathlon, and will be participating in the Gay Games in Cologne in July! Oh, and he's lost like 80 lbs since my first blog post. Go, Joseph!!!! 

Smogivars

The descent was TERRIFYING! I could smell my rims burning.

Dave with llama- you can click these pictures to make them bigger. That llama's cuuuute! And then we finally got to lunch and let's not talk about the rest. I did not eat enough or something (and lady stuff- blah, blah- I'll spare you the deets) so I called it a day around mile 50? Dave went 95 MILES!!!! And then we showered & went to a party as total zombies. Sorry, Stephanie. We tried.

raising money, y'all!

So one day while Dave got ready to go on a training ride, I began freaking out about how low my fundraising thermometer was and decided to do something about it! I took my bike, the stationary bike trainer thingy I borrowed from Russ, and my boombox down to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market. I also took this time to test out my red dress.

Day 5 on the ride: red dress day! Or just dress-in-red, if you're boring. ;)

It was mostly fun & successful but there was definitely some stranger-danger weirdness sprinkled throughout the 3-4 hours I pedaled by myself- nothing super hateful or anything worth repeating. This youngster in the black shirt hopped on the bike when I got off to stretch... um, OK:

Dave & I had been planning to sell rainbow cupcakes with cloud frosting in the park for ages, but the weather never cooperated. It has been a wet spring here. So we finally did cupcakes & brownies for a bakesale at work-- actually, it was Dave who did it. One of my co-workers, Mary, also made a ton of brownies and homemade coffee cakes that she brought in on her day off! Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera to work. I sooo should have! 

Dave, the baker. Who knew? I was running late so he just started... and then whipped up some frosting & finished them.

homemade vanilla butter cream frosting yo!

I put the yummy goods on a trolley, like a dim sum cart, & took them around to all the different departments, covering several floors. I was actually a little nervous since I didn't know many people in the other departments personally. I could not believe how supportive people were! Almost everyone had words of encouragement since many had done the ride before, are doing it again with me, or had/were working as a roadie- they are the ones who haul everything & set up everything & feed you & work as "sweeps" who pick you up if you are having heat stroke &/or start to totally freak out. 

I raised a whole bunch of dollars that day. And I continued to get online donations when I got home- and some of the spouses worked for companies who had matching gift programs! There were people who did not want a baked good because they were dieting or were allergic to gluten-- but still donated!  I heart you, SFAF!