Success! Team Salty Dawgs Do Marin!

We did it!  Mark, Mike and I completed the 100K Marin Century Route on Saturday, August 2.  Mike noticed at the last rest stop that the route was actually only 57 miles, so Mark and I added a 20 minute loop at the end of the ride to make sure we got our full 62 miles in.

Stats: Since April, I rode 900 miles, burned 36,204 calories and rode for 75 hours and 35 minutes to train for this 100K ride to raise money for the American Lung Association.

Results: I rode 62 miles, climbed 3830 feet, and burned 2360 calories in 6 hours and 15 minutes. (that includes time at rest stops).

Best results: I raised nearly $4500 for the American Lung Association of California, and Oracle will be chipping in about another $1500 in matching donation.  I have been overwhelmed with everyone's generosity.

Not bad for a woman who thought she'd never ride a bicycle again just 3 years ago!

The ride was fabulous, and the rest stops had the best food! They had all the standards: m&ms, nuts, chips, cookies, PB&J and Gatorade.  But then they had even more: focaccia bread, brie, strawberries, figs, beef jerky, peaches, grapes, cherries, coffee cake and more.

That really helped me avoid stomach cramps while I rode (more fruit, less heavy/fatty stuff).

The day started out cool and nice (and missing Mike, who started 38 minutes after us...)

Mark beat me to the Big Rock (he appears to be being very silly)

but I got there eventually...

We did see a little bit of sun and Mark warmed up enough to take off his arm warmers, though they came back on for some of the descents.

Mike did find us and ride with us for a lot of the ride - completing Team Salty Dawgs!

We were still grinning at the finish!

Photos courtesy of Captivating Sports and Event Photos!

I couldn't have done this with out the support of my friends and family, and without Mike and Mark.  Mark even pushed me a bit up the steepest climb - I think he was getting bored.

I felt like I could've easily done another 10 miles... with more training, maybe next year I can try 100 miles...

THANK YOU!!  Valerie

Support Requested: Salty Dawgs Ride Again for the American Lung Association!

As you faithful readers know, I love riding my bicycle and I love raising money to help the American Lung Association of California fight lung disease!

Due to my earlier injuries, I haven't been able to support the ALAC for a few years.  The ALAC no longer does their Two Rock Ride, but that's not going to stop me!  I'm riding the Marin Century this Saturday!  I'll be doing the metric century (100K/60miles) - quite a challenge for me, as I haven't done more than 40-45 miles since my injury.  My trainer - my husband, Mark - has been working with me every weekend on longer rides with more climbs. I'm sure I'll be ready.

This ride is important to me, as a long time asthma sufferer and since I've lost so many loved ones to lung cancer and other lung diseases.  My mother, a non-smoker who survived her ordeal with lung cancer, inspires me to ride every day and not to take my lungs for granted! My mom lost 1/2 of one lung to cancer, and I know she misses it!

So, please support my ride! I'm trying to raise $8,000 and I'm only 30% of the way there - the ride is on Saturday!  I know together that we can do this!

Thank you so much!

Valerie

Drivers: Don't "creep" towards bicyclists!

Riding into to work this morning, I encountered an all too common event: I have the right-of-way, I'm in the intersection and a car who does NOT have the right-of-way starts.... creeping in.

I'm sure the driver is creeping into the intersection because they want to save that 1/2 a millisecond after I've cleared the intersection to enter it.

Please do not do this!

1. As a cyclist, it is impossible for me to distinguish between you seeing me and thinking it's okay to creep into the intersection and you not seeing me and starting your move into the intersection.
2. What if you sneeze, cough, or your foot just slips on the throttle and it goes from creeping to fast acceleration?
3. As I usually ride with 1-2 other folks, and you're stopped when one of them passes and then you start creeping - I really don't think you see me. I am the slowest in the pack, so there is often a small gap (about one car length - which is NOT enough space for you to pull through).
4. Bicyclists are going faster than you think.  Or slower. It depends on the rider. Pay attention, please.

When this happens, I will yell (I've already dinged my bell as I approached the intersection).  Do NOT rev your engine in response. See #2 above.

I'm lucky that much of my commute is on quiet neighborhood streets and trails, but I've even encountered the "creeper" in parks!

Please just stay stationary as bicycles pass you. Look at them so that they can see your eyes and know you see them.  If your windows are darkly tinted and I can't see you - I don't know that you saw me.

The worst creepers are those who are clearly playing with their phone or radio (ie NOT looking).  While it's illegal to play with your phone while stationary, if you MUST do it - please have your foot on the break.

Right now, my regular trail is closed due to construction on the new SF 49ers Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, so I have to ride through a parking lot for a park/tennis courts/golf course/ACE Train/SF 49ers construction (yes, that IS the official bike detour).  That is scary enough. Drivers not stopping at the T intersection (which is a 1 way stop - I do not have a stop sign) is pretty scary, especially when they are large construction trucks or employees running late.

There is always a Santa Clara police officer there, but he seems to be on break as he's always at the far end of the parking lot where the bike trail begins again and not where everyone is running their stop sign and revving their engines at bicyclists.

Be careful out there, y'all! :-)
 

Line in the Sand: Metric Century Here I Come!

As many of you have been following my troubles with my leg injury (and everything that stemmed from that) and keeping my asthma and PIC in control, you'll know how big of a deal it is that I've signed up for the Marin Century for this August!

Bicycling is an important part of who I am - I am excited to get back into training mode!

Okay, so I'm just signed up for the metric (62 miles), but that will be the most that I will have cycled since I injured myself in 2010.  Who else wants to join me? I miss riding with a group of friends and even if you can't do the ride, let's get together for summer rides or virtual training. Who's in?

Amazing Commute Today

Our regular bike route has a bridge out this week for repairs, so Mark suggested we hop on our mountain bikes and head out to work on the Bayshore trail.  It had been more than two years since I had ridden in along the San Francisco Bay. I had forgotten how wonderful it was.

When Sun Microsystems, Inc. was up in Menlo Park, the trails along the Bayshore were all paved, so we could ride our road bikes in and get into work in pretty good time. The Santa Clara trails, though, are not paved.  Since then we've moved down to Santa Clara. As mountain bikes are generally slower and we're always running short on time, we always take our road bikes in along lightly traveled roads.

But, do you know what? Lightly traveled roads still have cars on them. And leaf blowers. And drivers that turn right right in front of you.

The Bayshore just has runners and a few other bikes.

It was so peaceful and beautiful. Riding behind Hanger One, naked now. Forlorn.  Seeing the other hangers at NASA Ames.  Smelling the sea air, hearing the birds, watching the squirrels scurry up and down the hills.

We saw several blue herons, egrets, ducks, geese, coots, a night heron and Mark caught a glimpse of an otter.

Yes, the ride took longer, and I was beyond starving when I got home, but I feel recharged. Happy. Peaceful.

Levi's Gran Fondo Wrap Up

Mark and our friends were fortunate enough to have spots in the Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo earlier this month.



For you non-cyclists out there, that means they got a spot in the 100 mile, very hilly, bicycle route.  Due to my injury last year, I didn't sign up. So, I could sit at the festival all day while I waited for Mark and the gang... or be useful. This year, I chose to be useful.



I volunteered at the Ocean Song water station, where we provided water, electrolytes, and toilets to very tired riders who were 80 miles into their ride and had just completed a nasty climb. (except those on the Medi-fondo route, who were 43 miles in... but had also just completed that same nasty climb!)



This woman just amazed me - she had pedaled up that hill on a cruiser, complete in her custom made cycling outfit - with the Fondo embroidered on it!

Best of all, I got to meet Levi himself (again). He is just the nicest guy you'll ever meet, always willing to pose for a picture.



Mark and Rod made it to the rest stop eventually:



And, finally, we ran into Levi again at the festival. Super nice guy that he is, he posed for another picture, this time with Mark.

Hey Jerk, who are you callin' a jerk, Jerk? And... progress!

Pardon me while I jump up on my soap box again.   Riding into work today with two other riders on a wide, quiet road (4 lanes with a large shoulder) I was riding partially next to one of my companions.  A man in a white car with a black roofbox on top decided to cut us off, stop on the right blocking the shoulder to give us this important safety message: "RIDE SINGLE FILE!!!!!!!"

Then he tore off again, demonstrated that his brake lights were out and then ran a red light. Way to be a jerk, jerk!

I rarely ride double and never do so unless there is loads of room. We were hardly a large pack, with only two of us sort of overlapping, and the road was wide and relatively deserted.

The good news is, though, I WAS RIDING MY BIKE! :-)  I'm commuting into work 2-3 times a week now with little to no pain.

I've met another one of my goals as well: I have gone on 2 pleasure rides with hills! (Up Steven's Creek Canyon and back)

Oh, and I can get in and out of a car like a normal person !

I've started doing one-on-one Pilates where my instructor is working on correcting a lot of my compensatory behaviours and I'm already seeing results - hopefully some day soon I'll see the bottom of my left foot again! :-)

Baby steps to recovery! Milestone this week!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately on how I've been recovering from my 3 cm x 1 cm tear in my quadricep tendon, let's just say it's been more than a bit depressing.

Recovery has been very slow, as I've additionally damaged my low back from walking around for 6 weeks with a knee immobilizer on (damage was compounded, I believe, by sitting at a computer terminal, as my leg/low back could never be properly positioned - not even with help of ergo specialist).

I am angry that my orthopedics PA did not give me crutches at first, nor have any advice or help for working at a computer, but that's water under the bridge now.

I don't want to go into details at this time, but suffice it to say that I essentially stopped writing and gave up most hope when both my physical therapist and physician recommended I transition into chronic pain management, as I had recovered as much as possible. In their expert opinions, as my physical therapist put it, "We've been doing this a long time. We know when someone has achieved all the benefit they can from physical therapy."

At that time, I could barely walk without pain and had hardly any strength in my left leg.

For those of you that follow my blog or know me in real life, you realize that getting news that I was not going to be able to walk a short distance to dinner from my house was devastating.

In addition to the low back pain, floating/electric pain down my left (injured) leg, and major muscle atrophy I also have unexplained spasms in my thigh adductor muscles. I've lost total hip flexibility (yoga's been tough!) and am frequently surprised by pain in that area.

I know, plenty of folks have it worse off than I do, so that's enough complaining for now.

On to the bright spots: my sister-in-law is a physical therapist and had examined me over the Christmas break, and she believed I was fixable. Through her determination and my husband's inspiration, I requested a new physical therapist from Kaiser. I was pleasantly surprised when they had no issue reassigning me.

My new physical therapist is wonderful. With her help, plus deep tissue massage and recently chiropractic adjustments, I'm back on the mend.

Here were my New Year's Goals:

• Sit without pain
• Get in and out of bed/car without pain and like a normal person (as opposed to the old lady method)
• Drive my manual transmission Mustang with a heavy clutch
• See the bottom of my left foot
• Sit "Indian style" (which I believe is now called "criss cross, apple sauce")
• Walk all day without nerve pain in left leg
• Ride my bike to work
• Ride a pleasure ride
• Downhill Ski

Now, 2 months in, I've met the following:

• Driven my Mustang (w00t!)
• Walked all day without pain
• Skied (many thanks to my Skiers Edge, which I was able to do rehab/retraining of my muscles in the comfort of my own home). Don't worry, I just did some easy runs at Badger Pass and Bear Valley. No blacks or moguls for me this year :-)
• and..... drum roll please.... Rode my bike to work *both* ways this past Monday! With no pain!

I have to really focus on form and keeping my abdominal muscles really tight to do it, but I did it!

Has anyone ever had their thigh adductor muscles go into spasm? I'm hoping for some insight here - everyone seems to be stumped.

There is hope yet :-)

Thank you all for your support! Every day I am a little bit better. I will keep doing retraining and physical therapy until I am there.

*hugs*

Adapting...

These last few weeks have been a big lesson in adapting for me. Vertigo, knee immobilizer, and an office move.

Life as an Oracle employee is finally sinking in - things are different. Some things are better, some are ... well, different. Packing up my old office in Menlo Park was quite a walk down memory lane - I found old CDROMs full of SunScreen source code, old Solaris install media, cards from friends, pictures of family, and stacks of old design notes.

I've moved around a lot in my years as a Sun employee, but my very first office was a double window office in Menlo Park (MPK17) overlooking the foothills - probably my favorite office to date. From there I went into Palo Alto (PAL1), Mountain View (MTV21), back to Menlo Park (MPK18) then back to my favorite building, MPK17. I moved back into Menlo Park 17 right after September 11th. Everything seemed so surreal, joining the OS group and working on a product with a seemingly endlessly large team. I couldn't believe how strict the integration standards were (and now, as a CRT advocate I enforce these and as chair I document them), nor how large the scope of our overall project was.

I sat across from a woman, Renee. And over the next 9 years, even as our offices moved, we were still across the hall from each other.

Now I'm in Santa Clara. I still have one box left to unpack. Renee is on the other side of the building, not too far, but not shouting distance either (of course, the rest of the people around me are probably grateful for this). The commute is nicer, though I'm further from my friends in San Francisco. I think I'll like it here.

About two weeks ago, I sat up from a massage and suddenly found the room spinning. No matter how long I sat, it wouldn't stop. Hours later I found myself visiting a doctor at Kaiser who diagnosed me with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) which is a vague diagnosis which basically means: "Something in your inner ear relocated. You're dizzy and you're just going to have to learn your new spatial environment". He performed the Epley Maneuver and gave me some exercises to do. So, I've been adapting to my new inner ear. It's taken awhile, but the dizzy spells are very infrequent and typically only happen when I turn my head upside down (like when drying my hair!). So, yoga is right out... oh, it was anyways....that knee immobilizer....

Apparently during my 105-mile bike ride for the American Lung Association, I partially tore the tendon that attaches my knee to my quadriceps. This knee has always had a tight quad, so swelling in my knee wasn't unusual. After a few weeks, though, of having it swell up every time I tried yoga or short bike rides, I made my way to Kaiser. Initial x-rays showed a perfectly healthy knee, but the MRI (which I had to wait more than 2 weeks for) showed the tear. Now I'm in a knee immobilizer. The device goes from just above the ankle to most of the way up the thigh. It needs to be worn directly on the skin, 24 hours a day. This means no jeans! I can wear short-shorts or skirts. Thank goodness I have a lot of skirts! I can walk with crutches (which results in sore ribs/hands/shoulders), or kinda like a pirate (which results in sore back). I alternate. I'm adapting.

I have a long recovery ahead of me. I can already see the muscle in the effected leg melting away. I don't know when I'll be able to ride my bike again. I'm so afraid I won't be able to. I am already tired of driving everywhere. I don't even want to think about skiing - I can't miss out on ski season, too!

As much as I want to feel sorry for myself and have a great big pity party, I realize that I am very fortunate to have medical care and an incredibly supportive husband who has been doing most of the driving and taking care of the house. I can put Renee on speed dial. I can adapt.

Team Salty Dawgs Did It!!!!!!

Wow! In one of the most amazing experiences of my life, I completed over 100 miles with my fabulous teammates in the American Lung Association's Breathe Easy Ride. I raised $4300 and the team raised $7656 (before any corporate matching) to help make lung disease walk the plank!

Since January, I had ridden over 1600 miles on my road bike, but still nothing could've prepared me for this. It was intense, exhilarating, heart breaking, exhausting, difficult and full of joy, laughter and unexpected camaraderie. My team was my pack. I could not have done it without their physical and emotional support, and the amazing support of all of you who donated to my ride and sent me inspiring letters.



A misfit team of current Oracle and former Sun employees, all with different abilities and skills, started leaving the parking lot at the Sonoma Mountain Village about 5:40AM on June 26th onto the foggy and desolate roads of Rhonert Park. I left first, as I am the slowest rider on the team, and found myself riding amazingly fast accompanied only by horses and cows, trying to get as many miles under my belt before my team caught up with me. The air was thick with fog and quite cool, and I quickly warmed up as I was maintaining speeds over 15 mph.

Mark, Richard & John caught up with me after nearly a half an hour, apparently wondering where I'd gotten off to as they were not expecting that sort of speed from me... and warned me not to spend all my energy too soon. :-) Mike & Bryn were the last group to leave the parking lot, and inadvertently followed some 66 mile riders and started off on the wrong path - bypassing the rest of the team completely...until later.

As per my plan, I spent only the minimal amount of time at the first two rest stops - just stuffing my face with potatoes (YUM! roasted with rosemary!) and fruit, reloading my Cytomax and topping up my water. At the third rest stop, we had a surprise: Mike! Poor Mike was getting over a bad cold and just couldn't keep Bryn's pace, but this was good for us as we now had 5 people in our pack!

The weather stayed on our side, remaining cool, foggy and overcast until about 10 AM when the Sun just started to peak through. The five of us maintained time trial positions (single file line, each rider right on the back wheel of the one in front), taking turns at the front. While I am used to drafting with one or two people, the formation with this group of 5 riders had us moving like the wind! At our 4th rest stop (55 miles in), we were still maintaining an average speed over 15mph, even with several moderate climbs past us. We were cool, fresh and all felt great!

Then came Coleman Road. As we started the climb, John & Mike got out ahead of us, missed a turn and went 5 miles out of the way before realizing their mistake. Richard, Mark and I slowly climbed up this steep and soul crushing road, when lo-and-behold, down came Bryn! Curious as to why he was going the wrong way, we stopped only to discover that when he finished his descent to the coast and reached HWY1, it was so impassible with fog, his only option was to turn around and climb back up Coleman Road.

Bryn regaled us with tales of rough road and cattle grates before continuing onto his own personal journey, but not even his warnings could prepare us for what lay ahead. I could've used my mountain bike, the roads were so rough and twisty (and why on earth were there so many cattle grates?!?! WHY!?!)... heck, I could've used a car. It was brutal, desolate, frightening and beautiful.

When we reached HWY1 about 70 miles in, it was foggy, but we had at least a quarter mile of visibility, so Mark, Richard and I persevered ahead - little did we know poor John was back on track and doing that terrible climb alone, even though he'd already done an extra 500 feet/10 miles on his detour. It was noon, and I foolishly thought that I could do 30 miles in just under 2 more hours....

The climb out of the coast and back to the valley was unbearable. My legs were tired. I was hungry & thirsty. Fortunately, Mark had been carrying around extra food & water all day - as there were more than 30 miles of intense climbing and scary descents between rest stops! Mark was happy to lose the extra weight, and Richard & I were happy to have food and water :-)

For those of you who are curious, we were following (in reverse) the Tour de California route - yes, serious climbs for professional riders. The pavement was graffiti'd with ALLEZ, ALLEZ, ALLEZ and various rider's names.

After finishing our descent into the valley, we found Mike, who had backtracked on the route in order to skip the Coleman climb (since he'd done that bonus 10 miles with John), yet still get 100 miles in.

When we arrived at the 5th rest stop at mile 82 a bedraggled mess, happily greeted by volunteers from the Salvation Army with warm roasted potatoes, nuts, and ice cold water. The sun was out by then and we were all getting tired. As the four of us pulled out of the rest stop, we spotted John pulling in. Knowing he'd catch up, we continued on. At this point, every little hill just killed me. I'd have to immediately drop into granny gear and just use every ounce of energy I had just to keep spinning my legs. My quadriceps were burning. My IT-bands were on fire. I could only think of all the support I had and I knew I had to finish. Mark, knowing how important this was to me, literally pushed me up the remaining hills, even though he was beyond exhausted himself.

Terrified of being removed by SAG for taking so long, as the ALA said would happen, I just kept spinning, making it to the 93 mile rest stop just as they were closing. They gave us some fig bars and cold water and we were on our way again - this time with John!

Somewhere on those last 10 miles, Mark, Richard and I got separated from the group when we had to wait an insanely long time to turn left at a T-intersection. As the three of us were on final approach, Richard ran over a small drill bit that managed to pierce the wheel and slide *into* the spoke. Mark & Richard weren't sure if they were going to get that drill bit out, so I pushed on ahead.... and missed a turn, getting lost with 103 miles completed.

In the end, I rode 105.5 miles, Average speed 13.2mph, 8 hours of riding, 10 hours total door-to-door, burned 4544 calories and climbed about 6500 feet.



The most difficult thing I've ever done. I'm still recovering. Thank you everyone! Thank you!

Training Continues for next week's 100 mile ride!

First, thank you to all of the advice I got from this blog and on facebook, particularly to WillO, @kleen, Bryn and Mark, my training has been progressing very well!

With more frequent snacking, Cytomax in my bottle, and shorter but more frequent breaks, I have gotten away from the mysterious gassy stomach and massive headaches on my long rides. My speed has really improved as well, though I am still the slowest rider in my group rides.

So far my big rides have included 65 miles in the East Bay for the Primavera (which was so amazingly beautiful! We got to race against a steam powered train!), 82 miles in Gilroy's Tiera Bella (the 100 mile route with the big climb up to Henry Coe and back cut out... :-), and 83 miles from our house to the ocean and back (big climbs included Arastedero, Alpine, Old La Honda Road, Stage Road, Pescadero and Tunitas Creek). I'm still riding after all that!

I've even done three mountain bike rides this year - and haven't cried on any of them (even though I fell down once and ran into a post another time.... :-)




Look at that awesome speed! It's a good thing you can't hear whining in a photo ;-)

While training has been going well, I am still far short of my goal. Can you please help support the fight against lung disease? As a reminder, I am riding because my mother is a lung cancer survivor, my step grandmother just died from lung disease and many other members of my family have lung disease - including me! Doing all this riding with asthma is tough, but it is such a worthy cause. Please help me out by supporting my ride today! Your donation is tax deductible.

First Big Training Ride and Request for Advice

Last Sunday, 1/2 of Team Salty Dawgs (plus a bonus rider) headed out on our first big training ride in preparation for my first century: 58 miles! We started in Mountain View (though one rider started in Sunnyvale...), headed up the bay shore trail to the Sun's Menlo Park campus, and made a right turn onto the Dumbarton Bridge. After we got over the bridge, we continued on beautiful bicycle trails through Alameda County until we found ourselves at Niles, where we had a delightful lunch at a little cafe (complete with cafe lattes!) and watched the steam trains go by.

After lunch, we reversed our route, pushing hard against the head winds that had come in since the morning. My dear friend Eileen had only ridden 11 miles previously this year, so I was very proud of how she stuck with the group and had no complaints (other than dreaming about a warm bath and cookies back at her own home).

We jokingly called it the Tour de Toilettes, as it seemed one of us always needed to stop every time we came across one. Fortunately, all of them, except one dreadful port-a-potty, were well maintained and clean. :-)

We did this in 4 hours and 19 minutes of ride time - it was mostly flat, though, so this weekend we'll have to start on the hills!

My only complaint, though, which is one I seem to have after every long ride (greater than 3 hours) is a headache and a stomach ache. My stomach seems to get incredibly filled with air during a ride - like I'm swallowing air or something? It's sort of like drinking a couple of Diet Cokes or beers really fast. That full feeling that, I'm sorry to say, does come with burps and nausea.

I'm certainly not drinking soda during a ride like this. I was also not eating, except for my lunch stop. I drank water pretty continuously from my Camel Bak.

So, any ideas? Anyone else have this problem of stomach ache on a long ride?

One of my team mates, Bryn, thinks the headache might be from lack of electrolytes and has suggested Cytomax. What do you think?

I've also been focusing on my speed - I want to finish these 100 miles in less than 24 hours :) My normal average speed on a ride like that is 12.5 mph, I've got to do better. That was my normal speed into work, but with all the riding I've been doing lately, I've gotten that up to around 15 mph (no hills).

btw, I'm still looking for folks to join our team! The ride is in Sonoma area, 65 or 100 miles, on June 26. You can find information on our team page. If you can't ride, please support us with a financial donation! Thank you!

Team Salty Dawgs Rides Again! Can you do it?

It may seem a bit early... but if you don't have plans for June 26, 2010, how about coming up to wine country with us and riding 30, 66, or 100 miles to raise money for the American Lung Association!? We'll make lung disease walk the plank! Argh, mateys! :)

Why am I bringing this up now? You can save $20 on the registration fee by registering before December 31, 2009. So, it's only $30 right now! The ride is wonderful and the support is great. Minimum fund raising is $150 - but you have more than 6 months to do it in, so it'll be easy!

This is my first year attempting 100 miles - I may end up only doing 66, but I'm going to train for the 100 and hopefully pull it off! I'm a slow rider, though...but anyone that wants to join the team can know that you can ride faster with Mark :)

So, what do you say? Ready to ride?! Sign up on the team page!

Lots of Fun East Bay Activities

While I'm normally a San Francisco Peninsula or South Bay kind of girl, I've spent the last two weekends in the East Bay.

Last weekend, we went with our friends visiting from Seattle to Niles to hop on the steam powered Niles Canyon Railway train! What I loved about this train was that it made the *exact* noise that all trains make in cartoons... which, apparently, is unique to steam trains (and a sound guy was there recording it as it pulled into the station). And it had a great whistle, as well! It didn't go very fast, but that was all the better to enjoy the beautiful rolling hills and other quaint scenery from the open top rail car. The train took us to Sunol, where we had a picnic lunch in the park that is right across the street from the depot.

After lunch, we thought we'd get a cup of coffee in the Jazz Cafe. Unfortunately, a couple of lattes ended up being a complicated order. The barista had problems with the order... twice. The first time, she couldn't read her own hand writing, so we had to tell her the order again. After about 30 minutes with no coffee, we checked again, and she'd forgotten to make them. Fortunately for us, the train was running late so we had plenty of time to finish our coffees once we got them. The atmosphere was very cool, but not sure about the service.

We ran into some other women at the station that had such bad luck at the other restaurant in town that they'd missed their earlier return train. Apparently their waitress forgot that they ordered food, too. Strange little town, Sunol. I think when we do this again, we'll start out in Sunol and take our chances in Niles for lunch and coffees, as their looked like there was a lot more options there.

The train ride itself was very cool and unforgettable - hard to believe it is totally staffed and run by volunteers! Many paid employees at other establishments could learn a thing or two about customer service from these friendly folks! I can't believe I've lived in this area for so many years and had never taken that train ride before!

This weekend, we ventured to the East Bay again with a different set of friends - this time for an even more rugged experience - camping! Okay, it's car camping, and we ate like kings, but still, we were roughing it! We camped in Lake Chabot at a great campsite. The fire pit and picnic tables were well set up, bathrooms clean and well stocked and HOT showers! The big pluses of this campground: close to the bay area so we only had a short drive, and mountain bike friendly!

I've had a cold, been traveling or just generally busy lately - that's kept me out of the saddle for more than a month! This weekend, I thought what better way to get back into shape than doing a long mountain bike ride! The trails in this park were totally my style: wide, shaded, not very technical, lots of good climbs. I could ride them for hours - in fact, we did: 5 hours of riding! *whew* and that's when the nice, clean, hot showers came in very handy!

Riding my bike again!

The weather has warmed, the time change has gone into effect, and it's really spring here in the SF Bay Area! That means getting back on my bicycle! I'm coming off of a nasty cold (seems like everyone has had it), so it feels good to be breathing in the fresh morning air. I managed to commute into Menlo Park twice this week - my hubby is well on his way of biking in every day for a month... What is really cool about this ride in is just being so close to nature as we ride along the bay shore, through Shoreline park and the Palo Alto wetlands. This week, we were surrounded by butterflies who are apparently in the area as they migrate from Mexico to Washington. We spotted many egrets, nesting geese, and crows. Last night while riding home, a large hawk was pacing us, riding the wind just feet from our heads (in fact, he nearly accidentally swooped right into Mark's head at one point!) It was very cool and definitely something we could not have experienced from the car.

Oh, yes, the cars... we're actually getting problems starting these cars, just due to lack of driving. I had heard that there are supposed to be car insurance discounts if you commute by bicycle, I'll have to look into that to see if I can somehow cover the extra tune-ups we'll need to do due to lack of use ;-)

Now a side note on blogging - I'm going to update my blog roll tonight, as I realize that I haven't been very good with updating it with the blogs that I actually read every day. Some are quite funny and others very interesting. Speaking of blogs that I read, I met a friend of mine in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago that I hadn't seen in months - and we realized that since we both follow each other's blogs, that we didn't have to update each other on the big things in life - just the details and things we never got around to blogging. Very cool, if only a tiny bit nerdy. :-)

Now I'm going to try to get up all the entries that have been running through my head all week....

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!

We did the American Lung Association's Breathe Easy Lung Ride in San Luis Obispo last weekend, and it was WONDERFUL! Even though it was a very hot weekend, most of the ride was along the coast - which was beautiful and cool. I didn't really get hot til the last 10-15 miles, particularly when I ran out of water (my fault for not filling up at the last rest stop! I totally forgot!) Mark stopped often so I could have some water from his camel back, but the sun and the heat did get to me - I got a pounding headache behind my eyes and dizzy. Nothing an air conditioned lobby, lots of cold water & some food couldn't fix. I did finish the ride, but after the dizzy spell I did get a SAG wagon back to my hotel (3 miles from the ride start). All the same, thank you all for your very generous donations! Your gifts, plus the very generous matching gifts from the Sun Microsystems Foundation, helped me raise $6884.02! WOW!

Thank you so much - the generosity of all of you is so humbling to me. Thank you.

Biking to work & biking to save lives

This is a big week for bicycling and me, with Bike to Work Day coming up tomorrow (May 15) and my 65 mile ride for the American Lung Association on Saturday (May 17). I'm excited about Bike to Work Day, as I think this will be the first time I can actually ride in. It's always funny - I ride in all the time, but something like a doctors appointment will come up and I'll miss this one day. Well, I already rescheduled my dentist appointment so I can make it this year! I expect to see the trails pretty packed, even though my route doesn't take me along any of the "power stations", because tomorrow is also a Spare The Air Day and my last day to train for the ALA ride on Saturday.

Unfortunately, my show schedule and cold I got after we opened kept me from biking for essentially all of April - so, training didn't start until April 30. I've done this ride a few years in a row, now, so I know I can do it - I just know that my lack of training will result in being VERY tired and sore, but I will do it. I do this ride for my mother, a lung cancer survivor and asthma sufferer and for all of the family friends and family members we have lost to lung disease. If you can support me, I'd appreciate it. If not, please do something friendly for the environment on Saturday to help support clean air - like combine any trips by car, or see if you can walk or ride a bicycle to do your errands, or just make sure your car is passing its smog requirements. There's a lot of us in the Bay Area - small things we do can add up.

Bike accident

I was so sad today to read about the fatal bike accident that occurred on Steven's Creek Canyon yesterday morning. We do that ride all the time, only missing yesterday because we were skiing. I love riding that road because I find that the cyclists and motorists are generally very courteous, with the exception of occasional yahoos in sports cars. It's a nice, quiet road with a good steady climb. My heart goes out to the families of Matt Peterson and Kristy Gough, and I'm sending as many good thoughts as possible toward Christopher Knapp - I hope he is able to recover from his injuries.

Close call!

Riding our bicycles in today, we were nearly involved in what could have been a very nasty accident! Mark & I were waiting at the red light at Middlefield and Shoreline, in the bicycle lane on eastbound Middlefield. We were chatting away, and missed when the light turned green. That slight, and unusual, delay saved our lives. The car sitting next to us, a small Toyota, started driving just after the light turned green, but just before us. Mark & I casually entered the intersection when suddenly a blue van came RUSHING southbound on Shoreline - running a very red light at about 40 mph. Because of our minor delay at leaving the intersection when the light turned green, the small Toyota was hit by the van instead of us. Even then, I was suddenly faced with two cars coming towards us - out of control. I screamed and totally froze - crashing metal at those speeds that close is too much for my little helmet to protect against. We were very lucky that the little Toyota wasn't a bit further in the intersection, or the severity of the impact would've certainly sent the crashing cars just that much closer to us and I wouldn't be able to write this now.

Please, please, please drivers - don't run red lights. Is it worth nearly killing two cyclists to get to work on time?

Shaken and fortunately not stirred.

ALA Breathe Easy Bike ride a success!!

After 100s of training miles, the American Lung Association's Breathe Easy 65-mile bike ride was a huge success! Team Salty Dawgs raised nearly $15,000 for lung disease research & prevention! (and with a few last second donations still coming in, I think we'll make $15,000 before the week is up). The ride was incredible - it was windy, but not too bad. It was so beautiful! I've finally mastered the art of drafting, so with my friend Richard's help, I was able to complete the ride without destroying my body this time. It took me 6 hours and 13 minutes this time, but the ride was actually 66-miles this year - so that's a slight time improvement over last year.

I hope to get pictures from my teammates soon & I'll let you know when they are up on bubb.org (my woefully out of date website).

We spent the weekend at the Larson Family Winery's Captain's Cabin - wow, what a treat! The home is beautifully decorated, and no modern convenience was overlooked. The wines, which we were able to taste across the path from the "cabin", were wonderful as well. I would have to say the Wingo White & the Pinot were my favorites. This is a family run winery, and it truly shows. We were all treated like family while we stayed, chatting with folks in the tasting room - even singing showtunes with Bob. The family dogs were ever present and incredibly friendly.