Wheels and News

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Mission Accomplished, THANK YOU

2008-06-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

2500 riders, 500 roadies, 545 miles, 7 days, 1 goal, we made it, together we raised over $11.6 million to help end AIDS! (this record breaking number making ALC the largest amount money raised event for HIV/AIDS)

That's right, I just completed AIDS/LifeCycle 7, my third ride. Despite 2 flats over the 7-day period, I rode every single mile from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with my own power (and your support of course). Personally I've risen over $6000 this year (you still can make online donation via my homepage). I could have not done this without your financially and emotionally supports. I want to share this success with all of you. THANK YOU.

This year 2500 cyclists from 12 countries, 42 states participated in ALC 7, the youngest ride was 18 and the oldest was 81, so if you think you were too young or too old to ride, think again. 500 people already registered in camp for ALC 8, which will be held May 31-June 6, 2009. Please check out www.aidslifecycle.org for more details, if you're interested in participating, either as cyclist or roadie, please let me know.

Just thought you like to know some fun facts, we rode through 55 towns/jurisdictions in 8 counties; drank 420 gallons of coffee, 660 gallons of milk, 16,800 gallons of water; ate 125 cases of bananas, 44,600 eggs, 1,200 lbs. of pasta, 4,400 lbs. of chicken, 6,200 lbs. of vegetables; used 1,055 portable toilets, 1,640 sleeping tents, 18,000 packages of "butt balm."

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Season Finale - Final Push

2008-05-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

25 miles on the 25th. That's my final organize training ride and I felt great.

After a nearly 18-hour flight and a nice 7-hour sleep, I woke up at 5a.m. Sunday morning. While dealing with jet lag and adjusting to "new" time, I managed to finish the 25 miles ride from the Rose Bowl. Co-TRLs Pedro and Eric were there to lead the group of seven; Tommy who was unable to ride showed up with donuts and coffee to cheer us up; Fiona was out town for the long weekend.

AIDS/LifeCycle 7 is now only a week away, can you believe it? I have not been doing any serious training ride while I was gone for 3 weeks, I wasn't sure if I am ready for the Ride, but after this 25-mile ride, I felt great at the end. I will be shipping
Dragon (to San Francisco) on either Tuesday or Wednesday. I will fly to SF on Friday (30th) and all of us have to attend Orientation Day (known as Day-0) on Saturday (31st).

A few notes for all:

Fundraising
To date I've raised over $5000, still $3000 short from my goal. The deadline to mail in checks has passed, unless you can give me the check in person where I will bring it to orientation day on May 30th. However, online donation can be made through May 28th, so please sponsor me by donating any amount you can. My homepage is www.aidslifecycle.org/2602. (Thanks everyone who have donated and supported this great cause.)

Message of support
Beginning June 1st you can send your message of support via
http://experience.aidslifecycle.org/2008/support, I will be able to check them in the evening once I get into camp.

Gabcast
Want to hear the latest news from the road? While I'm riding down the California coast, I will try to record voice messages every day and you can hear them on my homepage (www.aidslifecycle.org/2602).

Closing ceremony
Everyone is invited! The closing ceremony for ALC 7 is scheduled for 4pm on June 7th (Saturday) at the Veteran's Administrative Center (11301 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025, near UCLA). Parking available on site, $8 per vehicle. Please car-pool (financially and environmental friendly) and come welcome home 2500 riders and 500 roadies.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Journey for Family, Friends and Food

2008-05-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Apa Khabar? (what's new in Malay)
That's right, I'm writing to you from an internet cafe at my hometown.

It has been 5 years since I last visited my family and friends. It's nice to be home again, many things have changed, in a good way. I'm still trying to get use to the hot and humid weather, and driving on the left hand side!! I spent most of my time with my parents, besides that also making time for old friends, old colleagues, so many gatherings in town.

I visited Taipei for 2 days before coming back to Malaysia. My ex-colleague showed me around town and I loved their night markets. Foods are amazing, the only regret was I didn't have a bigger stomach for all the food.

The journey for food continue in Malaysia. A lot of local food, such as the coconut milk rice Nasi Lemak, Fish Head Rice Noodles, Fried Noodles, and our national fruit Durian! (Just to name a few)

Will meet more friends and family members in the next 2 weeks before I head back to LA. I will try to post photos whenever I have a chance.

While the training is temporary suspended, I hope that doesn't stop you from sponsoring my ride, which is only 3 weeks away!! Any amount is greatly appreciated. Please visit my homepage www.aidslifecycle.org/2602 for online updates and donation.

Greeting From Malaysia!

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Birthday Eve-Biggest Loser

2008-04-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

It’s the end of training season and I lost 10 lbs after riding 74 miles under nearly hundred degree heat wave on Saturday! Oh yea, by the time you read this email, it’s my birthday!

I think the hot weather on this past weekend was beyond words can describe, you wouldn't know it unless you were under the sun for 7 hours like us. While most of you staying indoor with ac on, I continue riding my bike, hoping to put in more miles before the end of training season.

Saturday and Sunday was this year’s popular Santa Barbara ride, a lot of riders and training ride leaders participated in that event. I did it for the last two years but decided not to this year. So I end up leading a ride from the Rose Bowl, together with co-TRLs Pedro, Fiona and Alan, Steve, Mark & Alison who were also in town. To my surprised, we were the ONLY training ride in LA on that day, so I got over 30 RSVPs for the ride, the biggest ever turn out in our area.

We rode from Rose Bowl to the Claremont with 2 water stops at Goldstein’s Bagels and San Dimas Canyon Park before lunch in Claremont. It was really hot. By the time we made it to the half point, everyone was exhausted. No one could stand the heat. The fast riders turn around to complete the ride without stopping long, while I stayed with the slower rides at the back.

Third water stop was at Sierra Madre’s. That was when we came across all the fire engines rushing to the Santa Anita Canyon brush fire. We saw heavy smoke from the north. Our common goal was: get back to the Rose Bowl as soon as possible. However, our legs and bodies didn’t move as fast as we wish for.

About 10 of us at the last group decided to cut the ride short, skipping Altadena Drive climb, instead we took Orange Grove, the flat road. I was really tired because of the heat. After sending all the riders home, I drove home with empty-stomach, I was starved to dead.

When I got home, I weighted myself. I lost 10 lbs from this heat-ride. While it seems like the “biggest loser” I was more worried about my body. I kept eating and drinking and decided to take a quit nap. I woke up later, probably around 8pm, and ate more. By the end of the day, I gained back 5 lbs.

Never had such an experience. It was tough, it was hot. Together with the 50-mile ride I did with Fiona on Friday, I put on 124 miles this past weekend. Oh yea, ALC 7 is 4 weeks away, why my training ends so early? That’s because I will be out of the country visiting my family in Malaysia for 3 weeks. I will be back a week before the Ride. I will not have access to road bike while I am abroad, however, will try to stay fit and try not to eat too much food that I dearly missed (I know it will be very hard).

Last but not least, I turn 32 today (Monday). I hope everyone is happy and healthy, I pray for world peace, and I look forward for your sponsorship. I will have limited computer access in the next 3 weeks, but will try to send out updates whenever I can. Take good care of yourself.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Is it hard to ride 80 miles? Oh Yea!

2008-04-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

2 minimum goals met, the real challenge is still up.

Saturday was our “Day on The Ride” event, more than 400 riders showed up on the cloudy-overcast morning. DOTR let the riders, especially the newbies, experienced how the actual Ride would be, with fully support teams of pit stops, SAG vehicles, road signage and massage crews.

There were two routes to choose from, 40 miles and 80 miles. I chose 80 because I need the long distance training that I lacked so far in this training season. I rode with Suzann and George, another buddy Khoa is vacationing in South America (lucky him!). This was my 3rd DOTR and the route remained the same as previous years, from San Monica, we went down to PV and San Pedro.

I didn’t train as much compare with two previous years, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I was right. I was doing well for the first 40 miles, where we stopped for lunch. CLICK HERE to see my happy face.

I wasn’t sure if it was the food or just my body, the next 20 miles was a disaster. A simple climb seemed like a mission impossible, the rolling hills seemed like endless. Thank to the support from Suzann and George, I was able to hang on. I kept telling my “ride on your own pace…this is a ride not a race…take one mile at a time…” I was really glad to make it to the 4th pit stops. How hard was it for me? CLICK HERE to see my painful face.

After some rest and stretches, some food, I told myself it was not a time to quit, so we hit the road to complete the last 20 miles. Luckily this part of the route is mostly flat, about 8 miles on the bike path along the beach. With the help of tailwind, I paddled as fast as I could, overcoming the pain, both physically and mentally. We finished the ride before 4pm. Our event sponsor Bike Attack hosted after ride party at the parking lot, pizza and energy drinks never tasted so good before.

This was the longest distance training ride of this season. I did a 40 miles ride with co-TRLs Eric and Fiona on Friday. We were supposed to meet at 8am at the Arcadia Park, but I overslept! I was late for 45 minutes and so we had to cut the ride short.

On the fundraising part, it’s getting a little better, donations are coming in, thanks to those who made their contribution. I’m now officially meet the minimum goal which is $2500 for all riders, but still a distance behind my $8080.80 actual goal. I hope you, your family and friends will sponsor me, any amount welcome, and if you donate at least $100, you will get a donor t-shirt. I’ve ordered 50 of them, I love the new design and hope you will be one of the new owners to wear them.

So, 2 goals met: minimum fundraising goal, long distance ride goal. Yet the real challenge is riding 7 days in a row, plus raising more money to help fight AIDS.

Oh yea, some of you have been sending best wishes for Richard, our rider who fell of his bike last week. He had a C1 vertebrae fracture, plus 3-4 fractured ribs, however no head or spinal injury. He’s in good spirit and will get daily home therapy. We all wish him speed recovery.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Blood Beats Heat

2008-04-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

OK, I’m physically and mentally exhausted.

Why? On the physical part because I co-lead the 45-mile ride on Saturday that went up to San Gabriel Mountain, of which about 15 miles of incline and climb.

While for the mentally part, one of our riders went down at the down hill and he was airlifted to the county hospital trauma center. The good news is he’s in stable condition now.

It was the beginning of the record breaking heat weekend. We started at Stan’s Bike Store in Monrovia, it was around 66’F. By the time we get to climb the mountain, the temperature went up to the 90s! We were toasted under the no shade mountain road.

There were many cyclists out there during the weekend, most of them belong to different cycling clubs or training groups. We were also joined by some motorcyclists who speed up the hill and left us plenty of polluted gas.

After catching our breathes on top of the mountain, we took off for the 10-mile down hill. While Eric and I were in the front, Fiona and Richard followed behind. We came across fire truck and ambulance right before we hit the bottom of the hill, something must have gone wrong.

We waited and waited, still no sign of Fiona and Richard. We started to hope that the ambulance was not for them. Eric’s phone rang and it was Fiona calling, “Richard went down.” We learn that he fell on his forehead but didn’t get more details. Richard was later airlifted to county hospital near downtown. We transported his bike back to Stan’s and waited for the police to contact his family. We’re still trying to find out how and why did he fell.

I went to the hospital in the evening hoping to see him. However, due to several hospital procedures I wasn’t able to do so. I left him a note with best wishes and pray for his speedy recovery. We were glad to learn that he’s in stable condition now. Richard did 11th AIDS Rides. He’s totally an inspiration to all.

Oh yea, while I was waiting at the emergency room, there was a lady accompanying her son to visit his girlfriend. According to her, the 15-year-old girl was hit by car while riding with her dad in the neighborhood. She was airlifted from Chino. I believed she’s doing OK with some broken bones.

That’s right, there’s always a risk when we ride on the road. I hope we all will ride safe, drive safe on the road, for the safety of our own and those we love.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Chilly Chilly Pain Pain

2008-04-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Another lack-of-training weekend.

Three airlines went bankrupt this past week, I supposed I should be lucky "just" had to experience the delays and not having to find out flights were canceled in the last minutes. I flew with US Airways, on the way back to LA I had to transfer in Las Vegas. For an unknown reason, flight was delayed for an hour. So, I finally got home around 2.15am and went to bed at 3am (which is 6am eastern time!!!). I was really tired for the next two days and didn't train as hard.

I went to spinning class on Friday (instead of riding my bike) and kind of injured my back on the weight lifting machine (ouch!). I thought it would be a great excuse not to train on Saturday and I really did try hard. I slept till 9am. Not sure why, I told myself the ride is only 2 months away, I should train more or I will get more pain later. As a result, I rode by myself, started from my apartment and headed east to Arcadia/Monrovia/Duarte and did some climbs up Altadena and New York Dr. Under the cloudy sky and chilly wind, I did 43 miles in 3 hours.

I'm planning to do a century ride (mostly likely my ONLY century ride for this season before ALC 7 in June) on this coming Friday and will be co-leading a ride up to the San Gabriel Mountain (the one I did with fellow TRLs a few weeks ago). If you're up for these challenge, let me know.

By the way, I'm still in the process of uploading pictures from my DC trip. So if you haven't seen them, or if you would like to see what's new in the albums, CLICK HERE.

Last but not least, thanks for those who support my ride and hope the rest of you will be donating too (as you received your tax return/credit from uncle Sam). I've ordered special T-shirt for club 100 members (ie. those who donated $100 or more). Please help spread the words.

Have a nice day.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Cherry Blossom @ the Potomac River

2008-03-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Greeting from the Potomac River! Cheering for the National Cherry Blossom Festival!

The weekend with no training rides. Not that I was lazy, I’m out of town attending the Association of Healthcare Journalists national conference in DC. I’ll extend my trip till Wednesday so I can do some sightseeing in the capital.

The conference ended on Sunday afternoon, so I’ve to check out the hotel and moved to a hostel (Hostelling International, pretty good). I usually choose a hostel when I travel alone, not just save cost (about $25-$35 a night, 4-8 people per room) but also get to know travelers from around the world.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in Washington, D.C. commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift to the city of Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo. Mayor Ozaki donated the trees in an effort to enhance the growing friendship between the United States and Japan and also celebrate the continued close relationship between the two peoples.

The first festival was held in 1935, sponsored by civic groups in the nation's capital. Suspended during World War II because of hostilities between the United States and the Empire of Japan, the festival resumed in 1947 with the support of the Washington, DC Board of Trade and the DC Commissioners. In 1948, the cherry blossom princess and U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen program were started by the National Conference of State Societies.

This year the festival begins on the 29th with an opening ceremony at the National Buildings Museum. According to the organizer, about 8000 people went to the family fun day and ceremony.

After checking in at the hostel, I walked to the National Mall, which is about six blocks south, then headed west to the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. I walked for about four hours under the chilly spring weather in DC (luck you in the sunny southern California).

Pictures taken from today’s visit can be viewed at CLICK HERE. Hope you enjoy seeing them and don’t forget to sponsor me, have your friends and family sponsor me. The ride is just two months away!!!

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Century Easter Weekend, the Reservoirs and the State Prison

2008-03-24T01:06:00.000-07:00

It was hot, it was long, lots of climbing, lots of fun. It was another milestone for the season, 114 miles for this weekend.

On Friday, the TRLs from the Rose Bowl group, Pedro, Eric, Fiona and I met at Stan’s Bike shop in Monrovia. We would like to try out something different, something more challenging, and something with spectacular view. So Fiona suggested we go up San Gabriel Canyon Road and come down Glendora Mountain Road, and we did.

These are roads that go into Angeles National Forest, you cannot imagine how nice the view is without actually seeing it yourself (well you’re lucky; I took some pictures to share with you). However, in order to enjoy the spectacular view, we had to do A LOT of climbing, the highest point happens to be 3406 feet above sea level.

We passed by the Morris and San Gabriel reservoirs on the way up. I’ve never seen such a nice view before. Maybe things do look better when you’re paying extra hard work, just like food tastes a lot better when you’re hungry. It was so peaceful, it was so nice to be closed to the natural, and it was so good to stay away from the busy life with cars and works. Believe it or not, there’s a state prison in the forest! We ran into some inmates, I supposed they’re not the hardcore criminals.

We stopped at Camp Williams Café for breakfast after about 20 miles of riding. This was the only spot to fill up our water bottles. In fact, a lot of cyclists stopped there for the same reason. The food was ok but we don’t have many choices. At this point, the café is only opened Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but will open daily after Memorial Day weekend.

The hardest part of the ride was the last 6 plus miles up to the top of East Fork Road before it gets to Glendora Mt. Road. It reminded me of the Mulholland Challenge that I did 2 years ago, a steady 7 miles climb at mile 80. After reaching the top, we stopped for few minutes to catch our breath and then enjoy the 10-mile downhill. We got back to Stan’s about 1.30pm.

Saturday was our regular training ride from the Rose Bowl. We had 20 people showed up for this flat to hilly ride. We did it last month, the day my car tire gets flat. The challenge of this ride came in the second part when we had to climb up New York Drive, Altadena Drive and the final one mile, the killer, Lake Avenue.

Due to the speed of different riders, everyone was kind of spread out after the first stop at Goldstein’s. While Pedro and Eric stayed in the front with the fast riders, Fiona and I were at the back. We also had Doreen, a 14th time riders plus TRL to join us. She’s great and helped the new riders a lot. I thought I was good at sweeping but she’s 10 times better.

When the heat kicked in, some riders decided to go to the short cut and finished the ride. Doreen and I end up being the last 2 riders at the back. We rode the last 10 miles together.

Since I will be out of town this coming week and miss the weekend training, so I decided to ride by myself on Sunday morning, to get over the century mark, and I did. I rode from home to the Rose Bowl plus a loop at the Linda Vista neighborhood, total about 21 miles.

As for the fundraising part, it’s going pretty slow. Is it because of the economy? Or just because I didn’t train hard enough to get your support? C’mon, every dollar counts, regardless it’s $10 or $100, it will help someone. So while you’re enjoying the pictures I took from the training rides, I hope you would consider sponsoring me as well. Also please spread the words and get more people to support this great cause.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Bike to Train, Sunshire to Rain

2008-03-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Another record for this season, 75 miles ride from Irvine to Solana Beach.

The sky was dark and the alarm went off at the most undesired time. At 5 a.m. to be exact. While most people were still in bed enjoying their beauty sleep, or maybe having wonderful dreams, I had to get up and get ready for a training ride.

The Saturday morning fun ride was organized by Team OC. In fact I first did this ride back in 2006 when I was training for ALC 5. They organize this ride twice a year. I forgot why I didn’t join them last year.

I arrived at the Irvine train station shortly after seven. Some early birds already left to catch their fun. I met with Suzann, Khoa and George, picked up the route slips, pre-ordered our pizzas, did some stretching and hit the road around 7.30 a.m.

It was a little cold but not too cold. That was when I realized I forgot to bring my gloves. Great! They were still in my laundry bag. We didn’t wear gloves just because they looked great, they helped protect the nerves on the palms. Of course it won’t kill if you didn’t wear them, but you’ll get those sexy tan lines like I do.

We made a few stops along the coast, Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, and at the beach near Oceanside. We had to detour and bike a few miles on the 5 freeway last time and we were lucky not to have to repeat that. Instead we went through Camp Pendleton Marine Co Base.

I felt great for the first 40 miles because we got tailwind for most part of it. However I started feeling tired and the legs just quit working with my mind. I started to fall apart from our group. It was ok, I always follow the “ride on your own pace” rule. I tried to concentrate, or should I say I tried not to pay too much attention on each stroke that I made, tried to forget the pain on my legs and hip. I keep telling myself, one mile at a time. That’s what helped me get through the last 10 miles.

We got to the pizza place across the street from the Solana Beach train station around 2p.m. It was crowded as usual. The pizza that we pre-ordered were ready, we just need to wait in line for 10-15minutes to pay! I am not a big pizza fan, yet the BBQ chicken pizza was so delicious.

Team OC rented a truck to ship our bikes back to Irvine, there’s only limited space on the train for bikes, and it definitely won’t fit all 53 bikes at once. After pizza and beers (for most of the riders, not me) we took the 3.33pm train heading to Irvine. The five tiring-hard working-sweating hours on the bike only takes an hour on the train. However, I have to admit those five hours were worth it.

I drove to my friend Catherine’s house in San Dimas after the ride. The clear sky turned into dark while I traveled north on the freeways. It rained by the time I got there. It was so refreshing. There were delicious food and snacks, plus wines and cheesecake. Of course everyone loves karaoke! It was nice to have a friends gathering after a day-long ride.

I got home before midnight and fell asleep in less than 30 minutes. I need more trainings so I will no be suffering during the June’s event.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - 12 more weeks!

2008-03-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

62 miles from Long Beach to Hacienda Heights!

Due to several reasons, my training didn’t go as well as last season, so far I have spent less miles on the wheels compare with the same period last time. The 62 miles ride I did on Saturday with my buddies Suzann and Khoa was the longest this year.

We met at the Marina in Long Beach, took the San Gabriel River bike path up to Whittier, then switched to the road and passed through some neighborhoods which I had no idea where we were.

The “fun” part of the day was climbing up Turnbull Canyon Road. It was about 2-3miles up hill, not the toughest but certainly made me realized I wasn’t in my top fitness level. The view from the top was nice despite covered by smog or air pollutant.

We didn’t get a map for this route, as a result we end up getting lost in Whittier. Thanks to the friendly people in the neighborhood, we were able to get back to the bike path after crossing a busy road with freeway entrances.

The last 10 miles of the ride was very hard for me, because we were heading towards the ocean, which mean headwind. My legs couldn’t go faster as I wished them would. I was very tired at the end of the ride and starving too, so we went to a restaurant on 2nd Street in Long Beach. I ordered a jambalaya crepes but it wasn’t as good as I thought.

Thank to day light saving time, I lost an hour sleep and Sunday’s training. Well, I guess I’ll train harder in the coming week. I did a spinning class and a yoga class too.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - 2 hills Go-Go Ride

2008-03-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

“Are we expecting the rain?”
“Err… I guess no!”

“It’s not raining, just drizzling, just different kind of training, you need to train under different weather conditions.”

That’s our training ride on Saturday. Around 55’F, more than 20 riders, almost 50 miles ride, 2 major hill climbs. We stopped at two Goldstein’s Bagels, the first one in La Canada and the second one in Arcadia, maybe we should name this the Go-Go ride?

Lida and Chevy Chase are the 2 hills that I trained on most of the time for ALC 5 & 6. I’ve not climbed both since last year, so I was a little worried before we get up to the first hill and GU upped in advance, hopefully I’ll be fined. I managed to finish these back-to-back hills without any major incidents, I guess I’m ready huh.

The weather was not as nice as the previous week. However, riding in wet condition is just as fun, just need to be extra careful on the down hill. I finished this 48-mile ride just before 2pm.

My legs were sore and I was so tired, end up taking a 3-hour POWER nap!

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - The Flats and The Stars

2008-02-26T23:57:00.000-08:00

It was a weekend all about flat tires and Hollywood stars.

On this past Saturday, I leaded a ride with Pedro and Eric. It was the day before the conclusion of the Amgen 2008 Tour de California, a professional cycling competition, which ended at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.

About 10 riders showed up. The weather was nice and we finally got a break from the raining Oscar weekend. One of our riders, Leo, had 3 flats! We were not exactly sure what went wrong, it must be something to do with the wheel or spokes. He decided to take the bus after we stopped at Sierra Madre.

The route for the day was a revamp from previous rides. We took Huntington Drive instead of Longden Ave., to avoid most of the stop signs (according to ALC’s safety rules, and the California traffic laws, we have to stop at every stop signs, just like any other moving vehicles on the road). On the way back, instead of using the popular-steady incline Sierra Madre Blvd., we used the less traffic yet with nice rolling hills’ Grandview Ave. I received great feedback from the group, so most likely we’ll stay on this route for the future rides.

I added more hills for this ride by bringing the group going up New York Drive, Altadena Drive and Lake Ave., it was hard but doable, most of us enjoyed the hill climbing part.

The sky turned into dark before we were able to do the last part of the ride – a home tour to the nice Linda Vista neighborhood. We decided to go back to the Rose Bowl after finishing a 42 miles ride.

Then I noticed my rear left tire had a flat! I was worried for few seconds because I had no idea how to change a car tire. Luckily, our man of the day – Pedro volunteer to show his talent. In less than 15 minutes, he helped me put on the spare tire and I drove slowly to Costco to have my tire fixed.

I didn’t ride on Sunday. Not because of the Tour de California closing ceremony, but because of the Oscar! This year we were lucky enough to get the credentials to cover the actual event. My co-workers Nicole and Peter were at the red carpet while I was put at the press interview room where all the winners answered media questions while holding their golden statute.

This was my second time wearing a rented tuxedo, sitting at the press room with 200 other reporters from all over the world. The first time was 4 years ago when Lord of the Ring became the big winners. It was really interesting to see what’s behind the scene and meet all those A-list stars and directors and producers and writers up close and personal.

So that was my exciting weekend with flats and stars. Hope yours went well and have a great week ahead.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Pros? Maybe Not

2008-02-26T23:54:00.000-08:00

I may be good, but not THAT good.

Some of you saw the Amgen’s 2008 Tour de California and thought I was one of the cyclists. I wish I was! That in fact is a professional cycling competition, me however, is just an amateur bike rider.

Other than 4 spinning classes, I didn’t ride my bike this week because I was at a translation workshop on Saturday. I was supposed to ride from Arcadia to Claremont on Sunday but I overslept! Guess I will have to make it up the following week. On this coming Saturday, I will lead another ride from the Rose Bowl, a 45-mile mostly flat plus some rolling hills route. We’ll go up New York Drive and Altadena Drive, very good training. Hope you can join us.

Speaking of the Amgen’s Tour de California, it will end in Pasadena this Sunday. There will be festivity and ceremony at the Rose Bowl, for more information www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

Bicycle Diaries the 3rd - Year of RAT-to-do-it Saddlebration

2008-02-11T00:03:00.000-08:00

20 riders, 40 miles, 80 degrees. Our Year of RAT-to-do-it Saddlebration was a huge success!

After some raining weekends, the weather on this past Saturday was in fact, hot! With the help from co-trl Eric and Pedro, we leaded another training ride from the Rose Bowl to the San Gabriel Mission. This scenic tour brought us to some of the beautiful cities in the SGV, such as Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Temple City, San Gabriel and Alhambra.

We had one of the biggest turn out, 20 riders in total. Some of them were on their first training ride, some of them traveled all the way from Hermosa Beach, some of them are returning riders. One of our riders, Miguel, had a few flats within 2 miles from the Rose Bowl, it was not his day. Regardless of each and everyone’s background, we all enjoyed the sunny southern California weather (and the bagels!).

Because it was the Chinese New Year weekend, I named the ride Year of RAT-to-do-it Saddlebration, and brought some New Year candies and almond cookies to share with all the riders. The food was not “too” attractive at the beginning, but by the end of the 40-mile ride, everything looks and tastes good, all of them were gone!

I did 3 spinning classes during the week and hope to get back to my yoga class soon.

The fundraising has been going slow-n-steady, I passed the $1K mark this week, thanks to all the donors. I’m still $7K away from reaching my goal, I need your help. Please share this email with all your friends and family. Together we can make a difference.

Bicycle Diaries The 3rd - Year of Mouse-Milestone

2008-02-04T00:51:00.000-08:00

Dragon is 2 years old. We’ve ridden over 6000 miles!!! Yehhhhh~ So, how far is 6000 miles? That’s like from LA-New York City-back-2-LA plus LA-San Diego-back-2-LA and still have some extra miles left.

Although the weekend weather wasn’t perfect, I was able to do a 33-mile ride on Saturday with my buddies Suzann and Khoa. We met at the Marina in Long Beach and traveled along PCH all the way to Huntington Beach.

It was a mostly flat road but had very busy traffic, high speed cars and trucks, surfers and beach goers. Interestingly, both the Long Beach and Huntington Beach sides look familiar to me, I later found out, I have been to those areas. When we did the San Gabriel River bike trail, it ends at the border of Long Beach/Seal Beach; on another training ride, we did a Santa Ana River bike trail ride, and that ends in Huntington Beach.

Another fun part of this ride was at one of the traffic lights, a car stopped next to us. It has a huge dog in it that looks like the Hollywood star “Beethoven.” He was funny enough to pose for a picture!

Didn’t ride on Sunday due to the rain. Instead I went to the temple (Dharma Seal Temple in Rosemead) and they’re just beginning their annual eight-day long New Year dharma function.

Speaking of Chinese New Year, the Year of Mouse/Rat is just around the corner. I will be leading a Year of RAT-to-do it Saddlebration Ride on this coming Saturday (Feb. 9th) from the Rose Bowl to Arcadia then to the San Gabriel Mission. 40 miles total, let me know if you’re interested in joining us.

If riding wasn’t your cup of tea but still want to enjoy some New Year fun, you can go to Chinatown or Monterey Park for their wonderful programs. In Chinatown, there will be Golden Dragon Parade on Saturday and Firecracker Run on Sunday, plus New Year Festival on both days. For more information, check out their websites www.lachinesechamber.org or www.chinatownla.com. On the other hand, there will be Floral Street Fair in Monterey Park on both the 9th and 10th. Their website is www.floralstreetfair.org

ALC 7 FUNdraising Materials

2008-01-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

2x3

Fundraising Card (4x6)

Fundraising Postcard (4x6)

Fundraising Thank You Card (4x6)

CLICK for FUNdraising Video

Bicycle Diaries The 3rd - More Rain Less Train

2008-01-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

Because of the heavy rain, I didn't ride my bike this week. Seriously, I missed riding!

We planned for a ride on Saturday to celebrate TRL Tommy's 29th (again) birthday. However, due the rain the city closed Griffith Park for safety reason. We had no choice but to cancel the ride.

The rains have stopped me from riding out door but didn't keep me from my regular spinning classes at the Y. I did 3 classes this week.

Speaking of spinning, I was shocked and sad to learn that one of our instructors, and my ex-trainer, Gloria, passed away recently due to complication from infection. When I joined the Y back in 2003, it was Gloria that showed me how to use all those weight lifting machines and guided me thru a 12-week fitness program.

She was not only a good trainer but also a friend. She later left the Y to become a private personal trainer but then came back as a spinning instructor. Most of us who know Gloria are still having difficult time accepting the fact that she's gone. I am sure she's in a better place now. My heart goes to her family.

At the meantime, I hope everyone take good care of yourself and your love ones.

Bicycle Diaries The 3rd - I Have a Dream

2008-01-30T20:34:00.000-08:00

I've a dream, I wish there was a cure for HIV/AIDS, I wish we didn't have to do this ride anymore… but until my dream comes true, I've to keep riding and fundraising for this great cause.

Here are some exciting news to share with you:

Ø After hours of hard work (and no sleep), I've completed my first AIDS/LifeCycle video, it's about 6 minutes long and I hope you'll like it. There's a link on my home page, click on www.aidslifecycle.org/2602 now. (When the screen pops up, at the bottom right hand corner there's an inverted pyramid icon, click on that and select "original size" for best quality)

Ø For the first time in AIDS/LifeCycle history, they will put a cap on the total number of participants. SF already reached their cap and no longer accepting new registration and LA will fill its capacity soon. YES, that's right, if you're still thinking of joining this life-changing-wonderful-awesome event, you better act now! (why do they put a cap? It's for safety and maintain the quality of the ride, also, some of the camp grounds is limited to certain number of people )

Ø I'm back on my bike, riding more aggressively. I've put on about 100 miles for this past week. Besides that about 4 hours of spinning classes and 2 hours of yoga. I will lead more rides in the coming months, so if you would like to ride with us, please act and don't think twice, we're all very nice people.

Ø The donor incentive program is back, please join my Club 100 by donating at least $100 and receive an "official donor" t-shirt. Please also forward the link to your family and friends whom you think would like to sponsor my ride.

Thanks for reading and I hope your dreams will come true in 2008!

Bicycle Diaries The 3rd - I'm Back

2008-01-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Jan 7th 2008, the first clear sky I saw after the weekend winter storm, the day I breathed in fresh air, the day I decided to once again participating in this wonderful and meaningful fundraising event. Dragon and I will be cycling along the California coast for the third time this summer (June 1-7) and I need your support to make a world of difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS.

As a news reporter, I have covered healthcare related news for several years and have always felt great compassion for people living with both chronic and acute illness, especially those battling HIV/AIDS. On World AIDS Day 2005, I had the chance to interview 2 Chinese men who are living with AIDS. As they shared with me their experiences and concerns, I found myself realizing the importance of educating the public about prevention and treatment of HIV related disease. Besides that, I did a special report about "25 years of API and AIDS."

In September 2007, I took another step and participated in a healthcare interpreter training course funded by The Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP), so I can help the limited English proficiency community to get better and equal healthcare access.

Why SFAF?
As some of you may notice, I'm registered as SF Rider this year. Why? For the past 2 years I've raised more than $12,000 for LAGLC, this year I would like to dedicate it to SF AIDS Foundation. Their Pangaea Globla AIDS Foundation, which assist the governments of China, South Africa, Rwanda, the Bahamas, and Ukraine in the development and/or implementation of countrywide plans for providing HIV/AIDS care and treatment.

In China, for example, Pangaea professionals are providing assistance in a number of areas, including the development of national treatment guidelines for use of antiretroviral therapies, clinical training of health professionals and planning for a national scale-up of training, implementation of provincial models of care, special programs targeted at HIV+ injection drug users, and development of systems for monitoring and evaluation.

Why $8080.80?
ALC 5: over $5500, ALC 6: over $6500, so I know we can do it! (OK, it's 2008 and 08.08.08 will be the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. 8 means prosperity in Chinese, lets aim high and help me reach my goal) Help me reach my fundraising goal by giving any amount you can, either it is $10 or $1000 they all help and add up to a significant amount, we raised over $11 million last year.

Join my Club 100 by donating at least $100 and receive an "official donor t-shirt"And don't forget, all donations are 100% tax deductible. Donations can be made by logging onto my personal AIDS/LifeCycle homepage at www.aidslifecycle.org/2602 and clicking on the "Support Kar" button. From the homepage, you can also click on "watch video" to see a video that I made, something that you don't want to miss!!

Thank You
Reach One, Help OneThere will be an AIDS Ride until there is no AIDS

Happy Holidays

2007-12-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

Bicycle Diaries II - Season Finale

2007-05-27T20:31:00.001-07:00

Final countdown! Are you ready? This is the final weekend before AIDS/LifeCycle 6!

I did a 24 miles ride with Team Long Beach on Saturday, from the Marina to a park in Huntington Beach. I rode with Team LB last year when I first began my training for ALC 5. It was glad to meet some old faces and new faces.

The park was so cool, it has a restaurant there called Alice. There were ducks and geese at the park and there were people fishing by the lake.

Later I met Aaron to pick up the sleeping pad that I’m going to use. Aaron will not join us for ALC 6, instead he’s doing an AIDS ride in Hawaii in August, that would be fun too.

I had the last ride from the Rose Bowl on Sunday, season finale for all of us. Surprisingly we had 22 riders showed up for this 25/36 miles ride. As usual we stopped at the Goldstein’s Bagels in Arcadia for coffee and bagel break, everyone was more relaxing and had chance to exchange ideas and information for ALC 6.

I’ll be shipping my bike to San Francisco this coming Tuesday. Before that, I hope to do two more rides, on Monday and Tuesday, just to keep the legs warm and hit 5000 miles on my bike odometer before ALC 6. Yes, I’ve ridden 4977 miles so far since I bought Dragon on January 28 2006.

A few housekeeping notes for everyone:
Message of Support: you can send me message of support during ALC 6 (6/3-6/9) by visiting www.aidslifecycle.org, on the main page, go to “send a message of support.” My participant number is 3107. I will be able to check messages once I get into camp site, however this is the “read-only” service, so I will not be able to reply right the way.

Gabcast: this is the new feature on our homepage this year. I’ve recorded the first episode today. Simply go to my homepage www.aidslifecycle.org/3107 and scroll down to the blue gabcast box and click on the “episode #” make sure your speaker is on. During the 7 days on the road, I will try to record messages from either public phone or cell phone (if the battery still alive) to share with you stories from the ride, kind of like “reporting live from xxx.”

Closing ceremony: everyone is invited to the closing ceremony on June 9th, Saturday at 4pm. We’ll be at the Wadsworth Theater Grounds, Lot #7 – Department of Veteran Affairs, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood. Spectator parking in Lots #6 & #2, $7 per vehicle. Please let me know if you’re coming, would be hard to find each other in the crowd of 3000+ people.

Thanks again for staying tune with Bicycle Diaries Season II. Will there be a Season III?

Faaaabulous ALC nails!

When you get ALC nails, you will be THIS strong. TRL Brian from Team LB.

TRL Mitch giving safety speech before the ride

Breakfast @ Alice at the Park

Muffins and Coffee... we're good to go all the way to SF

The Marina in Long Beach

Ducks at the park

The Three Tenors

Yes, they can sing and like to get attention

Feeding the ducks are welcomed!

Dragon resting at the park

Final ride from the Rose Bowl, everyone gets an ALC goodies bag

Ready to roll

Our favarite bagels place, the women summit

... and the men summit

... and the bagel lovers

Final hill in Sierra Madre

Sally from the Y joined the group

Bicycle Diaries II - Triple Hills & Fundraising

2007-05-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

While the count-down clock is clicking, training and fundraising have been going well and intense. With two weeks left before the ALC, this past weekend was actually the last one for “hard” training, after that, we’re going to slow down.

On Saturday, most of the riders were doing the Mulholland Challenge organized by the Different Spokes. It was one of the most challenging century hilly ride in the San Fernando Valley. I did the ride last year but decided not to do it this year.

Instead, I leaded another ride from the Rose Bowl, to my surprised, 22 riders showed up for this half century hilly ride. We did Lida, La Tuna and Chevy Chase, three of the famous hills in LA. As usual, I was sweeping for the group, there were 8 of us, all of them are first time riders.

Before we started the ride, Brad had to fix a flat tire, but when we were ready to ride out, his rear tire didn’t look good and I wasn’t able to tell what went wrong. So he had to quit and sent the bike to the store. I felt bad for him.

Then Sonia’s chain dropped and got stuck in the front cassette on top of our first hill, Lida. Pedro and I stopped to help but it was beyond what our ability could do. So she walked her bike down the hill and back to the Rose Bowl, it was about 2 miles of walking!

She then drove to a close by bike store, had her bike fixed and came back! She met us at the lunch break point in Montrose. If I was her, I would have quit after the ‘not-my-day’ incidents, but that’s the kind of spirit we were looking for. Never give up.

We finished around 3.30pm and I stopped by Old Pasadena for the bike expo held in conjunction of the Pasadena Bike Week. It was another surprised to Pam from the ALC office at the expo. There were some freebies giveaway and raffles.

On Sunday I went to the temple to celebrate Buddha’s birthday. There was a “food fair” right after the ceremony and I had my first “public fundraising.” It was so nice to have the masters from the temple allowing me set up a little booth, together with a self made poster and my bike, Dragon. I raised a significant amount of money for ALC from this successful fundraising event.

Total mileage of the week: 72 miles

I sent Dragon to the bike shop for a tune-up before ALC. Next week I will be leading the last ride of the season, a 36-mile ride from the Rose Bowl to Duarte.

Nice weather, nice ride. New friends, old friends

Jeff helping Brad changing his flat tire

Pedro take a look at Sonia's stuck-chain

(l to r) Larry, Stuart, David looking good at one of the rolling hills

Lia joins us for the first hill

O-M-G, that's a 6 foot long sandwich, can feed at least 10 people

Charlie showing her happy face after getting to the top of La Tuna

Another happy faces, David

Another David, another faces

Regrouping and catching breaths on top of La Tuna

Kelly finishing her 3rd hill strong

Betsy could not be stronger after conquering Chevy Chase

Sonia come back strong after fixing her bike

Cool bike @ Bike Expo

Does that look comfortable to you?

Fundraising at the temple- Master Yin Hai & Master Hong Zheng

Mmmm... delicious vegietarian soup (they've the BEST food)

BOCA Sunday School students participate in Buddha's Birthday ceremony

Bicycle Diaries II - Mothers' Day 077

2007-05-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Zero incident; 72 miles on Saturday; 77 miles on Sunday. And Happy Mothers’ Day.

With only 3 weekends left for training, I did “double seven” training rides on this past weekend. I rode with my buddy Suzann on Saturday starting from her house in Torrance and went all the way to the Palos Verde area and stopped for lunch at the Firsherman’s Village in Marina del Rey.

We biked around the hilly and beautiful Palos Verde neighborhood and climbed up Hawthorne Blvd. from the ocean side, finishing up the 2.5 miles steep hill climb that we skipped last week due to hot weather.

Although it was our own ride, but Palos Verde is very famous and bike-friendly, we ran into three ALC training groups along the way. We also met Pam and Evelyn who were doing their own ride at our first stop. The ride was great with lots of hill trainings.

On Sunday I leaded another ride with Brian, Virginia and Kathie helped lead a shorter version ride. The route from the Rose Bowl to Claremont was pretty much the same as the one we did couple weeks ago (the one that I got hit by car), except I added couple more hills so everyone gets more training not just distance wise but also on climbing hills.

There were 28 riders in the group. It was a pretty good turn out. Most importantly, it was some riders’ longest ride. A few riders travel from Diamond Bar and Claremont to join us. I guess it was worth the drive.

Just like other rides that I lead, I was the sweeping guy (caboosing). I had to go slower than my own pace just to make sure all riders get the support they needed. I didn’t have to work as hard, but at the same time, it took me longer to finish the ride. I always remind myself that it was my own choice to become a training ride leader and lead some rides, so I should be playing my role and not complaining. I’m glad I can be helpful to all, especially the newbies.

It’s easier for a teacher to teach smart kids, but it’s a lot more challenging to teach underachievement kids. However a teacher should be proud to see the students who made progress and finally graduating with a diploma in hand. With that said, I’m very proud of all the slower riders whom I had fun riding with. It will be my greatest gift to see them riding from SF to LA and make it home safe.

Total mileage of the week: 149 miles. Next Saturday I will be leading another hilly ride starting from the Rose Bowl.

passing golf-course around the PV

lunch stop @ Firsherman's Village in Marina del Rey

The lake wher Reggie hides, no I didn't see him, or else I would have got an exclusive story.

Another great turn out Sunday ride.

Betsy smiled after she conquered one of the hills.

Cam & Susan both making history for longest distance ride, ever.

Hungry riders speed up for lunch break in Claremont.

The patio was our little party place.

Cool poster in their restroom!

Time to go home for a nice Mothers' Day dinner.

Bicycle Diaries II - Sunny Hilly

2007-05-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

It was a hot weekend and I end up having some “nice” tan lines!

With less than a month of training until ALC 6, I’ve to say trainings are getting harder and harder, not just longer distance, but also steeper hills. On Saturday day, I joined the Different Spokes group on a training ride from Duarte to Mt. Baldy. I’ve heard so much about this ride and was looking forward to conquer the hills, about 20 miles of climbing!

We planned to have brunch at the Village on Mt. Baldy. After nearly 5 miles of climbing, we learn that we had to change our plan because the road was closed for construction. The workers did not allow us to pass by. All we could do was to enjoy the gorgeous view from the top and the down hills. We end up heading to Claremont, had brunch at the Village over there. Not too bad, we did 47 miles. In the evening I went to fellow rider + TRL Pedro’s fundraising party.

On Sunday I drove to Santa Monica to do a ride they called “Full Pretzel Ride.” We headed to Palos Verdes and loop around PV Drives in all directions. It was hot, it was tough! Some of us end up skipping the last hill, a 2.5 miles climb up Hawthorne Blvd. from the ocean. Instead of the 75 full miles, we did 67 miles, which was not bad at all, because the weather was hot, in the upper 80s.

I had wonderful memories about riding on PV Drives, last year I did many training rides on these roads and had so much fun with the group. For those of you who are familiar with the area, you know those rolling hills do kiss ass!

Total mileage of the week: 130 miles.

This coming Sunday is Mothers’ Day, I will be leading a ride from the Rose Bowl to Claremont, 75 miles. Wishing all the mothers Happy Mothers’ Day!

Glendora Mt. Rd. is closed for traffic, so we had to lift over the gate

Yup, there's the road we climbed

Want a closer look?

Stopping for photos and catching my breath

Dragon rest by the curb

Here comes Brian

The tree got burned?

The gang... what were they doing?

Stucked there because road was closed for construction, NO BIKES!

Alright, just enjoy the views and down hill then

Sunny Sunday, over look at the south bay from top of PV Drive

Suzann climbing up the challenging hill

View of the south bay from different side of the PV Drive

Flying down the hill, chased by the motorcycle

This is better (TRL Brian)

How cute is that helmet decor!

Bicycle Diaries II - Birthday in Santa Barbara

2007-04-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

What is the better way to celebrate my birthday than on a special-fun-great bicycle ride? None. So I rode with more than 160 riders, most of whom are also AIDS/LifeCycle riders, on the two-day Santa Monica-Santa Barbara Ride.

This was my second year doing this back-to-back century ride which was organized by Shifting Gears, a cycling club in West LA. Despite some headwinds that we hate and dazzling here and there on Sunday, the weather had been pretty much very cooperative. None of my regular cycling buddies sign up for this ride, so on the way u to Santa Barbara, I was riding by myself most of the time. I finished the ride shortly after 4pm.

I went to dinner with Steven, Lorenzo and Kevin at an Italian restaurant. I told them it was my birthday, but to my surprise, they told the waitress, so she brought me a piece of chocolate cake and they sang me birthday song, which I haven’t heard in years. Yea, I don’t really celebrate my birthday, at least not in the partying way.

By the time we got back to the hotel, more people were told it was my birthday, so I heard another birthday song by the pool at the hotel. Then one of the TRL, Martin, who happened to bake a chocolate cake for a rider who had her birthday a few days before, kindly shared the cake with me. As a result, I had another piece of birthday cake. Yes, the ride was special, doing the ride on my birthday make it more special.

After a not-so-well sleep I woke up around 6am on Sunday, getting ready for the ride home. This time I rode with Pam, Cynthia, Michael, Evelyn and Judith. We really had fun and kept a pretty fast pace along the coast. The ride along PCH in the afternoon was certainly dangerous as usual, with lots of cars traveling on full speed and surfers, beach goers, visitors getting on and off their cars, we had to ride with extra caution. Of cause, team work was important too, as we taking care of each other and make sure everyone gets back in one piece. I finished at around quarter to 4pm. Both days I better my time from last year and I didn’t feel as tired.

I felt bad when Kevin told me he fell twice on the way back to Santa Monica. Why? Because he is new to ALC and cycling, at one point he asked if he could ride with our group, and I say of course. I didn’t pay much attention at him as I thought he could keep up with our pace. But that was not the case. I should have look after my new friend. Well, besides birthday and cakes, I learn another lesson. I will not let this happen again in the future.

Thanks to all the staffs and volunteers who worked so hard to make this ride a success.

Total mileage of the week: 206 miles

Registration, meet-n-greet in the morning

Breakfast is very important

Yes, you can have more than one piece

Don't forget about the drinks

And stretching (leads by Leslie)

Everyone wants to prevent injury

Oh, that's our bags

Cycle Buddy Kerry, she incharge of the traffic

Get to pit stop 1, eat!

and drink!!

of course, who could resist a massage?

hardworking bird, wow.

Ginger in pink, as sweet at the strawberries

Sarah and Sheri handling out sandwiches

there's pasta and potato salad too

Michael, Evelyn, Pam and David enjoy lunch at the park in Ventura

TRLs Scott, Brian and Daniel

Dragon relaxing at pit stop with new friend, the ALC Monkey

Another friend, the ALC Bear

Their parents... j/k Vince and Pam

Greeting from Amtrak passengers

Riding in to the El Prado Inn

Birthday boy with birthday cake

The gang, me, Steven, Lorenzo, Kevin

Sunset in Santa Barbara

Getting ready for the 2nd day ride

I didn't know sunscreen comes with different colors

Looking strong after first 30-mile

Pit stop with Chinese theme

Ginger in another special hand-made costume

Bicycle Diaries II - Earth Day on Hills

2007-04-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

Earth Day - what have I done to save the world? How about spending 4356 miles on the bike instead of driving? Kudos Riders!

Alright, it was another back-to-back hard-core training weekend, climbing some butt-kicking hills along the coast and the valley, and I’m VERY tired.

Saturday 4/21 was ALC 6’s “Day on the Ride,” which was intended to let all riders, especially the newbies know what a typical day in June will look and feel like – with rest stops, roadies crews, sweep vehicles and some road signage.

The registration started at 6am, followed by some important notes and announcements, stretching session. More than 400 riders roll out at 7.30am attempting for their 80 or 40 miles challenge. I rode with my buddy Suzann, and met Khoa from OC, who is another member of our very own “Team Misfit.”

We climbed a few big hills around the South Bay-PV areas, the neighborhood that I had so much memories of, the area where I spent most of my training rides last year. We stopped for lunch at the park in San Pedro, across the street from the Korean Friendship Bell. The way back wasn’t any easier, there were some rolling hills waiting for us. I finished the ride in 5 hours 40 minutes, with an average speed of 13.9 mph, better my time from last year’s 12.5 mph.

There was a after-ride-victory-party waiting for us at the end of the ride. The pizzas, salads, burritos and cakes tasted SO good. Thanks to all the sponsors!

Sunday was our monthly consolidated training, we had like 50-60 riders for previous months training, but only 12 showed up this time. Maybe most of them were still recovering from DOTR.

The 50-mile ride may not sound very distance-challenge but there were 3 big hills, the famous La Tuna Canyon, an all-new-to-me 0.7 mile Harvard street in Burbank and they ‘baby-hill’ in Griffith Park. We had lunch at the farmer’s market in Montrose.

Total mileage of the week: 130 miles.

I’ll be turning 31 next Saturday and what is a better way to spend this special day on a special ride? I’ll participate in the Santa Monica-Santa Barbara Ride for the 2nd year in a row, this is a double century ride, where we will spend a night in Santa Barbara and ride back on Sunday. What do I want for my birthday? How about your donation?

Day on the Ride-park your bike first...

Then check in with the staffs...

get some breakfast...

have your bike check by the pro...

socialize with old and new friends...

before you roll out, stretch...

everyone seems enjoying this...

and this...

alright, time for some important messages, start with Sheri, ALC associate director...

"hellooOOOoo riders..." Lori, ex. dir of LAGLC...

cycle buddy Sarah who just did the Ride from SF to LA, you rock!

ASL interpreter for our special need riders...

and this is how we response "thank you"

TRLs for the day

First stop @ Redondo Beach

climbing up the hills before the next stop

great job riders!

checking out the awesome bike...

lunch stop... relex, eat and drink...

no ride is completed without greeting from Ginger...

after-ride-party... everything tasted SO GooD

ok, we looked tired, but we better our times

SAG vehicle, keep us safe on the road...

how cute is that?!

I was rider 567, Dragon resting @ bike parking and making new friends

Bicycle Diaries II - Hit by a Car

2007-04-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

With less than 50 days to ALC 6, I was hit by a car on Sunday morning!

Ok, this might be a little exaggerate, but at least it gets your attention (this is how a reporter survives his job…just kidding).

This Sunday morning was one of the days where riders would struggle: whether to stay in bed, hoping it rains or wake up and get ready for the training ride, praying for the disappearance of the dark clouds. I got 2 calls around 6 a.m. from riders who were excited for the ride yet not sure if we were going to ride. As I’ve got 20 RSVP from the riders, unless it was heavy rain, otherwise we will ride on. And we did.

Sunday’s ride was from the Rose Bowl to Claremont, traveling across more than 10 cities in the San Gabriel Valley. This is one of my favorite rides and with the help from co-leader Brian and Kathie, we got 23 people in this ride. Although it was drizzling here and there, it was still a fun and great ride.

Oh yea, I got hit by a car. This was on Foothill Blvd. in Glendora before the Citrus College. I was caboosing with 2 riders, Robin and Debra, suddenly out of no way, this car just pass by me with zero distance between the car and my bike. Debra said “you just got hit but you handle so well, so calm.” To be honest, I didn’t know I was hit, I just knew the car was SO CLOSE to me that I had to yield to the right and almost lost my balance. I was so-called calm because it happened so fast that my brain didn’t get the chance to process on how to react.

Luckily I was OK. No injury. Debra who rode behind me said she got hit too. That car stopped at the next red light and we were able to catch up with her. I knocked on her window which was roll down an inch and yell at her “what was the hurry? You just hit us!” With her obviously not too-care and not-realize face expression, she didn’t reply and drove off when the light turned green. Debra said the driver looked like she was on drug!

Yes, it’s dangerous on the road, we kind of expected every time we roll out and keep reminding ourselves: stay alert all the time.

For the rest of the ride, we just pay extra precaution and we had to ride slow because Robin was happing gears problem. We finished shortly after 5 pm for this 76 miles ride.

On Saturday, I leaded another ride that starts from the Rose Bowl, it was a 46 miles ride with Lida and La Tuna Canyon, two of the famous hills among the cycling circuit. Pedro co-lead with me on the ride and we had about 28 riders.

I was staying with the slow group (yes, caboose again) and by the time we got to the first pit stop at the Sunland Produce, 2 riders had flat tire. I helped them fixed the flats. Later on, Larry had gearing problem, his chain dropped many times that makes it hard for him to do the climbing.

I’m glad I lead these back-to-back rides. Other than the weekend rides, I also rode by myself on Friday around the Rose Bowl and did 2 spinning classes and a Pilate class on Thursday, this time I felt better, still, the abs hurts!

Total mileage for the week: 141 miles.

Next Saturday is the ALC’s Day on the Ride, we’ll be doing a 80-mile ride in the west side and Sunday is the monthly consolidated training starts at the Griffith Park.

Kathie giving safety speech

Riders excited about the ride when the sun comes out

what are they in line for?

The bagels!

Debra can't wait for her breakfast

The "Caboose Club" Robin & Debra

Cute trees in Glendora

SG River bike path near Duarte/Azusa

Dark sky + old hotel in Sierra Madre

Dragon resting after some 60+ miles

Bicycle Diaries II - Bunny! Got Eggs?

2007-04-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! Got Eggs?
(Cycle Buddy James Ray pose as Sexy Bunny)

While everyone was enjoying their cloudy Easter weekend, I continued my training. On Saturday, I co-lead a ride with Brian, we traveled south along the San Gabriel River Bike Path, from Irwindale to Seal Beach for brunch and back.

There were 27 of us in this ride. Most importantly, my buddy Suzann came all the way from Torrance to join us, to celebrate our “anniversary ride.” I met Suzann at last year’s Easter Day ride in Culver City. We’ve been cycle buddies since. It’s very important to find someone who rides the same pace you and I’m glad I met Suzann. Of course there were Kenny, Jennifer and Khoa too, we called ourselves “Team Misfit.” However Kenny & Jennifer will not be riding this year and Khoa lives in Orange County.

It was a 70-mile ride, going down the bike path is a little easier, as we don’t have to stop for lights or stop signs and most importantly there’s no traffic! I was leading the group for the first 20 miles, and Brian said “there’s no Car Back today (we call out when a car is approaching from the back so the riders in front are aware of it and will try to stay away from the traffic) because Kar is in front.”

The closer we get to the beach, the stronger the headwind. It was hard to peddle for the last 5 miles. We had brunch at the River End Café. Coming back was easier as we got the tailwind. After finishing the ride, I drove to Claremont to map out the route for next week ride.

On Easter Sunday, I joined a group ride from Griffith Park. Because of the holiday, there were only 12 riders in this ride, however we still had lots of fun riding up Chevy Chase and La Tuna Canyon Road. By the time we got back to the parking lot, Griffith Park was filled with people picnicking and celebrating Easter.

Both days we came across some sprinkles. That did not stop us from peddling, just made us peddle faster so we don’t get soaking wet. I did 2 spinning classes this past week and my first pilates class on Thursday, I was SO sore but loved it!

Total mileage for the week: 120.4 miles. I hit my 4000-mile on the way down to Seal Beach and now my odometer read 4085miles! 7 more weekends till ALC 6.

Next week I will be leading 2 rides, both start at the Rose Bowl. On Saturday (4/14) we will go up Lida and La Tuna, a 45-mile ride with good hill training. On Sunday (4/15) we will travel across the SGV, from Pasadena to Claremont, a 75-mile ride. If you’re interested, please email me.

Eventhough it was cloudy and sprinkling, we have a great turn-out

The bike path near Santa Fe Dam

The bike path near Seal Beach

Enjoying brunch after 35 miles ride

Our beloved TRL - Tony lecturing the newbies

Look at me... hungry and funny

Suzann can't wait to take a bite

Celebrating our First Anniversary

So far I've ridden 4085 miles!

Bicycle Diaries II - Sunny Century

2007-04-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Not April Fool, just the spirit of Easter Bunny!

Beautiful Saturday in Ventura! For the second year in a row, I participated in the Paul Hulse/Positive Pedalers Century which started from Valencia and traveled north to Ventura. Yes, with less than 5 hours of sleep, I drove more than 80 miles for this century ride, but it was well worth-it. Paul Hulse was one of the creators of the original California AIDS Ride (CAR), which changed its name to AIDS/LifeCycle (ALC) 6 years ago. He passes away few years ago.

This ride was organized by Positive Pedalers, Team Ventura and the Chain Gang. Compared with last year’s heavy rain morning, this year’s 80+’F weather was perfect. I attempted for my first century ride last year at this ride, but only did 50 miles because the organizer canceled the century option due to weather and road conditions. This year, with all the training I’ve been doing and experience gained over the year, I was so looking forward to complete my Ventura-Century-Mission.

More than 170 riders showed up for this ride, with 120+ registered for the century option, including my cycling buddy Suzann. I saw some old faces and many more new faces. Evelyn, Pat and Michael were among riders that I know from ALC 5. Some of my Tour de San Gabriel regular riders were there too, including Chuck, Debra, Susan, Robin and Kristen who were attempting for their first century ride. I was as excited as they were.

From Valencia we traveled north to Piru for our first stop. Kathie, Virginia, Ron and Michael from Different Spokes hosted the pit stop. It was so nice to see them at the Piru RR Station Park. We then continued our journey to Fillmore and then Ventura. Traveling on highway 126 allowed us to ‘fly’ with the traffic, but also kind of dangerous especially when huge trucks passed by, felt like we were being ‘blow away.’

Our lunch stop at mile 51 was set up at Marina Park in Ventura by Positive Pedalers. Every rider was greeted by our fabulous Ginger who dressed in pink. Her dress was made from bubble wrapper, how creative! The fog came in while we were enjoying delicious subway sandwiches at the park.

We headed back to Valencia almost the same way we came from. Biking through some citrus and vegetable farms was another eye-opening experience. Suzann and I finished shortly after 4 p.m., it took us 6 hours and 15 minutes for this 102.5 miles ride. Suzann had to leave right the way because she had a party waiting for her. I relaxed at the parking lot with some other riders, waiting and cheering for riders who came to the finish line. Inspiring TRL Tony Z and Rebecca J rode in with Susan and Kristen shortly after 6 pm. This year’s ride was a total success!

I’m so proud for all the newbies who completed their first century ride. Congratulation to Chuck, Debra, Susan, Robin and Kristen. Later on we went to Black Angus for our “Victory Dinner.” I got home shortly after 8 pm.

I didn’t ride on Sunday. However, I did a 16-mile ride around the Rose Bowl and did the double-hills on Friday by myself. I also attend 3 spinning classes on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Total mileage for the week: 118.5 miles. Way to go! (I’m 35 miles away from my 4000 miles mark! I’ve ridden 801.8 miles since January 1st.)

Next Saturday (4/7), Brian and I will be leading a 70-mile ride from Azusa to Seal Beach along the San Gabriel River bike path. No traffic and no stop sign, should be a fun ride, just hope the weather will be nice, all tailwind! If you would like to join us, email me for more information.

Great turn out and a total success!

At the starting point, Suzann, Evelyn, Pat and Michael

Come get some food and water and rest...

Suzann and I at the first stop. Easter will be our "anniversary"... no we're not dating, our riding-buddy anniversary

First stop at Piru RR Staion Park. Kathie, Virginia, Michael, Ron and... friend of DS

Yes, she's riding in this unique small-wheels bike and she rocks!

Finally got to the lunch stop at Marina Park

Ginger welcoming riders to the half way lunch stop in her pink dress made of bubble wrapper. (Chuck is in the blue jersey)

Delicious lunch waiting for hungry riders

You're not supposed to eat junk food... but after riding 50 miles, you can eat anything you want

Which one is yours? Can I sail with you?

Beautiful scene at the Marina Park in Ventura

Still looking good after first 50 miles

Dragon resting by the marina

No, those 2 are not ALC bikes. We're lucky to have full support team that carries our luggage

Go Debra!

Robin smiling for her 1st century ride

The last contigent rode in to the finishing line

Woohoo... you made it, congratulation! Susan, Tony, Kristen, Rebecca

Victory Dinner @ Black Angus. Susan, Robin, me, Debra and Kristen

The official Sweep Vehicle

Happy Easter! No bunny, No candies!

Bicycle Diaries II - Oh Deer!

2007-03-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Oh “Deer,” Tour de San Gabriel Valley is HOT!

After a week of absent, I’m back on the road. 23 riders showed up for the Saturday’s Tour de San Gabriel Valley ride. Two weeks ago, there were 16 of us, now the group is growing bigger. There were some old faces, and more new faces in the group. Some have been training for months to get ready for ALC 6, some were having their first group ride.

The ride started with basic stretching lead by co-ride leader Pedro. It’s very important to stretch before, during and after the ride, especially for us whom will be riding 7 days, long distance. Injury is not an option for all. After the safety speech by co-ride leader Corry, we were off for the challenge.

As a ride leader, part of the responsibilities is to make sure everyone gets back safely. At our second stop in Sierra Madre, I waited for 2 riders whom were once “missing” from the group while everyone else left for the Rose Bowl and started their hill challenge. After 30 minutes, there were no sign of them showing up, so I decided to take off and call them once I get back to the car.

The funny part was, I ran into them at the parking lot! They took a wrong turn and end up riding back on a different route. I was glad that they made it back safely. At the same time, I realized it is really not an easy job to be a ride leader because I have to put everyone else in front of me. I end up doing the Lida and Chevy Chase double-hill by myself, which was okay, just like the way I trained last season.

What goes around comes around, on Saturday evening I went to rider/TRL Tommy’s fundraising party and I won a raffle prize – a $10 Starbucks gift certificate!! As Tommy said, I always won something. The last time I won a prize was during the ALC kick-off party in January.

Sunday morning I joined Virginia, Kathie, Brian and some 40 other riders on a ride that starts from Griffith Park. We went up Chevy Chase again, except this was a longer version. While we were almost getting to the top, I saw a deer in the woods! In fact this was my second time seeing a deer in the area. I stopped for a picture while catching my breath. The deer looked at me from a distance and luckily there were no ‘deer attack.’

We stopped at Montrose for water and food. There was a farmer’s market Sunday, part of the road was closed and we had to use the side walk. The second part of the ride went up La Tuna Canyon, the reverse side, which as shorter and less hilly.

Total mileage for the week: 80 miles. Way to go!

Next Saturday I will be doing Paul Hulse century ride in the Valencia area. Hopefully weather will be nice. 9 more weekends till ALC 6 and I am still looking forward to your sponsorship!

Pedro leads the stretching session...

Great, everyone is following...

Yes, get down, uh...that feels good...

OK, one more then we're off to the challenge!

ALC rider showing her "road ID"...

We're getting to the top in no time...

Chevy Chase? Ahh... piece of cake...

Oh Deer, look who's coming...

Deer meat anyone? Just kidding. Welcome to Montrose!

Beautiful flowers...

I'm the Mountain Queen! Debra showing off her skill on top of La Tuna

Daniel's first La Tuna climb, looking good...

Everyone looks great, powerful ALC riders!

Way to go riders!!

Brian leads the 57-mile group

Bicycle Diaries II - Ride or No Ride?

2007-03-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, so you guys really are reading my updates! I’ve received several emails asking why there were no bicycle diaries this week. Well, it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend and I was in the Health Journalism 2007 conference. As a result, I was unable to do any ride. (Yes, I do miss my bike a lot!)

Now, I’m back on track. I will be leading my fourth ride this coming Saturday, with two options available, hills or no hills (47/36 miles). If you’re interested in riding with us, please come to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center parking lots at 7.45 a.m. If you have any question, just drop me an email.

Fundraising is still going, if you’ve received some good tax return from Uncle Sam, I hope you would consider sponsoring me with any amount that you can. As part of the donor incentive program, if you donate $100 or more, you’ll get a beautiful “donor t-shirt.”

OR if you didn’t get a good tax return from Uncle Sam but wouldn’t want this to repeat next year, please consider sponsoring me with any amount that you can, because donation is 100% tax deductible. Please donate online at www.aidslifecycle.org/3107.

There are 10 weekends left till ALC 6!!

Bicycle Diaries II - Hills or No Hills

2007-03-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Eric and Kristen on top of Lida

Betsy watching Steve changing his flat tire

Third leading training ride in a row, we had 14 riders in the group with nice weather, what a deal!

The so-called “Tour de San Gabriel Valley” is getting more popular now, with riders from this area and some traveled from other part of town just to join us and experience the beauty of SGV.

On Saturday, I offered 2 options, 36 miles “regular” ride and 47 miles with 2 big hills. Hill or No Hill, it’s all up to the riders. Thanks to the help from fellow TRLs Brian, Eric and Pedro, everyone enjoyed the route despite some minor incidents.

Don’t be fooled by the word “regular,” because the route was not totally flat. There were rolling hills that most of us didn’t realize while we were driving. Only when you need to get over these small hills with your legs, then you know “ahh…”

The 2 big hills that added to the route were Lida (in the Linda Vista area near the Rose Bowl) and Chevy Chase. Both are famous hills for climbing practice. Some riders get up there without stopping, some had to make a few quick stops, but the most important thing was, we all made it. We all know there will be more hills ahead of us and we know we will get over them one by one.

Celebrating the beginning of daylight saving time, I took a day off on Sunday. I did clean Dragon though. At least that’s something bike-related activity.

On the other hand, I REALLY need your support in order to reach my fundraising goal. Please help me and tell your families, friends, neighbors… together we can make a difference!

Bicycle Diaries II - 2nd Training Ride + Flat Tire

2007-03-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

So I had my 2nd leading training ride this past Saturday. We had 14 riders in the group and everyone finished the 40-mile Tour de San Gabriel Valley ride happily. Yea, I didn’t loose a single rider this time! (What an accomplishment…ha ha)

Having 13 people joining me for this Saturday ride was a little surprised to me. With the “not-so-good” experience from the week before, I certainly had the pressure of leading such a big group. Luckily 3 TRLs, Kathie, Brian and Corry were in the group, it made my job easier.

We stopped at the Goldstein’s Bagels in Arcadia and the San Gabriel Mission. We also passed by the Huntington Library. If you happened to run into a group of riders in South Pasadena, San Marino, Temple City, San Gabriel, Pasadena, Duarte, Monrovia, Irwindale, Arcadia, that probably was us. Next time don’t forget to wave or say “Go Riders.”

On Sunday, I co-lead with Virginia, Kathie and Brian. We started from Griffith Park and went to Sunland, Pacoima before climbing the famous La Tuna Canyon. The “fun” part of the day was, I stopped to help a rider, Chuck, fixed his flat tire. By the time we were ready to hit the road, I realized my then-was-parked bike had a flat too! I have not had a flat since last March, so I guess I could not complaint about it. It was a great lesson and practice.

As we were behind the group, Chuck and I decided not to do the La Tuna Canyon part. Instead we went back to the parking lot on an “easy” way. End up with about 35-mile. I’m happy with these back-to-back leading riders, not just enjoying the wonderful outdoor, but also spending time with those riders whom will be joining me in the ride in June.

I’m sure I will be leading more rides in the coming weeks. Stay tune for more.

Bicycle Diaries II - First Training Ride

2007-03-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

I know it was all about Oscar this weekend, but my spotlight was on my first leading training ride. It turns out to be great, except we lost one rider from the very beginning of the ride.

It was kind of cold during Saturday morning. We had 4 riders showed up for the ride, plus my co-lead training ride leader Virginia. I modified the 25-mile ride from a previous ride, from the Rose Bowl to Acadia, and back to the starting point via Sierra Madre and Orange Grove.

I know it was hard to believe that in such a small group, one rider got separated from the group, but it did happened. I rode on the same route for many times, however didn’t realize that there were two parts of Grand Ave. along Arroyo Blvd. She made a left turn on the first one instead of the second one which would lead us to South Pasadena. Luckily she did the ALC ride last year and knew what to do when she was lost and finished the ride by herself.

It was not the perfect leading ride, but I’m glad the riders liked the route. I hope to lead more rides in the next few months and hopefully no more riders will get separated from the group.

Bicycle Diaries II - Long Weekend, Short Ride

2007-02-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Long weekend, short ride!

It was Chinese New Year and President’s Day long weekend. I did a 46-mile ride on Saturday, pretty much the same route that I did the week before, from Griffith Park to Montrose via our lovely La Tuna Canyon road. We started late (after 9a.m.) so it was kind of hot when we began the 5-mile climb. I did well in this ride, and had a chance sharing some of my experiences with the newbies.

Sunday I welcomed the Year of Boar by volunteering at the Buddhist temple in Rosemead, hundreds of people stopped by for new year pray and wishing the year of Boar brings health and prosperity to all. Dragon celebrated the Chinese New Year with a day off from the road.

I’ve been certified as a Training Ride Leader (TRL) this season, after co-leading with some veteran TRLs for several times, I’ve decided to lead my own ride. The ride will be on this Saturday (February 24th). We’ll meet at the Pasadena Aquatics Center, just south of the Rose Bowl at 8a.m. and ride out at 8.30a.m. It’s a 25-mile ride that I named Tour de San Gabriel Valley. The ride is designed from beginner riders, from the Rose Bowl we’ll travel east to Arcadia and stop at Goldstein’s Bagels, before heading back to Pasadena via Sierra Madre. So if you’re interested in riding and want to experience group ride, come join us, no one left behind. For more information feel free to contact me.

Bicycle Diaries II - Tour de Palm Springs

2007-02-20T00:58:00.000-08:00

First century ride in 2007!

This past weekend, I joined some 7000+ riders of different shapes and sizes and colors and ages from all over the places at the 9th Tour de Palm Springs. To date, more than $1 million has been donated to local charities in the Coachella Valley, such as cadets, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Boy and Girl Scouts, to help support their community events.

With encouragement (or peer pressure?) from my buddies, I decided to put myself into the challenge by signing up for the century ride (which turn out to be 102 miles). I was a little nervous because I have not done any century ride since October. Although I’ve been training and riding, but the most I’ve done in the recent weeks was about 50 miles.

Saturday morning turn out to be a picture perfect day. Leaving downtown Palm Springs with such a huge group of riders. I started feeling not so well during the first 20 miles. I seriously doubted if I could finish the ride. My ego was ready, but my body (and butt) was not. Stopping at the first SAG stop helped a lot, by getting some rest and food, I started to feel better.

Thirty miles flew by, then 50, 65 and 80. The route was actually very doable; I’ve done some tougher century ride. Yet I felt so tired and the legs weren’t moving as fast as I wanted them to be. I’m glad I rode with my buddy Aaron, who kept pushing me to the limit, if not because of him, I would have quit long time ago.

Riding through the windmill and desert was a totally new and fun experience. We could actually hear the sound of the giant fan when it moved. Unfortunately the picture when I passed through the windmill didn’t turn out perfect.

It took us almost seven hours to finish the ride. We were exhausted and tired. Luckily we’ve Andy and Tim (former ALC riders) from Palm Springs who hosted a BBQ dinner for all the ALC riders. The food was great and the hot tub was even better. Also want to thank my friend Dennis who hosted me for two nights, saved me some hotel expenses.

If I had any complain, it would be those riders who used i-pod and cell phone while riding, this not only put themselves in danger, but other riders around as well. We saw several unpleasant incidents.

Bicycle Diaries II - Back-2-Back Bagel Rides

2007-02-05T23:33:00.000-08:00

It was bagel weekend!

The 45-mile ride start from Griffith Park on Saturday was great, we climbed two big hills, the first one was La Tuna Canyon in Sunland all the way to Montrose; the second one was Lida in Pasadena.

After a brief lunch stop at Goldstein’s Bagel in Montrose, we headed to Pasadena area. Due to some confusion on the route slip, I was all by myself and lost in somewhere around Burbank/Glendale. Luckily memory from previous training rides helped bring me back to the route that we were supposed to be, and make it back to Griffith Park in one piece, except with a 4 extra miles that make my ride close to a half-century mark.

Sunday’s ride started at the aquatic center near the Rose Bowl. It was my first ride as a training ride leader (TRL), together with Virginia, Katie and Brian from the Different Spokes group. We had about 20 riders show up, some are newbie, which reminded me of myself a year ago.

I started training for ALC 5 in February 2006, learning all the very basic skills. A year later, not only that I’ve ridden more than 3400 miles, but I’m training for ALC 6 and has become a TRL. One of the reasons that I wanted to be part of the TRL team is to help other new riders like I was helped before, prepare them for the big event in June, and most importantly get to know more people.

This ride stopped at the Goldstein’s Bagel in Arcadia, so for the first time in my life, I had back-to-back bagel brunch! (Should I charge them for advertising fee?) Due to the fact that I had to be at the next appointment by 1pm, I had to rush back to the Rose Bowl and wasn’t able to spend more time with the newbie, or I should call them the new friends that I met. Hopefully in the near future we’ll meet again in other training rides and will share my experiences with everyone who is so excited about this wonderful ride.

New TRL on the road...

Veteran TRL leading the pack...

flying on the beautiful Huntington Drive...

Hurry up, I smell bagels...

Wait for me, don't eat all the bagels...

I have both hands for the bagels...

If you were driving, better watch out for those hungry riders...

Happy faces after bagel break...

She's the one who planned on this bagel ride. Go Virginia!

(Photos courtesy of Brian Frobisher who followed us, and make us feel like superstars that were chased by paparazzi…j/k)

Bicycle Diaries II - I'M IN

2007-01-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

Who says New Year resolution has to be made on January 1st? Mine was made January 27th. Yes, I’m in, AIDS/LifeCycle 6, cyclist 3107.

After careful consideration, I have finally decided to join this wonderful event once again. In fact, as most of you know, I’ve no stop riding my bike since ALC 5. Not only that I keep training with the ALC groups, but I’m officially a training ride leader (TRL) this year, I will be leading/co-leading rides, so come out ride with us. Few weeks ago, I attended CPR and First Aid training class conducted by the American Red Cross and I’m certified!

I went to the ALC 6 Kick Off Party on the 27th after a 35-mile training ride around Griffith Park. It was great to meet so many friends I made from the ride, more like a reunion party for us. As usual, there are raffle prizes at ALC events. I was the lucky one this year! I won a gift package with bike pump, bike tools, stem bag, an Amtrak companion ticket and most importantly, an hour of complementary massage! It is a GREAT start for ALC 6. It is one fine day!

Last year with the help from all of you, I raised more than $5500. This year I’ve set my fundraising goal at $5000. I hope you will help me reach this goal and most importantly, help end AIDS.

Since cyclists get fundraising incentives, I think it’s a great idea to honor the donors as well. As a token of appreciation, I will send anyone who donate $100 or more an “official donor t-shirt.” Or if you refer 4 friends who each donate $25 or more, you will get this beautiful t-shirt as well. (Please make sure they mention your name when they make donation.)

Thanks and please stay tune for the Season II of Bicycle Diaries.

Bicycle Diaries - Thank You

2006-06-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who sponsor me and support ALC 5!

Bicycle Diaries - Season Finale

2006-05-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

The new American Idol was born, the last episode of Seventh Heaven aired. So, this is it, final countdown to ALC 5 has officially started and the season finale of Bicycle Diaries is here!

I did two short and easy rides on Saturday and Sunday. This is not the time to do any tough ride, just need to stay relax, get rest and hydrate! I will be leaving for SF on Friday morning and will attend the orientation on Saturday morning.

During the ride, I will have limited access to electronic devices, so most of the time I will have my cell phone turn off and will not check my emails. If you would like to send me message, or a note of encouragement and support, you can try http://experience.aidslifecycle.org/ and leave a message for rider 6915, I should get it upon my arrival at the camp sites. (I’m not sure how this website/function works, but you can try during 6/4-10.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you each and every one of you, for your generous money contribution and moral support. With that said, to date I’ve raised more than $5000 for ALC 5, double the minimum pledge requirement, and $2000 more than my original goal. On behalf of the beneficiaries, I would like to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

I would also like to share with you an email that I received from a friend of mine who’s HIV positive:

“One thing to keep in mind about we who live with HIV/AIDS is the enormous cost associated with the medication required to keep us alive. As health insurance costs rise, many small and medium-sized companies are cutting down on the coverage that their insurance plans offer in order to keep costs low per employee. The cost of my medicines on a monthly basis without insurance is almost $2000!!!

Last I heard, neither the State of California nor the federal government are being of much help in assisting with these astronomical costs; especially not for those who are in the ‘working poor’ category. Although I am amply compensated at my job, I still cannot afford to shell out $2000 each month for medication alone!

This is just one other thing to share with those of your team who are riding for this cause. I appreciate all that you and your fellow riders are doing to help out; rest assured, your contributions and efforts are of immense importance to us all.”

I want to share this with you, so that for those of you who have never come across with HIV/AIDS issue or never had the chance to speak with someone who’s living with it, know that your contribution does help make a difference!

Some friends asked me, what’s next? Am I going to do it again next year? Honestly, I want to, but I have to finish ALC 5 first. Of course, I want to hear from you, that you will continue support and sponsor me next year, if I decided to join ALC 6. As for my “Bicycle Diaries” it will come to an end (for this season). I’ll share some stories about the ride upon my returning from SF.

There will be an AIDS ride until there is no AIDS!

Final ride with the Chain Gang, safety speech by Jim.

Tony is giving us some packing tips.

Every red ribbon represents someone we loved.

Rick holding the cloth pinned with lots of red ribbons.

Pony ride at Griffith Park, they have as much fun as we do.

Sunday ride at West Hollywood Park.

Brentwood Community Fundraising Run - the professional runners...

The average and family guy runners...

...and the future runner!

Bike parking at rest stop one in Brentwood.

That's right, I will be staying in tent during the 7-day ride.

Busy taking photos every where to share with all of you.

Bicycle Diaries - Mulholland Challenge

2006-05-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

I did it, we did it! 105 miles, climbed over 6600 feet, the Mulholland Highway Challenge on Saturday was a blast!

This annual ride was organized by Different Spokes Southern California, and considered as one of the toughest ride. We started from Juan Bautista de Anza Park in Calabasas and traveled through some of the west valley cities and neighborhoods.
The toughest part of this ride, of course, was the 7.5 miles climb over Mulholland Highway at mile 81. The scene was beautiful (somehow forgot we were in LA) but the hilly part was killing. My legs (and butt) were getting uncomfortable, but keep peddling till the top. It was hot (but they said 10 degree less than last year) and I kept drinking water (which was the right and good thing to do), kept myself hydrated. It was nice to see the pit stop and the volunteers who worked tirelessly.

What goes up must come down. The part I still hate is going down hill, especially those steep one, I had to break a lot and hurt my thumbs. I will have to improve that down hill technique.

So this was my 2nd full century ride, beating last week’s 103 miles, by far this is my longest and toughest ride ever. They said if we could do Mulholland, we would have not problem doing ALC. I gained confidence and am ready for the up coming big challenge. Yes, believe it or not, 2 weeks to go.

Didn’t ride my bike on Sunday, but went to the after-ride party at one of the TRLs Jon’s house. Besides enjoying delicious barbeque hamburgers and chips and lovely desserts, the TRLs – Jon and Chris gave us the newbies some packing tips, it was really nice of them to do this, very informative and helpful.

After riding first 15 miles, still looking good...

Lunch stop - mile 56 @ Banyan Park

Most creative pit stop - Hawaii theme, get the energy before we climb up the 7.5 miles killing hill

See, I'm not kidding, it's a real hilly ride

Keep up riders, the last hill (is still ahead)...

Can't believe we did it, after getting to the top, we just love this pit stop so much

Back to the park, my cycling buddies Suzann & Micky

Other buddies, Cynthia, Pam & Evelyn

Yes, I did it! (after all, lifting the 17 lbs Dragon seem like another challenge)

After ride party + packing information session on Sunday, all of them rode 45 miles before the party, except me

Bicycle Diaries - Mothers' Day Special

2006-05-17T00:56:00.000-07:00

Happy (belated) Mothers’ Day! Good news – finally I made my full century ride, 102.7 miles to be exact; bad news – we got lost in OC. It was the most adventures ride I ever had, I named it “Mothers’ Day Special – Tour de LA – Lost in OC” ride.

The weather on Sunday was gorgeous, about 20 rides showed up for the “Almost a century tour of two rivers” ride. We met at the San Gabriel River trail in Irwindale and I was really looking forward to this mostly flat, yet long distance ride.

None of my cycling buddies came to this ride, so I decided to make some new friends, rode with Lee, Tim, Tai and some others. One of the TRL, Katie didn’t show up, so we only had Brian as our sole TRL, which was fine since everyone has been training for months and pretty much can take care of each others.

The first 30 miles of the ride was nice, until we reached Anaheim and looked for Wilshire Ave., and couldn’t find it. That’s right, it was off the map and the TRL were not aware of that. I was told all TRLs should know the route, either he or she planned it or did the route before, but it was not in this case.

Luckily we stayed together (right, we get lost together, too, but it was weird, everyone rode at different speed and was kind of falling apart from each other, but some how get back together when looking for the right way to go) and tried to figure out what to do, how to get to our destination. I stopped at a hair salon and asked a lady, she was very helpful, yet the direction she gave wasn’t clear enough. Finally we had to get help from the police!

While we were happy to find the Santa Ana River Trail and rode on it for a couple miles, there was a construction near the Angels Station, so we had to detour (again). None of us really familiar with OC and we asked from direction from the police for the 2nd time. After getting back to the trail, we had to deal with strong headwind before reaching Huntington Beach at mile 56.

After a very long and unexpected ride, we stopped at a small burger place along PCH. We were hungry, exhausted, tired, and thirsty, you named it. The chicken sandwich that I had was SO good. I wish to take a nap after that, ha ha.

We continued our ride on PCH, but due to some rode construction, we had to use the detour bike route along the beach (yes, another detour). Then we continue on the San Gabriel River Trail that runs along the I-605. When we get close to the Whittier Narrows dam, once again, we were lost in the middle of no way. After making several calls we finally get to the right direction heading back to the parking lot where we started. The fun part of this ride was not complete without a final call from the park rangers.

Yes, by the time we got back to the parking lot, it was ten pass six, as soon as we got to the car, we heard a park ranger spoke over a speaker “the park will be closed in 2 minutes.” Wow, we almost missed it, wonder what would happened if we didn’t make it back to the parking lot on time, would they hold our cars and we would have to ride home?

For some riders, it wasn’t so pleasure as they had to deal with knee pains and soreness, some were piss off. Overall this was a nice ride with lots of unexpected detours. I did pretty well at the end and was happy to finally get my actual century ride, I was so happy to see the 100 digit on my odometer.

Bicycle Diaries - Biking to Santa Barbara

2006-05-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

A: Hey, do you want to go to Santa Barbara?
B: Sure, but gas price is so high.
A: I know. That’s why we’re not taking the car; we are going to Santa Barbara on our bikes!

Yes, that’s right. I did my back-to-back double centuries this weekend, from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara. About 120 riders participated in this annual ride organized by Shifting Gears, a cycling group with really nice and cool folks.

We left Helen’s in Santa Monica around 8am Saturday morning. Thank to the overcast weather, we didn’t get a lot of sunburn. However, the headwind against us was killing. We cycled along PCH, part of the 101 and some local streets, passing small towns, farms and plantations. Everyone was excited about the 2-day event.

We arrived in Santa Barbara around 5pm, checking in at the El Prado Inn. 4 of us shared a 2-bed room, including me, John, James and William. After a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant, we went to bed before 10. On Sunday morning, we ride out shortly before 8am; State Street was so quiet and peaceful. Guess what, in front of a café, I saw LA ex-mayor Jim Hahn! After a full 6 hours of riding (excluding stops for water, toilet and lunch) we arrived in Santa Monica around 4.30pm. We did it! I did it!

This event was very successful. All staffs worked so hard to make sure everyone has a great experience. I like the massage service the most! The massage team was at every pit stop and worked all day long to keep us “feel good.” They were our heroes! To my surprised, they were still there at the end of the ride; make me think about those musicians in the movie Titanic, who played till the very last minute. I don’t mean about the sad ending, instead, the dedication and passion they have in common.

Oh yea, this is the funny part. On the nigh that we spent in Santa Barbara, I had a dream – we finished the ride, everyone was so happy and friends came to cheer for us. While in the joy of celebration, I woke up and found myself in bed, still in Santa Barbara! (Damn, still have 95miles to go). I never had a dream like that.

I’m glad to finish this longest ride without any major incident. Of course riding with and knowing some nice people are another gains. I know I’m ready for the ALC 5 challenge! I also had the chance to test ride 2 Cannondale bikes, the six 13 and Synapse. I liked the six 13 better, but will be riding my R 700, which I named “Dragon” because he’s amazing and he’s flying!

Bicycle Diaries - Biking to Santa Barbara (Pictures)

2006-05-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

check-in and get some goodies

so, what's the line for? (potty)

stretching demo by Dr. Ronda

that feels good~ I'm ready to roll again

massage crew at pit stop

another demo by the pool at El Prado

getting massage by the beach, how cool is that?

a day with immigrants - farm workers cheering for us

test ride Cannondale six 13 - I like it!

2nd test ride on Cannondale Synapse

by the beach with Dragon

on PCH near Malibu, isn't that "ROCK"?

The ALC geishas - Chris & Pam @ pit stop 3

Pirates (of the ALC) - Kerry & Sheri

Sweep team arriving at El Prado

after a good sleep, we're getting ready to ride out on day 2

pizza waiting for us at the finishing line

the coolest massage dog - Coco (loves pizza & he's smiling + winking)

Team Blue - John & I

The Cannondale R 700 Twins - Kenny & I

Bicycle Diaries - First Ride @ 30

2006-05-03T00:26:00.000-07:00

A month from today, I will be flying to San Francisco, getting ready for AIDS/LifeCyele 5. Today, I am sitting in front of my laptop, sharing another episode of my “Bicycle Diaries.”

First of all, for those of you who woke up Monday morning, enjoying a cup of coffee (or tea or hot chocolate in my case) and looking for the latest issue of “Bicycle Diaries,” I would like to apology for the delay. Everything is OK, just a minor problem – my camera went out of order half way through my ride on the weekend, so I had to ask a cycling buddy, Aaron, to help take some photos.

Last Saturday, the day after my birthday, I attempted to do my first century ride from Simi Valley to Ojai in Ventura county (well, it turn out to be only 94 miles, although it was 6 miles short, but trust me, it felt like a century ride, very much). I’m not exactly sure about the elevation of the hill that we climbed, but from the google search that I did, it should be around 3200 to 4000 feet.

We started from the Regal Plaza by the 118 freeway, and I rode with Suzann and Aaron. The view of this ride is really nice, very country style, passing farms, ranches, waterfalls, you named it. At one point, I called the mountain in front of us “Brokeback Mountain” or “Cold Mountain” just to relax a little bit.

Lunch stop at Soule Park (mile 46) in Ojai, there were delicious sandwiches and fruits waiting for us, many thanks to Mom & Dad of Team Ventura. Never thought a pbj sandwich could be so delicious, maybe I was just exhausted and way too hungry. After a brief yet nice lunch stop, we all get ready to head back to Simi Valley.

On this ride, we had to climb two major hills, plus other smaller rolling hills, and we had to do all these twice! At mile 73 we started to climb over the “deadly” Ojai Valley with the elevation (believe to be around 3200 to 4000 feet). My legs and mind were not cooperative to each other. Legs started to pedal slower and slower, down to 6.5 mph; sweat went down my sun-screened face and finally ran into my left eye. Oh gosh, It was the most painful thing ever, I could not open my eye and yet I did not want to pull over, I was afraid that once I get off the bike, I will not get back again. As a result, I peddled with one eye open for about a minute. I was so happy when we got up to the top.

At lunch break, we thought 94 miles was just too close to a century ride, as 3 of us would like to see the “100” digits on our odometer, we planned to do some ‘extra miles’ at the end. However, by the time we got back to Simi Valley area, we all knew that ‘enough is enough,’ although we were 6 miles short from a century ride, but we don’t care anymore. It felt like a century ride to us! I set my all time longest ride – 94 miles in 6 hours 40 minutes.

Didn’t ride my bike on Sunday, instead sent the bike to Helen’s for tune up, getting ready for this coming weekend’s Santa Monica-Santa Barbara double centuries ride. If you happened to visit Santa Barbara or will be traveling along the 101 or PCH, feel free to cheer for us, we’re expecting 120 riders for this ride, organized by Shifting Gears. Stay tune for the next episode of “Bicycle Diaries.”

Bicycle Diaries - 202: 80/40

2006-04-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

4/22 was ALC 5's Day on the Ride, where we got a "preview" on what a typical day in June will look and feel like -- with rest stops, roadies crews, sweep vehicles and some road signage. Part of the route was similar to my previous ride, along the coast, climbing up the hills. 80 miles was the longest ride for me so far. I did another afternoon ride on Sunday, a total of 40 miles.

So, what about the "202: 80/40"? Well, 202 was my rider number for "Day on the Ride" and 80/40 refered to the mileage of this weekend rides.

I'm not going to write a lot this week, instead posting more pictures as picture worth a thousand words. Enjoy.

Bicycle Diaries - Super Fun Weekend

2006-04-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

According to the weather forecast, Saturday should be a nice day, well, at least the sky should clear out. However, we ran into some shower, making us well, like someone said “we were riding in our wet diaper.”

On Saturday morning, I left home about 5.15am, driving down to Irvine, to join the OC Team for a ride from Irvine to Solana Beach and took a train back to Irvine. There were no leaders for the ride, everyone get there at different times, just sign up and get a route map and took off. There were five versions of the ride, ranging from 62 miles to 100 miles. I wasn’t planning to do the century ride because I was told the last 20 miles was all about steep climbing.

Although I’ve been in LA for almost 6 years, I seldom go down to OC or San Diego, so this ride was totally new to me. Our group left the Irvine train station about ten after seven. Along the route, we went through several cities and towns with some rolling hills.

The most challenging part was cycling along the 5 freeway! Can you believe it? Although it was only a few miles and the road shoulder is about 7-8 feet wide, still it’s kind of scary as the cars and trucks traveled on an average of 80mph. At one point (7 miles from Oceanside) we had to stop to help a fellow cyclist to fix her flat tire. We tried and tried, it didn’t work. The first tube we put in was not the right size, and the second one just blow out when we were too excited that we could finally put it back on the bike. We end up calling the sweep team to have her and her bike transported to Solana Beach.

Four of us riding at the same pace first shooting for the 83 miles ride, but had to settle with 73 miles because of the rain delay and stop for helping fix the flat tire. We got to Solana Beach train station 15 minute before three, just the perfect time to enjoy pizza and relax a little bite before catching the 3.33pm train back to Irvine.

This was my first ride on Amtrak. All of us (about 50) boarded with smelling cycling jersey, wet shoes (and socks) and wet shorts, I am sure Amtrak loved us (ha ha). It was such an experience walking around with our cycling shoes, just like walking around in high heels. Funny but not comfortable.

It was such a long day. After fixing myself a good dinner, and finished up some work in front of the computer, I went to bed early, at 11pm (well, it was early for me, the night owl). I was really tired.

After a ten-hour sleep, the longest in recent history, I felt much better and ready for more training rides. I woke up ten minutes before the alarm went off on Sunday morning. It was 8.50am, cloudy outside.

I went back to the Culver City-Palos Verdes ride not only because the training ride leaders (TRLs) are great, but also they start at noon. We had lost of fun this time, more than the last time I rode with them. First of all, it was Easter day and Chris’ (one of our TRLs for the day).

When I got to the meeting point (Synergy Café) at 11.30am, no one was there except me. I thought they canceled the ride because of Easter. Then other rides started to show up few minutes before noon (our scheduled ride out time). However our TRLs were not there, it was unusual situation.

Finally, the first TRL Alan showed up, however he forgot to bring his front wheel (yea, how often does that happen?). He had to go home to get the wheel and meet us some point along the ride. Then the birthday girl Chris came without her helmet. She decided to get a new one at nearby bike shops, but all three of them were closed for Easter. A staff at the Synergy Café told us there’s a Target just few blocks away, so we all rode to Target hoping Chris will get her new helmet. Sorry, there were closed too. (What a day huh?)

Five of us end up riding the first few miles without a TRL, but that’s ok. The weather turned out to be great and we just enjoyed every moment of it. Chris is such a sweetheart, it was her birthday and she brought along a cake that she baked. She also shared some Easter-egg candies with us. Of course, a birthday was not completed without happy birthday song. We had this special birthday celebration at the Starbucks near 25th and Western.

By the time we finished, it was five. We had to take off and make sure we get back to Culver City before the sunset. When we were ready to roll, Alan figured out his back tire was flat. So we stop and lending him our hands. Although there were so many incidents in between, we still make it back safely before sunset.

Anyway, my “special-unusual-day” was not totally completed. On my way driving back home, after exiting the freeway, there was a car on Soto St. near the freeway entrance caught into fire. We all had to detour. It was really ‘dramatic’ having all these things happened in one day.

This coming Saturday is our “Day on the Ride” event, sort of a “preview” of what is going to be look like during the actual event. We will be riding from Santa Monica to the Palos Verdes area, so if you live around the west side, please come to cheer for us, and of course, please be careful when you are driving, we’re expecting hundreds of riders for this event.

Bicycle Diaries - Arcadia to Claremont

2006-04-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

Lose a training day because I had to work on Saturday, not my favorite part, but that pays my bills. Get back on the road on Sunday, traveling 52 miles from Arcadia to Claremont. For those of you live in the east SGV, did you run into us?

It was a small group ride, nine of us showed up, but three did a shorter version of 30 miles (oh no, those 3 are not in the picture). We started from the Arcadia Park on Santa Anita and Huntington, travel east to Duarte, Glendora, San Dimas, Bradbury, Pomona and Claremont. There were no major hills on this ride, but with some rolling hills.

It was my first time visiting the downtown of Claremont, what a lovely nice town. We (from left David, me, Thomas, Neil, Kathie, Brian) had lunch together. I got my tuna salad on Italian bagel (with pepperoni on it, looks like a slice of pizza) from the 42nd Street Bagel, I loved it. The streets were busy during lunch hours, and there was a farmers market too. Everyone just loved the sunny southern California; of course, forecast shows that the rain is coming in a few days (ahh… we have enough rain, and please don’t rain on weekends).

On the way heading back to Arcadia, my friend David and I came across two minor incidents. While we approached the intersection of Sierra Madre Blvd., and Todd St., a golf ball flying across us! Luckily it didn’t hit us (ouch) or it would be ugly. After that, while passing by the warehouse a big truck coming out from the parking lot and wasn’t expect there would be cyclists around and nearly hit us. I’m glad we made it back to the park safely; none of us had major incident or flat (woohoo!).

One of the pit stops we had was at the San Dimas Canyon Park. Later of the day, I learned it from the news that a man died this evening when the bicycle he was riding plunged over a 250-foot cliff and landed on San Dimas Dam. It was really sad to hear any news of fallen cyclists and again, remind all of us how important it is to follow all the safety rules. Of course accident does happen, sometime we just lost control.

On this coming Saturday, I’m planning to join the OC Team to do a ride from Irvine to Solona Beach, and we’ll take the train back to Irvine. Isn’t that fun? Just hope that weather will be nice and will tell you about details in my next bicycle diaries.

Bicycle Diaries - A Century Weekend (Part II)

2006-04-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

I know this is a long over due Part II story, so I will try to make it short and move on to this week progress. Here’s the recap from last Sunday (4/2).

As I missed the Saturday’s century ride, I decided to join a group on Sunday afternoon, we rode from Culver City to Palos Verdes, very similar to the ride I did a week ago, but this one add more hills and we made our half-way stop at 25th and Western in San Pedro.

The weather was great. Since I rode on this route before, I was more relax and confident this time, of course, with the camera in hand, I made more stops than anyone else, to capture some beautiful moment and share with all of you who couldn’t be there.

The fun part about this ride was an 11.2 miles ride on PV West, with lots of climbing, which I loved a lot. I’m not sure what the elevation is, but for sure it’s a very high point, as you can tell from the picture. From sea level to the top of the hill, it was tough but it was fun too, many of us might have drove up to enjoy the south bay view, but I peddled up, that’s the difference. There is golf course and a church by the seaside! What an amazing view they have.

We stopped at Starbucks in San Pedro, I enjoyed my chocolate frappuccino but soon to learn the lesson NOT to drink cold beverage in the afternoon by the seaside, because the wind is strong and it’s COLD!

We headed back to Culver City the same way we came from. At the end, I did a 58 miles, all time record, and made my first century ride (well, not in the same day, but back-to-back, close enough…. ha ha).

Oh yea, if you are interested in viewing pictures taken from the Paul Hulse half-century ride, please log on to www.gr8shots.com, then select ‘view event’, select ‘Paul Hulse Half Century’ the password is ‘Pos Peds’ (including the space). See if you could find me!

Bicycle Diaries - A Century Weekend (Part I)

2006-04-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for this week’s exciting stories? You can get some popcorns and sodas while reading because this is going to be a long one. Well, I think we should substitute with fruits and juices, they are healthier.

With less than four hours of sleep, I woke up 30 minutes before the alarm went off on early Saturday morning. It had nothing to do with neither April Fool nor day light saving time change. And it certainly had nothing to do with the heavy rain. I supposed I was too excited for the century ride that I planned to do.

Looking out the window, it was a gloomy sky. I guessed most of you were in your sweetest dreams, maybe by yourself or maybe next to someone you love. I was struggling, should I wake up and get ready? Or should I go back to sleep because it is “impossible” to ride on this kind of weather.

Thinking of all the fun and challenge ahead, I wasted no time in making the decision. I put on my favorite yellow jersey with the five Chinese characters (do you still remember what those characters mean?). While I was eating breakfast, I turned on the television and the ABC 7 meteorologist said the rain was moving south. I knew it was a good sign.

The drive up north on the 5 freeway wasn’t a pleasant one, the heavy downpour minimized the visibility, and everyone had to drive slowly. To be honest, at that moment I wasn’t sure if we were going to have the ride, but I just want to show up to show my support for those who had put on the efforts to make this ride possible, even if they had to cancel the ride due to bad weather.

Miracle does happen! As I approached Valencia, the weather just changed! No rain, not even a drop, and I saw sunshine. It’s the warm welcome for all of us who make it all the way up north. When I drove into the parking lot in front of Peet’s Coffee at McBean Parkway, I saw many riders already there ready for the ride.

With more than 50 people show up, the organizer – Chain Gang, Team Ventura and Positive Pedalers, said it was a surprised and great turn out (although about 125 people had RSVP for the ride). Some of the riders came as far as Riverside and Long Beach and I saw some familiar faces from previous training rides.

Instead of offering both century and half-century ride options, they decided to do just the half-century due to several reasons. A few of us who went with the goal of doing our “first century ride” were a little upset at the beginning, but then I told myself, it’s not the distance that count but the journey. We all should be appreciated because we were able to ride; the sky had clear out for us, and let’s not forgets 50 miles is not a short distance.

So we roll out a little past eight, heading to Ventura. This was a mostly flat route with some rolling hills. Most of the ride was on highway 126. It was really nice along the route, except when the big trucks pass by and we were “blow away” to the side.

Our first and second pit stop is at this small town called Piru. The distance between Valencia and Piru is about 15.6 miles. According to the guy who works at the gift store next to the Piru RR Station Park, the population of Piru is about 6000 people. It reminded me of the small college town that I lived in when I first came to the states. From Piru we headed 10 more miles to the next town which I have no idea what it is called and then back to Piru RR Station Park.

Some riders had to stop at the shoulder because they had a flat. I was “lucky” that my flat came the night before. Yes, that’s right. When I got home from work quarter to midnight, I noticed that my back tire was flat. I had to fix it before I went to bed. Because of the experience I gained; I was able to finish within 30 minutes, but that equal to missing 30 minutes of sleep that I need desperately. (Now you know why I had less than four hours of sleep). We got back to Peet’s Coffee around noon and lunch was ready for us. The turkey and veggie sandwich that I had were so good, maybe I was just too hungry.

For most of the previous rides, I didn’t bring along my camera, or I had to leave it in the car. But this time, I carried the camera with me, because I know picture worth a thousand words and I posted some of them here to share with you.

Oh yea, for your information, this ride is called Paul Hulse/PozPeds Half-Century in memory of Paul Hulse who pass away few years ago. He was one of the creators of the original California AIDS Ride, which changed its name to AIDS/LifeCycle five years ago.

To be continuing……

Bicycle Diaries - A Lady Cheers for Me

2006-03-27T22:53:00.000-08:00

I know, you must be surprised with this back-to-back update. Sorry, I don't mean to jam your mailbox, but I left out a very interesting part of my ride and couldn't wait till next week to share with you.

While we were riding in PV area, at one of the traffic light stops, a Chinese lady in her SUV with her kid at the side stopped behind us. She scrolled down the window and looked at my yellow jersey (the same one on my ALC homepage, with 5 Chinese charaters on it which means "I love Bicycle") and asked me "do you speak Chinese?" I said "Shi de, wo jiang zhong wen (i.e. Yes, I speak Chinese)." She was more excited than I was. The light turned green and we had to go, she spoke out loud "have fun guys!"

Although it was only a brief conversation, but this is the fun part, you never know whom you will run into and what their reactions will be. A little note like "have fun" do make a difference, especially when I had a rough and tough ride. So next time when you run into bikers, don't hesitate to greet them, we are nice people. (^v^)

Bicycle Diaries 3/26

2006-03-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

Enough breaks and get back on to the bike. That was what I did this past week.

On Tuesday (3/21) I went out riding with Tommy & Pedro around the Rose Bowl and Pasadena’s Linda Vista neighborhood. It was a nice day; however it didn’t start nice for me. Yes, I had a flat. It was ok; I can change a flat without any problem now. It was a short and easy ride, just right to start a day with. Most of all, it wasn’t too cold.

The following days filled with spinning classes, until the weekend arrived. On 3/25 I chose the “Culver City to Palos Verdes” ride. Most of this 47-mile long ride was along the coast and flat. We rode on two bike paths, the Ballona Creek Bike Path from Culver City to Marina del Rey and continue on South Bay Bike Path all the way down to Palos Verdes.

The day was overcast. But I guess it was a nice weather to enjoy the outdoor. There were a lot of people on the beach, either surfing for playing beach volleyball, and of course, a lot of people were biking.

I’ve only been to the south bay area on several occasions, most of them were work-related, which means I didn’t get the chance to look around the cities. So this bike path along the coast was totally new to me, and I LOVED it. The scene by the beach was really beautiful, if you haven’t been to the area, or it had been such a long time since you were last there, you should go and see it yourself.

I planned to do a short ride on Sunday morning, however, I was too tired and lazy (yes, it happened again). End up stopping by at the temple that I’ve not been lately because of the training rides and went to Chinatown in the afternoon, to meet the presidential-hopeful, currently the major of Taipei, Taiwan, Mr. Ma Yin-Jeou. It was crowded and packed with his ‘fans.’

Oh yeah, I would like to share an exciting news. I’m going to do a century ride (100-mile) next Saturday. I’m not sure if I can finish the ride (well, they have a 50-mile option) since my longest ride so far is only 54-mile, but I will try my best. It will be fun (I suppose) and will share with you about the details in my next diary, keep an eye on it.

Bicycle Diaries 3/20

2006-03-20T22:46:00.000-08:00

I’ve another record to share!

You must be thinking “oh, how many miles did he right this past weekend” or “how many steep hills did he climb up.” Well, wrong! The “record” this time refers to “the longest time I did not ride my bike.”

Why? Not that I was lazy, but I was out of town. I went to Houston last week to attend the annual conference of the Association of Healthcare Journalists (AHCJ). This was my second trip to Houston in five years, it was humid there. I didn’t get to tour around town much, just stayed at the conference site at the “Galleria” area.

Since this is my bicycle diary and I’ve nothing to share about my training ride, so I would like to talk about the donation. I would like to express my sincere THANK YOU to all of you for sponsoring me and supporting ALC 5. The fundraising has been a success, however I will keep asking for donation until the very end, i.e. end of May. For those of you who already donated, please start your ‘quarter-4-a-day’ saving habit so you will have no problem donating to my next ride…. Ha ha, maybe this is too soon to talk about that huh? We'll see.

Anyway, recently I’ve come across with some situations where donations were not credited in time. For instance a friend of mine made his donation on January 14, but it didn’t show up in my ALC account until last week, I had no idea he made the donation; in another case, I sent out 3 donation checks and a month later they were not in my ALC account, I had to call the ALC office and talked to the person in charge for more than 5 times before the problem is fixed.

Upon receiving/noticing your donation, I will send out a Thanks You email with ALC logo picture, if you didn’t receive it, please let me know. Because of the possibility of human error (which is understandable) and to make sure your donation is credited, I hope you can send me an email with the date and amount of your donation, also tell me if you donate with check or online, so I can help keep track and check with ALC office if anything went wrong.

Thanks again and hope everyone has a great week ahead.

Bicycle Diaries 3/13

2006-03-14T02:40:00.000-08:00

What were you doing on the icy-cold Sunday morning? How cold was it? Well, it depends on where you were, for me, it was in the upper 30s, and I was preparing for my weekend training ride.

Because of the rain (also thank to it) I didn’t ride on Saturday. I was planning to do the 8.15am spinning class at the Y, however I was too tire (and lazy) and having hard time to leave my just-started-became-warm bed. Besides that, I start to experience some knee pains/sores, so I thought it would be a good excuse for not doing any heavy duty on this day, sort of giving my legs a chance to rest. So, I end up sleeping till 11.30am (just keep it between us ok? hehehe). I had been a long time since I last had such a ‘beauty sleep.’

In fact, I did feel a little guilty for not riding on Saturday. As a result, I told myself, I had to do something on Sunday. I joined the Different Spokes group on Sunday, even thought the temperature was low, but the weather was nice. I didn’t think twice to leave my bed this time, it was 7am.

This was a 54 miles ride called “Three County Tour” created by our ride leader Steve; it covered LA, Orange and San Bernardino counties. We met at the San Gabriel River Trail in Duarte; however we didn’t ride on the trail (which goes down all the way to Seal Beach), in stead, we rode down Irwindale Blvd., passing through West Covina and Hacienda Heights. (Hey, for those of you who live in the East SGV, now I’m riding in your community!!)

For the first 13 miles, it was a pretty flat road with some rolling hills. The first challenge of the day was on Hacienda Blvd., for those of you who know the area, after crossing Colima Road, it becomes a hill (starting from the Hsi Lai Temple) and all the way up for about 1.5 miles. I didn’t know why, I wasn’t feeling good at all, it was so ‘not me’ but I had to listen to my body. As soon as we got to our first stop for the day (at mile-17), I ate a banana and it helped! Otherwise I didn’t know how I could finish the rest of the ride. (By the way, we’re in OC!!)

After catching our breathes, we continue our ride on Whittier Blvd., followed by Lambert which later becomes Carbon Canyon. The scenery in this area is awesome! We pass through some ranches, and saw some cows and horses, it was so relaxing. Because of the rain before, air quality was good at that point and we could smell the grass and the spirit of countryside. I was so happy to see the “San Bernardino County Border” sign, as we made it to the third county in this ride.
We made our second stop at a plaza at Chino Hills Pkwy (mile-34). After that, we continued north on Chino Hills Pkwy, and let me tell you, that was our second major climb for the day, by looking at the steepness of the hill, I wasn’t sure I could make it. Once I climbed to the top of the hill, the view was really good.

After touring some part of Diamond Bar and Walnut, we came to the third and most difficult hill – Grand Ave. I remembered when I first moved to LA, I bought this lemon car, every time I was sent to cover news in the Diamond Bar/Walnut area, my car always had hard time climbing up the hills, including Grand Ave. which connects the 10 and 60 freeways. The more I thought of the past, the more difficult it became, I was telling myself, if the car had a hard time to get through this hill, how am I going to climb it with my bike? But then, nothing but to challenge myself, I know I can make it and I did. It wasn’t an easy job at all, my butt and legs were soared!

The rain started to come down again while we were climbing. Luckily it wasn’t too bad, just some shower. It made me paddle faster, so I could get back to the parking lot before getting all soaked. We finished the 54 miles trip in about 4 hours. It was my all time longest ride so far, narrowly beat last week’s 52 miles.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention that, at one point, there was a dog came out from no way barking at us, I was so scared that he was going to bite me as I rode at the end. Luckily he didn’t keep going (phew).

In the evening, I went to the premier of “The Ride: Seven Days to End AIDS,” a Logo Television special series about AIDS/LifeCycle. Logo TV is the new cable station operated by MTV that launched the first all-gay network this past June. They sent a production team along with the ALC 4 riders to shoot a documentary that showcases the exciting bicycle journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Highlighting several participants, the special give viewers the opportunity to share in the passion and diversity that makes up the dedication to ride a bicycle for seven days to raise money and awareness for the AIDS services of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

I had mix feeling after watching the documentary, it was sad to know that HIV/AIDS affected and still affecting so many people, but I was glad that some of us doing the least that we could to help end this disease. Of course, we cannot achieve the goal without your generous support.

OK, I’ve been writing so much and it is 2.30am now. I have to wrap up, but before I do, I just want to thank those of you who respond to my updates, by telling me how much you enjoy reading or checking this email has become part of your “Monday-morning-must-do-thing” or “you’re crazy, yet you’re funny” or “hey, I know who to look for when I get a flat.” I just want to say (from the bottom of my heart) thank you for all your support and encouragement. As a result, I decided to change the subject of this email from ‘training progresses to ‘bicycle diaries.’

2006-03-08T23:52:00.000-08:00

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Chocolate Milk Aids in Post-Exercise Recovery

2006-03-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

New Study Suggests Athletes Should Re-Think Their Drink; Chocolate Milk Aids in Post-Exercise Recovery More Effectively Than Other Sports Beverages

BUSINESS WIRE

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)----Next time you finish a rigorous workout at the gym or a sweat-inducing run, a new study suggests you may want to consider a surprising new sports drink to help refuel tired muscles: chocolate milk.

The new study, published in this month's International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism(1), reports that athletes who drank chocolate milk after an intense bout of exercise were able to workout longer and with more power during a second workout compared to athletes who drank commercial sports beverages.

"Our study indicates that chocolate milk is a strong alternative to other commercial sports drinks in helping athletes recover from strenuous, energy-depleting exercise," according to co-author Joel M. Stager, PhD, professor of kinesiology at Indiana University. "Chocolate milk contains an optimal carbohydrate to protein ratio, which is critical for helping refuel tired muscles after strenuous exercise and can enable athletes to exercise at a high intensity during subsequent workouts."

Stager and colleagues had nine cyclists bike until their muscles were depleted of energy, rest four hours, then bike again until exhaustion, three separate times. During the rest period, the cyclists drank one of three beverages: lowfat chocolate milk, a traditional fluid replacement sports drink or a carbohydrate replacement sports drink. During the second round of exercise, the researchers found that cyclists who drank chocolate milk during the rest period were able to bike nearly twice as long before reaching exhaustion than those who consumed the carbohydrate replacement drink, and as long as those who consumed the fluid replacement drink. Researchers theorize that the combination of carbohydrates and protein found in chocolate milk is what helped enhance the cyclists' performance and suggest that flavored milk may be an optimal beverage for refueling muscles after exercise. The researchers also note that chocolate milk is a great-tasting and cost-effective alternative to many sports drinks.

In addition to its ideal combination of carbohydrates and protein, flavored milk contains seven other essential nutrients that are important for an athlete's health -- including bone-building calcium. No other sports drink contains the nutrient package found in flavored milk. According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid recommendations, Americans of all fitness levels should include at least 3 servings of lowfat or fat free milk or milk products in their diet every day.
(1) Karp JR, Johnston JD, Tecklenburg S, Mickleborough TD, Fly AD, Stager JM. Chocolate milk as a post-exercise recovery aid. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2006;16: 78-91.

The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), Washington, D.C., is funded by the nation's milk processors, who are committed to increasing fluid milk consumption. Together with dairy farmers, the MilkPEP Board runs the National "got milk?" Milk Mustache Campaign, a multi-faceted campaign designed to educate consumers on the benefits of milk. For more information, go to www.whymilk.com.
The tagline "got milk?"(R) was created for the California Milk Processor Board by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and is licensed by the national milk processor and dairy producer groups.

Weber Shandwick Jeannie Houchins, 312-988-2159 jhouchins@webershandwick.com

ALC 5 Training Progress 3/5

2006-03-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

3a.m., why am I awake at this hour? Just woke up and getting ready for a morning ride? NO! I just got home from work about 30 minutes ago. Why? Because of the Oscar. Did I get to meet Ang Lee? NO! I was on duty in the newsroom. However, I am very happy for his win, he deserves it.

So, isn’t this all about cycling? What does the Oscar has to do with my ride? Hmm… well, I have decided I need to sleep in a little more and will skip the 9a.m. Monday morning spinning class (excuse me, aren’t we expecting rain?).

OK, I only rode my bike twice this weekend. 52 miles on Saturday, 27 miles on Sunday. In another words, NEW RECORD was set! Yes, the half-century ride is my all time longest distance so far.

The Saturday ride started from West Hollywood. First we headed to Marina Del Ray, using this so cool Balona Creek Bike Path. The scenery by the ocean is awesome. Then we headed to 2 climbs, first one was Mandeville (plus 12 miles) and second was Bundy (plus 5 miles). Mandeville is not too steep, but the distance is long, and the last 100m is just killing, with sudden extra steepness. I had to stop before I finished the last part. After doing all the hard part, Bundy became easier for me. Still, I’m not good at going down hill; I put way too much pressure on the handle bar and breaking all the way down.

The fun part of the ride has nothing to do with the bike, instead with my car. Why? I left the key inside. Ha! I had to call AAA for help, luckily the guy shown up on time, so I left the area around 4p.m. Thank to our terrible traffic, on the 10, 210 and Huntington Drive (off racing hours) by the time I got to Arcadia (to have my gears adjusted) it was almost 6p.m. Finally got home around 7p.m. So it was a way too long day.

I went out to ride with the Different Spokes group on Sunday morning, because they do this “Pancake Tour.” Not that I loved pancakes, but they do sound good. At the Coffee Gallery in Altadena, they have this ‘all-you-can-eat-pancakes’ every first Sunday of the month, only $5, what a good deal! They serve some wings and sausages too. Yummy, I ate too much, like a pig, just because they taste so good.

I hope to get more training before I do a century ride in April. I think I can do it.

ALC 5 Training Progress 2/26

2006-02-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

Everyday is a milestone, and I’m SOO proud of myself, those are what I learned this past week.

It has been almost a month now since I bought my bike, and so far I’ve put on 263 miles on it. On Monday (2/20) I joined an ALC group ride called “Pasadena Home Envy Tour” leaded by Tommy & Pedro. On this 13 miles ride, we started from the Rose Bowl and went through the Linda Vista area. It was a nice and easy ride; the best thing was I don’t have to drive long to get to the meeting point. Not forget to thank both ride leaders, who were very nice and helpful.

I did spinning class on Wednesday (2/22) and Friday (2/24). Oh yeah, also did the Rose Bowl loops on Thursday (2/23) afternoon, about 19 miles. There were a lot of people that day, I supposed everyone enjoyed the sunny day after a raining weekend.

OK, now come the FUN part. For those of you who know La Tuna Canyon and Lida Street in Pasadena, yes, I climbed up both of them in one day. For those who don’t know where they are, let me tell you, La Tuna Canyon is a 4.5 miles steady climb, the top is just after the 210 underpass. Lida Street starts from Linda Vista and it is a more than 2 miles climb. This ride started from the beautiful Griffith Park, and the whole trip was 45.3 miles. It was the longest distance single ride I ever did. Of course, the record won’t be held for long, I’ve to do a lot more than just 45 miles.

There were around 50 riders turn out for this ride, so you can imagine how popular it is and how they loved the hills! The ride went through several cities, including some I’ve never been to, and in some cases, I didn’t even know where I was. The areas were nice.

I was very tired and sore after the ride. Didn’t get home till 3pm, after finish doing some writing, I went for a nap. Later on, called one of the rider friends, Dionne, she wants to does the Sunday’s “Tom’s Star Map Tour” and see if I would like to go too. I wasn’t sure at the beginning, but then I think I have to do it, I need the training.

Sunday (2/26) turned out to be a wonderful day. On this 33 miles ride, we started from the West Hollywood Park, went through Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Bel Air etc. It certainly was an easier ride compare to what I did the day before, however, it was not easy at all, especially climbing up Bundy Drive. I used the experience and strength I gained from the previous ride and it helps a lot. What I like about this ride is not only the nice communities, but also wonderful ride leaders and gets to know some other ALC 5 riders, including Kenny whom I first met from chatroom, Juan who is a second time rider.

ALC 5 Training Progress 2/19

2006-02-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

Because of work, because of rain, I didn't do much out door riding this weekend.

First of all, I had a very busy working week. Had to finish a special report about adult day health care centers (ADHC) which was over-due. This is a project for my healthcare journalism fellowship program. I'm glad and reliefs when this report is finally done!

I planned to do some riding for Saturday and Sunday, however, was upset when the weather guy said we were expecting raining weekend. The rain spoiled my plan, but I did get the extra sleep that I desperately needed. Also attend a function on Sunday evening, where with the help from friends, I manage to raise a good amount of money for ALC 5.

Now put the clock backward a little more...... on Monday-Wednesday (2/13-15), three days in a row, I did the spinning class at the Y. On Thursday (2/16) evening, I took my bike to the Rose Bowl and did 5 loops (15miles). It was so cold! There were many riders, some of them really kick ass! (opss...)

Looking forward to the coming week, looking forward to more training rides.

ALC 5 Training Progress 2/12

2006-02-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

First picture of me and my new jersey, new bike = a new me.

As planned, I went out riding with Connie and Steve from Different Spokes. It was a 35 miles ride, starting from the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. We went up Nichols Canyon, Woodrow Wilson, Mulholland, then passed through the VA Center and headed to Santa Monica beach.

The weather was great (hot in fact) but I really enjoyed this whole different ride, a lot on climbing and going down hills, big challenge for me. I did well on the climbing part, but go very slow while we went down the hills.

While we were up there, one part of the road is under construction, and the road pathment is totally uneven, basically we had to carefully zip through the road (as you know road bike's tires are small). At one of the traffic stops, guess what, we ran into Jay Leno in his antique car! I waved at him, and when he responded with a "Beebeep" (honk) of his car.

While travelling on Wilshire, we had to use the sidewalk for safety reason, and there's where I dropped my water bottle and had my FIRST FLAT! I changed my first flat tire by myself (well, the first part of it) and later on with helping hands from Connie and Steve. I got back to the road again!

On the way back to Pacific Design Center, we went through Beverly Hills, one of the road had so many up and down hills (short but had to shift gears very fast). It was fun to think about it, but was really tough when I did it. Looking forward to more training rides in the coming weeks.

ALC 5 Training progress 2/11

2006-02-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

It has been a month since I signed up for AIDS/LifeCycle 5. Many thanks to all of you for your generous support.

I got my first road on Chinese New Year eve (1/28); it's a goldish-brown Cannondale R700. I love it and enjoy riding every time. In these past 2 weeks, I've put on 100 miles on it, woohoooo... a century, a milestone!

Due to my so called flexible but actually crazy working hours, it's very hard for me to do consistence group/road training during the week. As a result, I go to the gym and do the spinning class plus weight lifting (which I've been doing for the past 2 years, I'm at the Gold level now).

At the meantime, I try to find time and do some road riding, either with friends or just the loop at the Rose Bowl. During my first ride on 1/31 at the Rose Bowl, I fell from my bike, because I was not used to the new clips on my shoes. Yes, I had a minor injury on my left knee, bleeding to be specific (ouch...ewe...) but I'm doing OK now. With the help from Dionne, a friend and a newbie like me with the ALC 5, I learned some cycling tips and played with the gears.

Sometime it's so hard to wake up early and ride under the cold weather in the early morning. But when I think about the up coming ride in June, and all your support, I manage to kick myself out of the bed and get ready for some training before work. You all are my momentum to keep moving forward which I truly appreciate.

On 2/4, I rode with my friend David, an ex-AIDS Ride rider. It was my first ride on actual busy road. We road from Pasadena to Sierra Madre, a total of 24 miles. It wasn't too bad for a newbie; just have to watch out for traffic. I realized how important it is to share a road with the cyclists when you're driving. When you drive, you have the car to protect you, but when you ride, that's not a lot of protection.

On 2/5, I went to a Bike Workshop in Santa Monica. Learned how to change a flat tire! Woohoo, I did it, but I'm so not looking forward to put my knowledge into action.... hahaha.... well, if it happens, at least I know how to fix it and no need to call AAA. It was nice to ride for 10 miles with other newbie in Santa Monica, a bike-friendly city.

Today (2/11) I joined the Long Beach team for a 30miles ride from LB to Newport Beach. It was great! (But I'm tired, so I took a nap in the evening....). Learning how to ride in a group is very important, as you not only take care of each other, but also motivate each other. Riding on the PCH is kind of dangerous at certain points, but overall I had great time. If you have never been to that part of town, you should, nice beach nice city, but watch out for all the cyclists, man, they are fast! I'm planning to do a ride in the West Hollywood area on Sunday (2/12). Will share the experience in my blog.

Grand Opening of Kar's Space

2006-02-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to create a personal website/blog, but get caught up with many other things in life. Finally, after I signed up for AIDS/LifeCycle 5, I've no excuse for delaying this project. By creating this I hope everyone can share my story, or even join me in this historic journey in my life.

As a journalist, writing has always been part of my life. Sometime I do get tired for writing too much. I've a passion for writing, that's for sure. I will try my best, work to the hardest to keep this page fresh and new all the time.

Welcome. Huan-Ying. Selamat Datang.