Tuesday, October 28, 2008

WOW! Over 10% already!

I just wanted to post a quick thank you to those of you who jumped in so quickly to support this ride of mine!
I'm happily stunned to have gotten to 11% of my goal in less than 30 days!
I regret to inform you all that my only training done this last weekend was to ride my bike from Burlingame to San Bruno (only about six miles) on my way home from work on Friday. It's something but I'm looking forward to getting a much longer ride in soon - I'll be sure to let you all know!

Wanna help me reach my goal?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

i'm going to ride my bike 545 miles next summer!

Ever since I moved to San Francisco and heard about this crazy bike ride from SF to LA, I've thought about doing it.
Two years ago, I discovered that a friend of a friend, Emily, (who is now a dear friend) is the volunteer coordinator for the SF AIDS Foundation. I discovered this when I was looking around the internet for a volunteer opportunity around my birthday (June 1), which was something I'd committed myself to doing back in 2003.
I helped Emily with some office work (basically, I volunteered to help her find volunteers) and then helped out on the day that the ride starts.
This was such a wonderful experience - get up at 3am (just like when Mom used to drive us up to Maine from PA) and help out wherever help is needed (two years in a row I ended up in "bike parking" and must say it's a wonderful way to see LOTS of interesting bikes, but that's another story...). I was exhilarated after that first year and decided that the next year I'd help for a week whenever I could and *maybe* go on the ride.
Come February 2008 and registration was closed because the ride was completely full - both SF and LA had their maximum number of riders!
Amazing.
So, I checked my work schedule and committed to four or five days of helping where needed AND going to work. This culminated on my birthday when I got up at 3am again and parked bikes (with a birthday tiara on).
This year tho, when everyone left and the hall was empty, I was really sad - I wanted to be with them.

So, I finally did it.

I signed up. http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/adrienecrimson

I'm going to ride 545 miles from SF to LA from May 31 to June 6, 2009 (and you better believe I'll have a tiara glued to my helmet the whole time to celebrate turning 32!)

Part of my commitment comes from simply wanting to help people on my birthday. The other part is this foundation. The SF AIDS Foundation provides practical information about AIDS, services for people with HIV/AIDS and services to prevent the spread of the disease. And they throw really great fundraising events like this one as well as sponsor lots of fun events in the city throughout the year - all with the goal of educating the public about how to stay safe and healthy, with or without HIV/AIDS.

I think this disease needs to stop now and one of the best ways to do that is to prevent it spreading.
One of the best ways to prevent it spreading is to educate (and give out clean needles and free condoms).
And, to do this takes employees, time and space.

By sponsoring me on this ride you'll be providing funds for this amazing organization to continue to help people stay safe and healthy.
To give you an idea why they need this money - I just read their operating budget and expenses document that basically says that their expenses for 2008/9 are $25 million and the government (local, state, federal) will give them about $7 million. The other $18 million are donated by regular people who want to contribute to a just cause.

The minimum for each rider to raise is $3000 and I've committed to going a bit above and beyond with a $5000 goal. I'm hoping to throw a party sometime in March that will be a fundraiser because I've always wanted to do something like that. I'm imagining that it will involve an auction of donated goods and a raffle of less expensive donated goods - sound like fun? I'll keep you posted as to when it'll happen and maybe you can join in the fun! I figure, if I'm throwing a fundraising event, I should definitely increase my fundraising goal.

There are many ways to contribute (it's all tax deductible as well!):
- many corporations provide matching funds for their employee's donations so check with your boss/HR department to see if you can double your support (when I worked for the design firm, I asked the CEO if the company would match its employee's donations and he said "yeah, sure, up to $200" so I got all of the employees to donate $200 collectively and that was $400 for our bike messenger Mary's ride - who, by the way, rode in a lavender tuxedo - sorry, I haven't got any pics.)
- you can choose to donate online once or utilize their automatic payment option that draws any amount you designate once a month. this is a super easy way to donate $100 without feeling it.
- you can download a form (found at the very bottom of this page) to send in a check or credit card info for one time or monthly automatic payments.

I'm committing all of my Friday tips to my sponsorship account. In this economy, one might think that people would be getting "luxury treatments" like facials and waxing less, but it's only been a little bit slower. Still, my friday tips have only been between $20 and $45 for the last few weeks. However, any and every amount helps, no matter how small.

I'll keep http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/adrienecrimson updated with my training progress and photos and on the ride itself I'll do my best to live blog about the whole event.

I'll also keep you posted about the fun raffles I'll be having soon.
Would anyone donate in $1 increments to win the right to choose the color I dye my hair for the ride?
How about $2 increments to win the right to choose a subject that I'll take photos of on the ride?

Thanks for sticking with this post all the way thru! If you like any of those raffle ideas and want to start collecting your "tickets" - just go to http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/adrienecrimson and when you donate online, be sure to put a note that says "this is for the hair color raffle - magenta!" or "this is for the photo raffle - road kill!"

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

First training weekend!

On Saturday, Shannon took me to Marin for my second long ride ever and first training ride for ALC! We drove to Nicasio and then biked about 28 miles r/t to Pt. Reyes.
Shanny encouraged me to leave behind my "civilian" hoodie (cotton, not cycle worthy) but I held firm and am so grateful as it was pretty cold in the shade and slight wind. The sun did warm us occasionally and overall I was totally comfortable - Shanny was a bit cold as the last time he'd done that ride it was 90 degrees and he didn't think he'd need a long sleeved jersey this time.
The ride went really well except for two things: one, we ate too much for lunch at the half way point so I was exhausted for the first five miles or so on the way back; two, about a mile from the car I bonked (ie. hit the wall, ran out of juice, etc) and stopped without warning. This caused us to crash and drop our bikes - with no harm to body or bike, just ego.
"You need to tell me when you're going to stop!"
"You need to get off my butt!"
I rested for a bit and was able to make it to the car without further incident.
We made up and went to dinner at the wonderful Avatar's in Sausalito - YUM! Pumpkin/Dungeness Crab enchilada, lentil soup and samosa with yougurt and tamarind sauce. We had the Avatar's Dream for dessert and it was awesome. We highly recommend this restaurant if you like Indian food and creativity in food preparation.
Sunday was a day of running errands, our favorite being a stop at Performance Bicycle to check out their jerseys (I've been riding in a cycle sports bra with t-shirt). Of course, they're having a big sale right now so I was able to come away with a fun flourescent yellow sleeveless jersey and Shanny sponsored me with a super cute black short sleeved jersey covered in polka dots and rings. We were saying that it's totally able to go from bike straight to dinner (as long as no one questions the pockets on the back... :)
Now I have real cycling jerseys to go with my tights, socks (one pair with pirate kitties, one pair with flying pigs) and shoes. I'm getting all professional n' stuff!
Thanks everyone for your support - it's awesome to see how quickly my thermometer is filling up! Hopefully, I can pull together $1k by November 30th so I can get the ALC messenger bag that they've incentivised us with...

Wanna help me reach my goal?