“The one thing my tent-mate & friend Kate mentioned earlier today, at the beginning of the ride really, was that in previous rides on this day she came to rethink really how she treats food, especially produce.
That's something that I noticed today also during the ride, watching the strawberry pickers hunched over in the fields pretty much all day. Strawberries, cabbage, artichokes, these are all different kinds of produce that can't be machine harvested like corn or soybeans or wheat, it's a manual process, so the farm workers are paid very little, so it makes sense not to waste your food.
You think of strawberries that tend to go bad pretty quickly, someone worked pretty hard to pick those strawberries, you have to be sure to appreciate them all you can. But also these are farm workers who might have to be working in plants that were sprayed with pesticides, and assuming they work all day for several months of the year,
working with those pesticides can't possibly be good for you, or good for them anyway. So I think it makes sense that even if you don't think that, if you don't care what chemicals go into your body, you might think of the chemicals that are going into other people's bodies because there are workers who picked it. So it's a good case for eating organic fruits and vegetables.”
Today has been pretty fabulous, I woke up today around 4:45 in the morning. Didn't really sleep to well in the tent, but with a little coffee in me and a meal, I was good to go!
We headed out around 6:45, we were leaving Santa Cruz and then we came across this place called the Ugly Mug in Soquel that offers free coffee to riders, at least one day a year! And, apparently it's the cafe owner's favorite day of the year, so there was some coffee and some dance music going. I probably killed an hour, actually, between coffee & waiting for the toilet.
After that I tried to make up for lost time, and I was cruisin'. Today I broke the 2000 mile mark on my odometer, that's over 2000 miles since January. Today was 107.5 miles, and did that in 6.5 hours, an average of 16.5 miles per hour, which is actually my fastest ride ever, but I think I'd have to put an asterisk and a "wind assisted" next to that time if we put it in the record books, because it was quite windy out there! Yeah, and that was definitely helping out the second half of the ride. I was easily, you know, pedaling more than 20 to sometimes mid-30's miles per hour just on the flat ground. It was a pretty flat ride actually.
Got in to the campground 5:25 which is a little bit later than yesterday, but for reference I spent the same amount of time in the saddle today as yesterday and biked an extra 30 miles.
So, another treat today was deep fried artichokes, which were really good. It was just a gorgeous ride today, riding through strawberry fields which smelled so good, and cabbage fields, artichoke fields, vineyards, mountains, everything!
So, as for the themes of the rest stops: rest stop 1 was a good morning/sleepover kind of theme. rest stop 2 was Muppets, in space perhaps? Lunch stop had a farm theme, everyone was dressed up as farmers, which was appropriate. Rest stop 3 had a Pan-Am/ALC airlines/flight attendant kinda theme. The water stop at Mission Soledad, where they had Auto Pops, was a burning man, kinda raver theme, and rest stop 4 was a jail theme.
There was also an informal stop at mile 89, with a "cookie garden" where we could get some cookies and milk that some people made, and that was pretty awesome.
One thing that's true is that kids love the riders, there were a group of kids in Santa Cruz that were giving us all high-fives on the way out. And some people were giving us Twizzlers in Salinas, I think. Anyway, there's definitely a lot of love for ALC Riders.
Another cool thing is there's a rider I met yesterday named (Bru?), who is riding from the Ivory Coast, and then today we found out that there's a contingent here from the Ivory Coast here that's learning all about the logistics, and they're trying to set up a ride in the Ivory Coast in 2010 called the Hope LifeCycle, which is a pretty cool thing to check out, and something to think about for the future.
I think that's about it, so tomorrow we're riding...”
“Okay, it looks like the first part of my post wasn't saved, so I'll try to say it again quicker!
I'm in Santa Cruz, it's nice and sunny, it's beautiful. We started off, we woke up today, this morning, at 4:15 to get to Cow Palace, and that's where the ride started. It was really slow-going for the first few miles, but after a while it started to thin out. The actual ride didn't start until about 6:40. I arrived finally in Santa Cruz at 4:15, it was about 82 miles of biking.
There was some really thick fog on Skyline in Pacifica, and it was generally overcast up until San Gregorio. I saw one cyclist took a big bad spill, and I talked about that in part two. It seemed like cyclists are maybe a little crazy at times.
Each of the rest stops had themes: The water stop, the first stop in San Francisco had a pirate theme. Rest stop 1 had a Green theme, characters dressed up as the Incredible Hulk and the Green Giant. Rest stop two had a "Happy Birthday" theme, where all the staff were wishing everyone a happy birthday all the time! The lunch stop had a "Rock n Roll" theme, and that was a nice turkey & avocado croissant sandwich, plus some other stuff. Rest stop 3 had a 50's theme, so everyone was dressed up in poodle skirts. Rest stop 4 had a wrestling theme. Everyone was dressed up in high school wrestling uniforms & people were having pictures taken with the wrestlers. I hear that rest stop 4 is always the best rest stop of the day, so I'll be sure to check that one out for sure... as well as all the other ones! They plan the rest stops a year in advance, and they have a website: reststop4.com, so you might wanna check that out.
They had some free strawberries at the top of 92 between Half Moon Bay & San Mateo, and also some free strawberries from the Swanton Berry Farm.
We had a nice warm welcome in Santa Cruz from lots of random citizens, and also at the camps, it was great! And we've been appreciating all the fans along the roadside
So, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, it's going to be 107 miles towards King City, and probably pretty hot! But it'll be pretty flat and we'll see tailwinds, I hope.
“Guess I was talking too long in the previous post so I'll keep this one shorter. Anyway, I don't know, the guy apparently hit a curb and did some flips in the air and then landed on the ground, and it seemed like he was still unconscious after about 10 minutes or so when the ambulance finally arrived. So, I'm not really sure what's up with that. We'll find out maybe later tonight when they do the announcements for the day. And then there were some more ambulances later on, it might've been Half Moon Bay. So, people are biking a little crazy I guess. Half Moon Bay was, or taking the highway to Half Moon Bay, was a little tense. People riding basically fender-to-fender or tire-to-tire, climbing the hill. But there was a nice descent in to Half Moon Bay. Beautiful riding after lunch... the sun started coming out in San Gregorio, and it was pretty much nice in Santa Cruz county in general. People in Santa Cruz were watching us. It was great and actually there have been lots of fans & friends cheering from the side of the road. It's been great. There were some free strawberries, one at the top of 92 and another at Swanson Farm. So lots of good support for AIDS riders so far!. I'll leave another announcement or talk tomorrow. Bye!”
It's hard to believe, but in mere hours I will be riding out of San Francisco with 2,500 of my closest bike buddies. By this time tomorrow, I'll be getting ready to hit the sack (a sleeping bag) in Santa Cruz.
Thank you so much for all your support and donations! It's been quite a journey since my training began in November. In this month alone, I've biked for over 42 hours, covering 586 miles and climbing over 20,000 ft. I'll cover about as much distance in the next week! One side effect of all this riding is losing 10 or so pounds since I started training, and now my weight is at its lowest since sometime in college.
I'll try to blog here by phone. There's also official AIDS/Lifecycle Web coverage at http://experience.aidslifecycle.org/. Be sure to check in later when I post some photos and more detailed writeups after the ride.
By the way, the State of California threatens to cut over $150 million of aid to HIV/AIDS programs throughout the state, so your donations are more valued than ever. If you would like to donate further, you can still do so at http://tofighthiv.org/goto/arun.
I left work at a reasonable hour this evening to meet up with Jane at Mission High. We had tickets to Voices of a People's History. Imagine a high school auditorium packed to the brim, all eyes and ears towards the stage, with an all-star line-up of Howard Zinn, Anthony Arnove, Benjamin Bratt, Josh Brolin, Diane Lane, Renee Maria Saucedo (local community leader), Boots Riley (hip-hop artist and activist), Clarence Thomas (an ILWU leader), and Kerry Washington. Each person would take a turn reading a passage from a writing or speech by a historical radical figure, ranging from the 16th Century to this decade. The Stairwell Sisters, a local old-time string band, played a couple fitting numbers, easily rocketing into position as one of my favorite local bands. Mary Elizabeth Lease's "Wall Street Owns the Country" piece (from 1890) on Wall Street, foreclosures, and loan sharks is eerily appropriate today, especially in the past year; how little we've progressed in the past century? And did Muhammad Ali really speak out against the Vietnam War a year before Martin Luther King, Jr., did?
Buzzing from the performance, we decided it was time to find some dinner. Since it was a Thursday, I suggested Mission Street Food. Jane was unconvinced, wanting to stick with something tried and true. But then we ran into Luke and Sally, who were raving about their meal there, particularly the red hot banana ice cream, despite the 75-minute wait and dish shortages. So off we were, and we were seated at a community table after not too long. Unfortunately they were out of the acorn soup, but the big winners for us were a couple of their classics: "King Trumpet Mushroom with Triple Fried Potato, Garlic Confit and Charred Scallion Sour Cream on a fresh flatbread" and a smoky & spicy fried rice with duck. We tried both of the Humphry Slocombe ice creams. We really need to go to the parlor and try some other flavors!
Afterwards, we strolled home. And now time to work some more!
I wanted to let you all know I've registered for the AIDS/Lifecycle Ride! It's a 7-day, 545-mile organized bike ride from SF to LA in the first week of June. No matter how you look at it, this ride is at least an order of magnitude more intense than any ride I've ever done before. The longest day is over 100 miles of riding! I've been wanting to do this for nearly as long as I've lived here but previously couldn't afford to, for one reason or another -- usually not enough vacation time or some major pending project. This year the stars aligned, plus another co-worker was also interested, so we're reinforcing each other. I'm really excited! I've already started training, and even those rides have been plenty fun.
I'm riding to support the SF AIDS Foundation, who provide many services to the community to prevent the transmission of HIV and offer help to those who are HIV+. I'd really appreciate it if you could sponsor me! I have a personal goal of raising $3000. Donations are tax-deductible as the SF AIDS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
I got home yesterday from a bike ride with a few minutes of game time before halftime. I was looking forward to Bruce's performance, but not long after I tuned in, I saw James Harrison's 100-yard interception return. What a great way to close the half and lead into the Boss. The E Street Band put on a wonderful show with "10th Avenue Freeze-Out," "Born to Run," "Working on a Dream" (a new song), and closing with "Glory Days." I have to say that I've been pretty hit-or-miss with watching Super Bowls over the years, but this seemed like a top-notch halftime performance, and the nail-biting/roller-coaster second half was hard to beat, in my limited experience.
Hey, everybody! It's been more than a year since I last posted and even longer since I posted with any regularity. I feel like I've lost touch with many friends, so I thought I'd give this another shot. I've started using a RSS aggregator recently, so that has helped me keep organized and maintain some momentum in reading blogs.
A lot has happened in the last year or two, and even the last few weeks have seemed sometimes tumultuous, other times momentous. My personal most memorable events for 2008 included a trip to India with my mom -- I'll have to make a post about that sometime soon -- and running my first half-marathon, which seemed like quite an accomplishment considering that I struggled running a whole mile during junior high.
I snuck out of work to catch part of the May 1 march. My pictures don't do it justice, but imagine the blur in the horizon is 100,000 people marching down Market St., from Embarcadero to 9th St.
May Day is quite a big deal this year in San Francisco. Maybe it normally is -- as SF is home to many immigrants and leftists, all of whom (correctly) celebrate Labor Day on the 1st of May -- but I wouldn't know, it's my first year here. But this year, a mid-term election year, Congress and the nation have had some fierce debate regarding immigration, undocumented workers, and H.R. 4437 (the Sensenbrenner Bill). California is home to millions of immigrants, so LA, SF, Oakland, and other cities have had marches and rallies to keep Congress from tearing apart families and communities. Today's rallies mark San Francisco's third in the last month.
Yesterday I took pictures of flyers along 24th St. and neighboring parts of Mission St. It's amazing how many businesses are participating in the strike and how many more support the boycott. Even the Popeye's had flyers, and I thought that was unusual, but then I saw that the McDonald's had elected to close for May Day! Reports indicate that the Mission District is mostly shut down today and that schools are lightly attended. I haven't seen so many American flags since right after 9/11.
Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News prints an article that seems to reference A Day Without a Mexican. The conservative reader comments linked off that article are particularly scary.
On Monday I got stuck in an elevator. I was riding up when the power cut out briefly, trapping me between the 3rd and 4th floors. It took an elevator serviceperson more than an hour to come out and restore service.
On Tuesday I felt my first earthquake. I was at work and felt the floor wobble for a split-second. Cool!
Tonight I started the "Make Your Own Merlot" kit that my sister Asha gave me for Christmas. I've been meaning to branch out into making other fermented beverages, and here was my chance. I think maybe the kit is supposed to remind me of how she wanted to visit Napa Valley with us during her stay at Thanksgiving, but we failed to make it there. I received the gift while in Illinois for Christmas; rather than checking some luggage, we decided to ship it to San Francisco, and I think the shipping charge cost about as much as the kit did originally. It seems like a decent beginner's winemaking kit, but I took advantage of my homebrewing equipment (and kung-fu!). The instructions say I'll be bottling in a month, so we'll see if the wine bug bites.
I also racked to glass the Irish stout I started on New Year's Day. I'm not so optimistic about it, as it was born in haste. A nasty boilover lead to mess on the stove and a weakened wort. Maybe some aging and carbonation will cover up the shortcomings. I need to remember that it's never a good idea to start a brew when I might be pressed for time; if I'm going to also bottle on the same day, I need to ensure that the afternoon or evening is free and clear.
I am excited about the wee heavy -- I call it the Hallowe'en Heavy -- that jane837 and I brewed on Halloween Eve. It should be ready at the beginning of next month and fairly true to form.
We haven't even been here for a month, but we've already registered to vote and, today, voted. I'm sure we missed months of debate and discussion, but we did our best with a little bit of research. The polling place was at the elementary school at the end of our block, so that was a short and sweet walk this sunny morning. Buena Vista School, indeed! It was pretty similar to how Champaign County conducts elections, except => the voting booths don't have curtains here on any side, => the ballots are large legal-size sheets containing all the text you'd need, in English, Spanish, and Chinese (the unofficial official languages of San Francisco, with the occasional Japanese), => votes are marked with a black felt-tip pen, filling in the body of an arrow, => and the ballots are cast into a scanner which instantly tabulates the votes and retains the paper ballots in the vault beneath it. It's a simple user interface with nearly zero chance of misvoting, the original ballots are retained for a recount, and the totals are available right after the polls close. Sounds pretty good to me. In San Francisco, local officials are elected using ranked-choice voting, also known as instant-runoff voting, which is not as mathematically sound as the Condorcet method, but it sure beats the usual plurality electoral system.
Californian voters rejected all propositions, which basically means that the Governor wasted $7.2 million of his own money for this special election, and drug companies blew $80 million trying to avoid prescription drug discounts for the poor; over $250 million was spent campaigning for or against the initiatives. The teen abortion proposition (73) was the closest call and fortunately failed, barely. San Franciscans like to vote yes on city measures, and as a result, streets and sidewalks will be improved, military recruiters will be barred from public schools, and possession of handguns in the city will be forbidden. Good thing I left behind my Walther PPK when we moved!
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arun251's journal
excited
We haven't even been here for a month, but we've already registered to vote and, today, voted. I'm sure we missed months of debate and discussion, but we did our best with a little bit of research. The polling place was at the elementary school at the end of our block, so that was a short and sweet walk this sunny morning. Buena Vista School, indeed! It was pretty similar to how Champaign County conducts elections, except