40 Days of Why?: Day 1 - Just look between my legs

Anytime I'm out on a ride and feel like I've forgotten  why raising $40G for HIV/AIDS seemed like a good idea, all I have to do is look down between my legs for a reminder.

Because every time I ride, between my legs and under my ass you will find a $100 saddle clamped onto a $2500 bike rolling down the road on $600 wheels and a $100 pair of tires.  Under the saddle is nestled a $15 pouch filled with $15 of tools and spare parts.  On the downtube you'll find two $3 water bottles, each filled with $0.50 of energy drink.  Since I'm a data hound, there's also the head unit to a $600 powermeter strapped to the handlebars.  And if it's a night ride, there will be a $100 front headlight and a $20 tail light letting everyone know I'm out there tearing it up.  And because I [almost] never ride naked or without a helmet, I'll be wearing $650 of cycling clothing, helmet, shoes, eyeglasses, chamois cream, and gloves.  If it's especially cold or wet, tack on an additional $300 for warmer, waterproofier clothing.

Add it all up and that's $5000.  Yeah, I know, right?  And then consider that the last time I raced, I lined up against 49 other guys, each sporting about the same amount of stuff between their legs, under their asses and on their bodies.  That brings us to a cool $250,000.  In addition to 50 racing bikes and assorted paraphernalia, that quarter of a million bucks (?!?!?!) could cover a year's worth of maintenance and repairs to all of the AIDS Housing Alliance's permanent housing units, a year of rent for the Breaking Barriers office, a year of food for two families at Breaking Barrier's food closet, AND one thousand primary care visits at the Center for AIDS Research, Education, and Services in Sacramento.  Next to numbers like that, $40,000 doesn't really seem like a whole helluva lot of money.

Now, I don't believe that all cyclists, myself included, are a bunch of selfish gits who waste their money on a too-expensive form of recreation.  I will be the first and loudest person to tell any non-cyclist that the time I spend on my bicycle improves every aspect of my life and makes me a better, more mature, more balanced person.  However, I'm also happy to blab at you about how taking some of that bike time, some of that bike money, as well as some of that bike karma, and putting it somewhere else, for someone a lot less fortunate, living much closer to, or past, the margin, will also help make me a better, more mature, and more balanced person as well.

Why am I only now learning about riding out near Mt. Tam?

Just back from a great ride on the peninsula from Fairfax to Mt. Tam and back.  40 miles in all with several sustained climbs, moderate temperatures, great views, plenty of other road and mtn. bikers, and very few cars. We like all that.  Here's a link for folks who want to check it out.

Everything about this ride was awesome and it makes me wonder why it's taken 9 years of riding to realize that all these great miles are just over an hour down the highway.  Thanks to NCACers Tara and Capt. Cullen for instigating the ride.  Anno, Jarad, Risotto and a few other soon-to-be NCACers also showed up for the fun.  The ride started in an easy-to-find lot that contained plenty of space and, even better, a drive through coffee stand.  How cool is that?

The coffee stand was such a pleasant surprise that I didn't even mind the 4-mile grinder rising right out of Fairfax less than a mile from the parking lot. Here's a snippet from a post-ride conversation Jarad and Anno had about the climb:
   Jarad: I'm sooo glad we didn't get re-passed by that jogger on the first climb.
   Ann: Yeah, we really showed him.

After a quick, beautiful descent to Alpine Dam there were 2 more miles of steeper climbing up into the fog that only a Sasquatch could love:











Another 1/4 mile down the road and we burst out into the sun, following a ridge that marked the inland border of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  The Pacific Ocean and, I suppose, Hawaii and Japan are in this picture, but the fog was just a little too thick to see them clearly:

A couple more miles of rolling hills and three more miles of up led us to the end of the road near the top of Mt. Tam and views of the fog covering San Francisco.  I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

All in all, a great day of riding, even better for the fact that, except for the one climb away from the dam, it was almost all downhill back to the car.  It took just under two hours to get to the top of Mt. Tam and just over an hour to get all the way back.  Plus, when I got back I learned that the Iron Springs Pub and Brewery was just across the street and open for business.  I highly recommend the Kolsch.