East Bay riders take last training ride of the season, tapering off, only 50 miles

Harley, Owen, Jan, Larry and David, debut our new Power of Blue, PG&E jerseys.  We took our last training ride of the season, through San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore and Danville.  Mostly flat, but hot and windy.

 We are ready to go 545 miles from SF to LA, starting June 1st!  Follow us on this blog.

Training ride, May 10, 2014

Owen & Jan before the decent down Calaveras Rd.

Owen & Jan at the top of Calaveres Road, just a bit past the reservoir, 1/2 way through a training ride, with 55 miles to go.  Two firsts for Owen.  His 1st Century & his 1st time to the top of Calaveres Rd.  This is just one of many training rides the team members do, to prepare for the week long 545 mile ride, that will start June 1, from SF to LA.  We were part of a group of 65 riders, all supported by volunteers.  The training rides start out at 30 miles long in January, gradually increasing to 100 milers, 3 weeks before the ride.

Training rides are under way

Training Ride Leader with David, Jan & Owen

Today we did an 85 mile training ride that took us over part of what we will ride on Day 1, June 1st.    We were in the saddle over 6 hours and counting breaks we were out training over 8 hours.  This is a typical day of training leading up the the week long June ride.  We have to get our muscles, endurance and bottom sides prepared on the weekends, since we all work during the week.  There isn't any other way to train for a 7 day ride.  We stopped at San Gregorio State beach for our lunch break.  One of the volunteer TRL's had our lunches in his car.  This is the same lunch spot we'll be at on day one, June 1st.

2014 bake sales

Thank you to All our generous supporters who donated so much at our 2 initial 2014 bake sales, one in SF at General Office, and one at the PG&E Bishop Ranch office. You helped our January fund raising a great deal. We look forward to our next sales Valentines week.

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Location:San Fran and San Ramon

We have finished the 2013 ALC 12 ride!

Our official PG&E team photo for ALC 12

Blog by Jan.

Here is our official team photo of the 2013 ride. Bright & early, a 6am meet up and, notice, we are all pretty much wide awake.

This year's ride raised a record 14.2 MILLION dollars to provide services for the SF AIDS Foundation & LA Gay & Lesbian Center.  Thank you to all our wonderful supporters, donors and followers.  Many of us have already signed up to ride again next year.

Larry, Jan & David, 1 mile from the finish in LA, burger time

Some of the team stopped for burgers at Barneys in L.A.  The rest of the team met up at Starbucks, a few blocks away and road in to the finish line together.  The finish is an amazing, uplifting, and spirited, thank you by thousands of spectators, lining the road.  I have to admit, by the end of 545 miles, although exhilarated, we were mostly tired, and don't have many photos.

At closing ceremonies, the different sponsors thank us & there was a performance by the So You Think You Can Dance, Allstars, pictured below.

We all love to talk about our experience & encourage others to ride or volunteer with us, so feel free to engage us.

Our only team Roadie (volunteer extraordinaire), Emilia, with the dancers from "So You Think You Can Dance"

  A special thank you to Southwest Airlines, who gave all the returning ALC folks complimentary cocktails & early boarding, just because they could.

Day 6 - 90 miles from Lompoc to Ventura

(I'm cheating by blogging on the drive back up from LA...)

Day 6 brought us into true SoCal feel with palm trees, sweeping ocean views from Hwy 1 bike lanes and some beach bike trails!




Sadly, there were a handful of tacks and staples on the side of the road (what the heck??) and a handful of riders were unfortunate enough to get punctured.




Tire problems were quickly forgotten as we rolled into Santa Barbara and into Paradise Pit. This year marked the 13th year a local ice cream shop owner from Santa Barbara donates as much ice cream, toppings and baked goods as 2000 riders can consume! It was our inner fat children's dream!!!












The day ended in Ventura where we camped beachside and had a candlelight vigil at night.




Per tradition, some of us skipped the regular camp food for non-camp food, mmmmmmm...

Day 5 - Red Dress Day!

(Day late post!)

Day 5 was the famous Red Dress Day! We climbed our way out of Santa Maria and into Lompoc for a short 42 mile day.

Every year on Day 5, the ALC ride turns into a 2000 person red (rubberneck worthy) ribbon as we meander our way up the windy hills into Santa Barbara County.

Basically, it was red red red... As far as the eye could see:




Some of the PGE team went with Christmas in June theme!
Theresa, Nic, Lori, Nash and Tim:




This one is for the Khaled fans:





And the Nic fans:




We also made friends with the oldest rider this year, Harvey. He's 82 and pedals strong!




The Haya family (and Lunch Captain Adam) gather at the lunch stop:



Speaking of lunch, here's a shot of the lunchtime Dating Game!