Happy Pride Month, day 28, AIDSRide
Jun. 28th, 2024 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sonia28. I cast my mind back for older accomplishments I'm still proud of. I'm proud of having ridden my bike from San Francisco to LA in seven days as part of the California AIDSRide in 2000.
It was a huge stretch to train for that and then do it. Well outside my comfort zone, almost to scary/terrifying rather than scary/challenging, except nothing went wrong. It included riding 100 miles one day, and there was 100 mile training ride too. I'm definitely not having fun any more after that many miles, so I haven't ridden that far in one day since.
I'm glad I did it. Every pastoral mile of California is gorgeous, and the little towns we went through with cheering onlookers are beautiful in their own way. I got to ride down the shoulder of 101 in southern California, heading into Solvang or Santa Barbara. I rode all over the Bay Area doing training rides, and got to know parts of it that I probably wouldn't have ridden in otherwise.
I'm not sure I'll ever do something like that again, although I think wistfully about bike touring sometimes. It would be harder now, needing to eat gluten-free when most of what they serve bicyclists is pasta. Perhaps I'll look into a gentler tour someday.
The AIDSRide is a fundraiser and I did raise the required funds, but it came out that year that most of the funds supported the AIDSRide itself rather than going to help people with AIDS, so that was the last one. Now there's a similar program called AIDS LifeCycle that is hopefully run better, but I haven't looked into it.
More generally, I'm proud of being an active person. It's partly how my body is, needing movement, and partly arranging my life so that I get lots of it.
It was a huge stretch to train for that and then do it. Well outside my comfort zone, almost to scary/terrifying rather than scary/challenging, except nothing went wrong. It included riding 100 miles one day, and there was 100 mile training ride too. I'm definitely not having fun any more after that many miles, so I haven't ridden that far in one day since.
I'm glad I did it. Every pastoral mile of California is gorgeous, and the little towns we went through with cheering onlookers are beautiful in their own way. I got to ride down the shoulder of 101 in southern California, heading into Solvang or Santa Barbara. I rode all over the Bay Area doing training rides, and got to know parts of it that I probably wouldn't have ridden in otherwise.
I'm not sure I'll ever do something like that again, although I think wistfully about bike touring sometimes. It would be harder now, needing to eat gluten-free when most of what they serve bicyclists is pasta. Perhaps I'll look into a gentler tour someday.
The AIDSRide is a fundraiser and I did raise the required funds, but it came out that year that most of the funds supported the AIDSRide itself rather than going to help people with AIDS, so that was the last one. Now there's a similar program called AIDS LifeCycle that is hopefully run better, but I haven't looked into it.
More generally, I'm proud of being an active person. It's partly how my body is, needing movement, and partly arranging my life so that I get lots of it.
Wow.
Date: 2024-06-30 08:34 pm (UTC)That ride was an epic accomplishment.
I'm glad you are able to move your body in ways that you enjoy.
Re: Wow.
Date: 2024-07-01 01:31 am (UTC)