Cinderella Classic 2008

[jobob]

You could go on Amtrak.

[teigyr]

Amtrak = excellent idea.

Here's the thing. I am basically a lazy creature despite the fact I like to exert myself. I like minimal drama. Oh and minimal packing despite my fixation with taking far too many shoes and hair stuff when I travel.

I can fly free. DH can fly free. He would gleefully pack and unpack my bike. With Amtrak or flying, we'd have to rent a car, right? So what station or airport would get us as close to where need to be as possible? I've learned a lot since moving to WA. You can't drive to Vegas. You can't drive to San Francisco. I mean you could but it's far. It gets cold. These are all life lessons.

Thx and not to highjack X's original discussion though this might pertain to them too. It sounds like a blast and it's been a dream of mine to do since I started riding.

Oh and I don't know my days off yet (we bid quarterly so we bid again in Feb) so I might have to make the trip quickly. I would love to meet all my TE brethren in Calif

[jobob]

Sorry for the hijack, X !

Teigyr, the big downside to Amtrak is that it takes a long time - lots of stops, lots of delays. In my (admittedly limited) experience with Amtrak, it's never been on time. So if you're pressed for time, it probably wouldn't work. If you have the time though, it could be fun. I might ride Amtrak to visit SadieKate in Bend sometime. It's only a 13 hour trip

You'd need to box up the bike but Amtrak sells boxes that (according to DH) don't require you to disasemble the bikes at all (we haven't checked on this so don't take my word for it, yet). The seats in the main cars are very wide and comfy, but you might want a sleeper room for that length of trip.

As for stations or airports - for Amtrak stations the closest would be Martinez or Emeryville (the latter which is near Oakland). The ride starts from Pleasanton? (I think - check the Cinderella website) and there are serveral hotels near the ride start which offer deals for Cinderella participants. Again, check the web site. If they're not listed now they should be in the next couple of months.

Closest airport is Oakland, but San Jose and San Francisco aren't all that far away.

[Bike Goddess]

Teigyr- I am with Jobob on this one. Although I love trains, given your circumstances I'd opt for flying into the Oakland airport. A shuttle bus will take you to the BART station nearby and you can take BART to the Dublin/Pleasanton station. I'm sure a shuttle from a local hotel where you would be staying would be happy to pick you up there. When you figure out your times, I'd suggest that you get in touch with the local hotels and find out their shuttle services. Some probably go to the airport as well.

Re Cindy rides- I have offered to lead the VSP/LunaChix training rides as my schedule allows me to ride Saturdays now. I'm looking forward to seeing you all out there on the rides ([that means you too Ms.TREK).

Hopefully CindySue will be posting a ride schedule soon.

[BikeMomma]

X and Teigyr -- hope you both can make it down!
~BikeMomma

[teigyr]

I got a confirmation e-mail to be on the registration list. There was this blurb about since I was out of state, I would be registered. I didn't understand so I asked for clarification. I was told that all out of states registrants are registered as long as the postmark is within the proper times.

Meaning I'm in almost no matter what?! That is what he said.

Now with the hotels, etc. If the bike is cased, would it be difficult to ride BART? I have yet to get the case, of course. And since I am unfamiliar with that area, if we stay at a hotel are we within walking distance/riding distance to the Cindy start?

I think it would be SO much fun. I won't be up for the more challenging 100 just because our weather will still be *(&^ here and I'm a cold weather wuss but I could do a nice rolling metric.

[Xrayted]

Snap - I think Kit still gets headaches related to the TE Cindy Dinner. She hasn't had a Lemon Drop since then.

I think we will go, it's a matter of how to get there and if we want to expand it into a bonus vacation trip as well, maybe SoCal.

Teigyr - we were very happy to be able to load up the bikes on the Jeep to come back to the hotel at the end of the ride. (of course, we had just driven across country in a Jeep Wrangler - 3700+ miles) If we drive down there (mapquest says 10hrs ), we would be glad to share the ride. We will probably fly though, in which case, we could get a rental SUV of some sort to haul bikes. You are welcome to catch a ride either way.

Also T, maybe there are those out there who are going alone and want to split hotel costs with another TE'er? Just a thought.

As for the email confirmation, we went on and updated our current addy with them and also got the message on out of state registration. I don't remember it being a given last year, but they may have changed it.

[Resumer]

I was pretty excited about setting the goal of the Cinderella Ride as part of my training/prep for the ALC...and then, just now, found this at their website:

Effective 9:00 a.m. January 3rd, 2008
We will no longer accept registration form requests for
the 2008 Cinderella Classic/Challenge.
We’ve received over 4,000 requests for the 2,200 rider spots.




BUMMER!!!!