Bay Area riders - help!

[Veronica]

I don't know if I'm ready to ride with you guys!

What's there to be ready for? I think the best parts of our rides are sitting around eating and talking AFTER the ride. You can do that!

V.

[Trek420]

what Veronica sed

"What's there to be ready for? I think the best parts of our rides are sitting around eating and talking AFTER the ride. You can do that!"

c'mon we're not that intimidating and ask bike goddess, I'm *not* fast. BG is fast! Each night she had the tent set up, the luggage put away and the tent decorated in complimentary colors, showered, ate, solved the problems of the world including Global Warming and the prevelance of reality TV, biked into town and got tent stakes, waxed and polished her bike .... all before i had arrived.

I just get there is all.

Usually at the back of the pack of any ride and always willing to hang back for others. Fact is doing slow rides and working on form is one way I got better this year.

You can train for the AIDS ride with short rides, between the demands on my time of my work, and my dog it's hard to get away to do a lot of long rides. You'll need to do some centuries and metrics for the experience to know both how your body, nuitrition and equipment responds to the demands so that you can make adjustments.

But your day to day training can be short rides even use your commute it just has to be intense on occaision I think; include hills, headwinds.

You can do this! You're off to a great start and I think I can speak for the other BA riders we'd love to be part of that.

also does anyone know how Annerol & amondala did? I ran into amondala, well that is she recognised me as she flew past me on a hill. We stopped and took a picture and I'm sorry I didn't meet up with Annerol (that i know of). Howdja do gals?

[aka_kim]

Ditto Zippy V and Trek -- all our rides are no-drop, and most of us aren't exactly racers. If you can eat, and have a bike, you should join us.

A few more local clubs - Grizzly Peak Cyclists, Oakland Yellowjackets, Diablo Cyclists... they all love to focus on hills, of course, but usually also have longer/flatter rides in their route libraries or schedules.

[bikerz]

Wow - thanks for all the encouragement! I can eat, and I do have a bike, so...

I'll keep my eye peeled for your ride announcements, then, and probably become the "newbie caboose"! Are they usually on this forum?

I'll also check the clubs you mentioned, aka_kim, and see what routes I can find to explore.

I'm planning on doing my 25 mile Emeryville-Richmond ride hopefully Thursday evening, but definitely on Sunday morning (maybe I'll double it - just to get ready!) I feel so inspired, and my bike's getting a tuneup today to stop the chain rubbing, which will be nice! And maybe my new terry shorts will be here by then...

[Trek420]

bikerz sez "I'll keep my eye peeled for your ride announcements, then, and probably become the "newbie caboose"! Are they usually on this forum?"

yep usually right here in the CA section of your supermarket.

"I'm planning on doing my 25 mile Emeryville-Richmond ride hopefully Thursday evening, but definitely on Sunday morning"

Though I hear there's a chance of rain Thursday, if you want company either might work for me. I should be able to feel my legs by then ;-) Anyone else?

[bikerz]

What's with this weather - rain in June!!

I just saw Sunday shows a chance of rain, but Thursday just says "partly cloudy", which is also partly sunny, right?

Given that info, I'll ride Thursday eve unless it's actually precipitating, and keep my fingers crossed for Sunday. I usually park in an office parking lot (used for Chevy's overflow parking after 5:00) in Emeryville and try to get started by about 5:30 or 6... (if anyone wants to meet there, let me know and I'll post directions and we can determine an exact time).

By the way, you all may already know about these two links, but I find them extremely useful in getting a visual sense of the weather over the next couple of hours (in addition to the regular weather sites). I check both of these before every ride, just to see what I'm in for - the wind one is especially helpful (gotta love those breezes!)

webcam of the view from Lawrence hall of science:
http://sv.berkeley.edu/view/

real-time wind speeds and directions for SF bay:
http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/w...gi?x=159&y=245

[Trek420]

sounds like a plan, as long as there's no Tsunami.

[aka_kim]

I usually park in an office parking lot (used for Chevy's overflow parking after 5:00) in Emeryville and try to get started by about 5:30 or 6... (if anyone wants to meet there, let me know and I'll post directions and we can determine an exact time).

On Wednesdays I work in Emeryville, just a few blocks from the Chevy's. If you want to try a Wed evening ride some time, just holler.