Mon., May 13, 2002 (Day One)

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. We started at 6:30am in San Francisco, under clear but slightly windy skies. Our journey for the first 40 miles included possibly every hill in San Francisco County and San Mateo County, with one 18-mile climb through beautiful growths of old redwood. Certainly some of the most beautiful scenery ever! The climbing was unbelievably hard, about 4,000 vertical feet of climb in just the first 40 miles, only to be offset by God-inspired views!

Lunch was at 57 miles, and the course improved, with rolling hills along the ocean and a most welcome tailwind into Santa Cruz. We arrived in Watsonville about 5:30pm, after 118+ miles.

I had a hard time today. I was cranky and not in the best mood to ride. But I kept reminding myself of why I ride. The miles certainly didn't fly by but knowing that I made a difference today kept me focused. I ride, knowing that every mile is for AIDS treatment and care. Tomorrow will be easier.

Watsonville to Greenfield. An "easy" day - only 80 miles! And a day to try and find focus.

Having had a rough day 1 and having had too little food at dinner on night 1, I started Day 2 tired and almost out of fuel … but not knowing it. My legs were dead and my brain was on "non-compute." I made the decision to "SAG" (or quit) at the lunch pit. I was feeling so poorly that to quit was best.

By lunch, however, with a ton of food and electrolyte replacement in me, I left the lunch pit, not on the SAG truck but on my bike! And I finished today's ride!

My focus, when I ride and feel like #@!!#, is to remind myself that many of my fellow riders are Pos-Peds, those riding openly with AIDS or HIV. And it is for these fellow cyclists that I draw my inspiration and strength. If they can ride, my butt better be on that bike! This is, by the way, my fifth ride for the LAGLC and SFAF. And every year has been my pleasure!

Oh, by the way, yesterday's vertical climb was 7,460 feet!

I found out today what happens when you cross to the other side - and, no, this has nothing to do with appliances! I found out what happens when a rider "SAGS" or quits for the day.

It seems I still have "bike back" from Day 1, and my lower back only took 35 miles today to seize. With back spasms too painful to allow me to climb, and a massive climbing day ahead, I "sagged" at rest stop 2, and placed myself into the tremendous support system afforded those on AIDS/LifeCycle who cannot continue.

I first visited the medical tent, to be tended to with massage and ice. And when the decision to quit was made, by me in tears and with my friends in support, I was immediately transported into camp by medical taxi. My bike was taken by truck support and arrived at Paso Robles, our home for the night. I spent an hour with Richard, in the chiropractic tent, who performed magic on my back.

AIDS/LifeCycle took such great care of me today, from the nurse at Rest Stop 2, to Toni, my medical taxi driver, to John and Jack, who transported my bike, and to Richard in chiropractic, who made me a new woman.

My special thoughts today were with Michael Beckman, my tentmate from CARs 4, 5, and 6, and my dear friend. Your presence this year is truly missed. You are my inspiration and I love you. I'll see you on the next year's ride.

Tomorrow? An easy hundred miles …

AIDS/LifeCycle isn't about any one person. It is about one terrible disease and hundreds of people striving to make a difference, hundreds of nameless faces, all riding, all trying to make someone's life better. Today I'd like to introduce you, dear reader, to my ALC family:

• Glenn, my husband, on his 2nd AIDS ride and my dearest friend and constant support
• Erin Seaborg, on her first ride and thrilled beyond her wildest expectation
• Alan Valdes, a survivor of several California rides plus Alaska, Montana, and Canada Vaccine Rides
• Bruce Heckert, on his second ride
• Barry Leonard, on his second ride
• Ken Pepper, on his 5th AIDS ride
• Corrin Clark, on her 1st ride
• Roni Diaz, on her 1st ride
• Matito Canale, on his 1st ride
• Mel Gettleman, 63 years young and on his 2nd ride
• Bob Mohme, a ride leader from Los Angeles and riding again
• Martin Keleti, a ride leader from LA; Martin started when I did - CAR 4
• David Bain, riding his 2nd ride
• Linda Cohn and Diane Braun, here riding ALC at my insistence and riding for the 5th year - and
• Earl Ganaway, my 1st ride leader and riding his 5th AIDS ride

These are the people who care about AIDS and for whom I care. I am proud to call them my friends and family.

And by the way, today's route was a hundred miles with 4,480 feet of vertical climb. I rode every mile. Piece of cake.

And if I've forgotten anyone, my apologies! I've got a bad case of bike-brain!

And me? This is my 5th year of riding for LAGLC and SFAF. When someone asks, years from now, what I did to change the face of AIDS, I'll have an answer for him. I rode.

Short notes on a short day - only 55 miles from Santa Maria to Lompoc:

• Starting in cold overcast weather - so cold that my teeth chatter
  
  
• Weather that improves to sunshine and warmth - so warm that I shed almost everything I can (jacket, arm warmers, knee warmers) in an attempt to stay cool.
  
  
• The best tuna fish sandwich for lunch today -- by the way, the food on ALC has been terrific!
  
  
• An Indian woman, from a tribe from the Dakotas, burning sage and blessing us, her four brothers having died of AIDS or HIV.
  
  
• People in cars honking or giving us the "thumbs up" sign in support of our ride
  
  
• Running into Michael and Christina at lunch!
  
  
• The staggering beauty of the state of California -- and seeing it from the seat of a bicycle, from redwoods to meadows, to endless fields of lettuce, artichokes, and broccoli, to lakes and ocean!
  
  
• Living in an AIDS/LifeCycle world for a week, where gender doesn't matter, where sexual orientation doesn't matter, where everyone is single-minded in their attempt to make a difference in the course of AIDS
  
  
• A great ride today!

Tomorrow? 90 miles, from Lompoc to Ventura. We're nearing home with only two more days. I've got enough legs left for the remainder of the ride, a mere 153 miles!

A formal introduction. My name is Jan Olson, and this is my 5th ride for the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. I have been married for 21 years, and my husband, Glenn, is riding this year as well.

It seems like a million years since the December 1st kickoff ride for AIDS/LifeCycle. And here is it, Day 6 of the ride, with only 1 day left to complete. I am filled with happiness -- that our ride has been so great -- and yet filled with melancholy -- that we only have 1 day left. It has been a long hard struggle since December 1, and it is now overwhelming to me that what so many of us struggled and strived for is actually almost completed. We will go to closing ceremonies tomorrow. It will be on Monday that we all look back, whether Cyclist or Roadie, and wonder in amazement at when we all
accomplished!

This ride, as I have said before, is never about one person. It is about every single one of us working together, striving to do what is morally right. It is about each one of us putting a cause before individual needs and wants. It is about each of us caring more about someone else than about our individual needs. It is about being a good person.

I want to pay homage to the following persons and crews without whom we would never have pulled this off:

• The medical staff
• The chiropractic staff
• The massage staff
• The sports-medicine crew
• Bike-Tech staff
• Luggage crew
• Our truck drivers
• Our media staff (thank you, Jeff)
• And the thousands of others who
  came together with week to support this ride and this cause.

Lance Armstrong's book is entitled, "It Isn't About the Bike." And this ride isn't about any one of us. It's about each of us coming together to change the face of AIDS. I thank everyone who participated this year. It isn't often we get to do something that has such real meaning.

Forgive me the sermonizing. The course today was 90 miles, from Lompoc to Ventura. We saw the ocean a lot. And hills. And more ocean.

And yes, Edna, I love you too!

My fundraising letter always begins with the following by Maya Angelou, "When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from that grantor's gift."

This ride was a gift to each of us.

Living in an ALC world for a week is surreal. No TV. No radio. No newspapers. And no outsiders. Just us. 1,000 people all fixed on the same goal, all sharing in purpose and dedication. All family for a week. No gender differation. No orientation differation. No color differation. It's a perfect world and it's one of the things that keeps bringing me back to the ride. The sense of gentleness in an otherwise agitated world. A sense of caring in a world where too many feel they are entitled. A sense of goodness when evil is so apparent.

We have been fortunate this week. We were the first and the bond we share can never be broken. My feeling of having done something so wonderful and so profound was apparent when I asked Pat Dengler, "Did the buildings change?" I am thankful for this experience, one so unlike the other rides (yes, small "r").

On the ride across Pacific Coast Highway, always dangerous because of the traffic but one of my favorite rides because it is SO beautiful, I thought about Team Uffda, our cycling team for ALC 1, about 75+ strong depending on who's counting. Uffda was put together as a joke but managed to grow into an actual team, mind you, one without rules or purpose. And my contemplation across PCH was about Uffda and next year.

Yes, there will be a Team Uffda riding ALC2; however, there will be one rule. Anyone participating in Uffda, whether as a rider, crew, or an illegitimate, must perform one hour of AIDS-related community service each month. It'll be up to the individual as to how they define their community service, and there will be no reporting in. It'll be on the honor system. I just think that the emphasis cannot be on riding; the emphasis must be on being involved within our community and giving back in a way other than the ride. We need to give back.

It's Thursday morning. My bike is in the shop, getting tuned and cleaned. No training rides for a while. I have post-partum depression. How many days until training rides start???? Where are my maps? Hands on hips.....

To the 999 others who were my family for a week, I miss all of you already. And I miss the intimacy that we shared. We did a great thing.

And, Beckman? You better sign up this next year or I will kick your *%##@!

Jan Olson
ALC Rider 1001
Belvie Cornelia Uffda
CARs 4, 5, 6, and 8
Training ride leader for CARs 5, 6, 7, 8, and for ALC 1 and ALC 2