Mimi (the little white dog we've had a couple of years) woke us all up at 3AM snarling and barking.  Evidently, she wasn't happy with her placement on the bed and wanted Ashley (the poodle) to move.  Didn't happen.  Jeff ended the crisis by putting her on the pillow next to (or on) his head.

I slept in a little so I biked the second fastest way to work,  Scott to Post through Japantown and Union Square.  I was a little stiff this morning but nothing too bad.  The weather in San Franciso is going to be warm and fabulous this week and I'm planning on riding every evening I don't have class. 

 Over lunch I went for a long walk.  I took the Greenwich steps up from Sansome up to Telegraph Hill and then down Grant to Jack Early park (easy to miss if you aren't looking for it but the views are fantastic) and then back to work through North Beach. 

I was on my bike pretty much all day today. I left the house at 8:30 and rode for an hour up to the twin peaks viewing platform. It was a lot of climbing but it was a beautiful morning and the view was perfect:

Then I went down to the Sports Basement to meet my AIDSLifecycle training ride. It was a short (22 mile) training ride and everybody did great. We went to Mill Valley which is not my favorite place to go because the coffee place always has a huge line and the locals view bikers with suspician-- like we're homeless or something I can't figure it out.

These are my friends Ben and Shiv. Ben has been organizing the training rides I've been helping lead and Shiv and I have been pals since the ride last year when I helped reuinte her with a precious item she'd lost.

I got home at 1:30 from that and, as promised, my partner Jeffery went for a little bike ride with me. We rode downtown to this fishing pier behind Pac Bell Park. It's very pretty there and it was just a gorgeous afternoon:

Doesn't Jeff look cute?? All in all I think I rode about 40 miles today but there was some pretty significant climbing and I felt great the whole day. It's supposed to be beautiful all week. Can't wait!

I rode the Nicasio Loop today and it was fabulous. It was a little wet in the morning but it totally dried out by mid day. It was a Different Spokes ride that I was leading, but nobody showed up for it because it was wet but that was OK because I had such a great time anyway. San Anselmo looks great considering its recent flooding, but it looks like a couple of places still haven't opened back up yet. Nicasio was very windy-- the reservoir was a little muddy because of all the rain and all the runoff and with the wind it had little whitecaps(!). But Samel P Taylor park was beautiful and lush:

This is a view upstream from the campground. I love it over there and it was almost empty and very quiet. There's even some redwoods!

This is a view of Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin side. Had a great ride back into town and it was pretty by the bridge:

I ran into my friend Jaime on the bridge coming back. He was kind enough to take this glamour shot of me. Good thing he did-- the other one I took myself and I totally look like a serial murderer. Ouch! Great ride back into town and then I went and hung out with my friend Nick for a while and then home for 2-3 dinners. I felt great all day. I brought all my own food which was a big help because it kept me out of the potato chips and my stomach didn't get upset like it sometimes does. Mileage @75 miles. My ride packet came for the cross country ride and I'm totally intimidated by their suggested training, but realistic Joseph doesn't think I'm going to have any problems.

I had class last night and I was up late so I slept in this morning and didn't ride a whole lot before work.  I went through Japantown and Union square (Scott to Post to Market) rather than just coming down market and it's really foggy but dry for a change.  I've got two training rides this weekend.  Out to Lagunitas with different spokes on Saturday (60 miles) and then Sausalito with the Lifecycle crew on Sunday (25 miles).  I'm posting all of my training rides as either lifecycle or different spokes rides because it will force me to show up for them.  It's cold and often wet and hard to train in San Francisco in the winter but I will totally hate myself if I haven't trained when I hit the cross country ride because the mileage is so high (100+ miles every day).  I'm not going to try to hit that mileage until the very end of my training because, realistically, 50 miles in Marin is like 100 miles anywhere else and I just need to focus on getting in enought saddle time.  Pic above is from the Lifecycle last year.

Here's a great pic of my partner Jeffery and I:

Isn't he cute?  This picture is from Angel Island--  the "Ellis Island" of the west which is now a recreation area you have to get to by ferry.  Here's another picture of Jeffery with our three Dogs:

Ashley is an apricot poodle and he just turned 16.  I've had him since he was eight weeks old.  Bubba (the black blob to Jeff's left) is a border collie and he's 13--  the greatest dog but he's totally crazy and can't leave the house.  Luckily we have a little backyard for him.  Mimi is a bijon mix and we've only had her a couple of years.  She's very sassy.  Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow because I've scheduled my training ride rain or shine.

I've set up this weblog to chronicle my bike training this season and to have a place to post during my month long bike ride across the US that I'm doing in April.  Check it out I'm crazy:

http://www.abbike.com/fastsouth.shtml

I'm also planning on posting non bike related stuff but the closer it gets to the rides the less non bike related stuff there will be. The Pic above is me finishing in Washington DC the last time I biked cross country and yes those are tan lines. Ouch!

It's been raining a lot in San Francisco lately and I haven't been riding as much as I should.  I need to train really hard this season or I'm not going to be comfortable on my bike ride and then I've got the AIDSLifecycle two weeks after I get back;

https://www.aidslifecycle.org

That's all for my vacation for 2006 which kind of sucks but it's totally worth it.  I've been watching a lot of Yu Gi Oh! GX which is so awesome.  My favorite episode so far is #23 where they have to keep the hippie duelist locked up in a hidden armored secure virtual reality island less he incapacitate everybody with his laid back powers.  The nail that sticks out gets pounded down!