The wind between my teeth

Woo hoo!  CENTURY!!!!!  How did I get to this cross roads followers. Well, it isn't a cross roads. I know why I did it and there was only one path.  But I did not take the bail route so I guess technically I was at a crossroads.  Meh, odd beginning blog tangent.  Now for the meat of my story.  First, visit the link below.  It is a map of my ride with my new bike GPS!!!! The stats are on the first page, but if you go to player on the right, it will actually play my ride via map and show speed and elevation.  Pretty cool feature. Worth the money.

First Century Ride, Tour de Palm Springs, 2012 by vazguy at Garmin Connect - Details

Weekly blog, lets start at the beginning. Barry's Boot Camp with my new Manager on Monday.  What the.... That was hard. The cardio wasn't bad, but the treadmill ate up my shins!  I had shin splints for four days.  I was so scared that I would not be able to ride this weekend.  But to be fair to the class, it wasn't bad, it worked my arms hard (in combo to Manny's chest workout the day prior). I am going to do it one more time with him and Kira since we promised him that.  He in turn needs to do TKB with us!

That night I could not move.  My abs were on fire and my chest was as well.  I slept terribly as I woke up in pain and couldn't move from the intense workout.  Tuesday, I called Kira, cancelled for the gym and gave my body a day off!  I needed it.  I was pooped and could hardly walk (the shin splints were that bad!)  But I had a fantastic Mexican Ghetto Casserole (actual name) with Em, Kira, Ray and kids.  It was fun and I rather enjoy our carb, talks and Glee night!

Wednesday; still the damn shin splints.  Really, I can do treadmill.  Why did this one just kill me.  I couldn't do stairs, gentle slopes, nothing this day.  Only flat pathways. It just hurt to walk. It was ridiculous.  Went to the gym then (pen and paper journal, this is where you come into play). No worries followers, nothing bad. It was a conversation, and it is turning out well.

Thursday, a fun shin splint class of TKB.  It was an OK class, I have to reconsider taking from Jannie.  She is not a bad teacher, just not my type of teacher.  Afterwards I went to the ALC San Diego Kick Off Party! Thanks Kira, Danny, Jose, Manny, Byron, Sebastian and Ray for coming out and supporting me and the ride.  I had a ton of fun and I hope that you did as well.  There were great ALC riders, TRL's, LA Staff, friends and supporters.  I got to introduce some of the SD riders to my supporters and vice versa. All had a great time and more awareness for the ride was raised.  And, five new riders signed up! At the conclusion of the night, I won the final raffle!  I won a ton of gear (duffel bag, jersey, KIND bars, performance pills {????}, gift card for a haircut and to ManKind) and..... a brand new bike!  A Schwinn cruiser. WTF!!!! That is what I thought.  It was crazy.  I won a bike.  How freaking cool!!!!  It was nice to have and share that moment with my supporters.  But I cried (I do that often).  Why?  Though the moment was very cool and generous, I all of a sudden felt a weird guilt.  I am supposed to be raising money for a cause.  I am not wanting anything from it like this. I know that I will get a lot from this ride emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically (I am losing weight), but not physical objects.  So to receive so many great items, it felt weird since I still have not met the minimum funds needed to ride. I am supposed to be giving, not receiving.  I was encouraged and reminded by my supporters that it is OK, call it karma, but that I can accept this.  Good produces good and there is nothing wrong with that.  Accept it with open arms, all the items will help you with your training. I did, and I have a new bike, awesome. Gear, fantastic.  And a new found burst of energy to fund raise.  Thank you again supporters for being there for me for more fun and a few tears :)

Speaking of fundraising, did I bring up the link to my fundraising page.... :)  Oh, well here it is if your interested. You wont get if you don't ask  
 http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/rickysalcadventure

I hope you enjoyed the pre-show.  And now for the main event....  My First Century Ride!!!!

Me at the first SAG stop.  Notice anything missing?? Thanks David for letting me borrow that kick ass ALC jersey. It looked awesome!

Well Followers, it started a few weeks ago.  I was invited to check out the Tour de Palm Springs website  for the ride, initially to do the 55 mile ride.  I checked it out and heard horror stories about it. Rude cyclists, 8000+ bikers, messy and disorganized.  I opted out.  But after some careful thought, I told my buddy Dave that I would do it, only if we did the century ride.  If I am going to go up there and get a hotel and all that jazz, I may as well get my money's worth and go for 100 miles!  He said sure.  And, Logan, a fellow ALC'er said he would do it too!  Rock on, let's do it.

David and I, SAG stop 1

 So Friday, I went to work for a few hours, anticipation started to build. Nerves. Excitement. Even some doubt; 100 miles, that's a long way.  So far my longest ride had been 46 miles. But gotta go. It's 12:20 and he is picking me up at 2!  The truck  ride up was great.  David is an amazing friend. He listens well, speaks well, and he is a natural motivator.  So talking with him about the ride, what it means, and how to train was easy.  And we billshitted about life, work, the past, present and future.  A pleasant truck ride.  Once we got to the hotel, we got our gear in the room then went to register for the ride.  At the event area, there were vendors and such, but we swung by the ALC tent since it was right there.  I met Greg, the Director of ALC. He was fun!  He was energetic and welcomed me to the ALC family with a big hug and a congratulations on being part of this event.  I ran into Sandy from the Kick Off Party and Jim who manages rest stop 3. Sandy had his warm welcoming smile and Jim was a huge ball of energy and both guys remembered me from the kick off party.  Met up with Logan there and met his boyfriend.  The event was chill but yet enough to spark my eagerness to train, ride and continue to expand on this journey.

From there, David and I went to dinner at Red Tomato and Reel Bar.  It was odd...... Such an old school Palm Springs local place.  The wait staff and hostesses were just odd. But the food was decent and I had red velvet cake, so it was fine.  And a nice Stella to polish off the Chicken Parm.  There was an event at Reel Bar associated to ALC. I went and met some more riders and got to know more people. For anonymity sake, i must interject another pen and paper journal entry here (followers, I do this not to tease you and make you wonder what these personal entries are. I just want to remember when I read this blog down the line to go to my journal to finish off my story.  There's no juicy gossip or secrets, just info that I am not sure people would want shared or I would want to share with all of you on their behalf. I hope you understand)  After dinner, back to the hotel, quick brush of the teeth and in bed at 9 pm for an early morning 5 am wake up call!


Well Followers, the ride was super freaking fantabulous! But you will have to wait for part two.  Sorry, blogging takes up so much time and I must go to sleep. Have to be at work at 730 tomorrow morning! But as a teaser, here is a video from the ride.  I about crashed in the wind/dust storm. And I have soft baby's skin from the exfoliation of the sand against my body. Oh yeah, and the great people, my first bicycle kiss (no, its not what you think), a guy peeing, me not peeing, and did I mention I lost a tooth??

You can watch all 5 minutes but if your short on time watch from 45 seconds to just after 3 min

http://youtu.be/Mr3BKUA9_3s

Till next time! (hopefully soon!)
~Ricky