Tiburon Loop and Wet Tuna

Wet tuna sounds like something one of my cats would eat, but it was actually the name of the sandwich I had for lunch at Comfort Food Cafe. Jerry and I went to lunch there after riding around Tiburon Loop. It was a very pleasant ride. The more we ride the trike, the more we are becoming comfortable with it.

But the wet tuna sandwich. It was on a foccacia roll that was toasted and had olive oil on it. The tuna was mixed with a light vinaigrette, capers, tomatoes, olives and roasted red peppers. It was wonderful. I'm sure I could replicate it at home.

Jerry and I won't be riding this weekend because we are cooking for the Jon Pon Memorial Ride. There will be around 150 to cook for. I've rented a kitchen for eight hours prior to the ride so I can get as much prep done as possible. The kitchen at Cassini Ranch, where the campers spend the night, is a disaster. The ovens don't work properly and there are no pots and pans to use. But we make due and turn out two great meals. Looking forward to it, and looking forward to finishing up early enough on Sunday to get in a ride.

Numb Toes and Tabouli

Today was Day On the Ride-- a day that is supposed to simulate what a day on the "real" AIDS ride is like. Except the ride was kinda short for that. And ours was even shorter.

We did not want to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, plus we were still getting used to the new trike, so we opted to start our ride in Sausalito and ride to Lagunitas. Part of our ride was with DOTR riders, which was fun.

We stopped at the first rest stop, which was staffed by the Positive Pedalers, so got to see lots of friends. Rich Prendes took a couple great pictures of us in action, which are great to have.

After we hung around the rest stop for about a half an hour, we got back on the trike and pedaled up White's Hill, our longest, steepest climb yet. Funny to say yet-- it's only our third time on the trike, but we are doing incredibly well.

White's Hill was slow, but very doable. Our biggest difficulty with climbing is having our feet fall asleep. They are up above our hearts, so the blood is leaving them and not being pumped hard enough. What we will probably do is take breaks to get our circulation back. We didn't do that today; I think we wanted to do White's Hill without a stop, which felt great.

We then pedaled down to Lagunitas and stopped at the market. They have delicious organic French roast coffee, so I had a cup, accompanied by a small cup of tabouli. I really do like their tabouli. It's mostly bulgar with a smattering of parsley and tomato, but maybe it was the ride, but it tasted great. Jerry had some chili, then we got back on the bike.

We rode back to our car and trailer, which was coincidentally where the next rest stop was. We saw Stephan Gaudreau, who, with his wife, Lilli, runs a trapeze school. This is his first year riding. He rarely can ride on Saturday because of work, so it was great to see him. He is strong and will be one of the leaders on the ride, I suspect. He's raised more than $5000 so I look forward to seeing him in his jersey.

Not so sure Jerry and I will earn jerseys this year. Neither of us have even raised our minimum. But we'll get there.

Not as bad as flavored coffee

But flavored iced tea ranks not far behind. Why do people insist on putting mangoes and flowers in iced tea? Okay, they can put it in BUT WARN ME. Jerry and I rode our trike up to Fairfax today. Yes, that means we rode over Camino Alto, and we stopped at the Coffee Roastery in Fairfax. Jerry does not drink coffee of any sort, so I agreed to split an iced tea with him.

I like iced tea with maybe some lemon, but nothing else. But this had flowers or mango or some other such thing in it. And there was no warning. But I drank some of it but got to eat most of the ice on the ride back to Sausalito. The beauty of the trike is that I can hold a drink and still ride. I could sit in that lounge chair of a bike seat and have a cappucino if I wanted to. Or a cocktail. It's just grand.

Well, almost just grand. I tend to slide down in the seat and have to shinny my way back up. We are going to look at the lacing in the back to see if we can adjust the seat so I don't continue to sink down toward the pedals.

Friday we are riding with a group around Tiburon Loop. That will mean Camino Alto and Sausalito Hill. We are ready.

Spinning with the Oldies

By oldies I mean the stuff that I dvr'd from TV, or maybe I just mean me, and by spinning, I mean the big ol trike on rollers in the family room.

Too bad no one took a video of Jerry and me getting that thing in the house. Jerry's using one hand, and I'm my usually klutzy self. We backed in, we backed out. Finally, we took off the headrest and wrestled the behemoth into the family room.

We figure since we won't get out every day to ride, we better at least get used to sitting in that weird position (for us) and get in some pedal time.

I took a turn in it yesterday while I watched the "ER Retrospective" on the dvr. I discovered that alone, it takes more effort to pedal from the stoker seat than the captain, but the captain is just a tad too long for me to pedal comfortably, so I geared down and went at it.

I pedaled for about an hour, and probably would have stayed on longer but it was getting so hot in the house I had to stop.

Whether it's global warming or just a short memory, I really don't remember it being this hot in April. San Francisco was really hot yesterday as well, so I can't blame Marin for this.

Jerry and I are going to take the Big Bike, or should I say Trike, on the road again tomorrow. We're contemplating attacking Camino Alto and cruising into Fairfax. No matter how strong we get, I suspect we will never be speed demons on hills. We're going to have to just live with that and as I continue to say, do the best we can, and that will have to suffice. You've got to give us an A for effort, though.

Sore Knees and Fried Kale

Jerry and I took our first real ride on the trike, and I'm feeling it now. It will take a while to get used to the new position and the use of different muscles. My replaced knee was a little sore after the ride so I iced it. I realize how ridiculous that sounds-- how can a prosthetic knee hurt? I should clarify it's all the real muscles around that prosthetic knee that are aching.

We took off from home because the trailer we plan to haul the trike around in had a flat. We headed down a pretty narrow frontage road and then turned on to 2nd to head out to China Camp. At least that was the plan. Turns out most of China Camp was closed to traffic because of a run. But we did get in some hills and they were damn hard. Perhaps I shouldn't say hard, but we were cranking away and going 2 to 4 miles per hour. And these hills were nothing like what we are going to face on the ride. So, we've got lots of training to do.

After we got home, showered and had lunch, I headed over to Berkeley to speak at a fundraiser. Lee and Cheryl are roadies. Lee will be driving a supply truck and Cheryl works gear and tent. It was a small gathering, but I think the message hit home. First I showed John Hershey's slide/video of last year's ride, then talked. I tried to keep the talk upbeat. Sometimes I think ALC is a bit too morose, dwelling too much on those we have lost. I want to celebrate the lives of those living with HIV and who are being helped by the AIDS Foundation. That was the message I tried to impart. Then I went in for the kill. I really tried to ratchet up donations. Lee seems to think I succeeded.

It's funny how easy it is to raise funds for someone else. I'm behind on my own fundraising, but I could never make that kind of presentation to my own friends. I asked these people to donate $200 or $300, larger than any donation I have received. It's hard for me to ask for ANY amount, and I know I have friends who could afford to give more.

Lee and Cheryl had quite a spread of food, but what I zeroed in on was the crisp fried kale. It wasn't oily at all. It reminded me of the little fried sage leaves that sometimes decorate dishes in Italian restaurants. The kale was salty, crunchy and addictive. I'm going to have to make some soon.

Laughing All the Way

I don't know why, but I laughed the entire time Jerry and I were on the trike. We only rode a couple of blocks, but there is something about it that just made me laugh. Maybe I can't believe we're actually doing it. I'm so happy.

Our friends George and Nancy came over. George and Jerry finished putting the trike together then Jerry and I took it out for a spin. But something was wrong with the way the chain was on and Jerry had to pedal backwards to go forward. That was part of what made me laugh. We came back, George fixed it, then the two of them took it out for a spin. Then Jerry and Nancy. Nancy couldn't reach the pedals, so Jerry chaufeurred her.

George and Nancy know their tandems, and they were pretty impressed with this one. It was lighter and it handled better than they thought it would. Their endorsement meant a lot.

After we finished playing with the trike we came in for dinner. The appetizer was barely touched-- a feta cheese dip. I blend feta with some yogurt and garlic, a splash of olive oil, then I pulse in some sun dried tomatoes.

Dinner was a layered dish of polenta, sauteed chicken sausage with onion, garlic and mushrooms, and topped with fresh mozzarella. I made a dressing for the salad with some good dijon mustard, not very aged balsamic, some basil, rice vinegar and some apple cider vinegar.

We taste tested the coffee cake for dessert. All was good.

Tomorrow, we ride.

A Big Crate and More Coffee Cake

I didn't hear the door bell ring, or the knocking, but thank goodness I heard the phone. Jerry called to tell me to open the garage. The delivery person had his number, so he called him when no one answered. Gotta have that doorbell, or my hearing, checked.

With a great deal of difficulty, the guy put the huge wooden crate on the lift and lowered it to the street. He pushed it into the garage. I ripped off one end of the plywood, and there it was. In two pieces and odds and ends tied down. But there it was.

When Jerry got home I crawled in the crate and unclipped the ties holding it down. We ripped off the other end of the plywood and slid out the two pieces. Without too much difficulty, we threaded the two pieces together.

It is not 11 feet long, as Jerry had claimed, but it IS long. We both took turns sitting in it, and yes, I will admit, it's comfy.

We took some photos and had some beans and rice I had cooked, and some coffee cake. I changed the recipe I had used just a few days ago. I added more cinnamon, less white sugar, more brown sugar, and I made it in a half sheet pan. It worked well and it's good.

Jerry is in the garage fiddling with the bike. Knowing him, he is getting the chain on without taking the bike apart-- probably splitting the chain to get it on.

I cannot wait to ride it.

No Trike and Cheap Indian Food

Well, it's Wednesday and still no trike. I'm home, and I keep waiting for a truck to pull up to unload the behemoth that will take us down the coast to LA. Jerry and I are getting quite impatient about its arrival. When, when, when.

Jerry saw his orthopaedist this week who took out the stitches and gave him some very gentle exercises to do. He's still in the sling 24 hours a day,though he got to remove the bolster that sat between his sore ribs and his arm, so he's a bit more comfortable. He can also take it off when he drives, which he's just been allowed to do, so my chauffeur duties have ended.

This past weekend, as we were out in our car and saw some ALC cyclists on their way to China Camp, our pain and longing to be with them was almost palpable. I cannot wait to get back on a tandem-- any tandem. Some day, after I train again with Lorri Lee Lown of Velo Girls, I might even long to get back on a single bike.

I have cooked next to nothing, except for baking a couple of loaves of bread this week. Last night I was queen of the microwave. I recently got a boxed set of Indian food at Trader Joe's. It had rice, Dal and a peas and potato dish. I threw in some chicken and it really was not bad. It was good one-handed food for Jerry, so for the first time in a while, we had an actual dinner.

I'm still obsessing about Jon Pon. I'm not worried-- I just keep running recipe ideas through my head. I'm really looking forward to it. It's such a great weekend. Once it's over, though, I'll start obsessing about the ride, and that will involve some worry. But I keep reminding myself, we'll try as hard as we can, and that's what it's all about.

Encouragement and Coffee Cake

It's hard for Jerry and me to keep our spirits up, but we certainly are trying. Not being able to ride in this beautiful weather is taking its toll,but today we are going to the beach for a barbecue with friends. I've got a coffee cake cooling on a rack downstairs. Making it was a bit of a comedy of errors. It's a new recipe, and I had gone out specifically to get buttermilk for it. So I was sure all was a go.

But first I couldn't find oil. It did finally turn up in the garage, where a lot of my larger-container items live. But then, where was the baking powder? I always have baking powder. What baker doesn't have baking powder.
Fortunately, I am taking care of Satchmo, our neighbor's cat, so I had the keys to their house. I went over, fed Satch, and borrowed a teaspoon of baking powder. Baking emergency averted.

The cake smells wonderful. This is a test batch for the Jon Pon ride the first week in May. If it's a success here, I'll make it for breakfast for the ride.

Encouragement came in the form of an email from the owners of a company called Reverse Gear (www.reversegearinc.com). They sell everything to meet the needs of riders of "bent" bikes, as many call recumbents, and they ride a Greenspeed recumbent tandem. I emailed them to ask about their experience with riding their tandem trike all over the world. The email I received was friendly and reassuring. Sure, we won't be the fastest bike on Quadbuster, but we'll make it.

I feel as if we have some wonderful support out there. It feels great.

Three wheels and 11 feet

We did it. In one week, Jerry and I will take delivery on a Greenspeed Tandem Trike. It is 11 feet long and probably weighs as much as we do. But it is the only way we can do the AIDS ride, so that's that. Initially, we will put it on a wind trainer and pedal in our family room. Once Jerry is deemed road ready, we'll take it out. It's exciting and scary. But mostly exciting.

Jerry has been in considerable discomfort but at least most of his pain has subsided. I took him to his office today, and he is working away on a few things, including a neon sign from the Comfort Food Cafe that is on the blink, literally. It's blinking and Jerry can probably fix it.

Leslie, the owner of the cafe is going to lend me large pots for the Jon Pon ride. What a relief that I don't have to buy one. The manager at the ranch where the event is sent me a nasty email about not using any of their stuff, so I won't. Thank goodness I have a friend who owns a well-equipped restaurant.

Not much cooking or baking lately. I think Jerry and I have both been kind of down. We were initially worried we wouldn't be able to do the AIDS ride, now we're worried that it's going to be incredibly difficult. But we will do what we can.

Fundraising has been particularly hard this year. There was an article in today's New York Times that everyone, including those who have jobs, are afraid to spend. I think that's what's happening to me. Most of my friends are still employed, but they don't seem to be coming through with donations. It's the ones, though, you least expect, who do come through. I have a friend who is grossly underemployed, but he made a donation of $10. It meant so much.

Elevators, Steps and Subways

This morning was Jerry's surgery on his clavicle. He slept much better than I did last night. I think that's because I've had more surgeries so I was more nervous.

We got to UCSF and parked in the public garage-- a massive structure that's expensive and gets filled way too quickly. We then took the elevator up and then had to go down a flight of stairs to the ambulatory surgery suite. The orthopods who do joint replacement are down there too. It strikes me as just a tad ironic that it is difficult to get to that floor by elevator. You can do it, but it's difficult.

I stayed with Jerry the two hours until they took him to the OR. I figured I had some time so I went and gave blood. I'm happy to say my iron was high enough-- it isn't always-- and giving the unit was a breeze.

Then I visited with Eleanor, another AIDS Lifecyclist who works at UCSF. Her grandmother recently died and we had a wonderful talk about her grandmother, her spirit, and all that Eleanor has learned from her.

Afterwards, I wasn't hungry, but I was a little light-headed so I thought I'd better get something to eat. UCSF has several choices besides the hospital cafeteria. In Millberry Union, there is a food court with pizza, Chinese, Mexican and something else. There is also an overpriced go through a line and get a pannini restaurant as well.

So what did I choose? I went to the basement to Subway and got a chicken breast sub. I had the server put lettuce, tomato, onion, pepperoncini and salt and pepper on it. I got the foot long, but ate half. It was really good. Maybe I'm lowbrow, but I like the Subway chicken subs. They are simple, unpretentious food. And inexpensive.

I then went back and waited for Jerry to come out of anesthesia. The surgery went very well and Jerry should have a good recovery.

When we got home, I heated up some leftover spaghetti for Jerry and I ate the second half of my sub.

Life, for now, is okay.

Recumbent trikes and Mediterranean Chicken

I think Jerry and I have solved our AIDS Lifecycle problem. We will do the ride on a recumbent tandem, either two-wheeler or trike. We are leaning toward a trike because of its stability-- it would be pretty awful if Jerry landed on his newly plated and screwed shoulder.

Now the task is finding one that won't bankrupt us. We are hoping to track down a used one, but even if we don't, we figure we can sell it after the ride. Unless of course, we fall in love with it, but somehow I think we will want to go back to our Co-motion.

And tonight, I did a trial run of the chicken dish I am going to make for the Jon Pon ride. It's marinated boneless chicken breasts with olives, prunes, capers, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic and olive oil. I served it with couscous. I need to up the spices-- more red wine vinegar and more garlic. I also need to do something to dress up the couscous. At the very least, parsley. But maybe toasted pine nuts.