My Ride from Sedona to Jerome...

I drove up to Sedona this morning to ride from Sedona to Jerome and back. What a beautiful day!!! The sky is blue, there's a gentle wind, the red rocks were glowing in the sunlight.

The ride up into Jerome wasn't so bad except for the last stretch into town. WHEW! Intense.

Just sitting down to lunch at the Mile High Cafe in Jerome! CHEESEBURGER!!!

DM & SB Training Ride: South Mountain

That's right... If it's FRIDAY, it's another morning on South Mountain with Scott Brown!

"Mountains beyond mountains and there's no end in sight..."

Estrella Mountain on the horizon from the third climbing phase of SoMo

We had a great ride. We're both seeing great improvements in our hill climbing capabilities and it makes for such a great start to the day - and the WEEKEND - to get up South Mountain, come flying back down, and head into work.

 Scotty must have wrecked his bike and knocked his eye out of place again...

We did see ONE single coyote this time... Not a very large one, but the hungry ones are the ones I wonder about. No sign of CHUPACABRA for a few weeks.

 Scotty pointed out that we don't have any photos together on top of the mountain...

Today's ride: 17 miles with about 1,500 feet of climb, as per usual.

THAT MEANS I just completed my 495th mile of training for AIDS LifeCycle 10!

Official ALC Team PHX training rides are COMING SOON!!! Stay tuned, riders - AND SUPPORTERS! The first ride is going to be an easy cruise around Tempe! All are welcome to join!!!

DM Solo Training Ride: South Mountain and my NEW Training Mileage Tally

 The Sun rising over the East Valley

This morning I rode up South Mountain... Again. And I'll do it again Friday. Heck, I'll probably do it about twice a week for the next nine months.

I realized this morning that while I tell all of you - friends, family, sponsors, anonymous citizens of the blogosphere - that I am going on training rides, I've never actually sought to quantify how many miles I'm actually riding for this cause. I suspect that if I were to be forthright with the precise mileage I have completed in training for AIDS LifeCycle 10, I'll have an easier time of raising the $11,000 I have committed to raise.

 At the summit with my crooked a$$ helmet...

So, without further delay... Let's get to the number!

As of TODAY, I have completed a total 478 miles of training for AIDS LifeCycle 10!

If all goes well, by the start of next week I will have completed the full distance of AIDS LifeCycle 10 in preparation for the event. I anticipate that I will have completed 2,000-4,000 miles of training by the time I actually pedal out on the first mile of AIDS LifeCycle 10.

I have put thousands of dollars of my own money and countless days worth of time training and fundraising for AIDS LifeCycle 7, 8, 9, and 10. My sponsors have repaid me for those efforts by generously supporting the beneficiaries of AIDS LifeCycle - the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.

I plan to raise $11,000 for AIDS LifeCycle 10 in honor of the approximately 1.1 million men and women diagnosed with AIDS in the United States since the epidemic began 30 years ago - that's ONE CENT for every diagnosis.

I need your help!

I hope that you will be generous in your support of my efforts this year - as you have been in the past. If you need any motivation to open your wallet, just think of the THOUSANDS of miles I will ride on my bicycle between June 2009 and June 2010!

For more information and to contribute TODAY, please visit www.danmaxey.com!

(And YES, contributions ARE tax deductible, CAN be made in installments, and CORPORATE MATCHING is gladly accepted!)

DM & SB Training Ride: South Mountain and Bacon Brownies

Well, we've completed another fruitful morning on South Mountain... Scotty and I had a great ride this morning, although we have observed that Fall is on the way as the sun has been rising later and later each week. It was relatively dark for the first part of our ride, where we normally have quite a bit of sunlight from the start.

Scotty goofing off, as per usual

We anticipated that we would see more wildlife on the ride with the later sunrise, but didn't really see much at all. We did see some rattlesnake roadkill and some rabbits, but that was it today. No roadrunners or quail, no coyotes or "chupacabra"...

We did have some stunning, beautiful cloud formations, though - including large storm clouds and lighting to the West.

Thunderstorms forming in the West Valley (now dumping rain on Tempe as I post)

Rays of sunlight breaking through the cloud cover over the East Valley

After our ride, I dragged Scotty with me to Royal Coffee at the Market at the Phoenix Public Market - a cool, locally sourced market downtown, for those of you not in the know. I had heard a little rumor last week that they bake "bacon brownies" on Fridays (yeah, only on Fridays) and was a little curious to try this concoction. Royal Coffee brews each cup of coffee individually, to order... It was delicious. And with a side of bacon-packed brownie, I had the perfect start to the day. AND, while we were at the market we met a former ALC rider who had done the ride twice in the past. How cool is that?!

Coffee: CHECK. Bacon Brownie: CHECK.

So that was our Friday ride... A little more going on in there this morning than usual. Blame the bacon.

TONIGHT, Scotty and I are going to see fellow ALC Team PHX cyclist Ian Christiansen in Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens! Check it out - the show runs for a couple more weeks!

And TOMORROW, if the stars are all aligned... I'm planning a 70-90 mile ride from Sedona through Jerome and to the TOP of Mingus Mountain... With a crazy 12-mile climb topping over 4,000 feet of ascent. You'd better believe I'll be blogging that.

Working on some fundraising materials for ALC 10... This took some time!

 

It's amazing what you can do with computers these days... I took this photo of myself riding somewhere else altogether (along Tempe Town Lake), cropped myself out, pasted myself onto a new background (a photo I took of South Mountain), and made it pretty.

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I'm thinking about having this made into a postcard or poster.

Cliff is going to take some additional photos of me out at South Mountain soon, too. I'm going to do everything I can to raise $11,000 this season - That's literally ONE CENT for every American diagnosed with AIDS since the start of the epidemic 30 years ago.

DM and CR Training Ride: Cruz Conquers South Mountain: Part One!

 South Mountain summit at sunrise from the final mile

This morning, Cruz and I got up really early to get in a training ride on South Mountain. Cruz had never driven up South Mountain let alone pedaled up the mountain on a bicycle... So, today was a first for Cruz.

Cruz and I are among approximately 50 cyclists participating in the Baby Dragon 180 Ride in California. The Baby Dragon 180 Ride supports the mental health, crystal meth addiction recovery, and LGBTQ homeless youth programs of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. I've kept up my training since AIDS LifeCycle, getting in around 2-4 rides a week... Most of them on South Mountain. Cruz only purchased a bicycle a few short weeks ago, but he's taken to it quite well!

 Cruz climbing the last half mile with the sun rising on the horizon

Cruz did an excellent job on the mountain today! Not that I ever doubted him. He kept a good pace on the climb and didn't look like he wanted to kill me at the summit. He even kept up as we both sped back down the mountain together - often one of the scariest parts for newer cyclists. I clocked us at a maximum speed of 39 mph... But don't tell the ranger.

All in all, we had a great ride! 16 miles and over 1,500 total feet of climb. Cruz conquered South Mountain for the first time, we both got in a good training ride, and we both got to go about the rest of our day with the satisfaction of having done something pretty amazing before most people we know were even out of bed.

No rider's first summit on South Mountain with me goes without a victory photo! Here's Cruz and me at the top of South Mountain showing off a little...

Cruz is still raising money for the Baby Dragon 180 Ride! If you would like to sponsor him, check out his fundraising site at http://www.lagaycenter.org/site/TR/Events/BabyDragon180Ride?pxfid=3580&fr_id=1160&pg=fund today!

And, per Peter Geissler's request... The elevation profile from this morning!

You never know who you'll reach on the road...

On more than one occasion this weekend, I thought about a very discrete experience I had at a grocery store in Fountain Hills on a training ride the previous weekend.

Cruz and I had stopped to refuel and I had gone in to purchase fruit, water, power bars, and the like. There was only one lane open, but another employee quickly offered to open a nearby register to help me. She was very friendly, which is always a plus after you've climbed a few hills on the way into town. As she handed me by grocery bag, I caught a glimpse of the red ribbon tattooed on her forearm.

I didn't comment on it until I got outside, but I had an AIDS LifeCycle "RIDE TO END AIDS" jersey on and can't help but think that the way she turned her arm showing her tattoo and the smile on her face might have been a subtle way of saying "thank you for riding for me" or "thank you for riding for my loved one".

You don't always know who you will reach when you're out on the road, but our presence on hundreds of miles of training rides and during the week of AIDS LifeCycle helps to remind the world that we are all living with HIV and AIDS, that we care deeply about lending our voices and bodies to eliminating stigma, and that we continue to seek an end to this disease.

DM and SB Training Ride: Sunrise on South Mountain

No CHUPACABRA today... But we were on the lookout for that massive coyote from last week.

Scotty and I drove over to South Mountain this morning for another Friday morning ride to the summit. There were a handful of other cyclists, hikers, and joggers out on the road. Not a lot of wildlife today... I saw some quail, chipmunks and ground squirrels, and rock pigeons. Nothing too exciting.

There was some awful stench riding up the first and second climbs... It smelled like dumpster, which is strange since there are no dumpsters or garbage trucks on the mountain. As foul as it was, I had a good laugh about it. Some of my friends out in LA go out for Thursday morning rides - and often weekend rides, too - on Garbage Truck Hill in Griffith Park. On a few occasions, I've given them a hard time about that wimpy little hill, posting something like, "Out to climb South Mountain... No GARBAGE TRUCKS HERE!"

I'm kind of concerned this might be some sort of karmic revenge for picking on them. We never determined the source of that horrible smell. Weird.

When we hit the last segment of road to the summit, I decided to have us split off to the Buena Vista overlook before climbing the final mile. The spur road was only about a half mile long, but I must say... Truth in advertising! That was one BUENA VISTA! Beautiful views of the central valley! I think I found a good spot to take my ALC 10 fundraising photos, too!

After hanging back, we hit the final stretch to the summit.

Scotty climbing the final half mile of South Mountain

We made it up to the top, took a quick break and sped back down to the bottom!

Scotty took this photo of me. I didn't have the energy or foresight to match my jersey and socks... But gave a little shout out to my Anglo heritage with the Union Jacks!

Goofing off atop South Mountain... And showing off my tattoo.

Finally, a little shout out to the Garbage Truck Hill folks, in hopes that I can bring peace and balance to our little universe. Track 8 from the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World has some lyrics that are almost appropriate for it to be the theme song for Garbage Truck Hill rides... And it's called Garbage Truck! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txEkMAreDuc

DM Training Ride with Cruz Ramirez: Tempe to Fountain Hills via the Greenbelt and Back on the Beeline

J.R. Billings at the LA Gay and Lesbian Center put me in touch with another Baby Dragon 180 Ride cyclist at ASU a few weeks ago. After a few weeks of messages back and forth and his purchase of a bike, Cruz Ramirez and I finally got out on the road together this morning for his second ride ever.

Cruz and I met at the Starbucks at Rural Road and the Loop 202 around 5:00am this morning for a ride up the Greenbelt, into Fountain Hills, and back down via the Beeline Highway. The ride was roughly 50 miles with a good climb in the middle from North Scottsdale up into Fountain Hills. Cruz is in pretty good shape, so I wasn't worried about him completing this ride and it gave us a chance to work on his cycling endurance and gear shifting. He also got a lesson in how to change a tube!

Cruz climbs one of the many short, steep hills on the way into Fountain Hills

We had a little break at Safeway to refuel, fill up water bottles, relax, and discovered Cruz had a slow leak in his front tire. It was a good opportunity to show him how to change a tire - and a lesson that even a TINY little piece of sharp debris can trash a tube. Cruz had a very small cactus spine sticking through the tire. It was just enough to pierce the tube.

We rode out past Fountain Park. Sadly, it was too early for the fountain to be on. Cruz has never seen it up close.

The ride back out down the Beeline Highway was beautiful, but we were catching a little wind and it was warming up. AND I was trying to make it back to the car to make it to home to shower for church (I DID make it!).

We had a great ride today! Good workout, good training for both of us, and good practice for Cruz. I'm glad to have another riding partner in the area!

Here's today's elevation profile!

Out on the Road with Cruz

Cruz Ramirez and I are out for a 50 mile ride from Tempe to Fountain Hills and back to train for the Baby Dragon 180 Ride. It's a beautiful - but WARM - morning out on the road.