Cathy Chang's
AIDS/LifeCycle Homepage

Cathy's Links

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, a leader in battling AIDS and caring for those who are HIV-infected since the earliest days of the pandemic, provides free medical care to those who can't afford treatment and distributed more than $17 million worth of free HIV medications last year. The Center also provides one-on-one and group therapy, mobile testing/counseling, education, advocacy, and prevention services. Each month 700-1,000 people are tested for HIV at the Center.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Committed to ending the pandemic and human suffering caused by HIV, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation develops innovative solutions, combining scientific evidence with community experience to fight HIV/AIDS and promote health. Established in 1982, the Foundation provides direct services to thousands of people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS and supplies information to thousands more about HIV prevention and treatment through programs that include the California AIDS Hotline (800-367-AIDS). The Foundation promotes HIV awareness in the community and advocates for sound HIV/AIDS policies at all levels of government.

Experience AIDS/LifeCycle 2007
Get a taste of last year's event, with participant blogs, audio podcasts, and hundreds of photos.

Cathy's Blog

Thursday, May 15, 2008

9:05 AM

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i've hit my goal! thank you everyone that contributed, no matter what amount. it's all greatly appreciated and your goodwill will be pushing me up those monster hills on the way down to los angeles.

 i

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Friday, April 25, 2008

7:08 AM

day on the ride

saturday april 19th, 2008 - 80 miles, 7 hours: south from santa monica down through manhattan beach, curl around the rancho palos verdes peninsula, and stop for lunch @ ...... park. then pedal past the port of los angeles (holla cruise ships!) and swing back north through carson and torrance, toward pizza (from CPK), energy drinks, & massages.

check out the pix here: http://cattv.blogspot.com/2008/04/day-on-ride.html

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

8:56 AM

pedal mashin' up malibu canyon

saturday's training ride took me up the pacific coast highway (PCH) to malibu and its gorgeous canyons and constant winding twisting climbs. PCH is, for much of what we rode, a three-lane highway with a few feet of sandy/gravelly shoulder where bikers can risk a commute. cars zoomed past at 40-50 mph and several times we had to signal to traffic coming up behind us to merge into an actual lane and avoid a particularly rocky stretch or road or an inconveniently placed concrete barrier. and hope to goodness that they saw us. it helped that we had about 50 people in the group, but we were spread out over a mile or two.

once we got up to malibu canyon road, we had our first pit stop at a starbucks. so far, most of the PCH portion of the ride had been a gradual, but still taxing, uphill. after the pit stop, we headed up a short steep climb that made me wish i had a triple chainring instead of a double. even at the lowest easiest gear, i was having trouble keeping up my rpms. after that climb, it was a relief to glide downhill through malibu creek state park for a bit, albeit with a couple hundred foot drop to our right.

we then rode through malibu going inland, and it was a pretty grueling 15 miles of rolling hills, sweat, and pre-summer heat. our second pit stop was an small old grocery store and then we zoomed down a narrow two-laner to PCH. had a minor scare with a speeding mustang that blew past a little too close for comfort, but i managed to stay upright.

it's not a ride i would do alone, but it was scenic, sometimes shaded, and a nice respite from the weekday stress of darting in and out of rush hour traffic. met a new friend, jennifer, a strong girl biker who's done the ALC once before, and got to hang out with my ALC buds fay, nick, andrew, tony, flavio, and wing.

the ALC ride calendar said 65 miles, the ride leader said 45 miles, most everybody's bike computers said about 40 miles in 4 hours.

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Friday, April 11, 2008

8:56 AM

chickencamp

thursday evening's cubcamp route took us east to westwood where we met up with nicole & michelle at popeye's, our first fried chicken checkpoint. we continued on to hollywood where we camped outside roscoe's house of chicken & waffles for a greasy late night snack. lots of blinged out kids were inside, as well as a substantial amount of film equipment - a makeshift "no photography"sign caught our attention and a crew member strolling past informed us that "baldwin hills" had just wrapped up a shoot. i had a dry breast and a pretty tasty waffle. not the best fried chicken i've ever had, but it's got a good rep, so i'll have to come back and try a drumstick or a thigh.

our bellies full to bursting, we headed south to culver city's honey's kettle and on the way back up to santa monica, checked a kfc off our list.

approx 33 mile ride. got home at 1am, showered, asleep at 1:30am. damn you cubcamp kids keep me up too late! gettin too old for this...*grumble grumble*

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Monday, April 7, 2008

2:57 PM

imperial century

spent another saturday on the bike. we started out at the bike kitchen with 13 people - gary, liz, johanna, lance, steph, san diego drew, no-helmet drew, john, craig, jared, richard, derek, and me. we met up at 9:30am under a grey sky, and the imperial century (http://midnightridazz.com/viewStory.php?storyId=1067) rolled out a little before 10.

cruised through downtown, then past some spread out factories & a giant produce market housed in a run down outdoor plaza. on the way down to long beach via the bike path, i tried riding in a pace line for the first time - stay 6 inches behind and 6 inches to the left or right of the rear wheel of the bike in front of you. looks rather impressive when your team swoops around curves and dips under highway overpasses (despite the fact that we won't be allowed to pace line on the ALC). =D
 
stopped @ bixby carpet in long beach for our first pit stop. emptied our bladders then refilled our water bottles. danny had fresh peanut butter + jelly + banana sandwiches prepped for us as well as whole bananas and orange slices. while we restocked on carbs, danny let us try on some sample jerseys (hooray women-specific sizing!)...as well as the dead sexy official ALC jersey for team MR:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2187/2399191058_48f3e37da1.jpg - team MR jerseys

hopped back on the bikes and headed north on the san gabriel river (concrete basin) bike path. there were stables lining the path, some gated with intricate equine metalwork and others with plain oversized horseshoes. modern day cowboys cantered past us every so often; the dichotomy of our iron (and steel and aluminum and carbon) horses mingling with the real thing put a grin on my face.

after about 8 miles along the "river", jared started having pedal issues due to a pre-ride cross-threading, so he had to bail and we were down to 12 riders. we turned right on whittier blvd and coasted through a bit of suburbia. at one intersection, a car honked and lunged at a cyclist that didn't see the light change, but nobody was hurt. we turned left onto colima road and started up the 1st of its 3 massive climbs. it took us a good two hours to get past colima's hills and finally we were at the halfway point - schabarum park.

it was around 4pm when we sprawled out on the park's open grass and ravaged meghan's delicious dill potato salad, pb&j sandwiches, almonds, bananas, and oranges. she also distributed gary's beautiful spoke cards (a colorful composite image printed on transparency and then laminated - brilliant!). we chilled for about half an hour, then got moving after spotting a menacing cloud to the north - exactly where we were headed. gary caught a ride home with meghan since he wasn't feeling 100%.

with no route slip to warn me of what was to come, i had no clue that the next 10 miles would loop through a mountain range. after that, we went west on colima (the climbs were just as painful in reverse) and back into whittier. sweat, sweat, and more sweat. watching the sun set, we continued on whittier until we hit east LA. it was dark by the time we arrived back in the flatlands and before turning right on eastern ave, we had a delay of about half an hour while we waited for a few riders to catch up. a bossy bus had squeezed no-helmet drew to the curb and the driver got off to drop a few choice words.

the sun had barely come out all day, and the high topped out around 60 degrees, so the last few miles through downtown to the bike kitchen was a chilly full-out sprint. and unexpectedly hilly. i was trying to decide whether to pass out or vomit, but there was no time for either. it wasn't for lack of food. i was sick of eating, chewing had become a chore - i had consumed 3 bottles of gatorade, 4 bananas, 3 clif bars, 3 gu shots, and one candy bar over the course of the day. my body was just ready to put a halt to the maniacal pedaling.

we whipped up cesar chavez ave to sunset blvd, past the hubbub of blek le rat's gallery opening at shephard fairey's brand spanking new subliminal projects, and suddenly, sublimely, finally, we were there, back on heliotrope street and slowing down into the hungry saturday night crowd waiting to eat at the vegan restaurant next door to orange 20, pure luck. it was 8pm.

10 hours out. about 8 hours actually spent on the bike. 101.98 miles conquered. i've never been so tired in my life.

http://tinyurl.com/5m275n - gary's route slip for the imperial century - 101.98 miles

and then i did a few more miles on sunday in the name of shopping & 75% off sales:

http://tinyurl.com/57n2cf - sunday's ride to melrose with feaver - 17.77 miles
 

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Friday, April 4, 2008

6:09 AM

my first century

woke up at 5am on saturday, the fantastic bf treated me like a starved princess with a breakfast of sausage, eggs, pancakes, oj, oranges, tater tots, AND an apple-berry-banana-yogurt smoothie. thanked the bikey gods that the night before, i had already checked my tire pressure, cleaned my chain, and prepped my riding gear, then bolted out the door, just barely remembering to fill up the camelbak, slather on some sunscreen (50 spf!), and smooch the chef. picked up jen around 6:15 and after a quick hit to our favoritest friendliest coffee bean, we were on our way to santa clarita for the paul hulse / positive pedalers annual century bike ride.

the ride met up at 7am, with a (hopeful) rideout at 7:30am, but with 170 bikers to check in, an opening speech, and stretches, the head of the pack didn't set out until 8:15.

i would've been right up there with them...if not for the fact that my helmet was still sitting in my car as i attempted to ride out.

there were rest stops every 15-20 miles and the miles melted away as we sped west on highway 126, avoiding snakes, rogue tire tread, shattered glass, and chunks of plywood. we stopped in piru, a small town with "u scream ice cream" for a refill on bananas and oranges. then we pushed onward, past fragrant honeysuckle-sweet orange groves, and reluctantly declined to partake in honey-tasting rooms and 25 cent avocados.

todd, who jen had ridden with before on a shifting gears training ride, got a flat right before lunch, but he got it fixed super fast and even found cause of his troubles (4 flats in 5 weeks!) - a tiny sharp quarter-inch skinny sliver of metal.

i was surprised when we hit the halfway point of the ride, ventura & the beach. we'd ridden 50 miles more quickly than i expected, and after a quick lunch of a 6-inch turkey subway sub, strawberries, bananas, and cheetos, we hopped back on the bikes.

the sun was out all day, but it never got truly hot and i kept my long-sleeved jersey on for the whole ride. my shorts came off quite often though...at each rest stop for another complimentary dose of chamois butter. i've never tried the stuff before (hooray free samples!) and was honestly pretty grossed out that it even exists. bikers go commando when they wear padded shorts, and the "butter" is slathered in heaping quantities directly on the inside of the shorts...which means it definitely gets in your nooks and crannies. verdict: i approve, the stuff is vital for long distance rides. granted, i was wearing a brand spankin new pair of ultra d shebeest shorts, but it does help keep things fresh down there.

the route from ventura back to santa clarita pretty much mirrored the morning trek, just with a touch more city riding. i was going strong up until the last 10 miles or so. my legs just gave up and i'm sure if i wasn't riding clipless pedals, they would've been flailing about a bit. we also got to see six flags magic mountain from the back (too tired at that point to stop and take pics!).

i survived. it was 4pm. we'd been out for 8 hours; 6 of those hours were actual ride time. and contrary to the route slip, 104.62 miles was our actual mileage.

+the rest of my pics from the ride
+a sweet set from steve-o
+lots of pedalers on paul's flickr account

 

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

8:21 AM

tour de pain-in-the-butt peninsula

i met up with a fellow team midnight ridaa meghan around 8am saturday and we streamed out of the bike attack parking lot not long after that. it looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day. clear skies and sunny. we rode south toward the surf-towns and volleyball nets of manhattan, hermosa, and redondo beaches. less than 5 miles into the ride though, my friend flavio had some front derailleur difficulties and had to bail.

i've taken the tour south a few times now, but saturday's ride had some slight (ride lengthening) changes on the route slip, i knew we were still in for some serious climbing. there are lots of different steeply-graded ways to make your legs burn in palos verdes, and this route was a calf-sculptor. we made a pit stop at the forev'r-mobbed-by-spandexed-cyclists malaga cove market, lined up for their meat locker bathroom, and continued on our way. instead of climbing a fairly straight-forward 4-ish miles up hawthorne to get to the top, we kind of wound our way around the mountain, hitting palos verdes north, east, south AND west. this meant lots of up and down, false crests, and staying on your bike meant recovering quickly after a climb, only to do another one right away. so the ups were shorter, and probably less steep than hawthorne, but the ride seemed never-ending.

on the way back, we passed by wayfarer's chapel, a unique glass church designed by lloyd wright (frank lloyd wright's son). i only saw it partially from the road, and nearly missed it, since my eyes were busy bugging out at the clear view of catalina island and the development-shrouded cliffs below us. did you know lloyd also designed some prior versions of the hollywood bowl? i'd say good design sense is hereditary. definitely. =)

about 30 miles into the ride, the wind started picking up and it soon felt like we were moving in slow motion even on the steepest downhills. last week we dealt with fog & mist & rain...this week it was WIND! 20+ mph gusts, enough to blow you sideways and sandblast beach bits into your legs.

this 60 mile ride was my longest yet, and my knees started hurting during the last half of it. time to get me some shimano ultegra clipless pedals!

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Friday, February 29, 2008

9:54 AM

like, OMG, will the climbing ever stop???

the chilly saturday morning started off @ 8am @ bike attack, the temp hovering in the low 50s but almost no wind. amy, one of our ride leaders, gave us the lowdown on the route - through westwood via sepulveda, then up and over the hump into the valley. you've probably driven this route if you've gone north on the 405 toward sherman oaks. yup that's a slow steep climb, even in a car. and yup, we conquered that shiz on our bikes! after we dropped into the valley, we would make a pit stop at a whole foods, then back over sepulveda, through culver city to head west on the ballona creek bike path, which runs alongside the glorious LA river (er, barely wet concrete basin).

erin performed an invigorating bike safety RAP (an amazing sight & sound to behold, truly), led us in a few stretches, and then we were off!

we exited santa monica via ocean ave and hit nearly all the lights. that "come to a complete stop and touch your toe to the ground" policy can be tiring and annoying, but it's best to play it safe when two-ton cars are a potentially life-threatening hazard. also, you can get kicked off the ALC if you don't do the full stop-touch at stop signs on the ride in june! they're watching youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

i tried sepulveda a few months earlier on a midnight ridazz cubcamp ride. that attempt was at night. in 30 degree temps. and after a full day of work. so i only made it halfway up sepulveda that night, before turning around with numb fingers and toes.

this time i focused my attention on the spinning wheel of the rider directly in front of me and pedaled until i felt the ground level out. daylight helped. temps in the upper 50s helped too. but i do feel stronger than i did on the cubcamp crap-out. after the sepulveda grind, ride leader heather led nguyen, steve, sandy, tony and i back to the beach via the ballona creek bike path at a chill pace, and we were back at bike attack before i knew it.

total riding time: 4 hours
total distance: 38.7 miles

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

7:05 PM

pushing it to the 50+ mile level

i rode the "santa monica: climb to the top of palos verdes!" 50 mile trek on saturday morning with the bike attack training crew. breakfast was a "banilla" power smoothie from trader joe's (delicious!) and a peanut butter luna bar. david bain(#5468, the ride leader) went over some basic rules of the road, and i got to meet drew (cute cat stickers on her sweet specialized allez - soma everwear tires woot!), deborah, tony (the tiger, this will be his 5th ALC), reuben (ruby!), dave (this will be his 2nd ALC), and nguyen (also his 1st ALC!). david has been involved with ALC for 10 years! truly inspiring. my friend flavio was also on the ride - he always ends the ride with a crazy sprint and this one was no exception. he's also got a goal of riding 150 miles PER WEEK. i've definitely got some work to do on my mileage.

there were at least 20 people that gathered at bike attack that morn, but it soon split into two groups: the sprinters and the sane people. i chose to follow the sprinters and got quite a workout - for the first 20 miles we had an average speed of 17 mph! starting off in santa monica, we headed down main street toward venice, then onto the beach bike path toward el segundo and manhattan beach. the first pit stop was after a steep half-mile hill climb in palos verdes, at malaga cove plaza, a little shopping area where nguyen bought a delicious-looking breakfast burrito loaded with avocado, tomatoes, cheese, and egg. i polished off cran-razberry clif blox i brought along and hoped they would give me enough energy to complete the 2nd half of the ride.

the next 4 miles (and half hour) of the ride involveed a torturous climb up hawthorne boulevard. looking at this twisting winding monster from the bottom, i wondered if maybe i should have stuck with the sane people. fortunately, the guys in my pack maintained a steady and reasonable pace. i kept my eyes glued to flavio's back wheel and concentrated on my pedal strokes. finally we saw valero gas station on the left and swung into the parking lot to get our lungs back.

i was down to "red"-flavored gatorade and water at that point, so when reuben offered up some of his lightly salted kettle chips, i scarfed them right up. with most of the climbing done, was cruised down silver sput and palos verdes boulevard. i almost prefer climbing endlessly to bombing down a huge downhill - too many imagined bike crash situations running through my head. after my dislocated shoulder in january, i've gotten a little speed-shy. there were no technicals or mechanicals on this ride though, amazingly enough, and after we started coming back up to hermosa and manhattan beach, we were in the home stretch.

flavio pulled away right before we hit the beach bike path, and that was the last i saw of him for the day. every red light on main street (or rather, the start/stopping) worked my calves to the max and with all my energy bars burned off from the huge climbs, i started lusting after chocolate sundaes and inch-thick steaks drowning in A1. and finally, we were back at bike attack. our pack had gotten spread out over the last few miles of the ride, so i said ciao to tony & dave (driving back to long beach), and headed back home.

got a hint of a calf cramp on the ride home, and my right knee was acting up a little bit, so i definitely need to bring more food (bananas!) next time, and also get a clipless pedals/ shoes setup. i'm still riding in cages & vans, which isn't all that bad. it actually makes stopping at stop signs and red lights a little easier, but yeah, a clipless setup will transfer my pedal strokes a lot more efficiently. holding my breath till payday...

total ride time: 5 hours
total distance: 51 miles

 

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

6:34 AM

40 miles ain't no thang

hello! the AIDS/Lifecycle 7 ride will be my very first charity ride. my road bike is also a recent acquisition, so i've also never ridden more than 30 miles. and on saturday, i managed 40. in under 3 hours!

the uber-friendly volunteers did an amazing job and the sponsors (i martin & cannondale) provided the riders with more than enough oranges, bananas, water, clif bloks (my new favorite is cran-razz!), clif bars (ooh banana nut maple), luna bars, recovery drinks, and chamois butter.

seeing everyone so excited to be biking and coming out to support such a great cause was invigorating, and i can't wait to hop back on the bike for another epic training ride.

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