Veronica Ng's
548 Miles closer to ending AIDSHello world of family and friends! I am currently training for AIDS LIFE CYCLE, in which I will ride my bicycle from SF to LA. I will spend June 1st-7th peddling and sweating over a beautiful 548-mile chunk of California coast. I need your support to raise money for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center **Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic** This clinic provides people with free or low-cost medical care for more than 1,800 people each year, many of whom have no other access to medical care. The Goodman Clinic provides therapy for those struggling with HIV to overcome substance abuse and addiction, stick to tough HIV drug regimens, improve self-esteem, survive the trauma of being diagnosed with HIV, and other issues they may be facing. The clinic has an on-site pharmacy providing AIDS medication to the most in need through the federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Program I need to raise 2500 dollars in order to be qualified to ride down to LA. I am so excited to take on this challenge, and would greatly appreciate your help to support me and the LGBT community. My goal is to raise 2740 dollars, $5 dollars for each mile I peddle! Besides training for Aids Life Cycle by taking spin classes at the gym and riding on weekends, I am studying at UC Berkeley as a second year student. I am an intended Public Health Major, and love my Mandarin Language classes. This semester I am an intern for the REACH club’s Political Awareness program. REACH’s mission is to empower underserved youth, usually first generation from immigrant/refugee families, through the obtainment of higher education. As an intern for political awareness, we set up “coffee talks” which are mini talks about issues affecting our communities, hold film screenings and workshops, and organize field trips to places like the sewer plant, or the Tenderloin, to understand better the situations surrounding neighborhoods nearby. I love riding my bicycle, dancing hip hop, sitting in the sun, and wonderfulness of good company!
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Veronica's latest blog entry:
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 
Riding at the Marina
Veronica's Goal: $2,740.00
Current Total: $2,871.00 |
Veronica's LinksL.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Experience AIDS/LifeCycle 2007
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Veronica's BlogSaturday, March 29, 200810:00 PMThe East Bay!Wow! So this Saturday I went on my longest ride yet! It was 60 miles around the East Bay from Orinda Bart, back to the Berkeley Hills on Grizzly Peak and Red Wood Road. The route was so scenic and we climbed up and up through the chilly morning fog. For a third of the ride, I road with one of the ride leaders Ronald, who graciously lent me some Goo and an energy bar to refill by sugar levels around the thrity mile marker. Goo is like a hand held shot of honey in a bag that digests quickly- Ronald gave me Tangerine Organge flavored goo. It tastes extremely sweet, but I've grown to not hate them. Randomly, while we were peddling along one of the main streets in Danville, I recognized one of my UC Berkeley staff leaders and got to say hi! We finally got to Castro Valley Bart and the sun came out to congratulate us on getting there alive!On the way home, I met Alex who majored in Chinese back in college. So on the Bart ride home, I got to practice some Manderin. Permalink | Share this posting : Care2 News | del.icio.us | digg | NewsVine | Reddit | YahooMyWeb Saturday, March 22, 200810:52 PMInspiration Point
What a beautiful day in Berkeley this Saturday was! No need for all those spandex layers! Just Bball shorts and a plain tee. I got on my bike and rode around Berkeley's backyard! From the winding Grizzly Peak, I could look to the left and forget about the incline, forget about everything that was worth remembering. The view of the bay pushed everything else out of sight. Clear skies, and clear air. A light fuzz hazed over San Francisco and it's Bay Bridge making the outline of the buildings softer. I turned left on Shasta and decended down a steep path. I took my hands off the breaks and let the only thing slow me down be the air catching in my shirt. No cars around on this lazy Saturday afternoon. I peddled up to Inspiration Point and contiuned on Nimitz paved trail up and down rolling hills, on a date with the warm sun. The concrete ended and I turned around to head back home down Wild Cat Canyon Road. I felt as fast as the cars, zooming around the curves in the best convertible I'll ever be able to buy!--My black and red Trek 820! Feel the wind in my face! YeAH YEAH! Back down Euclid street, and then back up Euclid street and finally home again. Permalink | Share this posting : Care2 News | del.icio.us | digg | NewsVine | Reddit | YahooMyWeb Sunday, March 16, 20089:28 PMOrinda to Dublin/Pleasanton?! WhATTT??!!
 I looked up to scan the rode ahead only to be surprised by a strong gust of wind that pushed my helmet back. My legs pushed to fight the wind and the hill. “Thank goodness for Granny Gear!” the guy behind me said, referring to the smallest front cog the bike chain revolves around making for the least resistance. “Grandma’s got my back!” He laughed. The sun was out and shining nicely in Orinda. Lisa Amelia and I met up this morning at 7:40 at Berkeley Bart that hadn’t even opened yet. We took BART to Orinda, excited for our first official Aids Life Cycle Training ride. From the train window, we saw a group of maybe fifty colorfully dressed bikers stretching in a circle, each in their black spandex pants and neon windbreakers. “This is so cool!” we thought, brushing aside the fact that we were complete newbs. We rode out in the middle of the group and kept our initial strong pace for the first few miles. Amelia and Lisa are really strong riders, so soon the gap between us began to widen and they disappeared around the corner. It is all good though, because I got to meet this sweet lady named Erin and we rode together until we got to our first rest stop, Peet’s Coffee. It was time for a break after riding 20 miles. I swallowed 2 Odwalla bars and was back on the rode. The wind really started picking up especially since we were next to the freeway. Many bikers were riding today, not just from AIDS Life Cycle, and good thing I found this out early because I almost started following the wrong group of people when I saw them turn! After 20 more miles of mostly uphill and flat, and the occasional treat of down hill, we arrived at Safeway for our lunch break. Amelia, Lisa, and I departed from here to catch BART back to Berkeley. The craziest thing about my day though, was meeting this amazingly nice woman named Jodi. I am training on my mountain bike, as many of you might know. This is very different from a road bike, which is what most of the ALC riders have. The wheels are different and the way one sits on it is different. So, Jodi saw my bike along with everyone else, and told me that I need to change the wheels or get a different bike in order to ride faster on the road. The traction on mountain bike tires makes riding slower. Jodi offered to sell me her bicycle because she was going to get a new one! So this week, I will hopefully get to test ride hers and see if it fits me well. YAY!
Permalink | Share this posting : Care2 News | del.icio.us | digg | NewsVine | Reddit | YahooMyWeb Saturday, March 8, 20086:05 PMRiding the Bay TrailThis loveley Saturday morning I woke up at seven am to join my two new biking friends, Amelia and Lisa, for my first outdoor weekend training ride. We left the UC Berkeley campus for a change of scenary to ride the Bay trail along ..... the Bay! We followed Shattuck Street down to Emeryville taking advantage of the wide streets that are normally filled with weekday traffic. The sun was bright and the nice even flat road was a perfect way to enjoy the city and get to know each other. We ended our ride back in Berkeley at the farmer's market set up next to Berkeley High. I bit into a lush sweet apple and felt the glucos molecules absorb into my cells. YUM! Permalink | Share this posting : Care2 News | del.icio.us | digg | NewsVine | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |
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