Day One: Rain!!!

Riding Day One. May 27, 2010

San Francisco to Mt. Diablo Camp Site.

Word of the Day—RAIN!!!

In 2007, Cindy and I had the privilege of travelling to Tanzania, Africa. On a very rainy day, we were told that in their country, rain is always welcomed because it means good luck. I kept trying to remind myself of that today as the rain poured down on our opening day trek from San Francisco to the base of Mt. Diablo where we are camping tonight. This is Good Luck...this is Good Luck...this is Good Luck???

We did the traditional wheel dip in the Pacific Ocean this morning. The picture shows the five riders, fists in the air full of excitement, expectation, and yes…fear. Can I do this? Will I fall and get hurt? Will I make it all the way to Portland, Maine? Will I get bored, too tired? Will I feel like quitting? All these and many more questions raced through my mind as we took our first few pedals up through Golden Gate Park.

Let me quickly introduce you to the other riders. I will share more about them as the ride continues. For now, the five riders are Tim Viall, Director of the Stockton Emergency Food Bank (red jacket), John Viall, his younger brother, red poncho) and Chuck Boehme, Tim and John’s friend from days lived in the State of Washington. The guy with the green helmet cover (who is receiving a lot of teasing about a very high dork factor) is Joe Ossmann. Joe and his wife Kathy are the owners of the motor home we are “camping” in this summer. They are good friends from Sacramento. I am the one with the orange and black jacket on.

After riding in driving rain through San Francisco and most of Oakland, we caught just a glimpse of blue sky, and by the end of the day, we had stripped off our rain gear and began to enjoy a beautiful afternoon.

So, some of the questions were answered. We can make it..at least for one day. We do like each other. We have to be much more attentive to starting out with clear written directions. (We spend a lot of time today in “committee meetings” trying to figure out which way to go next. But by the end of the day, we all arrived safely at our campsite, and we were very pleased to have our ride actually under way and the first day “in the books” as they say.

One more thing. This morning as we were riding through San Francisco in the driving rain, a man (I think he was homeless…but don’t know for sure) was standing out on a street corner yelling loudly. Could not quite capture what he was saying, but it got me to thinking about the fact that here we were feeling all brave and adventuresome on our Gortex jackets and fancy equipment while there are literally thousands of our brothers and sisters who face those same elements every day without the luxury of “good equipment.” So today, I invite you to consider, not what we did in the rain today, but what poor and homeless families do in the rain, and snow, and heat every day of the year.