Pacific West Athletics - Official Training Day 1

After my ride to Sutro Tower on Monday & some thinking throughout the day on 4th of July, I resolved to sign up for the official training program for Waves to Wine. I found the training program very easily, it was on the Waves to Wine website in the official sponsors section. The holiday week wound down, and Day 1 grew closer. Wanting to have all the energy possible for my first day of training, I stayed home and had steak & tater tots with my buddy Scott Smith (soon-to-be volunteer). I was asleep by 11pm, with sweet dreams of crossing the Waves-to-Wine finish line in better time than most others.

My rooster alarm wakes me up, and I'm off! Grabbed some water & energy bars, and hit the streets for a cold, wet & foggy ride through the Presidio. I met the training team at Sports Basement, just a hop, skip & a jump away from the Golden Gate Bridge.


Training started with our coaches teaching us a few things about our bikes, etiquette & technique while riding.
Jessica Fewless, event director for the NorCal National MS Society chapter discussed the MS150 tour route & answered questions about the event. After that, we hit the road!

We went across the bridge, through Sausalito & onward to Tiburon. Turns out that today was the San Francisco breast cancer walk, so everything was pretty congested on the paths...but we still managed to maneuver and learn how to use hand signals quite well! In a pack of 15 or so cyclists, I managed to stay within the Top 5 the whole time! Pretty good, eh? I thought so.

I also managed to make a new cycling buddy, Leslie. She's from Pennsylvania & is riding for her aunt who is living with MS. I'm guessing that amongst a few other people, she & I will probably stick together through the Waves-to-Wine ride.

Total miles for Day 1: 38
Total time: 3 hours, 15 minutes.
Toughest section: Return Hill from Sausalito to Golden Gate Bridge.

Next training session is on Tuesday evening!