Waves to Wine 2012: Flash Report

It was a great weekend for biking. On Saturday morning, at 7 AM (the official start time) the full Mike's Bikes team was in the lineup to roll out when Waves to Wine began. [That was a team record, as we have generally been 30 minutes late in the past.] The four of us stayed together through San Francisco, but one was lost at the bridge. The picture on the left shows three of the four in the motley team.

I felt great this weekend as I rode 104 miles on Saturday and 75 on Sunday. The weather was wonderful: not too hot and not too cold. The scenery, especially on Route 1 in Marin was spectacular as always. Inland Sonoma County with its many vineyards and grapes ready for harvest was also beautiful. I felt stronger and faster than last year. It was exciting to come home, sync my GPS bike computer with Strava and see the number of personal bests for segments of the ride; even segments where I showed my second best time were within seconds of last year. The major climbs were 5 to 10% faster than last year. I love Strava.

2300 people participated in the ride along with over 400 volunteers. MS is well on its way to reaching the fundraising goal: they had received $1.9 million of the $2.1 million goal on Saturday, but contributions and matching funds will continue to roll in until October 15 deadline. They are certain that they will surpass the fund-raising goal.

Thank you all for your contributions and support. 60 people have shown their support for MS and me. I went into the ride with the fundraising total of $3997.50, and another $560 has arrived since. I've only received a few matching funds from Adobe, so if you're procrastinating about going to the website to request matching funds, please do that now.

You'll see a more detailed report and thanks letter arrive in postal mail in late October: I have a personalized publishing engine working at last. If you know someone who wants to make a contribution, the MS chapter is accepting them through October 15. Just go to my personalized fundraising page.