TEN Days until the Big Dance!

In ten days, TEN, I will be on the road to Los Angeles. By bicycle! I've trained since November, ridden about 400 miles every month since February, climbed who knows how many hills. Love them! Yes I'm prepared!

This past weekend I had a wonderful experience with the Positive Pedalers. We rode up the coast to the Russian River on Saturday, then headed to Petaluma and back to Mill Valley on Sunday. This was my last big training ride before the show starts on June 2nd. Since we camped out Saturday, this was a great test run for the actual ride. Who knew that so many things have to happen before one can get on the road at 6am? Packing up the tent. Sunscreen. Pump up the tires. Eek.

Bill is going to witness my process over the next ten days with packing and trying not to buy new things. Send him love. :) I am in full-on planning mind.

Thank you thank you thank you to all. I could not do this without all of the support. Whether it has been financial support, words of encouragement, listening, reading, riding with me, all of it was very helpful. HUGE thank you and air kisses.

If donating was something you intended to do, now is the time. I don't know if I will be able to write more before we leave.

My Team is trying to raise $150,000. If 30 of you donated $10 right now, we would be a big step closer.

You can donate here! http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/AliceStribling

Instagram will probably get the most updates on the ride. As the week goes on, it will likely get very silly.

Insty: AliceStribling

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fourfivealice

Love: Y O U

It's a hard life if you live it

My heart has been heavy this week. My family is struggling with my Dad's every changing behavior due to dementia. Last weekend was particularly stressful, and I've been recovering. I've been holding things close, not riding, and I've thrown myself into a project.

The not riding was intentional, because I'm participating in a two-day ride up to the Russian River this week with the Positive Pedalers. We ride 75 miles up the coast Saturday, camp overnight, then return inland through Petaluma on Sunday.

I have had some amazing insight into my process this week.

1) When I'm planning for a trip and it gets closer to the trip I want to buy things! Because somehow what I have can't work. : /
2) When I'm upset I feel more like making things than spinning pedals.
3) I have a wonderful support system.
4) The hurt passes with time.
5) Good things and bad things happen. Sometimes at the same time.

 It's spring break and we had Monday off at Apparel Arts. I worked on this instead:





This is my Freddie Mercury sash.

I would like to thank Margaret Jayko for the title of this post. She and I used to work together, and often she would say this quote, in a thick New York accent. It's true.

Also, if you are into meditating and would like to hear a nice dharma talk about Anxiety, I can recommend this talk by one of my favorite teachers, Matthew Brensilver. It's helping.

I ride for Freddie

A lot of folks ride AIDS/LifeCycle  for the people in their lives who can't ride, which is beautiful. I'm riding for Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen, who died in 1991 of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.

I am a HUGE fan of Queen. HUGE. In another life, and perhaps sometimes in my apartment, I prance(d) around with the same grace and larger than life exuberance of Freddie Mercury.

From what I gather from Wikipedia and this documentary, he kept his illness a secret because he didn't want to make 'public liars out of friends and family'. They had all denied his illness.



I feel like it's not right that AIDS had/has such a stigma that he kept it a secret. The documentary made me sob like a baby and also made me realize that THIS is why I ride.

Five years ago, I had the idea to merge some interests. Bikes, Queen, Girls/Ladies/Women/People who identify as Women riding bikes, Drag Queens, Queens in Nun drag, I could go on... and Dr Sketchy's.

I posed for the first Cute Girls on Bicycles event at Dr Sketchy's SF and our inspiration was this:



This year, as incentive for fundraising I told the drawer-ers at Dr Sketchy's that if everyone put $1 in the kitty, and we raised at least $50 I would do a 20 minute pose. And of course I HAD to recreate the album cover.

Now all these artists have started posting their goods on the internets and I realize that we not only raised money for the SF AIDS Foundation and LA Gay and Lesbian Center, but that I now have a very personal collection of drawings of me on my bike. SO. MUCH. LOVE. My heart is going to explode.

Jeff Plotkin

Diane Olivier

You can order this one from Madelyn Lee!