Team ALCAholics 2018 Guerneville Retreat

This weekend almost 1/3 of our team gathered together over the weekend for a team retreat. This is my third year on the team and every year our team membership makeup is a little different – there are some who have been doing AIDS Lifecycle for at least 5 consecutive years, others who have just signed up a few months ago, some of us in between and even others who took a break and are back to ride this year- and with such a large group in flux, the retreat is a great way for those who can attend to get acquainted, form friendships, and bond before our big ride.This year, our retreat was held in Guerneville, CA, a gorgeous valley town between Northern California’s wine country and the Pacific Ocean with a river running through it. It’s only a few hours away from San Francisco so, for me, it was an easy drive up. I also carpooled with a couple of team mates to help the time pass and have more time to get to know them better.

Most of the participants were Bay Area based, but 2 members from Los Angeles drove up and 2 of the Bay Area riders took the day on Friday to ride to our weekend homes. Our large group managed to fit in 2 houses that were about .25 mile apart, but we spent most of the weekend gathering together at either house for meals, hanging out, riding bikes and soaking in the hot tub.Speaking of riding bikes, our 50 mile Healdsburg loop took us through one scenic winery after the next. About 25 miles in, we ran into some roadblocks that had been put up for an active IronMan triathlon that happened to be in the cycling portion of their race. I was carried away with excitement as I watched every racer that rode past us and made a mental note to channel their intensity during the parts of this AIDS Lifecycle where I might need a little extra oomph. By the time we finished our ride, I had enough time in the day to shower, relax, hang out in the hot tub and play a card game before dinner (I was terrible at it but it was super fun). Our enormous dinner serving put me in a food coma and I ended up getting so sleepy that I decided to go home and go straight to bed right after.

I woke up almost 10 hours later with enough time for another quick dip in the hot tub before turning our leftovers into breakfast and heading back home. It was a great preview to who I’ll be spending my week week on the ride. I’m so grateful to be in the company of such amazing people and look forward to the week of riding coming up!