Registration, Orientation, and Larry

The time to pedal home has just about arrived!

Today was a pretty busy day. After registering myself in with the group leaders, I had my bike assembled, sat through the rules and regulations of the tour, and went for a quick 10-mile spin just to make sure that I remembered how to ride a bike, and to ensure that my bike was in working order.

After the ride, I met my roommate, Larry (pictured below). As you can imagine, I had no idea what to expect prior to meeting the guy I'll be bunking with over the next two months. And when we finally did meet, I admit that Larry was different from what I imagined. That said, I am thrilled to have him as a roommate -- what an inspiration. I am not sure how old Larry is (we are not "there yet" in our relationship), but to put it in perspective, he recently (November '09) lost his wife of 46 years, and is using this ride as an opportunity to get the "cobwebs out of his head and clear his mind." Pretty awesome, huh? Yeah, I thought so too.

After hanging out in the hotel room with Larry, we made our way to orientation. It was pretty informal (no trust falls or anything), but very helpful. We had a "route rap" (a discussion of the next day's ride), a walk through of a typical day, and we were given some nuggets of knowledge about what we should expect. It was nice to meet the rest of the gang, and I'll be sure to write about them once I become a bit more familiar with them. Until then, you will just have to keep on checking in on me to make sure that Larry and I are getting it done!

73 mile ride tomorrow -- over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Sausalito, and ending in Vallejo, CA. Wish me luck!