Day 1 of Bike4theCHF 2011 - San Francisco, CA to Davis, CA

We kicked off Bike4theCHF 2011 at the Golden Gate Bridge at 7am this morning honoring our Kids4theCHF, Summer and Magnus. We also honored Gavin, a honorary Kid4theCHF from Oregon whose father Eric joined Nels and Nick for the first 80 miles of their bike ride. Both of the kids were able to sign the signature bikes which will be put up for auction at the end of Bike4theCHF.  For the beginning of the ride, Nick and Nels were also joined by Lawrence (Summer's father), Jeni Busta and Jeni's dad. The start of today's ride was filled with beautiful California scenery as we traveled north of San Francisco.

Nels, Nick and Eric were hit with cold torrential rain for a large portion of their trip. Despite the bad weather, the boys were able to push through and finish strongly after their 10 hour bike ride. Today's total mileage was about 120 miles from start to finish, although there were a few times when we made a wrong turns and had to turn around.

Denise also did a great job in the van, helping direct the cyclists towards the correct route, stopping numerous times to wait for the cyclists to make the right turn, and just overall providing all levels of support.  She prepared food, took pictures and video, and even talked on the phone with potential sponsors!

Overall, the Bike4theCHF crew had a very exciting and busy day. Tomorrow's mileage should be around 135 miles toward Kirkwood, CA. We were told that it could possibly snow on tomorrow's route!

- Lindsey
Bike4theCHF Intern