About Lea's Foundation

In 1998, Lea Michele Economos, a young woman who died of leukemia at the age of 28, made a dying wish to her parents that others would not face the hardships she encountered by finding a cure for this disease. Her family started this charity to carry on that wish. Today, Lea’s Foundation takes an active role in finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma and to better the lives of people living with these diseases. At the UCONN Health Center, the Lea’s Foundation Center for Hematologic Disorders sponsors research in this field. A new program covers the cost of bone-marrow testing to help recruit life-saving transplants for patients. Also, annual scholarships are given to children with leukemia who are planning to attend nursery school. For more information on other projects carried out by Lea’s Foundation, please visit their website at www.LeasFoundation.org.


Thursday, June 19, 2014

Day 1 - San Francisco, CA to Lagunitas, CA (35 miles)


Unfortunately we beat our bikes to San Francisco by about 26 hours, giving us an unexpected extended visit to the city. Finally around 4pm Thursday we set off, riding along San Francisco's waterfront including AT&T Park, and beautiful views of Alcatraz.

In San Francisco there are many cable cars as one might expect. I had the misfortune of discovering that our bike tires wedge perfectly into these trolley tracks. I flew forward over my bike, only receiving small scraps on my left thumb and knee in the process. I also customized my bike by punching off the front reflector as I fell.
We continued up to the Golden Gate Bridge and rode across the western riding path. Passing each bridge tower intensified the crosswinds, bringing us close to a standstill. A navigational error led us up an extreme hill, that yielded the picture below as well as two exhausted riders.
We continued on through Sausalito  where we met a girl who told us that it didn't look like we had very much gear for a 4000 mile trip. Based on the fact that we cannot lift our own bikes, we respectfully disagree.
After grabbing sandwiches for dinner we hit our first mountain climb that lasted nearly two miles.

Luckily once we reached the top of our climb we were gifted a 5+ mile descent into Samuel P Taylor State Park around 9pm. After finding a campsite in the "full" campground, we were able to get to bed by 10pm (1am for our unadjusted East Coast minds).
(Time lapse video of us leaving San Francisco will come later when/if we find WiFi)

1 comment:

  1. UM I said no dying! Especially not on your first day! Be safe guys! So proud of you
    -Steph

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