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Day Three, King City to Paso Robles
Quadbuster
Today's big hill was Quadbuster, which consists of roughly eight miles of climbing. There is a rest stop 1/3 of the way in, so we're talking 5-6 miles of climbing, the last two of which are pretty steep, which gets challenging, but I made it without stopping. That was the biggest hurdle of the day, and it was nice to get it out of the way. We took a new route out of town, so today's ride was 11 miles shorter than in previous years. 105 miles yesterday, 66 today, but with hills. (Tomorrow is long and hilly. Woo hoo!)The rest of the day has some long, slight grades but is otherwise flat. The best part of the day is the end, on the outskirts of Paso Robles where we ride by some nice, scenic vineyards and a pumpkin patch. That's a welcome relief from the stretch we do on 101 (yes, the freeway), which was miserable. Fortunately it's brief.
Another highlight was lunch in the town of Bradley, population 120. The school throws a fundraiser bbq that pretty much funds their entire extracurricular program for the year. (Oh, and I just learned that they fund college scholarships with the money as well.) Hamburgers, hot dogs, chili- all the fixins of a home town cookout.
The weather was perfect today- usually it's a dust bowl heatwave situation but today was hot but not insane. I'm feeling good and looking forward to the big day tomorrow.
Day Two, Santa Cruz to King City
Full Day
Wow, what a full day. It was an uncut, directors edition with special features type of day. I woke without an alarm at 4:30 (8 hours after going to sleep) and rolled out around 7:30, but didn't get to camp until 6:45 pm. And it was mostly flat so I averaged 15.8 mph (despite the fact we left Santa Cruz during rush hour and averaged 10 mph for the first 15ish miles).
It's not that we were moving slowly; it's instead what they call a time-management problem. Lots on the agenda. In addition to the usual four rest stops, lunch, and water stop, there's the artichoke stand, the swimming hole, and the cookie lady. We did it all.
The time problem started at the artichoke stand. There were only two bathrooms (as opposed to the copious facilities at the "offical" stops) so the line was long and slow. Before you know it, they were waving the incoming riders past the stop and threatening to SAG us if we stayed. This became the pattern for the rest of the day: ride fast, stop and hang out, then get booted out. All in all it made for a great, fun-filled day.
Getting into camp so late has its drawbacks. After setting up camp and showering it was a race to get in and eat two dinners before they closed at 9 pm. Yes, two dinners. ALC and cruise ships: the two times it's acceptable to gorge. I still woke up hungry the next morning.
Day One, San Francisco to Santa Cruz
and we're off
I decided to do a leisurely 80-mile ride to Santa Cruz today. Oh, and I happened to ride with 2,500 other riders and 500+ support crew. Then again, it wasn't particularly leisurely, at first anyway. Today is the only day when everyone leaves at the same time, so the first several miles are a total cluster. Then there's this challenging stretch along hwy 92 with some serious traffic, that I have been dreading. Once I got past that, the day was downright glorious. Whether I brought everything I need or not, whether I've trained enough or not, there's not much I can do now. We're underway. All I need to do is ride, and eat, and sleep. What a way to spend a week.
After lunch was the best. There's nothing like riding several miles along the California coastline on a clear day. It was cool and overcast in the morning, but not too much so, and then the sun came out, but with enough wind to keep it mild. Oh, and the tailwinds! In the afternoon there was a point where I was doing 22 mph uphill, and I felt like Superman.
And there were some special guests today. My friend Pete showed up for Opening Ceremonies, which was super nice so early in the morning, and my co-worker Kevin happened to be driviing down the coast to go surfing when he saw the ALC lunch stop at San Gregorio beach. Amazingly, despite the crowd, he saw me ride in, after only waiting about 20 minutes.
I saw a few things today I'd never seen before on the ride. There was a tandem recumbent. And a tandem road bike with three people (is that still called a tandem?) I got passed by a couple on a tandem wearing fake fur and tinsel. And there were some Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who did the ride in full makeup. That was probably the biggest surprise. I spoke with one of them and she hadn't ridden in face before, saying "I expect to look like The Scream by the end of the day". I ran into her at lunch and she was still looking fabulous.
So all in all, I'd say it was a successful day. That, and the donation total continues to grow. I've now exceeded my goal, and people are still giving. You all rock! I have a script that texts me when the total changes, and it was so cool get a text during the ride today. Thanks so much to all the people who have contributed to the SF AIDS foundation in support of the ride. Collectively we have raised more than $11 million this year. Can you believe that?
To see pictures, blogs, etc during the ride, visit experience.aidslifecycle.org. You can also leave a message of support on my ALC home page.