Days 2-5

Its not as easy to write a blog these days as some of you might think.....Most days we leave camp between 7 and 7:30 and we have been rolling into camp around 5:30 or 6. First you gotta park and unload your bike.  Then find the gear tent where you go fetch your tent and your bag.  Set up your tent and at least unpack sleeping bag and pad and hang up your sweaty bike clothes.  Then if there is still the energy go take a shower, which is pretty necessary after 8 or 10 hours of sweat and sunscreen and possibly butt butter and/or Vaseline depending on where you chafe.  Then you either go to dinner or to medical/sports med/ chiropractor or try to wash a quick round of clothes so they can dry before the sun goes down, depending on whether you need food, cleanliness or medical first.  I've managed to mostly go the food route, duh, although I do have a real soar knee and Achilles which I have had each taped once.  I've also managed to stub/hairline fracture my little toe while jumping a fence so that sent me to medical for more taping and ibuprofen every 8 hours.  I do love me some ER doctors.  So cool and casual and nonchalant. Use whatever you can find....toilet paper and some scotch tape....perfect.  And these camps are all pretty gigantic with each of these pit stops potentially as far as 1/4 mile apart.

Anyway, that's all to say that a lot has gotten between me and this blog, not even mentioning sleep and nightly entertainment at camp.  I've also had a few meals out with Mike, Kimberly, Kai and Soleil.  The highlight of which was definitely last night at Jocko's, a legendary oak fired steakhouse near Santa Maria where we stayed last night.  Thanks to Mark Denham for the better late than never suggestion. Big ass tasty nicely cooked steaks with delicious oaky smoke, salad from a bag floating in a sea of blue cheese, saltines and salsa, a random collection of pickles, giant baked potatoes overflowing with butter, sour cream and chives and pistachio ice cream with real pistachios and very fake super green flavoring.

So, now let's get back to day 2.  This was the ride from Santa Cruz to King City.  Started kind of wet in the morning in Capitola and down the Monterey Bay and into the afternoon as as we rode through the gorgeous fields of Watsonville and Salinas.  Sweet unofficial pit stop to eat some fried artichoke hearts at a cafe on the side of the road.  As you will see, I'm a big fan of the unofficial pit stop especially when food related.  

Got a nice taste of the southward tailwind and her amazing powers.  Not only do you go fast, you feel strong and invincible when she follows behind you.  Nothing hurts, no distance seems too long.  Anyway, I was feeling pretty good at this point.  My training seemed to have me well prepared and feeling strong.  I felt great on the hills.  Pretty fast on the flats.  I think I did a few of the sections on this part of the ride at 18-20 average which is a lot better than the 10mph I started at 6 months ago.

  There was a great rest stop called the Otter pop stop where a group of San Francisco bears wear tutus and throw a dance party outside of a beautiful old Mission (Soledad) in the middle of nowhere.  It's also one of the many places along the ride where a local person, in this case the cookie lady, cooks 3000 or so treats for us and hands them out at a stop on the ride.  Really really nice.  Kimberly took some great pictures of the Otter Pop Stop that someday I'll figure out how to upload.  And yes, they do give out otter pops.  

Another highlight of this day along the same vein was a tiny rest stop in Capitola, unofficial this one, where a local coffee roaster was giving out free coffee. Delicious free coffee.  With real unprocessed sugar!!! And real 1/2 and 1/2!!!! Soooo my type of rest stop.  I think it was called the ugly mug, or something like that.  I love them and would love to patronize their business.

The last thing to mention about day 2 (this was a long ass day...109 miles of riding) was the last rest stop aka the Bronies.  If you don't know about my Little Bronies, you should.  Look them up.

Day 3

Each day has a few little highlights. One guy I met called them Easter Eggs.  Little unexpected discoveries that make your day.  On Day 3 there was a great lunch stop in a tiny little town, I think called Bradley.  The kids and families of the town cook us lunch, burgers and carnitas tacos, again over oak wood,(this is a good time to mention that every park, big or small, in this part of California has amazing massive barbeque pits.  Huge things with cranks to raise and lower your grate and big deep pits for cooking with live wood fire. We need more of these in the Bay Area if you ask me) to raise money for their schools extracurriculars.  In this single day they make enough money to provide their little school with sports programs, art and music for the entire year.  With 2500 riders and about 500 staff and roadies each eating a $9 lunch, I guess they do pretty well (and it's a pretty small town).  

Another highlight of this day was an epic downhill on the backside of a hill known to ALC riders as the quadbuster.  6 miles of smooth downhill through some beautiful wine country.  Don't get much better than that.  My Bianchi got up to 49 miles per hour!!!!  My other personal highlight was a coffee stop(notice a theme here?) where they served delicious iced mochas.  Again, just what the doctor ordered when it gets up to 90 or so and your riding your bike for 9 or 10 hours.  I guess I should mention here that my biggest complaint about ALC so far is the quality and inefficiency of the coffee service in camp.  Powdered Starbucks Via served in individual paper cups with a line of about 60 people every morning.  Wait 20 minutes for some really mediocre coffee and fake creamer.  No thanks.  

So, day 3 is where I started to get a little taste of the tough side of the ride.  I'm not sure if it's because I didn't get to do too many multiple day training rides, or because I pushed too hard up quadbuster and her backside, but I started to get pretty soar around the knees and Achilles in the last 20 miles of the day.  Heat, probably some dehydration and a vicious headwind may not have helped much either.  Anyway, when I got back to camp that night, I had to head straight to sports medicine to see if I could get this knee situation resolved before the next morning.  The sports med team on these rides are pretty amazing.  They are just packed from 4pm - 9pm, 6am to 8am and on the road at the lunch stop from 11-2.  They each must tape hundreds of knees, ankles, quads and shoulders plus stretching people out and giving massage/chiro care.  And it's all volunteer.  Amazing.  Anyway, I got strapped up with some Rocktape, which I guess is some new type of athletic tape that does something I don't exactly understand.   I'm sure Drew Brees knows about it.  Speaking of which, I'm thinking that if I ever get to do this again, I want a custom black one piece zip up the front shorts with short sleeves and pockets in the back Lycra suit with a big gold fleur de lis.  In case anyone was wondering.

Day 4

This was our fourth straight 80 plus mile day, so people were getting a little cranky and bitchy (hence the name cranky bitch day).  I was definitely one of them as the day began.  Fresh off my knee and ankle taping, I was a little tentative at first on the bike.  Luckily, a couple of guys we had met the day before who were from Santa Cruz kept me company on the first segment of the ride (Kimberly started the day with a flat).  A nice couple...one a boat captain and the other a real estate guy who works for Amazon in Palo Alto.

We rode from Paso Robles to Santa Maria.  We crossed the border from northern to southern California.  It seems like we have definitely entered drought territory at this point.  Lots of yellow and brown hills and fields.  I've been starting all of the days in shorts and bike sleeves and this was the first day that I felt like I really had to pull the sleeves off.  

Coming back to the coast was definitely a highlight of the day.  We went up a pretty epic climb called the Evil Twins, the top of which is the halfway point of the ride, followed by another long smooth downhill.  This one ended with a beautiful view of the ocean around Cambria followed by a lovely ride down the coast through Pismo Beach and Shell Beach.  Really pretty coastline there around Morro Bay.  And, you know, I'm a real sucker for a nice stretch of pretty coastline.  I'd go so far as to say that's one of the reasons I'm riding.  Checking out a little more of Cali's lovely coastline.

Anyway, the day turned out pretty good. Especially ending with a big old steak at Jocko's.  Put me into a serious sleep coma too, which is a good thing because there is some intense snoring going on out here.  Like loud. 

Day 5

One thing I've forgot to mention....15 million.  That's how much this Ride has raised so far.  That's a record for the AIDS ride and some pretty serious cheddar if you ask me.  Anyway, I'm proud to be a part of it. 

Today is what's known as red dress day on the ride.  You can imagine 2500 people in all forms of red outfits from Wonder Woman to little orphan Anny to a team of riders in custom Sriracha skirts.  I went with a borrowed red tutu from Kimberly and a red vest.  I'd say I did just enough.  It was especially fun this morning as we rode through rush hour traffic in the town of Santa Maria.  We rode right by a high school where all of the kids and their parents dropping them off had to wait forever as an interminable line of bikers in ridiculous and fabulous red ensembles poured through.  Hopefully an eye opener in the best possible way.

Short ride today.  I guess they feel like we deserve a little break at this point.  42 miles.  The shortest by far on the ride.  Anyway, the highlights were a nice coffee truck from the Bay Area at the first rest stop.  A beautiful grassy lunch spot in Lompoc where the boys of Rest stop 4 (the same group who put on the my little Brony show) hosted a Soul Train Twister game.  And some nice views of 1000s of riders in their red dresses winding up some switchbacks in a beautiful canyon.  Oh, and a little rest and recovery and time to recharge the phone and post some blog writings....