AIDS/LifeCycle 11 - Day Three

King City to Paso Robles

Distance - 63.74
Time - 4.24.08
Avg Speed - 14.5mph
Max Speed - 38.0mph

Ahh Quadbuster! Gotta love it! The first part of the ride was pretty uneventful. And then the first rest stop, which means that Quadbuster is not far ahead. This climb is pretty steep at 1500 feet but the kicker is the last bit that inclines even more. This makes is a struggle to keep one's rhythm all the way to the top. But it's really just a matter of just that... rhythm. Doesn't matter how fast or how slow as long as you keep moving. I generally focus about 5 feet in front of me and just count either 1-2 or 1-2-3-4 unless I'm standing and then I count to 8. Some people sing when they are under duress. I heard a lot of singing on this climb. (= Good or bad voices, it helps to take my mind off what I'm doing for a moment. To be honest, the summit was a bit disappointing. There are usually speakers and many people encouraging the riders on. Teammates can stop and cheer on their slower members. But there were some military exercises going on so we could not use the whole lane as in the past. So everyone had to keep moving. Bummer! One tradition did continue. Team Mary FLEW back down the hill to encourage the rest of us up. I like that they do that!

The rest of the ride is pretty much downhill and then flat with some rollers. There were some head and side winds to contend with that were not fun at all. It was a relief to stop at the last Rest Stop, which was the Best Little 4 House in Texas. They did some dancing and passed around a bucket to raise more money for ALC. We got there just as they finished the performance but there are videos and we heard all about it as well. For more about the Rest Stop 4 crew, you can check out their Facebook page.

When we got into camp, Bozo and Blue weren't there. Bummer! This camp is a "Mid-State Fair Fairgrounds" so a lot of the services are actually indoors instead of in tents. I picked up my gear and was setting up my tent when another (male) rider came up and asked if I understand the whole grid concept. I couldn't tell if he was being helpful or a tool. He asked if I'd like some help with the tent and I said, "If you'd like to help, I'd take it." He said, "I don't want to" and walked away. lol Guess I know now that he was being a tool! This is unusual on ALC!

Then Bozo showed up. Yay! She was going to help me put up my tent but I started asking how long of a drive to the KOA where she is staying. I decided it was worth it to go stay with her and be a semi-princess (it's a camping cabin afterall). The time it would take to drive back to camp in the morning would be similar to the time it would take me to break my tent down. So I was IN!

With that choice made, we headed directly to the massage building. I ended up getting Scott, the massage therapist I had met at one of our Team Sacramento meetings so that was cool. Got his card so I could go see him for a proper (longer than 15 minutes) massage. But he worked the kinks out of my shoulders and upper back as well as my calves. Then he suggested I go to chiropractic since I was all loose and let them work on my lower back. Great suggestion!! I did that and also got right in. Daniel did a great job stretching me out and giving me an adjustment. Tomorrow is 97 miles so this was VERY good timing for these services.

By the time I was done there, dinner was open. So off we went to get some food that I would take with me. I ate in the car as we drove to the KOA in Santa Margarita where I was able to get a dismal shower and do some laundry with iron-filled water! lol But... I slept SO hard and well, it was definitely a good choice. Bozo apparently took Blue out twice during the night and both the inside and screen doors are very squeaky. I heard nothing! Very nice!!

AIDS/LifeCycle 11 - Day Two

Santa Cruz to King City

Distance - 47.51 (supposed to be 109.2)
Time - 3.48.40
Avg Speed - 12.4 mph
Max SPeed 31.0 mph

Ahh Day Two! Started out a little chilly with a 30% chance of rain. Yeah right! Well... yeah. Right! Almost as soon as we left, it started to drizzle. I was wearing shorts and a light windbreaker. Not nearly enough clothing for the brisk day. By the time we made it to the second Rest Stop at about 40 miles, it was a full on rain. People were shivering and choosing to stop for the day as it was too dangerous for them to keep going. Good choices I would say! Though wet, I felt pretty good. Maybe my Minnesota blood was kicking in! I was riding with Khoa and Aaron after that Rest Stop and we just put our heads down and rode. The road was pretty good though there was some mud at places since we were in farmland. Lunch was only about 8 miles away and we had been told that it wasn't raining at lunch so I think that motivated us to keep it moving. I did stop at one point to get a photo of the seals along the way. But it was a quick stop. When we got to lunch Khoa was shivering pretty uncontrollably so I ran around and got him a garbage bag then mylar while pushing him to eat his lunch. He and Aaron decided to SAG it since there was no way Khoa could ride safely in his state.

I got my own mylar blanket and went into the port-a-potty to arrange it under my jacket. Then a garbage bag to top off the ensemble and I was ready to go. My hands were cold, my feet were squishing around in my wet shoes, and if you don't already know what a drenched chamois feels like, I hope you never find out! But my core was warm and I was ready to head out. As I was getting on my bike, the moto crew came along and said they were closing the route and not allowing anyone who wasn't already out to leave. Darn! I saw a few people try to sneak past Moto but Moto is on top of their sh*t so as far as I know, no one got out. And I wasn't about to try to do something against instructions and risk being kicked off the ride. So I stood around getting cold. lol

Eventually Hartnell College opened their Student Center for us so we would have some warmth. This turned into a Mylar Fashion Show and lots of skin showing as people shed their wet clothes. Kenny showed up in the building at some point so it was nice to see a familiar face. Buses started showing up to take us to camp, which took about an hour. Along the way, we saw a few lonely souls pedaling away still on the route. I was both jealous of them and feeling sorry for them. I really wanted to be out there doing all the miles but I also knew it was totally miserable. Turned out that about 800 people made the entire route, including most of Team Sacramento! I thought that was VERY cool!!

Camp was at San Lorenzo County Park in King City... and was TOTALLY sunny and dry. Hmmph!