señor taco’s travels

Today started with my ankle in a good bit of pain. I was tempted to hop on the sag bus (I don’t know what ’sag’ stands for, I just know it’s the term used when you’re shuttled from point to point in a vehicle), but I didn’t train to ride a bus, I trained to ride a bike. I made a deal with myself, I wanted to ride to at least mile 66 in Pismo Beach.

We rode more or less together up to rest stop 1 and then up and over the Evil Twins to the half-way point. My ankle was really hurting at points, but I knew I could push on and I met up with Tia, Chris and Heidi at the half-way point. Funny enough the Evil Twins didn’t seem as hard as last year. Chris and I helped Heidi get her heavy steel bike up so she could hold it up as is customary.

I was really looking forward to the next part, about 10 miles of downhill riding. I didn’t get going as fast as last year because we were faced with a headwind on the way down, but it was still a blast to not have to pedal at all and to be flying down the road. Chris decided to wait up for Thomas and Steve at the half-way point, but I knew he’d be able to catch up to me later.

We rode on through Morrow Bay and San Louis Obispo and to lunch. I waited there for Chris and we took off for Pismo Beach. The reason I wanted to make it to Pismo before stopping? Old West Cinnamon Rolls. They make a truly perfect cinnamon roll, top it with cream cheese icing and one is in a state of nirvana.

After Pismo Beach is a bit of riding along the sea shore and you get to see these great big sand dunes. Of course that brings us to mile 75 and a hill that is difficult at the easiest. It’s narrow and steep and scary, but nothing a person that has trained for the ride can’t handle. This year we had cross winds on the way to rest stop 4 and they were realy strong. I kept getting blown out into the road, it was very scary at points.

I finally met the boys at the rest stop and we all took off for Santa Maria. There was a good tail wind for a bit and we cruised. I made it the whole day and after that 95 mile ride I knew I’d be able to finish the ride without any problems. At camp we saw Athena, she drove down to meet up with us a few times and today was the first day.

We started out this morning a bit earlier than yesterday and that was good. I had been riding more aggressively on Day 2 than I should have and for that I now had a sore Achilles tendon. It hurt a bit, but nothing I couldn’t handle for now. This morning was a bit warmer so I was able to only have my arm warmers on as we rolled out to Quadbuster.

Of course, when I got to my bike I had a written warning for “failure to stop at a stop sign” that didn’t happen. The safety vehicle could not have seen if I stopped or not because of a hedge row. I was pretty upset about it for the day but then I realized they hit over 700 people with warnings that night. The ride has a very hard job in keeping safety a priority so that we can continue to ride through these communities. With that large of a number of people running that stop sign, and I know people behind me did, I can understand my number getting taken down mistakenly.

Once again this year they make us ride an out of the way route to get to the first rest stop at the bottom of Quadbuster. It really wouldn’t be so bad except that there was once again a headwind that was gnarly to say the least. At rest stop 1 my ankle was really sore so I got the medical staff to put some Bengay on it. That didn’t really help, and I never thought it would since it’s was a tendon injury, so I made sure to take more ibuprofen to kill any swelling I might have.

I took off for Quadbuster with Tia and Chris. As would become evident throughout the rest of the ride they took off when the hill really started because I was slowed down by my ankle. I made it to the top of Quadbuster in my granny gear, once again without stopping. I may not be a fast hill climber, but I’ll get there. We stopped and took a few pictures and then cheered on other riders making their way up the hill.

After Quadbuster is a nice downhill that carries you through some easy flats to rest stop 2. This year it was still cloudy when we reached rs 2 so it was a bit more enjoyable. There isn’t much at that rest stop so we got on the road pretty quickly. At this point my ankle was feeling better so I was able to press on with Tia, Chris, Thomas, and Steve. We got about 2/3 of the way to the lunch stop and hit a headwind that made me slow way down.

The lunch stop on Day 3 is a small town called Bradley. They have a grill running and cook hamburgers and hot dogs for sale to the riders. The money they raise goes to fund their schools so I certainly don’t mind buying one and dropping the change in a donation jar. It was a fantastic double cheeseburger that helped lead to a great post-lunch nap in the shade. That 10 minutes of shut-eye was one of the best experiences of the whole ride.

After a nap and then getting more water Thomas, Chris, Steve and I headed out of Bradley. Last year it was so hot I didn’t think I was going to make it out of that stretch of road. This year was much cooler and I we had no problem cruising on the road and getting to the rest stop at the mission.

Chris and Thomas wanted coffee so we went back down the road and let them get some evil bean juice. While we were waiting it was great to just stand there and enjoy the wind and clear sky of the afternoon. Taking off the boys dropped me again (yes, ankle) so I just rode on through some of the prettiest country side on the whole ride. It was nice to ride alone for a bit and just think about what a great time I was having.

I arrived at camp shortly after the guys and we all went and showered and then skipped the chow hall, we went across the street to have BBQ ribs. There were great onion rings, ribs, and baked potatoes and then a really good sleep.

Day 2 is the longest day on the ride at 105 miles and it just seemed like we couldn’t get out quickly. We got up pretty early and there was already a long line for the port-a-potties. Breakfast was quick and then we changed into riding clothes and packed up. At bike parking there was some sort of a bottleneck that I couldn’t figure out and we were just waiting in line to get out. Lame.

Once we were on the road we were moving along okay and we got to the artichoke stand. Fried artichokes are fantastic when you’re riding. As we were there we knew we had plenty of time on the route but an ALC route staffer was telling us that we were behind and would get swept soon. We still got artichokes and made it to the next rest stop with 45 minutes to spare before the stop closed. Steve and Tom stopped because Steve’s knee was bothering him. Chris and I pedaled on and got to lunch pretty quickly where Steve and Thomas caught up to us.

After lunch we knew we had a long way to go so we got going again. Shortly after lunch the safety van was parked and monitoring a stop sign. I had stopped and the safety van was well down the road, but we’ll get to that tomorrow.

This day is one of the hardest on the ride. It’s long, it can get hot, and it takes a while. We rode and kept hitting rest stops with a little time before they were due to close. I don’t know if it was just me, but it seemed like they were closing earlier than the year previous. Possibly it was that it took us so long to get out of Santa Cruz that made the day seem compressed.

When we got into King City we were welcomed with a bit of confusion in the bike check in.  I understand that they want to know where every bike is and that all riders are in, but having to wait in line for about 45 minutes didn’t do anything to help sore muscles that needed to be stretched out.  Oh well, shower, food, and then right to sleep.

After a short evening of partying at the Ratatouille wrap party I went back to the hotel on Saturday night to try and catch a few hours of sleep. The revelers coming back at 02.30 woke me up, but that was a small price to pay for not having to trek back to the East Bay overnight.

At 04.00 I woke up and got dressed to meet Chris at his hotel at about 04.30. I went next door where the after party was still going on and said my fairwell to the people still in suits and quite wasted from the party and after-party. It was a little surreal seeing all the people partying and a little saddening knowing I gave that up on purpose, but it’s for a better cause.

I walked across the street and waited on Chris to come down to the lobby where we then got a cab over to the Cow Palace. We arrived amongst the throngs of people and took our bags over to gear truck I. After that we went into the building and got some breakfast. It was small and I wasn’t too hungry at the time, but I knew I’d need some fuel in me to get through the day. We then met up with Sal and Kevin in the hallway.

After waiting around for the opening ceremonies to end we were allowed into our bikes and then we got to wait around for a little longer before we could queue up and walk around the building. As we were rolling out we saw Colin and Andrew in their suits cheering us on. It was awesome that they came out to see us off after being up all night to party.

As we rode out we were once again in a big mass of riders taking up the entire side of the street we were on. It’s the only time that we purposefully break the single file rule so that we can all get on the road in a timely manner. I skipped the first rest stop as it was pretty close to the start (7 miles or so) and it looked like a mad house. The distances seemed a little shorter this year so far and I quickly found myself at the water stop next to the reservoir. I rode out from there with Tia and we just did a steady pace up CA-35 towards Half Moon Bay. At the top we saw Ken and Kako drumming the taiko drums just like last year. There were some awesome strawberries and this peaunut butter and fudge brownie like thing that was to die for.

Different this year was that at the top of the hill we didn’t get to continue down and into Half Moon Bay because of construction. We instead turned right and began a long climb up to around 2000′ of elevation, the new highest point on the ride. The climb reminded me of Mt. Diablo a bit, not too steep, just long. Eventually we got to Rest Stop 2 and it was jammed with riders. We only stayed long enough to tank up on food and water and hit the latrine before we were off again, climbing a bit until we got to the excellent downhill that took us to lunch.

At lunch those of us that were around (Steve, Thomas, Chris, Tia, and I) got interviewed for a new recruiting video. It will be interesting to see if we get used in that, I’ll request one when they become available. Afterwards we all took off and stayed together. We had stayed a little longer than we wanted to at lunch so we kicked it into high gear and did the 20 miles to Rest Stop 3 in just at an hour. We only had a quick stop there and I realized I didn’t look at the cue sheet earlier, but the route was 10 miles longer than last year.

After that we rode on and at some point I got tired enough to fall a little behind of the group. We rolled into Santa Cruz and I once again saw the woman holding the sign with her son on it and the words “Thank You”. I pulled over and gave her a hug and thanked her for coming out all day to show our support. I rode on through Santa Cruz and got to bike parking only a couple of minutes after the group. I thought I had seen them ahead of me but I had no idea I almost caught them.

I got my gear and with Chris ate dinner then showered. I was worn out as this first day was much harder than last years. We both crashed pretty early, looking forward to our next day, the century ride (100+ miles).

Day 0, registration and orientation. After last year’s day 0 I suggested that the group get to the Cow Palace early to be done with the event that is registration. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as lines were much longer than last year.

I picked up Chris and we met Sal, Kevin, and Robert at Pixar to carpool over to San Francisco. When we arrived the parking was already very full and the line to wait for bike parking was wrapped around the corner of the building. We eventually got to park our bikes and then got in line for registration. We had missed the first safety video so we were going to have to wait at least an hour for the next screening.

After getting through registration we were only a few minutes shy of seeing the 10:30 safety video screening, so we set in for the hour wait. This year safety was a much more emphasized for two reasons, there are more riders and the ride needs to make sure it’s doing all it can so that it won’t lose the permission of different municipalities to have the ride pass through.

Once we finished with the safety video we had all we needed (both wristbands) to get our tent assignments. Thanks to the hard work of James Dashe we had a reserved block of tents so that we could all be together. After that we put our numbers on our bikes and said farewell to our mounts for the night.

The registration process took longer than I think it should have. Maybe more staggered screenings of the safety video would have helped. Had a lot of us not needed to get things done for the Ratatouille wrap party that night we could have gone later and had a much more relaxed time of it all.

Overall I was now starting to get really excited for the ride again. I kind of missed that build up from last year when the whole thing was totally unknown to me. I saw a few first time riders from training rides and I swear I could see the same wonder and question on their faces I had last year. “Will I be able to do this?” “What have I gotten myself into?” Questions like that.

Well, it’s Friday evening and I’m preparing the last few things for AIDS/LifeCycle 6. I’ve got all the clothes and all the gear ready to go. Donations are in and I got almost to $5k, which is cool enough for me (albeit sans a jersey). I’ve been resting this week and I’m itching to get back on the bike.

Overall the week has been really hard. Polly got sick and is still needing to be fed with a tube. I’m very tempted to not go on the ride as I feel like I’m abandoning her, but she is getting better and she’ll be in the best possible care with Keith and Cortney helping out.

For those that want to you can follow along on the web with the official AIDS/LifeCycle Experience. You can also send messages of support (I’m rider #4142) and I’m going to try and keep an updated voice journal via the gabcast service, which you can find a player linked on my ALC homepage.

Well, it’s all coming down to this last week of training. I rode five days straight last week for about 110 miles total. I took Saturday off and it really helped as I had a great ride on Sunday with Chris. Had we had a lunch break I could have kept going another 40 or so miles over our already 55ish miles.

I’ll just leave you with this, I know I needed to change my tires before the ride, and I was going to do that this week, but on Sunday we stopped after about 40 miles and I looked down to see this:

Yeah, yikes! I’m just lucky I had a good tire with a kevlar belt in there. I took it easy getting home, no crazy downhills for me. When I replaced it last night I found a large piece of glass embedded near that damage. Good tires these . I did the calculations and I think I had between 800 and 1,000 miles on that tire. That’s some training there. I’ve now got two new tires, ready for the ride. They’ll have around 100 or so miles on them so they’ll be perfectly ready on Day 1.

one + one = three’s ‘Old School’ Cycling Logos (via Coudal Partners)

Thanks to my very generous house mate Keith and my bike expert friend John I am now back on two wheels again. So, I cracked my carbon bike frame. Keith has a slightly larger Cannondale that he loaned to me. Keith’s gears are very aggressive compared to what I normally ride so John helped be strip down my frame and then he swapped the parts needed onto Keith’s frame (and by all that I mean he did almost all the work).

Yesterday I went for a short and easy ride along the water trail to make sure everything was adjusted correctly. I tweaked the bars a little and got a feel for the seat position.

This morning I got out early and went to the top of Grizz/Sky and back. The temprature was already in the mid 70’s (we’re in for record high tempratures today) and there was a stiff wind out of the East that made the hills a bit harder (what since I was heading East).

For sure I need to move the seat forward a few centimeters. Other than that the frame fits well and I feel comfortable riding it. It’s a different feel when riding for sure. The frame makes different noises going over some bumps. It’s a little stiffer than the carbon frame, but it’s a great bike to be riding.

Now I need to pack up my frame and ship it for repair (ugh). More info a things progress.

Well, Sunday was Day on the Ride where the ALC staff provides rest stops, a lunch stop, and has sweep vehicals. We rode from the Presidio to Sausalito, Larkspur, Fairfax, up to Nicasio, and out to CA-1 and up to the Marin French Cheese factory for lunch. We then turned around, went back through Samuel P. Taylor park and on Sir Francis Drake Road and back the way we came. In all it was supposed to be between 75 and 80 miles.

I had to stop at 73.25 miles when at the top of the last hill right before the Golden Gate Bridge my chain came off, wrapped around my bottom bracket, and brought my ride to an end. I got swept back to the Presidio to meet my friends and came back home.

Once at home I detangled my chain and started to inspect my bike. The right chainstay is cracked (it’s a carbon frame), probably from the tensions when the chain got wrapped up. Now I need to figure out what to do to get back on the road and for the ride. I’m still trying to figure out if I can get the frame repaired. More updates as they come.