Day 1 - 04 June 2006, San Francisco to Santa Cruz

Photos from Day 1

I woke up this morning at 04.30, got dressed, and then made sure Keith was up to drive me to the Cow Palace. I was surprised I actually got a good amount of sleep. I just kept thinking to myself "This is crazy, I can't believe I'm about to start riding my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles. What am I thinking? I'm not thinking, I should just go back to bed."

We got to the Cow Palace and Keith had to just drop me off as was expected. I dropped off my bag at the gear truck and headed inside to try and find some Team Luxo people. I didn't see anyone so I just headed to the opening ceremonies. There was stretching going on and I joined in. We then got speeches from the various heads of the organizations and had a moment of silence for those we've lost. Chris Cole, executive director of AIDS/LifeCycle came out publicly for the first time that he is HIV+. It was an incredibly brave move and one I'm glad he shared with us. We then headed to our bikes to get ready to ride.

The number of people lined up to cheer us on as we rolled out of the Cow Palace was amazing. Riding out en mass we took up a whole lane of the street for a while. At some point in a park we got stretched out a little more and rode more single file. We worked our way west and south towards I-280 and followed it on side roads towards CA-92. Turning on To CA-92 and getting ready to make our first real climb of the ride there was a woman standing on the side of the road with a sign that read "I was sick and you visited me" (paraphrased from Matthew 25:36). I didn't expect it to happen so soon, but there was someone thanking us for riding.

The climb up 92 wasn't hard at all and at the top we were treated to Taiko drumming from a crew including the wife of James from Team Luxo. Up until this point it had been fairly clear and sunny. At the top the clouds closed in and it got foggy for our decent into Half Moon Bay. Rest stop 2 was just south of Half Moon Bay (RS1 was about 7 miles from the start so I didn't stop there). This was my first experience with the wonderful snack that is similar in construction to an ice cream sandwich, but is graham crackers with a layer of peanut butter on each and a layer of jelly in between. It was perfect. Peanut butter and a bit of texture in a sandwich form. Simply awesome!

We rode on through the fog and mist and hit lunch at about the half-way point for the day. It ended up still being foggy there. We ate lunch, stretched a little, and waited for other people to show up. After about an hour some of us took off and climbed a little hill. Riding on we came out of the fog and it was a stunning day on the coast with a nice tail wind. On the way into Santa Cruz we say a large group of kite boarders doing tricks and jumps.

All along the route there were people cheering us and holding signs up. At one point there were women just giving away fresh strawberries to riders. Never have strawberries tasted so good. A little further down the road Team PIE's supporters were giving away slices of pies. It was super tasty and so very touching of them. On the Santa Cruz city limits there was a woman holding a sign up that said "Gary S., 1950-1996, Thank You!" and had a photo of a man. I couldn't hold back at that point and I lost it. Seeing someone stand all day just to thank us for what we were doing was too much to hold in. I later found out that the woman holding the sign is Gary's mother. Next year I will stop and give her a hug.

Getting into Santa Cruz it turned very hot, but we were very close to camp at that point. Turning into the park where camp was there were a whole host of people cheering and ringing cow bells for us. We checked in, got our gear, set up our tents and hit the showers. After we were settled we went to cheer the remaining riders into camp and look for the last few Team Luxo riders.

There are riders of all skill levels on the ride. Sometimes you pass people and sometimes you get passed. It's nice that we're all on our way to a common goal. I got more comments today on (a) the size of my calves, (b) the skull tattoo on my left calf, and (c) the $5k jersey I was wearing than I thought I would. Overall it was a great day and I'm looking forward with a little trepidation to my first century ride tomorrow.