Day 7 - 10 June 2006, Ventura to Los Angeles

Photos from Day 7

We got to our bikes and started riding as a group on our last day. When we got to our bikes we saw that every bike had a yellow plastic egg on the seat. Inside were a couple of pieces of candy and a note from "The Chicken Lady," a rider that signed up for the rides 13 years ago. His friends told him "You can't ride a bicycle that far. You're a chicken." He signed up for the ride anyway and adopted the name "The Chicken Lady." He's done the ride every year since and dresses everyday as a chicken with a rubber chicken attached to his seat. The note reads:

ALC Rider,

Thank you for riding. You have just
performed an egg-straordinary challenge. I
hope you were as egg-cited as I was to ride.

By doing so you have given a person
another walk along the beach, another sunset,
another hug, another dance, another chance.

You are egg-ceptional.

Love, The Chicken Lady

That made my morning. By the way, a few years ago The Chicken Lady's bike was falling apart so people on the ride pitched in and bought a new bike. They had it customized with 'Poultry In Motion' on the frame.

We went along the bike path through camp and then quickly we were on the streets of Ventura. Shortly after that we were on the PCH and next to it going past Pt. Mugu Naval Station. Our first rest stop was a vista point on the PCH. It seemed that a lot of people got there at the same time and the lines for the port-a-potties were crazy long. Having had the best breakfast of the entire ride this morning (eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage) I only snacked a little, peed, got more liquids and then started off down the PCH again. Heading to Malibu there were some climbs, but mostly rollers.

I stopped along the coast and finally got a picture with Ginger Brewlay. Continuing on into Malibu I came up on rest stop 2. It was a steep enough downhill that you had to get off your bike. It was an overcast day and I still had enough water to carry me to the lunch stop so I decided not to enter. There were a few more medium sized hills on the 12 miles to lunch. It was kind of cool passing places I knew the names of but had never scene, Pepperdine University, Zuma Beach, and Malibu in general.

We had lunch at the Malibu Lagoon State Beach. Kevin told us he used to surf there as a kid. We saw many surfers going to and from the beach, including several really cute women. Maybe I should take up surfing. As we were enjoying our lunch rest the park started to get really crowded. The line was starting to wrap around the park so we left.

James, Thomas, Kathryn, Arena, and I rode the rest of the way to the VA center together. It was fairly flat along the way. The only downside was we had to ride with parked cars on our right and traffic on our left with a very small area to ride in. Luckily riding in a pack made us more visible. At one point James pulled to right to talk to a moto safety guy and everyone in front of me slowed down. I didn't hear the call of "stopping" or "slowing" and the next thing I knew Thomas was moving to the left and the end of a guard rail was right in front of me. I jammed on my brakes and started to skid out. At that point I thought I was going to either slam into the guard rail or spill out into traffic, but I was able to control my bike and get around Thomas without falling. I was a bit pissed off at first, mostly because we were within 10 miles of finishing the ride and I didn't want that to be the end for me.

Continuing on and being a bit calmer we shifted over to a bike path. After a short bit and then we came to the one point where everyone has to walk, a tunnel under the highway. We all dismounted, walked down, through the tunnel, and back up. The tunnel was quite echoy so we all made noises. Getting to the other side there were a couple of startled looking pedestrians that we re-assured it was just people having fun. A short distance up the road we hit our last climb. We rode up that and then had a long ride on San Vicente Blvd. Right as we got near to the VA center we had to negotiate a few more lights and turns. The group held up and waited so we could ride in together. Alas, there was one more block long climb to get up to the VA center. We were in a group and I kept in a pretty big gear to get up it. I was standing on the pedals and I could feel the excitement in me. I actually caught up to James and Thomas going up the hill. We turned right and then left and we were into the last stop for the ride.

Rolling in the street was lined with people cheering us in. I was excited and overwhelmed at the same time. As we got to bike parking Thomas' friend Steve met us with a cooler of ice cold Miller High Life. Never has MHL tasted so good. I'm sure we were breaking rules, but really, I didn't care. We went over and grabbed our 'victory' t-shirts (not quite "I rode my bike from SF to LA and all I got was this t-shirt") and then we pretty much went our seperate ways. I knew I had a little longer to wait for my Chad, Chris and Athena to show up so I went and cheered in riders. It was great to see the looks of accomplishment, relief, and joy on peoples faces. There were even a couple of people that burst into tears.

Eventually the last rider came in followed by the moto saftey motorcycles and cars. The crowd was cheering so loud you could barely hear the motorcycles. After that the riders started forming up for the closing ceremonies. As I was waiting there Chad and his sister Joslyn walked by. As much as I felt like seeing the closing I was tired and really wanted a shower and some food. I went and checked my bike into shipping, grabbed by bag, and then met up with Chris and Athena. Next year maybe I can stick around for the closing, maybe I'll be in a better frame of mind for it.

Overall this experince has been incredible. At first I wasn't sure if I could do it. Then on the ride I didn't think I'd want to do it. Now I don't want it to end. I thought I would be wiped out at the end in LA, but I feel great. Thomas had the biggest grin on his face and I think that's how I feel. I've accomplished a lot and I will be doing it again next year. I'll be wiser about it and I'll know what to expect, but it will still be a fantastic time.

Along the ride people kept calling us heros. I don't agree with that for me. I'm just a guy that had some very generous friends who helped him raise a lot of money for HIV and AIDS services and then got on a bike and rode from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Along the way I got to have fun, meet a lot of really great people, and have a life changing experience. If that makes me a hero in some peoples eyes then I'm not going to try and change their mind, but to me I'm still just a guy that will be riding this ride until no one is suffering from AIDS and HIV.