Ventura to Santa Monica Pier

The morning is definitely warmer.  I am not needing arm warmers this morning.  Unfortunately, two of the Delta team are not able to join us.  Tyson, who is a below knee amputee didn't suit up.  I have ridden with him since the first day of the ride.  He has been battling skin breaking down behind his knee from rubbing on his prosthesis.  The other DNS (Did Not Start) was Monica (aka Coco, as in Coco Crisp).  She got that nickname after wearing her Oakland A's jersey one day.  She was having knee problems, too.  She was also with us from day one.

Mike and Tyson Carter on Day 1

Last Day on the road.

We rolled down the road as one big happy group.  The only group to start later was the A group.  They don't like to wait for anyone so they leave late.  We rolled down through Oxnard, Point Mugu and then along the PCH towards Santa Monica.  As we get to Point Mugu, there were ambulances and fire trucks with a big flag waving on the side of the road.  This happened to be a good thing.  I don't know if it was the emergency vehicles or the fighter jets on display behind them, but as I move over a bit to take a looksy upline, one of the riders (John) went down like a rock.  He hit the ground HARD.  His head smacked hard and I knew it was bad.  I quickly rode ahead to the EMT's and told them we had a man down.  I was glad they were so close.  We continued down the PCH to our rest stop.  As I am riding, Rob, yup the same one, was talking to me.  He told me John would be back.  I was dubious, but he said it was for sure.  Smacking his head or not.  Sure enough, John got out of a support car at the rest stop and grabbed his bike.  He had his leg bandaged up and that is all.  I asked to look at his helmet.  A few scratches, but no dent.  I couldn't believe it.

You could tell we had been on the road for a week.  We were feeling edgy.  Things that wouldn't bug us were annoying to us.  People not holding their line, not keeping consistent speed.....  With 10 miles to go, we re-grouped so that we could ride in as one BIG line.  I took the opportunity to pull out my sharpy and have my new friends sign the back of my R2R jersey.  I plan to get it framed and hang it at work.

When we roll again we have to pass by a nasty auto accident on the PCH that included a fatality.  All traffic was stopped except for us.  This section (Malibu to Santa Monica) was the most active of the whole ride.  Everybody was at the beach or driving up the coast.  Newbies to California were impressed with all of the hubbub.  The LA Sheriff's cycling team joined us for the final miles.  As we rode, a sheriff's boat was out on the water blowing its horn at us and then racing up the coastal water with its siren blaring.

 The crowd waiting for us was awesome.  We rode under the pier, up a slight incline, two left turns and then we were on the pier.  I saw Josh, Dionne's hubby, as I rolled through.  I parked my bike and got into line for some grub.  It was delicious.

J.R. our Harley Angel.  He stayed with Delta all week keeping us safe.  Thanks J.R.

On the Pier at the finish.  Glad to be done.

Everybody was slapping backs and enjoying being done.  The sense of accomplishment for these people was palpable. Chris/Tin-Tin was excited, "I made it, man".  Rob is hoping to get out of town tonight to beat the hurricane that is bearing down on the east coast.  Jorge is going to rest up and then decide on his future.  Maybe Sacramento after separating from the Army.  Kristina will go back to being a commander at Fort Lewis.  Corey has leave until the 4th where he will come home to Hayward and show his girl around.  She had never been on a plane or seen the ocean until yesterday.  I am not sure what Dontre will be doing.  Todd and Sean will head back home and get ready to lead more challenges next year.  As for Dionne, she will go back to rubbing people the right way with her massage business.  Me, I was on a flight back up north at 8 pm and was in my bed by 12:45.  I will get back to work and life on Monday.

Thanks to all of you who contributed to my ride.  Thank you to my corporate sponsors.  I talked you up to all who would listen!!

Thanks for joining me on the ride.

Solvang to Ventura

Mike in white and Kristina in green

Dionne in upper left corner in green

Solvang to Ventura

Today is Friday but, also costume day.  There were some doozies.  The "cop" is named Hunter and he is from Idaho.  Yesterday, he had a full beard.  Dionne called him "Fuzzy Face".  He obviously changed that situation for costume day.  One guy was dressed like Captain America.  There was Gumby, and finally there was a guy who dressed up in fishnet stockings (red), corset (red), a wig (blonde) and then underwear that were blue with stars.  Similar to what you would expect Capt. America to wear.  He and Hunter wore their costumes with pride.

Gumby- Don't know who was underneath, but it had to get warm in there!

I am feeling pretty good in the legs department.  They feel used, but not out of gas.  We have a significant climb today.  Its anywhere from 3-5 miles, depending on who you talk to.  The frosting on the cake and something everybody agrees on is that the descent is an 8-mile drop with a very high "WooooHoooo" factor.  So far, the hills have been challenging, but not any more so than we ride in the Napa/Sonoma area.  Of course, pace has a huge impact.  This climb (San Marcos Pass) comes around 17 miles into todays stage.  Can't you here Phil, Paul and Bob saying that?  When the climb comes, I started with Rob, the NCO I talked about in previous posts.  He took off up the hill.  Not knowing the climb, I just started climbing steadily.  The grade didn't get above 6% and frequently dropped to 4%.  I caught up to Rob with a mile to go (it was a little more than 3 miles).  We rode to the top together.  For our group, we were the first two to the top and Dionne was third,  but not by much.  We almost got "chicked".  Getting chicked is when a girl passes you on a climb.  Never a good thing!!
Now the descent.  We are cleared to go at our own pace, which we do.  Six of us went down quickly.  Not quite at terminal velocity, but not because we didn't try.  There were two lanes going down the hill, which gave cars one lane to themselves.  We utilized the other one and nothing with four wheels came close to passing us.

Melannie

From there we rolled through Santa Barbara for lunch.  After lunch,  I told Todd, our leader, that I would watch our  back end since the normal guy, Sean, was not there.  I enjoyed sitting/riding in the back of the bus.  I don't like riding in the middle of the bunch.  Too much yo-yo action.  It's either front or back for me.  So, nobody gets behind me. For the last half of the ride, I rode with Melannie.  She has some lower back and right leg problems (nerve damage).  She basically pedals with her left leg with the right one helping as able.  She is one of the riders that had never ridden a bike before this ride.  She wasn't great on skills, but she also didn't give up.   Its me and then the Shimano support vehicle.  Robert, one of the R2R staffers, was also back there.  He likes to move up and down the line a lot.  At one point as we were riding down Highway 1, he came to me and told me he was going to ride on the wet, hard packed sand when we got to one particular section.  Sure enough, next thing I know he stopped carried his bike over the rock wall to get to the beach.  It wasn't long before I saw him flying up the beach on his bike "WhooHooing" and waving at everybody.  It was kind of cool riding down PCH although it was rough road.
At our arrival at the Marriott in Ventura, we were greeted with In-n-Out burgers (double-double's).  There was an In-n-Out across the street from our hotel and I guess they made us a bunch of burgers.  It didn't last long in my hands.  It was SO good.  Yeah, I was that hungry.
We ate at the Kiwanis Lodge for dinner.  We were joined by a WWII veteran.  His name is Artie and he was a Tuskegee Airman.  Impressive.  He also impressed me with his grip.  He almost broke my hand!  Almost.  It is always somebody's birthday at dinner, whether it actually is or not.  Unfortunately, yesterday was mine.  When it is your "birthday" you have to stand on your chair while John Wordin (ride director) roasts you and then everybody sings Happy Birthday to you.  Barb told him I had been helping her tape and so it became my birthday.   It was a nice gesture, although unnecessary.
Tomorrow is our last day.  It has been a fast week.  I thought the week would be more difficult.  I am not saying I didn't work hard, because I did.  I had just imagined something different.  I imagined being more wiped out than I am.  I am stiff (the hot tub last night helped) and my butt and hands/wrists need a break.  Overall, I am doing well.  Until tomorrow, Ciao.

Pismo to Solvang

Pismo to Solvang

Four down, three to go.  We are going to Danish country.  The day ended up being 66 miles. It was a relatively easy day.  There were mostly rollers, with a couple of big hills.

Group photo behind our hotel in Pismo.

Here is how it happened.

Had a great night sleeping.  We have taping clinic in one hotel and have to come back over to our hotel for our group photo.  I have been helping out with taping the riders before we leave in the mornings.  The main person for taping (Barb) is a PT based out of Virginia, I think, and she has been eager to have me show her some new ways of dealing with injuries, overuse injuries  and whatever else shows up in the morning using Rocktape.  Happy to oblige.  I have been doing a lot of knees, Achilles tendons, necks and low backs.  Many of the taping jobs are for trauma sustained by the soldiers as opposed to spending too much time on a bike.  Lots of scars getting taped up.  People have come up to me telling me how surprised they are that the tape actually works.  I shrug my shoulders and tell them how it works and that it is just crazy that it helps.  Barb showed me a new technique for patellar tendon pain using taping underwrap.  It basically is the same as a Cho-Pat strap that supports the tendon.  You just wrap the underwrap around the leg a few times roll it up into place and "voila" (Did I spell that right?) you have a support for the knee.  Anyway, I have all of my gear put together prior to going to taping because I don't have time after taping to throw everything together prior to the Ride Briefing.

Ride briefing is given by Bruce Gustafson (aka: Barney Fife).  Every time he comes up to talk everybody says, "Bruuuuuuuuuce". This is where we learn anything special about the route for the day.  We mount up and take off.  Today, we are heading to Solvang.  I have been there one time before when I did my first century (100 mile bike ride) back in 1988.  We roll out of Pismo and are joined by some middle schoolers on bikes that ride at the front of the pack.  Their teacher has promised us that they have practiced taking out as many of us riders as they can in one shot.  Just kidding.  As we pass by their school we give the students high fives that are standing on the curb/sidewalk.  After leaving the school area, we got into a nice little groove on our way to lunch.  D and I are still riding with Delta Group.  Why?  I have mentioned that they are slow, right?  Not to steady on the bike, right?  Well, they have become our peeps.  Yeah its a little slow for my liking, but we have developed friendships with this group.  As we are rolling along, Todd (group leader) got called back to control the back of the "train".  Guess who got to drive the bus?  Oh yeah, and I was ready to close the door, turn off the safety lights and deliver the kids to school!  He told me and Adam (OK, I was a co-driver with one of the R2R people) to keep the speed around 16-17 mph.  No problem, I thought.  As we rolled on it just felt right to bump it up a tad.  16-17-18-19 and before we knew it we were cruising at around 20 mph.  The kids were having fun in the back too.  As sometimes happens, some of the kids got a little "car-sick" (tired) with the pace and we had to slow it down.  We were riding single file (vs. side-by-side) and Rob, an NCO (non-commisioned officer) was riding up and down the line encouraging (OK, yelling at) his troops forward.  I dropped back a few people to help pull "Utah" (He is from Utah, hence the name) into the feed zone.  He is so gung-ho Army.  There is a little rise in the road up to lunch.  He is behind me yelling, "We are going to take this hill.  Come on you guys.  Let's GO!"  I had to laugh, as did everyone else.

After lunch we continued to Solvang.  We had a stiff climb (around one mile) into a stiffer headwind.  Then after passing alongside Vandenburg Air Force Base (home of a space shuttle) we had rollers all of the way into Solvang.  I somehow got kicked out of the drivers seat when one of the girls came to the front talked to Adam and then took my spot.  Now we were going to continue at her pace!  As it turned out, she wasn't going any slower than we were.

Our hotel room was next to Sean's room.  Sean is a Marine I met on the 92 mile day, when he ran out of gas while climbing up to the phantom rest stop we couldn't find.  I know, we didn't find it because we passed it.  If you have ever watched the TV series "Black Sheep Squadron", Sean reminds me of "Sarge".  Sarge is the cigar smoking, mechanic who is always mad at Pappy for breaking something on his plane.  Sean is a cool guy.

We ate at a hall in town as we have done most every night.  I am amazed at how gracious the people are that have fed and taken care of us along this trip.

Tomorrow we head to Ventura.  Getting close to "home".

San Simeon to Pismo

I know, I am a day late on this posting.  We had a wonderful hotel last night, but we were at the end of the building and the wi-fi was weak.  I could have done it on my iPhone, but it is a pain to do that much typing.  Here goes.  277
Leaving San Simeon started a "recovery" day.  The distance was only 52 miles, with a few rollers.  We were able to cruise along at a blistering 12 mph.  It was crazy sock day today.  I didn't have any crazy socks.  I have white socks for exercising, colored work/church socks and cycling socks in varying concepts of black.  I have some socks knitted for me by my German friend that are in the colors of the German flag.  Not so great for cycling.  After breakfast, I worked on Jorge's (see yesterday's post) back.  It was to be a relatively light day, but he still had some hills to push Thea up.  He was wearing these striped socks with bacon strips wearing sunglasses.  I don't get it either.  He mentioned he had some other socks I could use.  I said, "OK" out of courtesy and then let it go.  I proceeded to the hotel lobby for taping riders before the days ride.  I am having fun taping and telling people how well it works.  ANYWAY, I was standing outside waiting for the riders brief when Jorge walks up with his socks for me to wear.  They were pink, orange, black and white argyle knee high socks.  Of course I put them on.  Are you crazy?  As we rolled out of San Simeon, the town was on the side of the road and we rode under this flag.

We continued on down the rode and I was riding up front with Todd (aka: Tugboat.  I didn't make that one up).  We came upon the R2R photographer and I was able to display my socks. If you look at the following picture, you will notice one sock is up and one is down.  That is because I was hot with them up and had pushed them down.  I saw the photographer with just enough time to kind of get one up.

This is a picture of Thea in the low rider, Jorge (check out the socks) and Ed (aka Ricky).

We rolled along to our lunch break which was on Cal-Poly (San Luis Obispo).  After lunch we continued on towards Pismo as one big rolling group.  On the way we met up with an elementary school that was standing on the side of the road waiting for us.  Anybody who wanted to was able to high five the kids.  It was fun.

We are now 277 miles into this and are over half way to LA.
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Talk tomorrow

Carmel to San Simeon

Today was a Jekyl and Hyde kind of day.  Oh wait, that was yesterday.  Today was incredible on so many levels.  This was the day I was fearing the most.  It had climbing and distance.  Both of which are fine, but can get me into trouble.  Here is how it unfolded.
The day started cool, but "dry".  We were on the coast so it was a little wet.  We were riding from Carmel to San Simeon which includes the Big Sur region and all of those beautiful spots you see in coffee table books.  Dionne and I rode with Delta group again.  Slow and steady is the rule of Delta Force.  We rode the first 15 or so miles as a group.  Well actually after about 7 miles, they broke Delta into two groups.  Thank goodness.  At 10 mph we would still be riding!  After 15 miles, our group leader kind of gave us some rope and three of us jumped off the front.  We rode the next 35 or so miles on our own.  We got into a great paceline and chewed up the miles to the first rest stop which was at 25ish miles.  Unfortunately, one of the guys thought the stop was up the hill so we blew by the rest stop without seeing it.  Our plan was to meet up with our group again and continue on with them.  We waited and waited for about 20 minutes without them showing up.  So we set out to the next stop, lunch. We added a couple more guys to the group and pushed on to lunch at the 50 mile mark. Dionne didn't arrive until I was basically done eating lunch.  My intention was to leave with Delta to finish the day.  Didn't happen.
Thea, the paraplegic I told you about, has a "pusher" who helps her up the hills by using his front wheel to push against a bar on the back of her chariot.  His name is Jorge.  Pushing is heavy work.  He says it is like riding with your brakes rubbing on your wheel.  Anyway, he has lower back issues and the extra effort had his low back in a foul mood.  I took him to the big USO motorhome that provides us lunch and he laid down on a bench so that I could release his low back (strain-counterstrain style).  He was amazed and grateful for the relief.  Upon exiting the motorhome, my group had left the feed zone.  Instead of chasing them down, I decided to stay with Jorge, Thea and Ed (aka: Ricky Ricardo) to get to the finish.  We climbed a ton, but it wasn't bad because my pace was slow.  I became the pilot for Thea.  On downhills, she gets to zipping pretty fast and since she is low to the ground it is helpful to have a rider in front of her to show her the way down the hill.  So, I tried to stay 50 or so yards in front of her, calling out obstacles and giving her a path to follow.  The four of us stayed together to the finish.  We didn't end up doing the extra eight miles for the full 100.  My compatriots didn't want to do it and I thought a nice shower sounded good.
Tin-Tin update:  He only rode a few miles today.  His knees are "killing" him.  He is going to give it a go at some point tomorrow.  We are traveling past an elementary school that is planning to welcome us along the road.  He wants to be a part of that.  Even though he didn't ride, when I pulled in to the hotel at the end of the ride, I heard "Way to go, Mike".  I looked around and there he was.  All smiles and happy for me that I made it safe.  He is a good kid.

Lone Cypress-17 Mile Drive

Tomorrow is a relatively short day at 53 miles with only a couple small climbs.  I don't know what small means, but will find out tomorrow.

Thea's Ride

Santa Cruz to Carmel

So today was a Jekyl and Hyde kind of day.  The weather forecast stated "drizzle".  As usual, they were wrong! Not only did it rain, it was cold.  Being a Boy Scout (OK not really), I was prepared.  Most important were my rain jacket and booties for my shoes.  Riding through the rain was bad enough, but south of Watsonville, we were riding along roads the farm workers use.  Mud and clumps of dirt everywhere.  If you didn't stagger yourself with the person riding in front of you, a rooster tail painted you with mud.  At our first stop, north of Seaside, we tried to warm up, but it just wasn't possible.  We were with Delta Company again today.  Of course the pace was slower than I would like, but more than that, I just was afraid of somebody wiping out in front of me or not giving enough space behind me to stop and then crashing into me.  I worried for nothing and survived without a scratch. Oh, we rode right past MBA's front gate.  Only Dionne knew the significance of that particular driveway.
As we came into Seaside the sun was out and glorious.  From Seaside to Carmel, the weather was perfect.  The ride along 17-Mile Dr. was clear and the ocean brilliant blue.  People who had never been to the area were in awe of the beauty.  I got our group leader to stop at the Lone Cypress tree.  I told him it is the icon of the area and people need to see it.  We decided to have a Delta Group photo which required us to get Thea our of her carriage.  I will post a picture of her cool machine.  I don't know her story, but she is a paraplegic.  She totally rocks.  She has "pedaled" all of these miles with her arms.  Anyway, a couple guys picked her up and sat her on top of a split rail fence (yes, they held on to her!) and then we gathered around her for our photo.  All of the tourists who stopped were taking pictures of all of us, especially the American Legion riders and their Harley's!
When we arrived at the hotel in Carmel, the main "wrench" (aka, mechanic) for R2R was waiting with a pressure washer.  All of our bikes got washed down, which took the load off of us for taking our rides into the shower with us.  Just kidding about taking the bikes into the shower. Maybe.
Quote of the Day from Tin-Tin:  I put it (jacket) in the Shamu car!  You mean Shimano?  Yeah, thats what I said!  He showed up to and ate dinner in a bath robe because he had just finished with a massage.
Tomorrow is the queen stage of the ride.  The 92 miler from Carmel to San Simeon.  Many people are talking about adding 8 miles for a full century.  I will get through 92 and then I can think about the extra eight.

Chris

This is a pic of Tin-Tin and me after finishing in Santa Cruz.

Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz

So, we got through the first day of riding.  We were split up into four groups Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta.  Thats A, B, C, D, for us civilians.  The A(advanced)  group was for people who ride a lot.  The D group (novice) was for those who have never ridden bikes before.  NO, I am not kidding. The A and B groups rode 80 miles today and the C and D groups rode 53 miles.  Dionne and I rode with the D group because we were only going to ride the 53 miles. We started in Half Moon Bay after being bussed over from near the San Fran airport.  It was coolish, but nice.  It was cool having guys on Harley's be our gurardian angels as we rode along.  They blocked intersections for us so that we wouldn't have to stop.  I have to admit the pace was slow, but kept telling myself its about the long haul.
Now about Chris, aka "Tin-Tin".  Dionne named him that because he has a "wave" with his hair in the middle of his head.  He is cool kid who announced to a number of us last night that he had never ridden more than 25 miles at a time.  EVER.  We all went, "What?"  He is just one of those happy, naive, no worries kind of kid.  Dionne and I have adopted him to make sure he is taken care of.   He came up to me before we left today asking me when we put "these things on" referring to his cycling shoes.  I told him to wait until we were outside.  Then when we got to our starting point, i noticed that he didn't have a water bottle.  He had left it with his bag at the hotel.  No problem, he thought, he could just wait for the rest stop 27 miles down the road.  We found him a bottle and he was fine.  He was glad when we arrived in Santa Cruz and pleased that he had just doubled his distance on a bike.
We ate dinner at the Santa Cruz chapter of the Elks Lodge.  We arrived in a couple of buses at the lodge and were greeted by Boy and Girl Scouts waving flags and thanking all of the vets.  Even though I am not a vet, I was proud for them.
Tomorrow, we head to Carmel.  This includes the famous 17-Mile Drive.  Sounds like it could be a little wet, but so be it.  Until tomorrow.  Mike

San Fran to Santa Cruz

Sunday morning here we go. D (Dionne, my cousin) and i arrived at the depart hotel before 7, ate breakfast and got our gear ready to be transported to Santa Cruz. I volunteered to help tape (Rolling with Rocktape) this morning. They moved the start point up 8 or so miles. Weather should be cool but dry. I will tell you about Tin-Tin when i blog tonight.
Ciao

And it begins

Arrived at the rendezvous point for the R2R ride. Dionne and i got registered including our "goody" bag. It contained an R2R jersey, bibs and socks, towel, cool T-shirt, chamois cream packets, sunblock spray, bike bottle and oh , band-aids. All of this, mind you, in a pretty cinch-bag. We had our orientation meeting and had a mandatory skills class on cornering and braking with "Gramps" (aka Jim Penseyres). Jim is a BKA (below the knee amputee) and has ridden the RAAM (Race Across America). A very nice guy.
Had a great dinner and made some new friends.

Testing

We are testing out the mobile app to ensure I can add to it on the road.

Old Howell & Bike-A-Thon

  A couple photos taken on a ride April 28. This time I was on the St Helena side of our mountain. These pictures were taken climbing Old Howell Mtn. Rd just past the split to lake Hennessy.  Old Howell and Ink Grade look similar.  Just 1 mile difference in distance noted on the sign (see previous post).

Skylar and I took part in the Pathfinder Bike-A-Thon.  He was able to get all 50 miles (actually 51.44) in for his cycling honor.  It was a nice day, but very windy.  I calculated it to be 15-20 mph wind.  We rode on a 4+ mile "loop" which was actually riding out a road 2 miles turning around and coming back on the other side of the road.  The headwind was our outbound leg and the return leg was with the wind at our backs.  Skylar rode most of his miles with Ang's mountain bike, but borrowed his buddy's road bike to finish his last two loops.  After the first loop he came back and was amazed at how fast he was on the bike.

I need to get my year started with riding outside.  I have been riding in spin class, but it isn't the same as getting out into the fresh air.  April started with me getting sick for the first couple of  weeks.  I am finally feeling better and the weather has cooperated.      

 I had a nice ride through PV (Pope Valley) Sunday morning.  Gorgeous day for a ride!  The legs were a little heavy, but better than what I would have expected.  I can't wait to get this party started with preparing for the Ride2Recovery. The training will be more fun than the fundraising.  That is for sure.

Getting my new blogsite set up