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.
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.
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.
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