ALC Ride Day 4: Hills, Chickens, and 97 miles

Long day on #4. Get to the bikes and a ride sheet (pic) that just makes you weep. Thought Day 3 was the last of the big hills??

So what better outfit than the Ironman Arizona jersey...all those comments from folks saying "this must be easy" making you wince!! LOL
Never ending hills....(pic)

So ate many of THE best food on the trip - the PB&J graham crackers (pic). These things are like crack!

A long day with lots of wind - 15 mph with 25 mph gusts. And when you are leaning sideways to stay up straight and have trailers go past ...it's a white knuckle ride!

But the people here keep this amazing. Chicken outfits that are amazing (pic) - imagine passerbys face on that! Long lines to cross a road (pic) creates instant conversation points.

And the big highlight is HALFWAY TO LA!!!!!! Awesome!!!

ALC Ride Day 3: Birthday Sunshine

It's my birthday on Day 3 and the sunshine came out! A lower mileage day at 66 miles, but includes the legendary "quad buster" hill - 1500 feet incline over 1.5 miles.
On a normal day - fine - but on the 3rd day of cycling and camping - a tough challenge.
Made it!!! And enjoyed the downhill. :)

Ok what else? Sausage at 9am - gorgeous. BBQ cooked by local town. Biking part of the Wildflower course. And stopping at Mission San Miguel for the "best 4 house" (aka rest stop 4)

Photos below of the fun and beauty of the day.

Ended up at Paso Robles - with a luxury hotel stay. Mmmm

And heard so many stories of hope, courage, and victories through HIV. My fave was Louis, a 60 year old female diagnosed 20 years ago.
She's done the ALC ride for 17 years, and has always ridden - even when throwing up on the side of the road from new medications.
On top of that she is also the only female woman to have completed the 700 mile Paris-Brest-Paris ride, a non-stop ride for 90 hours. Not 1x but 5x in her life.
Now that puts life and courage into perspective.

ALC Ride Day 2 - Carnage!!

Oh man...never believe someone when they say 30% chance if rain and light winds.
It means a Cat 4 storm, wind at 20 mph, and 1400 riders trapped at aid stations.

It started with a standard morning (see picture) but rain came in at mile 17 and just got stronger. There was hail further up, thankfully didn't catch that. Route cancelled for most riders.

Did see riders crash on uphills (don't stand up on a wet hill) and skid out on turns, and hundreds of hypothermia cases (see photo 2)

Staff did a great job dealing with us all - and community spirit was a joy to see - everyone helping each other. We sheltered inside of trucks, churches, and schools. Got fed and watered. And got bused 60 miles to camp. (so only 40 miles ridden)

We had 3 hours in the rain, riding and standing, took its toll on us. Not quite hypothermia but chilled to the bone

Looking forward to a new day - especially as my birthday - and warm sunshine :)

ALC: Day 1 Highlights

Falling asleep right now after 85 miles....here are some highlights on Day 1

Lack of caffeine provided on the ride - no soda or coffee and by 10am this is what happened to Lucy...

Nigel in the meantime entertained himself with a new friend...

We did enjoy some sights together...gorgeous ocean for most of the day. Stopped a lot just to admire the views

Arrived at camp, got the tent, got lost in tent city, then put it up, showered in a mobile shower (more another day on that one)

And ate food!!! Lots of it (see it)

Finishing the evening with a full moon at tent city...

Good night! Tomorrow is 109 miles

ALC Ride - it's 5am!!!

OMG it's waaaay too early to be up, and we have to cycle 82 miles today.

The suitcases had to be re-worked a couple of times ...check out a selection of the daily hydration and energy food items.

They say that you burn 3,500 calories a day ...good as I've had a cinnamon bun, ensure, red bull, and banana and it's not even 6am yet!!

Photo this morning of us...we look bad...but likely the best we'll look. Lol!

Okey dokey - saying my prayers this morning for the Daddy Browns of the world. May we find a cure for AIDs.

Ride on!

ALC Ride: the final prep

Hello everyone - going to be blogging along the way on the ALC ride.
All based on quality of cell coverage - aiming for 1x per day

Day 0
At Cow Palace today going through the various stops...register here, safety video here, drop off bike....

Cow Palace is a historic venue with JFK speaking here to Red Hot Chili Peppers....today though it's just 3,000 bikers and roadies.

I think I should be nervous for the ride (Nigel certainly is, but he does have quite a hangover to get over), but I find I am actually more nervous about the packing...can I get it all in 1 bag?
I'm not really known to be a light packer...

Photos attached of the safety video and the packing....

Going now to eat, pack, eat....sleep!!

Test from phone

Testing app to blog from phone