DAY 5- Red Dress Day

We all love Red Dress Day- its the shortest day mileage wise (although there are lots of hills) and we get to dress up all silly and take pictures of ourselves!

Michael and I spent the night princessing at a local hotel in Santa Maria, but got back to camp early enough to eat a hearty breakfast. We took lots of pictures while waiting in line to get food...

Here's a group shot of all of us before we rode out for the day.


I rode out under overcast skies, and stopped at a local coffee shop for a mocha. While I was there, hundreds of cyclists on bikes also stopped. There I ran into Donald, looking much like Barbara Bush- with his red dress, proper hat and of course white fishnet stockings on.

Also present were Irish Greg and Chris, in their proper attire:
the day was loads of fun, and full of laughter. We stopped (ok a few of us stopped) at an ice cream truck along the way, to fill up on sugar before we climbed one mega hill into rest stop two in Casmalia...
(me, in front of the ice cream truck in my red dress...) I kept trying to talk people into stopping to eat ice cream, but they didn't believe me when I told them there was a hill ahead. They wanted to rush on. Imagine the curses they said under their breath when we hit the hill- the sugar kicked into my system and I passed them while saying... "I TOLD you, you'd need the sugar for a hill!! next time you'll listen to me...." Yah I can be a nagging bitch. :-)

Anyhow, I stopped in Casmalia to dance in the street with a hundred others. One of the local shop owners plays DJ to our group and blasts music on to the main street. We all stop, eat some barbecue and dance for a few before getting back on our bikes to climb the next hill, and the next and the next.

The route takes us past the entrance to Vandenburg Air Force Base. Normally we stop and take pictures in front of the sign. This year they got tired of us and had some guard come and tell us to leave.... no sense of humor, those military guys.

Anyhow, I eventually rode to the lunch stop feeling a nasty 'bout of acid reflux coming on... at that point Chris, Greg, Shance, Donald and Wayne said they were going to go into town for some mexican food before heading back to camp. At that point all I really wanted was a glass of milk and the thought of spicy food with my acid reflux made me shudder.

At lunch I sat with Charlie, Steveo, and their friend (who's name i cannot remember!), Doreen and her brother, and Tony- one of my newbie riders on the Tib Loop... it was a really nice day and I tried to take a nap but the acidy reflux stuff was just too much. So I hopped on my bike for the last 8 or so miles back to camp. I met Michael there (Yay! with the tent already set up!) and we hung out for the rest of the evening.
Me, hanging out--------->

ALC Day 3 and 4.... specifics

Ok.... um lets see what I can remember. Day 3 was Quadbuster Day! I met 3 other Velo Girls (see photo) at 7am for a Velo Girls photo shoot.... there were four of us all together: Michelle, Tati, Me and Winnie. Michael waited while we took photos, then together we rode out toward the rolling warm up hills of Quadbuster- he of course dropped me so I hooked up with Makoto and rode the warm up hills with he and Doreen. Soon I was rolling into rest stop one, which is just before the actual climb to the 'buster, directing people to the shorter porta pottie lines and soothing over peoples nerves.... I remember my first time on Quadbuster- I burst into tears at the top of the hill, so relieved that it was over. I think a few people did that this time around as well.
After climbing to the top, I put my bike down and cheered others on and took pictures of riders expressions as they reached the top. (you can see them here )

Donald and Chris decided this was the year they would do Quadbuster twice- and they did- and said that "no it is not any easier than the first time..."LOL!

The hill after Quadbuster is a nice descent, so the three of us road for awhile toward rest stop 2 where we had ice cream (popsicles) then continued on in the heat of the day toward the next rest stop and eventually lunch in Bradley. Before Rest stop 3 we found a post office/ market in a 2 building town (I can't even remember the name of it!) where we ate hawaiian potato chips, sunflower seeds and diet coke! After a brief stop there, it was on to rest stop 3 and more ice cream.... it was the hottest day yet.

In Bradley, we were late enough that they had already run out of burgers, but also late enough that they had already made the next run for food and were re-stocked by the time we arrived.

After stuffing ourselves, we rode on in the heat onto highway 101 (yes, it freaks me out every year!) and to the last rest stop at the Mission whatchamacallit. Sorry, but my now I was so hot and tired that I can't even remember the name of the place, except that RS 4 was the "After prom party" with pregnant homecoming queen and all. :-)

On to Paso Robles... the last stretch is a short climb then on to rolling hills toward the fairgrounds. At one point in the road, there was orange spray paint, pointing out a gnarly pothole that was like a moon crater and we needed to avoid. I found out later that day the pothole was not marked, until after Michael crashed into it.... OW OW OW.

I rolled into bike parking, parked and headed toward the tent where I was so happy that Michael had made it in before me and had set up the tent. That was when he walked up (limped up) and told me that he had crashed.

His right arm was bandaged after getting 2 stitches, and his right hip was swelled up so badly, I thought that it had been bandaged too because it was soooo huge compared to the other side.

I had decided that I would not Princess in Paso Robles, but it turned out that Yoichi was princessing and invited Michael to stay in the hotel room to be a bit more comfortable. Michael took him up on the offer, and I called trusty Ken Gaskins (SAG driver extraordinaire) to please give him a lift.

It's no fun staying in a tent by yourself overnight. Even though I had Charlie and Mark to keep me company next door- it took awhile to fall asleep...

On day 3 I actually was on the road for 10 hours! However only 5 hours and 20 minutes of that was actually cycling! The rest of the time it was socializing and eating!

Day 4: Paso Robles to Santa Maria. Evil Twins Day. Cartman Jersey Day.

I awoke early to get coffee, breakfast and take down the tent. Michael came back from his hotel stay and I helped him pack up his bag and dragged it to the gear trucks for him. He was obviously going to SAG today, as he was put on medical hold by the Medical Team because of his injuries.

About 2 months ago, I sent out an email and posted a message on the forum to invite people to wear the Cartman jersey. The back of the jersey says "Man, You Guys Suck!" which is about what you're thinking as you climb the Evil Twins on this day. I think about 40 people wore the jersey that day, and I got pictures of a few of them here

The road over the Evil Twins also takes you to the Halfway to LA point. Here, 7 of us got together to pose in our evil twin Cartman Jerseys:







<------Charlie, John, Lorenzo, Julie, Carl, Bill and Wayne looking evil.




It-was soo much fun- people kept asking us where we got the jerseys, and all I could say was "didn't you get the memo?"

So onward down toward Hwy 1 we rolled, and on to Rest Stop 2 which is right along the ocean. After a short break there, we continued on to Cayucos where we stopped for coffee and a danish... then of course lunch and RS 3. Afterwards it was a nice ride to Pismo Beach where we stopped for our traditional coffee and fresh baked cinnamon rolls with icing. yum!

That was just enough sugar and caffeine to get us over the last big hill and through the cross winds as we made our way toward RS 4. As we approached RS 4, Chris and I decided to skip it and ride on, since it seemed as if the winds were getting stronger. One quick turn and the wind was at our backs, blowing us along toward camp. WOO HOO! Day 4 was a Princess Night, Michael and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Santa Maria. SAG driver Ken was rewarded with a stay on the roll out sofa and a bathroom of porcelain for helping us out the night before.

The next day was Red Dress Day. You can imagine what that was like!

AIDS Lifecycle 5 Day 3 &4

Photo's are up! Click Here
It is 10:47 on Day 4. I'm beat and will go to sleep shortly....
In a nutshell:
Day 3 was Quadbuster Day. I rode with lots of people, but mainly Chris and Donald. I started the Day with Michael, but the bugger is so strong that he soon dropped me and I didn't see him until I got back to camp, where I found out he had hit a pothole on the last stretch into camp- and crashed badly. He got stitches in his elbow, and is on medical hold (can't ride ) Day 4. He now has a bruise bigger than the state of Montana on his right hip. (yes Emily, even bigger than yours last year!) Other than that he is fine, I'm sure he will fill you all in on it. And I will take a picture of that bruise to show you!

Day 4 was Evil Twins day- Cartman Jersey Day... on yeah and those freshly baked cinnamon buns in Pismo Beach! Ok I'm tired... now go look at the pictures!

AIDS Lifecycle 5: DAY 2

WHAT A LOOONG DAY!

106 miles, Santa Cruz to King City via the scenic route. (and that's NOT highway 101)

Michael, Chris, Charlie, Mark and I.... (MICHAEL picking up typing here, as Julie is falling asleep) headed out of camp at 7:20, only to be stopped five miles down the road when Michael got a flat. Course it had to be one of those "difficult flats and took about 30 minutes to fix, thus killing our good lead time. So back on the road and two miles later stopped for coffee, heck we're already behind might as well fuel up! Charged with caffeine and sugar we took off towards the artichoke stop skipping rest stop one. As we rolled over the rolling hills the aroma of strawberries wofted in the air, the roads were bustling with traffic, trucks carrying the freshly picked crops to market.

Upon arriving at the artichoke stop we met up with Matt, Rob, Wayne Donald and Dave. The line for the fried artichokes stretched through the parking lot, however, there was no line for the streamed ones inside, so we bolted inside. We devoured our treats and socialized with friends (what we do best of course!) Onwards it was a brief stop at RS2, and Ruben was dressed as Robin, Batman was nearby. Surprised by how late it was getting , 11:45am, we bolted to lunch and had a nice tailwind most of the way. Afterwards we began our way to the second half of the day, knowing what was ahead, wind, wind, and more wind! Luckily the wind gods were on our side and gave us some awsome tailwinds! We flew down the road for about 20 miles will little effort. At rest top 3, Mark O'Brian, Charlie's tentmate, stopped to chat with Lori Jean about his Day 1 dilemma, (will tell you about that later- long story).

Off we went,more wind, arrived at the mission in Soledad to the fill our water bottles and snack on Otter Pops. A few more miles down the road we crossed the skinny dipping bridge and stopped (well some of us) to admire the views. Then it was up big hill into a headwind.. fun! But we were rewarded by Cookie Lady on the downhill ..and YUM her cookies were good! Oh and Julie got a spanking! We got pictures.

With a brief stop at Camp Sorebumm ... we were off to the favorite part of the route- the roller coaster hills and a sprint to the finish! OK goodnite, I'm exhausted.

Michael & Sleeping Julie (go Here for Day 1 & 2 pics!)

Day One ALC 5

Ahhhh....
Finally, Day One is here! We picked up Michael at o dark thirty and we headed over to the Cow Palace, arriving about 5:15am. Hannah and Mike came along with us to see us off. All riders were given red helmet covers to wear for the first 7 miles of the ride (to rest stop 1). The helmet covers read "Not Another 25 Years" commemorating this year as the 25th year since the first reporting of "Aquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome". The red on all of us was a unique symbol- much like a big red ribbon traveling west towards the ocean.

The pole that Charlie took out when he hit it last year on Day One was still along the side of the road, so Sandy Chris and I stopped and took pictures commemorating that accident.

The route took us up Skyline to Hwy 92 and over to Highway One where we traveled south and had lunch at San Gregorio Beach. From there we continued south on One through the little beach towns- stopping in Davenport for what else? Ice Cream!

Onward with our sugar high, we rolled into Rest Stop Four where our friends Cami and Rowdy were roadies, their theme for the Day: The Car Wash (as in the song)

From there it was into Camp at Harvey West Park, showering, eating a huge dinner then off to bed at 9pm... heck I think we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow!

Day Zero

Today was the Day we: Finished packing (ha!), checked our bikes in and put our numbers on them, saw the safety video and bought all the ALC schwag for the week!

It was fun seeing the nervous faces of folks I'd trained with throughout this rainy season.... now all we have to do is eat a good carb dinner, go to bed early and ride!

I've posted photos from Day Zero and will continue to post on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night, so stay tuned. For simplicity sake the link to photos all week is here:

Three Years Ago... AIDS Lifecycle 2

How it all started....

<--- This is us the original group of ALC cycling wannabe's. We met on several different training rides through the 2002-2003 training season. (L to R: Jen, Vilma, Me, Patrick, Kathleen, Gary, Nancy and Tammy- we're missing Cami, Emily and Rowdy)

We all met as newbie riders doing our first ALC ride that year . After figuring out that we all rode at about the same pace, we decided that we should all hang out and be a new riding group. That's how it starts... you tell two friends, they tell two friends and so on and so on and so on.

I look at this picture from Day Zero, ALC 2 and remember how naive we were! We had no idea that this cult called AIDS Lifecycle would take up our whole lives and provide us with some of the best friends anyone could ask for. Your ALC friends see you at your worst and at your best. They celebrate and cry with you, they laugh at you, they bitch at you but most of all they accept you for who you are and are amazed at all that you (we ) can become!

Every year I look forward to Day Zero- that original little group has gotten so big, and even though some of us do not ride anymore, we always support the cause- be it by making a donation or volunteering on Day Zero.

It's here that I thank that original little group of riding friends that got me through ALC 2: Vilma, Jen, Tammy, Patrick, Gary, Nancy, Kathleen, Cami, Emily & Rowdy.
You made my first ride worth coming back to ride year after year!