Tuesday, June 15, 2010

AIDS Life Cycle Recap

Another AIDS Life Cycle has come and gone. The week was one of my best training blocks that I have had in a while and the energy of all the other riders was beyond awesome. The weather was perfect (minus a few days of head wind) and deciding to ditch the tents and "Princess" the whole thing turned out to be a very good decision!

We all started early Sunday morning just outside of San Francisco at the famous "Cow Palace". I was well rested having had an amazing home stay with my buddy's Dan and Andres. Nothing like being able to chill in a private roof top hot tub overlooking the Golden Gate bridge the night before a week of tough riding, running and swimming.

On the morning of our first ride out the plan was to meet up with Dope Peddler, Michael Gray and his brother Robert. They had rented an RV and Robert was going to be the driver. This was the true VIP treatment as I would not have to use the ALC staff for luggage transport. Hotels and an RV.....That goes beyond the "Princess Tour". But in my defense I did the tent thing twice and twice is twice too many times! But others love it and this year had no rain so I am sure it was fine for them.

Mike and I walked into the Cow Palace towards the end of opening ceremonies. Again, we have "been there done that" and wanted the extra sleep so we skipped it. They don't let you into the bikes that you parked the night before until opening is done so we just waited in the hall outside the packed auditorium. Of course I get the urge to go to the bathroom for the 5th time so I tell Mike that I will be right back and jam to find one. I walked all the way around the stadium where there were ones with no lines. As I am in there I can still hear Lori Jean, the head of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, giving her yearly "HEEEELLLLOOOOO RIDERS! Pep talk". She likes to talk and does it well but it sounded as if she was about to wrap it up. I was trying to hurry it along so that I could get back to Mike before Lori was done but didn't pull it off and when I came out the halls were being flooded with riders walking to their bikes. For some reason they held everyone in the hall for a while and it was total claustrophobia. I lost Mike and had no way of getting to him so it looked like ride out was going to be solo.

I started about 1000 riders back which is kind of a pain in the ass because it means a morning of "On your left". Not to mention there are a lot of stop and starts the first hour and everybody wants to race. That made for a really hard morning as I don't like to have 400 watt bursts like that. But I needed to get out of the mix and find some open road. My little joke about "On your left" is that when you pass a gay guy they tend to say (use the gayest voice possible) "You didn't say on your left loud enough. Why are you riding so fast?! It's not a race!" And when you pass a lesbian you get (use your butchest deep voice) "HEY. Nice pace. Mind if I try and sit on your wheel for a sec"?

Once I started to get out of town and find a rhythm I noticed that I had a guy on my wheel. When we stopped at a light he said that he was also a Dope Peddler. I was happy to find another fast rider. We hammered the first day and made it to Santa Cruz in no time at all. His name is Chris and informed me that he was only going to be on the ride for 3 days as he had to get back to work. In fact, when we got to Santa Cruz he had to drive back to San Francisco to put on the musical "Wicked". He is the head electrician for the show....and no, he is straight. It happens. Anyway, he and I had a blast riding for the first three days. Day two was 107 miles and I felt like I was on fire and hammered pretty hard. It was nice to have some company!

Day three we were off to Paso Robles which has the dreaded "Quad Buster". It is not the longest day but there is some good climbing. Another buddy, Zach, decided to ride hard that day so he joined us at ride out. We actually had a few riders in the AM. It seems like there is always a group that wants to get to the base of the climb so they can race up it. Zach was riding really fast and I was trying to sit on his wheel so I could actually get a warm up in. When you sit on a wheel and your power is in the 300's you know the pace is pretty strong. I could tell early on that Zach was a climber so I figured he would want to smack it. As we got close he said he wanted to drop back and rest up a bit before we hit Quad Buster. Thank God! I was hoping we could slow it down for a bit. We hadn't even been riding an hour yet.

We all clumped up and when we hit the base of Quad Buster the race was on. I held back at first because one, my legs felt like ass, and two I could tell right away that Zach and Chris were going too hard. The climb was super foggy and you couldn't see the top. I knew how long it was and that it got pretty steep towards the top. About 1/2 way up my legs decided to show up for the ride and I attacked. To my surprise I was able to hold them off and get up the climb first. Both of them are really strong guys. I think they just played their cards wrong on that one. Zach decided to go back down and ride up again with some of the other riders. Chris and I kept on to Paso and I happily sat on his wheel the whole way. My legs were done and needed an easy day.

Before Paso we stopped in Bradley, which is a really small town and they have a BBQ for us that raises money for their school sports teams. It is the only fundraiser they have to do all year since 2,000 hungry riders come through and buy burgers from them. Chris convinced me to stop and wait. They were not ready for us yet so we hung out and chatted with roadies and the people cooking food. Eating a big burger and then getting back on your bike is a very hard task! Not to mention, I missed my morning glory. The last 20 miles felt like crap. Literally.

I met up with my parents in Paso, as they live there, and my mother was kind enough to drive me to the pool. They have a fantastic 50 meter there and I got a great swim in. Then I took her out to get a foot and neck massage for her B-Day. It is kind of scary that she is now 61! She looks like she is in her 40's. I hope I get that gene.

The rest of the ride I was without my buddy Chris sine he had to go back. Luckily I enjoy the solo riding. I did get some quality time in with a few of the other guys and made an effort to stop at the rest stops that put on a little show for us. I even had some ice cream at Paradise Pit in Santa Barbara. The town comes out and brings a huge truck full of free ice cream and other treats for the riders.

The whole ride was a better time than I could have imagined. I was fortunate to get in some quality runs and swims. I had written a few weeks ago about some of the issues that I have been having with my left leg and, knock on wood, they all seem to be going away. In fact, when I got to LA my Frontrunner friends convinced me to run the Pride Run 10K the next day. I managed to win the whole thing with a 35:20. Not too shabby for 20 miles a week and no speed work! And today nothing on me hurts! Something this last week clicked and I am just going to go with the explanation that it was "magic".

Thanks to everyone who supported my ride this year. Not only have you helped a wonderful cause, you also gave me one of my best training weeks to date! I look forward to keeping this momentum up and racing Ironman. Congrats too all the other riders that made the journey. Not only were there some really hard days, everyone managed to raise the money required in a very tight economy. I am planing on doing the ride again next year and if you think this is something you want to do and would like more insider info please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,
bdc

2 comments:

  1. The ice cream in Santa Barbara was English Toffee. These little details are important ;-)

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  2. And VERY TASTY! Send me some pics and I will put them up :-)

    ReplyDelete