AIDS LifeCycle
This year I did AIDS LifeCycle, also known simply as "the AIDS ride"
around here. I figured I should write up a report, blog-style.
In case you don't know what it is, AIDS LifeCycle is a 877km ride
from San Francisco to LA. It takes place over 7 days, and riders
raise money to fund the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the LA Gay
& Lesbian Center. These two organizations provide a lot of services
and treatment for those struggling with HIV and AIDS, so thanks a
bunch to everyone who supported me!
I was lucky to have Christine come with me. She drove every day
to meet me at the destination, with our dog Svetlana. We stayed in
hotels, while most riders camped. This is known as "princessing". It
was great to see Christine and Svetlana every day, though I think
doing it this way one does miss out on a bunch of the experience,
which is probably both good and bad.
The ride is very well supported. The longest distance between rest
stops is about 40km, and often they are much closer. While the route
is open vehicles are constantly driving it looking for riders with
any mechanical or other issues. Fortunately, I didn't have any issues:
not even a flat tire the entire ride!
I started off having just finished bike to work month in May: in 31
days I had ridden over 2500km while still working full time. Needless
to say, I was in pretty good shape, and typically finished quite
early. The route stays open until 1900 most days, and I was usually
done some time between 1200 and 1330. This was nice as it gave me
all afternoon and evening to spend with Christine and Svetlana.
Day 1: San Francisco to Santa Cruz
Day 1 was pretty cool. The first half or so of the route I was familiar
with from commuting. South of Half Moon Bay on CA-1 to Santa Cruz
was pretty nice, with epic tailwinds. The climb on 92 sucked as it
always does, but I had never done the 92 descent before and that was
pretty fun.
Day 2: Santa Cruz to King City
Day 2 is the longest day, at 173km. I finished at around 1430, but
this was mostly because of a 1-2 hour period of incredible tailwinds
that allowed me to easily sustain 45kph.
Started off a bit chilly, overcast. That's actually perfect cycling
weather. Not too hot, and only cold if you're not moving. Then as we
came inland it got HOT. At least for this Canadian.
The highlight for me was probably the "otter pop stop". Otter pops,
I learned, are what we called "freezies" when I was a kid growing up
in Canada. Anyway, frozen sweet stuff really hit the spot at that
point. Plus there were bears in tutus dancing around. I don't know
how they weren't melting in the heat.
The other cool stop was an unofficial one, at Pinezzi (I think) farm,
where they sold deep fried artichokes. I don't really like artichokes,
but they had coffee and that was still during the "chilly" point of
the ride, so I appreciated the extra caffeine boost.
Day 3: King City to Paso Robles
Day 3 was the shortest day yet, at roughly 104km. I was done by
noon, but it was still a fairly tough ride due to some decent
headwinds. Nothing epic, just enough to make one feel weak and slow :-/
The highlight of the day for me was coming across a nice coffee shop
in the otherwise derelect San Miguel. They served me some great iced
coffee, complete with coffee ice cubes!
Day 3 also featured the much-discussed "quadbuster" climb. I'm not
sure why it's so notorious among ALCers. It's a climb, sure, but it's
not nearly as challenging as the climbing on the first day.
Day 4: Paso Robles to Santa Maria
Day 4 was moderately long, at roughly 157km. I enjoyed it a lot more
than day 3: more scenic, no riding on 101 and less headwinds. The
highlight was probably the cinnamon bun shop in Pismo Beach. I got
2 cinnamon buns to go so Christine and I could enjoy them later.
Day 5: Santa Maria to Lompoc
Day 5 is red dress day. I had a pink dress, courtesy of Holden, but
it appears to have been acceptable. Day 5 is also the shortest day,
at only 69km. There were a couple small climbs but nothing big. The
weather was overcast for the whole time of the ride, but the sun came
out later when we took Lana to the dog park.
The highlight of the day was definitely seeing all the
fabulously-dressed riders! Also we rode past a federal penitentiary,
which was kinda scary.
Day 6: Lompoc to Ventura
Day 6 was pretty good, though there was a lot of 101 riding. Some
of it was fun, and some was pretty stressful. The highlights were
spotting dolphins at rest stop 2, and the ice cream stop at Paradise
Pit in Santa Barbara. It's an unofficial rest stop, but was extremely
well done, complete with bike parking racks, portable hand washing
sinks and an awesome spread of ice cream and sundae toppings.
Day 7: Ventura to Los Angeles
The last day featured a lot of riding on CA-1, and from just before
Malibo to Santa Monica, this means shoulders full of parked cars
with impatient traffic buzzing by on the left. Very stressful. Some
of the scenery was good, but it was cloudy and foggy.
I made it to LA by around 11, then chilled out for a while before
riding in to the finish so Christine could cheer me in.
