taxi777

$10M for AIDS/HIV prevention, treatment, education and more. Over 2150 cyclists rode their hearts out. It was a pretty tough week for myself. Riding fixed gear really put me in my place at times. There were times when all I wanted to do was just call it a day and SAG in to the finish, but I managed to squeak out those last few miles. I'm now pretty exhausted and just about useless, but glad that it's over and I'm home.

It's very hard to express the deep emotions, hardships and joy I experienced this week...you'd really have to be there to completely grasp it. I left a lot out due to the difficulty in conveying this information. I'll just say it was a very personal spiritual journey where I've learned more about myself and others and I hope I've become a better person for it. I really wish I could experience this with my friends. I've really missed you all and sometimes just felt lonely even among so many people. I just kind of feel like I would have enjoyed experiencing this amazing trip with you all in real time. I'm only giving you a small summary of what went on this past week. It would take a novel to really tell you the complete tale.

Day 1

San Francisco to Santa Cruz.

After a fairly horrible nights sleep I was beside myself with dread, anxiety and exuberance. Quite a mixture of feelings. I caught a cab to the Cow Palace and immediately felt excited when I arrived. It was pretty moving exiting the parking lot amongst the throngs of supporters screaming and cheering with words of encouragement. I felt pretty good and awake. The weather was cool dark and drizzly, but my spirits were up. Much better than last year at this time. The first thing I experienced was a hint of how long and tough this ride would be riding fixed gear. I felt quite slow. People were passing me in droves, especially on the downhill sections. I probably could have kept a faster pace, but I knew this would be a long week, so it was all about conserving energy. The first person I saw on a fixed gear was Magnus on his striking pale blue bike. He was keeping it pretty strong and staying ahead of me. Most of the fixed gear bikes I met were running bigger gears and had the edge on the flats, but I could out climb most with my easier gear ratio. 46X19 would turnout to be just right for me. My knees were holding up, but my butt and crotch were killing me. I don't think I had my seat adjusted right like I had though. It felt okay on shorter rides, but by Half Moon Bay it was really starting to bother me.

I focused on spending time and socializing at the rest stops this year. I really wanted to experience the social side of this event more than anything. I wanted the bicycle to really be secondary. I really enjoyed myself at camp and managed to meet up with a lot of old friends and began to make new ones.

Day 2

Santa Cruz to King City

The trick in the morning was to get up early and get on the road to avoid the bottleneck, especially getting out of Santa Cruz. I got up with the chorus of Iphone and Crackberry alarms going off at 4:30. Rather than sleep in I got up and got moving probably to the contrary of what my tent mate wanted. I think he might have

The ritual consisted with getting up and going to breakfast. I'd just wear what I slept in. Since the nights and mornings were cold in the tent I'd wear my kaki pants and a bike jacket to bed at night. Those late night trips to the Porta-potties were freezing. I lived in my lightweight surfing slippers. They're easy to pack and comfortable enough for camp.

Camp food was mediocre to good, but everything was edible and I was constantly hungry. The usual oatmeal and fruit with an egg dish and some kind of meat dish...sausage, bacon or whatever. The coffee was pretty bad, but I was usually desperate for something warm. Porta-potties were somewhat available with small waiting periods. There were strict guidelines...Everyone was required to wash your hands after, with wipes and sanitizer combo made readily available. Stomach flu could spread like wildfire here.

It was then to bike parking. I usually parked in the "PozPeds" parking, so I never really had any trouble finding my bike. Plus the gold rims just pop! They make it easy to locate.

I started out today kind of tired and my seat was already killing me from the start. I got out of Santa Cruz pretty fast. Today would be a long day at 107 miles to King City. By the time I got to Aptos, I knew it would be a grueling day! Even though it was fairly flat, my saddle just wasn't working for me. The rest stops are a lot of fun. Each rest stop would have some theme to them. One would be Hawaiian and the next would be a wacky transsexual airline theme, then the next a "Cat In The Hat" theme and so on. I spent a lot of time at the rest stops hanging out and socializing.

My twin camp girlfriends! : )




Salinas Rest stop



My butt needed the rest for sure. I'm also having a really hard time in the last couple of years with carpel tunnel, so I think maybe I'm just getting old.

There was a strong tail wind and I tried to make as much use of it as I could. One of the best things along the route was the number of kids with signs and high five-ing us along the way. They all seemed so excited along with people shouting out thanks to the riders. I ended up making it in really late on Monday afternoon. I did sleep pretty good though.

Day three

King City to Paso Robles

"Quadbuster"!

This was the first difficult climb of the ride “Quadbuster”, was an extremely difficult climb with a 15 percent grade. I went to my drops for this one which really put the pressure on my back. I was surprised that my knees held up so well. Many people walked. After that it was all flat with intermittent sprinkles. My A** was killing me! I couldn't feel my hands most of the time, although I was loving the ride. My bike felt great, but my body was not enjoying it. I was kind of hoping to get a lot of reflecting time out here, but due to the pain my mind was constantly drawn back to my butts suffering. I started with the Ibruprofen which did help a bit.

We stopped in a small town of Bradly which put out a spread for the riders. Through ALC donations the school is able to keep running for the year. I was happy to eat there and along with the other riders contribute to such a great charity. The kids and townsfolk were great to us.
We spent a lot of time on the 101 highway which was a bit frightening. I was glad when we finally pulled into camp.

This was the night that all the fixed gear riders got together for a meet and greet. It really was a lot of fun and the ages varied from 20 to 56. It was nice to talk shop and I learned a lot of knew things about fixed gear culture. BTW one of the fixed gear couples were tenting right next to us.

Fixed Gear Gang




Paso Robles was uplifting. This was the night where the theme was "Poz Peddlers" of which I'm a part of. This is where I had a very life changing moment last year. When I excepted my fate and who I am. The day ended with an upbeat vibe. I slept pretty well.



To be continued...

cccorlew

Yo! Glad you're back. Looking forward to more photos and stories.

Beaker

Hey Pete - looking forward to the stories, good to have you back.

Glad you were able to escape from cell block 4.

Red Rider

Welcome back, Pete! Glad you found this as amazing a journey as last year's ride.

Looking forward to more reports and pics.

JoelS

Glad you're back Pete! Sounds like an epic trip.

SesameCrunch

Welcome back Pete. Sounds like another amazing adventure.

My son and I were out on Hwy1 cheering the riders at around 11am the first day. Happy looking crew.

mellum76

We missed you Pete. Welcome back home.

Ygduf

Good job Pete!

trinity000

Welcome back Pete, can't wait to talk to my Coastie friend to see if you hit on her! lol j/k

taxi777

rydaddy

Looks like you had a great time. Congrats!

RoboCheme

Great going, Pete!! welcome back

1jacktripper

Welcome back, Pete. What's next year, unicycle?

mtnwalker

Thats a nice pair of....um.... barrels.

Great to see you back, Pete!

x136 

Welcome back, Pete. Nice work, as usual.

Midland

Way to go Pete and everyone else on the ride & involved. That's really cool.

ROJA

Awesome job Pete! Sounds like you put up with some torture to do the ride on your fixie! Way to tough it out for a great cause!

redspoke

Nice going Pete! I'm curious... Were you riding fixed the whole ride or in ss?

taxi777

Fixed...painfully!

rumbutter

Welcome home Pete. Wonderful achievement and another feather to add to your cap.

pacificaslim

Well done Pete. Glad you're home safe.

taxi777

Hey, was great to see you on the way to Santa Cruz!

taxi777

Day 4

Paso Robles to Santa Maria

This was my best day. Even though there was a lot of climbing my pain was subsiding a bit, probably due to my Ibruprofen regimen. I was in the habit of getting up early and I was in the first 50 bikes to head out. The start was cold and clammy. As we began the long climb at about mile 8, the sun broke through and I began to warm up. The beginning climbs were called the evil twins, when actually they were far from evil and quite beautiful. The second climb was the best. This is where the halfway point was. Everyone stopped here for picture taking and brownies brought by volunteers.

The descent was long and cold. I was getting to hate being passed by so many bikes on the downhill. I got sick of the "On your left!". It gets old pretty fast. Finally back on the rollers was a relief. By the time we were arriving at the ocean we were back in the dense low clouds and cool winds. At Cayucos I stopped for a cinnamon bun and coffee. This was my first real coffee since day 1. I also got a nice back and neck massage from a volunteer that had set up a massage chair on the side of the street.

I moved on and unfortunately with the fog could not take in the the grand vista of Morrow Bay. That was my favorite spot last year. We moved along inland to our lunch stop. From there it was down to San Luis Obisbo, then out to Pismo beach for yet another cinnamon bun and more coffee! I was thoroughly jacked up by then. Down route one and some steep climbing on which there was one hill where I just got off my bike and walked. I was really afraid of breaking my knee caps on that one. We rolled into Santa Maria with a tailwind. At the finish there was a panel of judges waiting to watch our dismounts. I knew it was coming and had a really cool dismount planned out. I ended up getting a perfect 10 across the board!

Santa Maria was probably my favorite stop. Our tent was in a fantastic location and the weather was perfect. The nightly announcements was fun and mention of the fixed gear club was made. I actually had my name mentioned...I was the old guy on a fixie! I got a good nights sleep that night.

redspoke

I'm going to start calling you "Dr. Jonathan Chase".

taxi777

I feel more like Charlie Chaplin!