Pismo Beach Pic From the Road

Yesterday we rode to Pismo Beach. It was beautiful!

Sunday through Today

So, as you know, Sunday, we rode from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. On Monday, we rode from Santa Cruz to King City. It was 107 miles of beautiful wine country with lots of difficult hills! We did another 60 Miles today with a fun lunch in Bradley, population 120. The lunch was great! Selling burgers for $5 to the Lifecycle riders every year helps raise money to support school programs including sports, music and arts programs in Bradley. Every year they raise over $10,000.00 with this lunch alone!! Speaking of lunch, we are eating so much food!! This morning we had a really big breakfast of eggs, muffins, yogurt, potatoes, english muffins, corn muffins, oatmeal, chocolate milk and coffee. Every day there are 4 rest stops with cliff bars, orange slices, bananas, gummi fruit and potato chips. And lunch is big, too...sandwiches, wraps, carrots, chips....we are consuming tons to keep our energy up! And of course, we're drinking about 5 water bottles filled with power aid each. We're tired but having a blast! Stay tuned....

Monday, June 1st - 107 Miles

Today is Santa Cruz to King City, 107 miles of very different terrains. With all of the Stop Lights and Signs it took 1.5 hours to leave the city of Santa Cruz....wow! Of course we start along the coast with incredible views! Both Danny and I were feeling refreshed and ready to ride (Lots of snoring in camp, but we got used to that). Again, who put hills in California's topography? Fun, but sometimes daunting.. Tons of Strawberry fields greet you with such wonderful aromas it's incredible. The day was a long one.....I (doug) got a head of Danny for half the day and just kind of rode on my own. Somewhere toward the end we met at a rest stop and got to do some neat rollers (rolling hills)....Power your way up, haul ass down, power up....etc etc......Good cross winds at the end of the day, but a tailwind for at least 20 miles in the middle of the day made it bearable!

The First Day - San Francisco to Santa Cruz

Orientation day was quick and easy.......today is SF to Santa Cruz! There was soooo many people at Opening Ceremonies, it was beautiful. The Positive Pedalers (all HIV positive riders) walked in unison with the "riderless" bike.....a bike that should have a rider, but that rider is no longer with us. It was awesome, and made lots of eyes leak. Then we stretched!! Heard some speeches and filtered out to our bikes. We were off, it was foggy, and people were cheering........what a way to start a Sunday morning. Somewhere around Daly City I (Doug) got my first of 3 flats. For some reason I was frantic to fix it and get riding, it's not a race, there is no hurry, but that first day is so exciting, you just want to ride! The other thing we quickly noticed about this 87 mile day is Hills, Hills, Mountains, and Hills.......Fixed gear is fun for climbing, but not so much for the decent. We stopped at every rest stop (always 4 per day, plus lunch and dinner) and really took in the beauty of highway 1. Danny got himself a Tic (thought he was having a leg cramp until we saw a hole and some little legs coming out) but medical took care of that at lunch. We arrived in Santa Cruz to cheering and much needed showers..........and the first of many GREAT dinners! They fed us VERY well.

Orientation Today

We leave for SF in about 30 minutes......Start watching this blog, I'll get some photos and stuff up later tonight......see ya on the road!!

Doug and Danny!!

Just over 2 weeks away!

Jumping for Joy that the ride is almost here! Danny and I are basically in the planning stages and past much of any "training" stages. I think we are as ready as we can be to ride fixed gear bicycles for 7 straight days and 545 miles. I'm looking forward to the ride and will be updating this blog as well as my facebook everyday of the ride. So, it's all about, how are we getting to SF, where are we staying, who is going to get us to the Cow Palace at 4:30 a.m. and who will pick us up and when, in LA 7 days later!........Keep on checking, we'll update as we go!.....This is going to be an experience like no other!

Been Too Long

Don't worry, I'm still riding my fixed gear, but I did get a new geared bike......why not have other options right!.....So I know it's been a while since we've posted, don't worry though, we are training, beggin for money, and taking care of bikes! I'm up and over 150 miles a week, and trying to keep the training in high gear. The spring winds suck a$$ though....Danny and I have a GREAT show on May 2nd at the Kennel Club....All of the proceeds go to the ride, so get out and see us. I'll get together a post specific to the show and with all the details soon. In the mean time, visit our Lifecycle pages at the bottom and donate if you can! Take it easy, and Ride for Fun!!!

Doug