Wow – well we are back from LA, smiling with chapped lips and resting sore legs.  If you don’t know, my mom and I participated in the AIDS Life Cycle and road our bikes from San Francisco to LA.  That is 545 miles of beautiful, hot, dusty, and windy California terrain.  We rode with 1900 riders and 500 roadies (the insane volunteers that set up and take down our moving city).  We camped out every night, sleeping in a large tent “grid” with hundreds of other tents, showering in fabulous “shower” trucks, and eating bottomless meals in large mess tents.

Overall it was a great time and something I don’t think either of us will forget anytime soon.  Far too many memories to write down, but here are a few highlights:

• I went camping with Lucius on the Tuesday before the ride.  Another awesome time of course, but something I started to regret a bit when a few days later and just a day before the ride I started to see the wet, itchy boils of poison oak.  Poison Oak and I don’t get along so I rushed to a doctor for steroid pills and Zanfel – a crazy expensive ointment that works wonders.  Fortunately the PO dried up but I had a scar under my chin for week.
• Mom and I road the first 6 miles on Day 1 together.  Fortunately the roads were closed to traffic so it made that part of the ride much, much nicer then last year.
• Day 1 was tough again with lots of nervous energy and everyone trying to get their legs going.
• Mom made it all the way to Santa Cruz except for a little help up the 92 hill.  While going to sleep she said that she didn’t think she could ride the next day.  I said OK – but let’s just see what happens tomorrow.  She road everyday and we had this conversation every night.
• Day 2 – 107 miles – best part was a smokin tail wind from about 30 miles during the middle of the ride and otter pops with the water stop “otters”.  This morning is special to me because I love seeing the green strawberry fields against the gray skies.  Its really beautiful.  Mom got a big kick out of hearing the evening speaker mention us as one of the family teams riding this year.  She didn’t miss a meeting after that.
• Day 3 – quad buster and Bradly – just a hard day with a big hill in the morning and long, hot lonely roads in the afternoon.  My fashion future changed on this day since my riding glasses blew apart about 5 miles from camp.  Nothing in the camp store fit my rather large noggin so I found myself picking up some cool “cop shades” from AM/PM.  Oddly enough I received more compliments about these glasses then any pair of glasses I’ve ever owned.  Greg and I made our second annual trek for Pizza and Beer into Paso Robles.
• Day 4 – my favorite riding day. Two large hills, with a long downhill to the coast, more rolling hills and the fastest tail wind of the ride for the last 7 miles into camp.  All on really nice road.  Last year I crashed on this day so I was happy to make camp safe and sound.  Mom had mechanical problems and had to stop early but not before getting over the “evil twins” so she was really happy.
• Day 5 – Red Dress Day / A tale of two winds – RDD started off great with mild weather and just beautiful roads through wine country leading into the “Dainish’ town of Solvang.  I road with my friend John from Hawaii and we had a great time.  But then the route turned into the wind.  Rumors had it that the wind on that day was the strongest that anyone had ever seen.  I can’t confirm that but I can say it was soul-crushing strong.  It was brutal – about 30 miles of 20 mph+ headwinds.  And these weren’t gusts but consistent, relentless winds.  Everyone came into camp tired and very grumpy.  I didn’t have the legs to stay with John and a couple other riders so spent way too miles alone in wind on that day.  Very glad to get to camp.
• Day 6 – This was a new day for me since last year we were rained out last year.  85 miles along the coast from Lompoc to Ventura.  I met up with Mike and Jeanette.  I knew Mike from a training ride in April and Jeanette was rock star fast so we had a great time working together until Lunch.  Unfortunately I started to get sick that day and had some seriously dark moments after lunch.  Ice cream at Paradise Pit in Santa Barbara seemed to help and I finished well.  Pizza and Beer with Greg and mom in Ventura hit the spot and candle light vigil was awesome again.
• Day 7 – last day.  I decided to ride with mom to make sure she made it to the finish line.  She had done really well all week and I knew crossing the finish line would be a great experience for her.  The day is short (61 miles) and relatively easy but after all those miles everyone was tired and every mole hill felt like a mountain.  But we road consistently and didn’t break too long.  And good thing we didn’t.  We finished about 30 minutes before they closed the course.  Pretty amazing to see all those people cheering for us in LA.  Plus Ellen (my mom’s partner) was there to meet us so we had the added benefit for seeing a friendly face in the crowd.  Mom was overwhelmed by the cheers and the fact that she road so many miles that day (and that week).  Definitely a wonderful moment.

We returned to San Francisco sunburned, exhausted, sore, tired and ready for a real bed.  But we were in good spirits and can only look at this week with fond memories.  Thanks to everyone that helped us along the way with money and positive support.  We raised $10k for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and had an amazing experience.  An incredible week for sure.

A few photos below and many more here.

blog link: http://jchandlerphotography.com/2344