Experience AIDS/LifeCycle 4 (2005)

Why I Ride

And what a journey it has been — since that February of 2003, I have put over 11,000 miles on that same bike!

With my first training ride that month, I met other riders who were HIV+ and I continued to learn a lot about what life was like living with this disease. It prompted me to want to learn more, and to tell others not to forget that HIV and AIDS is still out there and there is NO CURE. As a straight, middle-aged Filipino woman it has become important for me to point out to people that this is not a “gay disease” and that it affects everyone, regardless of sex, nationality, sexual orientation or age. AIDS is not discriminating, it will take anyone.

Some of my closest friends are HIV-positive and I see how it affects all aspects of their lives — the multitude of expensive drugs they take, the depression that can set in, the ease at which other illnesses can invade their bodies, the fear that the disease will become full-blown AIDS. I ride to help find a cure so that they can be healthy again — because I want them to keep riding with me into my eighties and nineties! Someday I hope to ride with them on the Celebration Ride — the ride where we will celebrate a cure, and will not have to raise money to help fight this disease.

Pre-Ride Thoughts

When I rode my first AIDS/LifeCycle it was for the challenge. When I rode my second ALC, my goal was to be a better, smarter, faster rider than the year before. On training for my third, as a Training Ride Leader, the goal became helping others to ride well too. Not just ride a bike, but to ride a bike seven days in a row, up and down hills, on bumpy roads and smooth roads, in a headwind and a tail wind — and to stay healthy and alert! This was probably altogether a more challenging year, teaching others while still getting my own training in.

Alas, I now know that this is really true because most of the time now they are waiting for me at the top of a hill. Nothing is more fulfilling to me than to begin a training season in October riding with someone who is so nervous and slow — only to have them blow past me on a hill sometime in April!

It was a challenging training season, weather-wise. We had a gorgeous fall and not much rain up until the week of Christmas, when it began to pour. The waters rose and flooded bike paths, sometimes AFTER we had already ridden out and needed to ride back. Yes, this year I rode through a flooded-out bike path in Sausalito, rode in a downpour on Presidents day, in thunder and lightning and the works! Michael, my tentmate, says I can now say I’ve ridden in “hail and high water.” I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of all the rain gear I bought on sale last summer. We are all definitely ready to ride, and we have experienced all that Mother Nature can come up with — except of course, a heat wave, which hopefully will not materialize until after we get to L.A.

This year I also became known as the “tent-mate broker.” I think to date I’ve matched up about 8 tent-mate couples. It was sort of like setting people up on blind dates, so I hope they don’t blame me for their troubles! It was sort of karmic — every time someone would tell me they didn’t have a tent mate yet, someone would come up two hours later and ask if I knew anyone who needed a tent mate. Hmmm … maybe there’s a business there somewhere.

At any rate, WE ARE READY TO RIDE. I have received so many emails from Newbies who say “can we just go now?” Some of them are nervous, some of them are worried or anxious, and some still don’t get that “It’s a Ride, Not a Race.” Oh well, come Sunday morning I think they will all get it finally. I can’t wait to see their faces at the end of Day 7. All that hill climbing in the rain in March, will be so worth it.

Oh, and I can’t begin this ride again without formally recognizing two other pretty important men in my life: My husband, Mike Brown, who is a bike widower. He has been so supportive for the past three years, and I cannot tell you how much he regrets letting me buy that bike! He gets all of the kudos for our great-looking garden, and hosting the last training ride of the season: a potluck ride from our house to the Cheese Factory in West Marin. He is also the person to thank for supporting me in my volunteer hours (training rides) for ALC. Without his support, I could not do the ride, nor could I help all the others to train for the ride. Thank you Mikey!

The other guy I need to thank is my Boss/Business Partner, Allen Moyer, who is the President of ADMI, Inc. We do construction project management and are in the middle of a big remodel of a hotel, and he is allowing me to take the week off and “go do that Ride” with pay. I so appreciate the support that his company gives me, and indirectly gives the SF AIDS Foundation. He is the one that let me have Fridays off so I could lead the Tiburon Loop each week for the past 30 weeks — oh and how do you think I get all those route sheets printed in color?

With that, I will now go to my closet and pull out my rolling duffle bag. I will pull out my seven 2-gallon Ziploc bags and start figuring out what jersey I’m wearing on what days, then put each of those outfits into a Ziploc bag, gotta find my sleeping bag, my sunscreen and my earplugs … I still have a lot of planning to do!

Day 1 - San Francisco to Aptos

Wow! Day One is done… It was a stunningly beautiful day, a bit breezy but a tailwind for most of the day. We left the Cow Palace at about 7am, waving goodbye to all of our friends and family. The folks at UPN did a follow-up interview with me (they had previously interviewed me on AIDS/LifeCycle’s “Day On The Ride” back in May). They asked what I was feeling, what my thoughts were, etc. It was a very fast-talking interview — I was pretty amped up from all the caffeine I had this morning. I was carrying my camera, but at the last minute decided I didn’t want to since all of my friends were toting cameras and I could get copies of their pics. So I asked Mike to take the camera and snap photos of all of us riding out.

We headed uphill immediately, a gradual climb up Geneva to Alemany Blvd. and on toward Skyline. It was rolling hills with a tailwind most of the way… nice, I mean really nice.

There was one mishap, a.k.a. non-serious crash (Mrs. Bergstrom, this is where I have to tell you that your son is fine before I continue). My friend Charlie was riding behind me for most of the day. At one point there was a line-up of poles in front of us, which I had to dodge quickly… Charlie took out a pole, and although he almost recovered and kept the bike steady, his change in speed caused Sandy, the rider behind him, to clip his back wheel, and they both went down.

Luckily Charlie’s helmet saved his head, because as I looked behind me, I saw his head hit the pavement while he rolled toward the railing. Four or five of us stopped and helped them both out and made them sit still. They were both fine, and Charlie only needed to stop at the next rest stop to wipe the sweat off him since it was stinging his road rash… (really Mrs. Bergstrom, he’s fine).

The funny thing: both Sandy and Charlie are medical doctors, so of course I couldn’t lecture either of them on what to do to feel better.

The highlight of my day was lunch. Two of my three sisters, Eloise and Cyndy, brought my mother to meet me at lunch in San Gregorio. My mother (who is in her eighties) knows that I ride, and what the ride is all about, but has never seen us all on the ride. She was in awe — in fact, my whole family was so impressed by the riders they saw coming over Highway 92. It was such a great feeling, and I felt very blessed to have my mother be a part of this day. It will be one of the best memories I will carry with me forever.

The rest of the day, as I said before, was pleasant and windy. I am rambling now, which means I’m falling asleep (I got up at 3:45 this morning…) I will update you all on more tomorrow… it’s 9pm now. Tomorrow is a 98-mile day. Hopefully we will again have the wind at our backs. We are riding past my favorite artichoke stand… hopefully they won’t run out of steamed artichokes!!

Day 2 - Aptos to King City

This morning at 3am we had a rather loud, wet wake up call: The automatic sprinklers went off next to many tents in the area. A dozen or so tents were either sprayed by the sprinklers, or actually doused because the active sprinkler head was underneath their tent! I was awakened by someone who I thought was laughing really loudly but realized that it was a number of people who were shouting about the sprinklers going off and yelling to move the tents. Luckily, we were on an end row and did not get directly affected, but many people had water in their tents and on their clothes! I tried hard to get back to sleep, but by then I was so wide awake it was sort of hard to go back to a sound sleep.

Today was another great tailwindy day. We headed out of bike parking at about 7:30, but a block up the street there was a great coffee shop, so four of us decided to stop for “real coffee.” Soon afterward we hopped back on our bikes and headed out. We stopped at rest stop one, which had a Star Wars theme. I ran into several people I had met on past training rides, and spent lots of time talking with folks. Soon I realized that I had spent way too much time there, and headed out again.

I came upon a rider who had a flat, and as Charlie and I approached we asked if she needed help. She responded, “uh, no I THINK I’m ok” but was so tentative about it that we both stopped and soon realized that her tube had a slow leak. She only had this one tube on hand, so I pulled out one of my extras, changed her flat and soon we were on our way to eat artichokes in Castroville.

By this time we were riding toward the back of the pack, so we ran into the market, grabbed a quick steamed artichoke and sat out in front with our friends, Rowdy, Bob, Cami, Tammy, Emily, Kelly, Yoichi and Faisal. It was the best tasting ’choke I’d had in a really long time! I think just being able to sit with friends and eat made it all the more enjoyable. Soon we were on our way again to the next rest stop — somehow we were still running behind, as the rest stop was closing about a half hour after we got there. We rushed and rode on to lunch. At lunch in Salinas, we finally caught our breaths and relaxed. Apparently we had ridden so fast that we made up a lot of time and were “back on schedule.”

After lunch we rode through beautiful Steinbeck country. This year it was a bit more enjoyable because although windy as it is every year, this time it was a tailwind so instead of staring at the road, I could actually look at the scenery! With all the rain we’ve gotten, everything here is so green. The vineyards were exceptionally stunning.

At one point (ok, the day started getting really long because of my lack of sleep) I had this surreal feeling that we were riding in circles. My right hamstring was sore, magnified only by the fact that some of the downhills were into the wind, so they had to work a little harder. The route had a lot of flat spots, which also eventually became sort of boring, I think I actually enjoy riding hills instead.

We crossed the river where each year folks toss off their cycling clothes and go skinny dipping. As I rode across the bridge I saw two white butts swimming in the water, with a big crowd just past the bridge watching them… it was waaay too funny.

Ok, again I’m rambling and it is 9pm. Michael, my tent mate is sitting here waiting for me to finish so we can go brush our teeth (Hi Mr. & Mrs. Cook, your son is fine and it’s great that he doesn’t snore!) We’re off to brush our teeth and try to get more sleep than last night… See you all tomorrow!

Day 3 - King City to Paso Robles

Our morning started at 4:45am, and for the first time this week both Michael and I had gotten a full night’s sleep so we were actually ready to get up. This morning our strategy was to get out of our tent at 5am, go get breakfast (in order to avoid the long line), then come back, get dressed, and take down the tent. I have brought with me a 33-oz French press and a ½ pound of Peets Coffee, so I took it out to the beverage tent for Michael and me to drink. Since it was such a large coffee press we were able to share our coffee with Evelyn Rogerson, Eric Rozendahl, and Diane Hacker and Laura Aiello… they were thrilled and I think that was the highlight of the morning for all of us.

We quickly dressed, took down the tent and were on our way. As Michael says — “it’s amazing what a cup of Peet’s coffee will do to your psyche!” Today was “Quadbuster” day, and you could feel the excitement in the air. This is the mega-hill that Training Ride Leaders have been talking about all season… Well we actually hype it up more than we need to in order to prepare them for riding hills. And as always when it was done, more than a few riders came up to me and said “that was nothing!” I stayed at the top of Quadbuster for a while cheering riders, many of whom had trained with me since last October. As I have said before, nothing is as exciting as watching a rider struggle on their first hill in October and then watching them ascend quickly a hill like “Quadbuster.” At one point seeing so many of them brought a few tears to my eyes, I was so proud of their accomplishments!

After Quadbuster we rode on to rest stop two, where all the Roadies were dressed like Jane Fonda in fitness outfits! Since we knew that a bumpy road lay ahead of us, Michael, Charlie and I decided we’d better top off our tires just in case. And away we went… The road to the next rest stop was rather long and tedious, so once we came upon a teeny little roadside market, we decided to go in and see what they had to eat that wasn’t a Clif bar. I found a great bag of bbq chips, and a Pepsi, Charlie found the It’s It ice cream and we sat out front talking to other riders and scarfing down our snacks. That was all the sugar and salt I needed to get me to rest stop 3 where, by the way, I decided to have an ice cream too. Somewhere between rest stop 2 and 3 we lost Michael, whose inner speed demon had decided to come out and play. So at rest stop 3 we hooked up with Mark O’Brien (Charlie’s tentmate) and the three of us decided to ride together over a few more hills to lunch. It was getting considerably warmer, almost 40 degrees warmer than the morning, and it was so nice to be able to get some sunshine in.

The road began to get bumpier and bumpier, but I must say it was greatly improved from last year’s ride. Usually the road from Rest Stop 2 to Rest Stop 3 is bumpy (horribly bumpy) the entire way. This year most of the road — I’d say at least 80% — had been repaved, and although it wasn’t entirely smooth it was a drastic improvement from the roads I rode on during the past two ALC rides. I write this, because if you read the blogs from those who are first-time riders, they are probably talking about the bumpy roads… Let me tell ya they were so much better than last year!

On the way to lunch in Bradley, we rode for a part of the time on US 101. YES, Highway 101! There were two portions of the route that took us on the shoulder of the highway, which was indeed as bumpy as the past years. We got on the highway then off it, then got on it again, then off it and as we rode off it the second time, Mark asked me if we were going to have to get on the highway again (he didn’t sound happy about it). I told him yes we were but only for a brief half mile, then we would be in Bradley.

Bradley is a little town that anticipates our visit every year. Bradley School has a big fundraiser where they sell grilled burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers along with a few other sides (Lumpia too, I was in heaven!) to us riders. By the time Charlie, Mark and I got to Bradley they were sold out of burgers so we had hot dogs and lumpias. I don’t think they anticipated 1600 riders actually wanting to buy them out of burgers and dogs and I’m sure next year they’ll have plenty. I’m sure their fundraiser was a huge success, and one that all of us riders are glad to be a part of!

We met up with Michael again in Bradley, and the four of us rode into Rest Stop 4, whose theme was “The Sound of Music.” We were treated to singing and a very special puppet show. Then it was off for the last 10 miles to camp. This year’s route took us back on the freeway one more time (for those of you reading this who are past riders — we turned left, instead of right, and didn’t have to climb any more hills. Nice change!) At about mile 3 of the 10 miles to camp, I stuck a Jolly Rancher in my mouth and began riding behind Michael. We passed a couple of riders, then they passed us, then we passed them then they passed us again. Finally my sugar rush from the Jolly Rancher kicked in and I passed them once again and they couldn’t catch up! Unfortunately at the same time I dropped Michael, but he was only a minute or two behind me.

We then got cleaned up and headed out to the road where there were riders still riding in. We stood there for about a half hour cheering other riders in. It’s a fun time riding into camp when there are hordes of people cheering you in. You feel like you’ve accomplished so much and there is such a sense of relief when you are done with a day like today: Quadbuster, rolling hills, bumpy roads, warm sunshine, and the feeling that you are part of something much bigger than you.

With that I will now go to bed. Tomorrow we tackle the Evil Twins, and I become one of them… stay tuned.

Day 4 - Paso Robles to Santa Maria

Before I tell you about today, I gotta tell you about what happened last night after I signed off. Michael and I were in our tent stretching before going to sleep, it was about 9:30 and for the most part everyone around us was quiet. Normally if someone talks at that time, it’s usually at a whisper, so you can imagine our surprise when we suddenly heard a zipping sound from the tent across from us and a loud male voice exclaimed “Oh my God I’ve got the wrong tent!” Oh my gosh, we laughed so hard that my eyes were watering for about 20 minutes as we tried to stifle the giggles!

The morning started out flat. I woke up with my air mattress almost flat, and soon afterward got to my bike and found my front tire flat! After that it was hills, hills and rolling hills and lots of great ocean scenery. At breakfast, I ran into my friends Peter Holson and Antonio Barrios and we decided we’d ride together today with Michael too.

Lydia Winkeller and I wore matching jerseys and socks along with red horns (mine on my helmet!) and called ourselves the “Evil Twins,” which were the names of the first significant hills of the day. At the top of the first “Twin” was Rest Stop 1, where Lydia and I pulled out our squirt guns and started spraying people while telling them WE were the Evil Twins.

On to climb the second twin, then over to the “Halfway to LA” sign. Folks lined up for about an hour to take pictures in front of the sign. After that was a nice long downhill toward Hwy. 1, where we spent most of the day. We rode into the little town of Cayucos and stopped to have “real coffee” and sweets, while waiting for Peter and Antonio to take their “halfway” picture.

After that it was on to lunch, where I sat with Donald Wilson and Nancy (whose last name I can’t remember!). We stretched and talked about the route and what was up next, which people candidly told me was — the cinnamon rolls in Pismo Beach, of course! At this point Leela, Wayne & Michael had rejoined us so of course we also stopped there for cinnamon rolls and coffee in preparation for the next 16 hilly miles.

The last rest stop was just over the “Northern California/Southern California border” and man was it windy! At that rest stop, lovely Leela gave me the best shoulder massage I’ve gotten all week. Well ok it is the only massage I’ve gotten all week so it was fabulous!

Luckily after that rest stop we turned left and had the wind at our backs, with a great fast ride into camp, which tonight is in Santa Maria. Well, camp is in Santa Maria but I am staying at the Holiday Inn down the street (hey! You gotta be a princess sometime!)

Tomorrow is Red Dress day, so talk to you with stories then!

Day 5 - Santa Maria to Lompoc

Today was Red Dress Day. This tradition was originally “Dress in Red Day,” where all riders wear red for the day, and as we are riding on the rolling hills from Santa Maria to Lompoc, it looks like a big red ribbon flowing over the hills.

I awoke at 6am in a warm hotel bed and I didn’t want to move. Luckily we set two alarm clocks and one went off five minutes after the other. I peeled myself off the mattress and headed in to take a real shower. Donald, Michael, Greg and I met in the lobby of the hotel wearing our matching pleated red skirts, fishnet, red boas and silver tiaras. Needless to say, we got some long stares as we left the building! Carl Goerlich’s partner David gave us a ride back to camp, where we met up with everyone and we spent the next half hour or so laughing and taking pictures. I’m sure they’ll be on the website shortly.

Men in dresses: Donald Wilson, Charlie Bergstrom, Shance (yes Shance, and there are hundreds of photos of that!), Irish Greg McQuaid, and Michael Cook. All of them in dresses for the first time in their lives! The creativity of everyone on this day is something to be seen. There were leggy, buxom blondes in red dresses, grandmas in red dresses and lots of red evening gowns! I don’t know how some of the guys rode in those evening gowns but I’m sure the fact that today’s mileage was only 42 miles made it a little more bearable.

In bike parking, the parking Roadies handed out letters written to riders by local school children. I told Greg not to read it until we were on the road, since it would make us cry and that maybe somewhere on the route we should stop and read them. The two of us left bike parking at about 8am in search of the coffee house that I knew was somewhere on the route between camp and rest stop two. At mile 7 we found the Foxhole Coffee house and saw that riders were already lining up — we sped up, parked and got in. Soon after, we were enjoying mochas, lattes and a cinnamon bun with icing! Now that we were all sugared and caffeinated, we rode the next two miles to Rest Stop 1.

Rest stop 1 was a sight to see, nothing but red, red, red! (I heard later, that between camp and rest stop 1, two of our friends who had not brought a red dress to wear, Faisal and Wayne, stopped by a local Ross store to pick up something for the day since they were feeling so left out!) Soon everyone was comfortable riding in their sexiest little red item for all to see as we rolled over the hills between Santa Maria and Lompoc. By this time the hills were sort of a blur, too many to count, but it was very cool to see this very, very long line of red traveling ahead of me. It was such a strong statement, and I think that we were able to make a symbolic message for the local communities: the red ribbon symbolizes AIDS and it has not gone away, we are here to remind you of that.

We rode on to rest stop 2. It was here that I ran into other riders (faster ones!) that I really haven’t seen much on the road. Ben Armstrong, usually the first or second one into camp, was just rolling into rest stop 2 while I sat eating my peanut butter/jelly graham cracker sandwich. I exclaimed, “Riding sorta’ slow today, eh Ben?” He replied, “Yeah, I figured there was no point in getting to camp at 9am.” Ah youth, wasted on the young.

There were only 2 rest stops today. This meant that most of us got to camp earlier than usual. It was nice to get to camp early without this feeling of urgency to get things done. I leisurely put up the tent, then headed over to the showers.

Today was my day to try to ride alone and reflect on all of the things that have gotten me here to this point, as well as the others with whom I’ve tried to be an influence this season. I thought of whether I’d ride next year, whether I’d lead training rides again, and how I felt about cycling. Today I felt burnt out. I had done this season what I set out to do, and accomplished many goals, so maybe it was time to move on to another hobby? All of this came about because of the knee pain I began to feel.

Today was the first day I felt any sort of real pain. After riding several thousand miles this year, today my right knee began to tell me that I was not being very nice to it. Where I am usually so diligent about stretching both my IT band and my inside thigh muscle, for some reason this week I have been sort of distracted. As a result, the back of my right knee began to get very tight and sore as I flew up and down the hills of the day. I am assuming that this is also the reason I can’t remember much of what I did today. By the time I got into camp, I was seriously thinking maybe I should track down Patrick Wilson for a bit of a massage.

After showering and basically setting up camp, I headed over to the lunch tent, where they were serving ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit and drinks for lunch. There I ran into Shance and Faisal, and together we decided to wait for the shuttle to take us into town. After waiting and waiting and waiting, we decided that it was going to take too long and maybe we should just hang out here. In the meantime they announced to us that the last riders in for the day was a mile outside of camp, and invited us to come out and cheer them in. A hundred or so folks made their way out to the entrance of camp and we made a huge ruckus upon her entrance. She had not finished any of the days this week, and this was her first day riding the entire route! FYI for all of you reading this: The last rider into camp each day is the most important person on the ride, period. So it’s actually kind of cool to come in as the last person, because the whole camp cheers you in — that’s almost 2000 people.

As I write this, I can hear the talent show going on in the dining tent a few hundred feet away. I had to take a break from writing as soon as I heard the “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” music, and ran over to watch a group of Training Ride Leaders do their own rendition while wearing their butt-ugly helmet covers on their head. It was a treat! And Lydia came up with some great words to go with the music.

So now I am off to sleep, to stretch and hopefully get in at least 6 or 7 hours of sleep in preparation for 80+ miles tomorrow. This is a beautiful stretch along the coast to Ventura, via Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, where my boss Allen has invited me to stop and have lunch, and on to our camp in Ventura. Our company is in the process of remodeling the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort in Santa Barbara, and we will be riding right past it tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Day 6 - Lompoc to Ventura

In the pre-dawn darkness (aka 4:45am), Michael and I stumbled our way to the beverage tent to fill our French press full of Peet’s coffee again. I always laugh at the reactions I get when people see me open my bag of Peet’s and measure it out, so many ooh’s and aaah’s and lots of “next year that’s what I’m doing!” We ran into Glenn Hammerson and Dave Torres in the breakfast line so invited them to join us at our table. Glenn, being the coffee-aholic that he is, saw my French press and happily obliged. We sat and chatted about the ride and what it’s been like for each of us.

Glenn, having done over a dozen rides, is always one of the first ones into camp each day. As a result, I’m sure he doesn’t pay much attention to the scenery because he’s seen it so many times before. And because he rides so fast, he doesn’t meet as many new folks as the rest of us. Dave, on the other hand, takes his time and chats it up with everyone he meets. Every time I chat with him, he tells me about another new person that he’s met. His amazement is how different each person is, and their reasons for riding. We’ve also come to realize something we call “six degrees of Julie Brown,” because he says he keeps meeting new people who know me — and there are 1600 people riding this ride! My knee was feeling much better this morning, after the massage from Patrick and two Motrin.

We headed out onto Hwy 1 from Lompoc on our way to Ventura. Michael informed me that somewhere right before rest stop one, he would be hitting 5,000 miles on his bike odometer, and he wanted to be riding with someone he knew, so that we could stop and take a picture of him and his odometer. We rode on, up a looonng hill, and on our way up at about mile 5 I rode past a woman who was asking if anyone had a pair of scissors or a knife (sure, I carry a knife with me when I ride my bike…).

I rode on, but apparently a couple minutes behind me, someone heard her and immediately stopped without calling out “stopping,” nor making any sort of signal. Unfortunately, right behind him was my friend Emily, and behind her, Michael, who both went down in the road. Michael, while trying to swerve out of Emily’s way, swerved out in the road and went down in the lane. Our quick-thinking friend Wayne jumped off of his bike and basically stepped in front of the next car that was about to pass over Michael in the road and waved the driver down to stop immediately. Whew!

They pulled Michael out of the road quickly and got him to the shoulder. He was fine physically, although would end up with a couple of good bruises, as was Emily, who ended up with a bruise on her bum the size of Montana. We rode on to Rest Stop 1, where — although shaken and very pissed off — Michael had the bike tech take a look at his bike to make sure it was fine. Tyson the bike tech guy fidgeted with his rear derailleur while we all watched, and soon it was like brand new and we were back on our bikes.

At rest stop 2 I was greeted by many maids. Ruben, dressed as a “French maid after a rough night,” posed for pictures with us and at that point I met up with Emily, Tammy, Cami, Kelly, Bob, and Rowdy again. We rode to the next stop, which was lunch, together. At mile 45 on the route I realized that the mileage was off by about 4 miles on the route sheet. Instead of the 11 miles that the route sheet noted, it was about 15. This is usually ok, except that I could feel my blood sugar dropping after the 11 miles. As we rode, and rode and rode, Michael’s back wheel began to make a strange rattling noise which drove us all nuts.

Afterward, I lied down on the grass and almost fell asleep. I slowly heard voices falling away from me as I drifted to sleep and then realized with a start that if I fell asleep right there, I’d have a very hard time getting back up to ride, and I still had another 40 or so miles to go. So up I went, to check on Michael and his bike. The tech there said he could not figure it out, but Tyson would be back at rest stop 4. Obviously, we knew Tyson would figure it out so we rode on.

Soon, we rode on into Santa Barbara where it was simply gorgeous. I skipped the rest stop at SB City College and rode on to the “Paradise Pit” and had a scoop of real ice cream!! Woo hooo! Paradise Pit is an unofficial pit stop put together by former riders of the AIDS ride. They get various companies to donate food to give out to riders at this pit. This is a “no Clif bar” zone, and this year they also fed us these very perfectly sweet strawberries. At Paradise Pit, our big group did another regroup and headed for rest stop 4 together. Donald, Wayne, Charlie, Rowdy, Bob, Cami, Tami, Emily, Michael, Kelly and I rode on to the “Swan Lake” at rest stop 4. The guys (and 1 gal) were visions of loveliness in their white leotards, tights and swan wings. They did a plie` as we rode into the stop. Michael took his bike to Tyson, who determined he had a loose spoke (that man is the best bike mechanic in the country!). We all rode on toward camp at Ventura State beach.

For most of the rest of the route, we were on the bike path that paralleled the ocean. It was a nice warm, although overcast, day. As we approached camp, about a quarter mile out, Wayne said to me, “these sidewalks and their bumps always make me feel like I have a flat.” After a few moments he looked down and said “oh no, I DO have a flat!” At this point, I could see the tops of our white service tents in camp. I called out, “keep riding, I can see camp!” and then “how flat is it? I don’t want you to ruin your rims,” and then “don’t sit down!” We laughed, and Wayne said it wasn’t all the way flat and he was not sitting down. So we rolled into camp with Wayne and his flat. He went straight to bike tech to change his tire, with a little help from Donald.

Day six was a long day and we rode 84 miles. Since it was our last night at camp there was a different energy in the air. Sort of an excitement and a sadness at the same time. Since I got in at about 6pm, much later than I normally do, I felt like I had so much to do and very little time to do it all. Our tent was put up for us again, so nice. I also heard that Emily’s tent was put up by a guy named Roland. We thought for a moment and said “OH ROLAND!”. Roland Ottiger was a rider we met in Palm Springs in February of 2004 and became good friends with. He has recently moved to Europe for work, but was in town to finish moving and came by to see the ALC camp (Roland was also a blogger for ALC 2). I didn’t get to see him personally, and for now will say “hey Roland, we missed you this year!!!”

The other thing I had to do tonight was head over to the McCollister’s tent to get my bike shipping tag. Wouldn’t you know it? I registered and paid for my shipping online back in March and when I went to get my tag they had no record of it. I had not brought the receipt with me either, and the guy informed me that if my credit card did not go through they wouldn’t have me on record so I would have to pay $75 cash in order to ship my bike. I angrily informed him that it HAD been processed, because I had already paid for it on the credit card bill. Apparently I was not the only one this happened to, as Shance also informed me that they did not have his name on the list. I got a hold of Mike at home and had him look for my McCollister’s receipt. Luckily he found it, I gave the number to them and got my tag. Nothing like a little drama on the last night!

The evening ended with a candlelight ceremony on the beach. 2000 of us held candles in remembrance of those we have lost to this pandemic. It was a silent ceremony of light, and slowly, one by one we eventually extinguished our flames. It was a powerful moment, seeing all of the candles on the beach. It was a powerful moment to remember why we have been riding all week.

Day 7 - Ventura to Los Angeles

Ah, the final day. On one hand it seems as if last Sunday was years ago, and on the other I feel like the week has just flown by! Was there another day in there between day five and day six that I slept through? Sure feels like it.

At 5am we were again up and over to the dining tent. Stephanie Chenard, another TRL who has been missing us (and the Peet’s coffee) all week, finally hooked up with us this morning to share coffee with us. I have never seen someone so excited to have a cup of real coffee, and go from dead asleep to “wild and crazy gal,” all in the span of two sips! We sat and had our last breakfast in camp with Charlie, Wayne, Donald, Greg and Stephanie. After breakfast, it was off to take down the tent, and roll our gear bags to the trucks for the last time.

We headed out of Ventura Beach State Park onto the roads of Ventura and on to Oxnard — where the streets appeared to be paved in glass. Yikes! I could swear that someone went out the night before and broke a bottle or windshield in the bike lane, at least every 100 yards. The morning was filled with calls of “Glass left! Glass right!” and of course, one of those teeny pieces got me at mile 7, where Donald and Charlie helped me change the flat on my back tire. On our way to Rest stop one, I spied a Starbucks coffee shop on the left. I signaled left turn and rolled in. Not surprisingly, there were about 60 or so other ALC riders in line or sitting out front enjoying their drinks. Since it was 9am and we were not due in LA until at least 3pm, we felt we had loads of time to hang out, until someone pointed out that the next rest stop was 15 miles away and closed at 10am. If we were not past that rest stop by the time it was closed, we would be swept to the next rest stop or lunch. I downed the rest of my Americano and hopped on my bike. The caffeine pumped through my veins has I averaged 22mph on the ride to rest stop 1.

The roads were mostly rolling along the PCH, although I started to feel a little bump, bump, bump, coming from my back tire. I stopped, wondering if I had another flat tire, inspected it and saw that there was nothing too dangerous, although my rim had a hairline crack at one of the points where a spoke went into it. It was very small, so I didn’t worry about it. I rode on to rest stop 2, where the theme was “Heaven.” I still had the red devil horns on my helmet, so I knew this was going to be a fun stop! We took pictures of Ruben (dressed as an angel) whispering into one ear of a rider, and me whispering into that rider’s other ear. It was loads of fun. We hung out here and tried to hold on to the last moments of the day before the end of the ride. After a few more animal crackers, it was back on the road to lunch.

I rode with Wayne and Donald, up and down more rolling hills and continued to feel the bump, bump, bump of my back tire. I finally decided to stop and have Donald and Wayne look at it too, to see if I had missed anything. I had. My tire had a bulge in it, at the point where the valve went into the rim. Either the tube was not seated right, or the tire was bulging from too much air, or? Who knows? I replaced the tube again and inflated the tire. It was at this point that we noticed that not only did I have a crack at on the rim at the spoke point, but an even bigger crack in my rim at the valve stem point. My rim was cracked, and I had 5 miles to go to lunch, and 15 after that to get to the end. This was going to be an eventfully drama-infused day after all. We continued down the PCH, up and down hills and eventually down a pretty good descent. I led Donald and Wayne, who wanted to ride behind me just in case my tire blew again. All of a sudden, a guy in a black BMW decided that he was going to pull a U-turn right in front of me. He must have thought that he could pull the U-turn quickly enough to make it through before I came riding through, because there was no way he could have NOT seen me riding towards him. Unfortunately, although he pulled the turn quickly, he also pulled himself INTO the bike lane while doing so, blocking my intended path.

As soon as I noticed the timing of all that was happening, I shouted out loudly and constantly “HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!” Donald and Wayne, realizing what was happening, also began to yell. In my mind, in slow motion, I squeezed the brakes and started to skid to a stop. Realizing that if I continued to brake too hard, I would go flying over my handlebars and onto the front corner of the BMW as it turned. Miraculously, there was a driveway to my right and as soon as I saw it, I slid my front tire to the right and heard my back tire squeal as I fishtailed to a stop, facing the open driveway and continuing to pedal in a U-turn myself. I had narrowly escaped a head on collision with a black BMW making a U-turn.

I rode back up to the bike lane that I had moments ago turned off of, and faced Donald and Wayne as we all began to hyperventilate. The driver (who could not have been more than 17 or 18 years old), pulled up to us and apologized profusely. Donald looked at him and shook his head, and I looked directly at him and said “Yeah, I’d say you took that U-turn a little wide.” He apologized again and asked if I was ok, I reassured him that I was and told him to go on, but be careful because there were other riders out there ahead of me. He said he was sorry again, and rode off. I looked at Donald and Wayne and said, “I’m sure glad I took that bike handling skills class a couple of years ago…” Donald said to me that he was sure that I was going to go over the guy’s hood and he was amazed that I didn’t go down at all. I was thinking that one of those unseen Angels at the last rest stop must have hopped on my shoulder for the rest of the ride. I don’t know how I survived that almost-crash either.

We rode on to lunch with even more care, and upon arrival I went directly to Tyson to ask him to take a look at the crack on my rim. He said it was a stress crack, and let air out of my tire in order for me to make it the next 15 miles to the end of the ride. He said since it was a crack, if my tires were full and I hit a bump or pothole hard enough, it would crack it more. I was to ride slowly on my under inflated tires to the end of the ride. I said ok, but I was not happy. I was also starving, so I ate the sandwich and chips that Donald had gotten for me, and rode out for the last leg of the route, this time with Charlie keeping an eye on my back tire by riding behind me (again!).

I thought I was riding pretty slowly but Charlie says I was averaging about 20 miles an hour. It was an uneventful ride and once we hit San Vincente Blvd, we stopped at a Starbucks to use the rest room and wait for the rest of our crew. We had ridden out together and wanted to ride in together to the end. Soon after, Faisal, Shance, Donald, Michael, and Wayne rode up and we rode the last 5 miles of the route together, me in the lead just in case my wheel decided to give up. It was fun riding past crowds of people gathered to cheer us in along the route. I rode into the VA parking lot to cheers of people, and saw Irish Greg and his girlfriend Sam waving at us. Greg gave me a high five as I rode by, and soon saw the end of the route as we came upon bike parking for the final time. As I scoured the group at the finish line, there was my husband Mike Brown the bike widower, with arms wide open hugging me to welcome me to the end of the ride and just as happy as I was that it was over.

Afterthoughts - Sunday, June 12

After sending off my bike with McCollister’s, and gathering my rolling duffel, Mike, Michael Donald and I were off to our hotel in WeHo. The sight of riders and roadies hugging each other and saying goodbye was not unlike my memories of summer camp as a kid and saying goodbye to the friends I had made that year.

The evening of Day 7, we dined with other ALC riders at a local restaurant called “Off Vine” which was just off Hollywood Blvd. Sandy Pollock, Kathy Skinner, Dave Tamkun, Mary McGuire and her two guests (they actually recommended the restaurant), Faisal Mirza, Donald Wilson, Charlie Bergstrom, my tentmate Michael Cook, Mike Brown, Dan Gerstein and his friend (Pam?) also a rider, sat together and drank wine and ate great food in celebration of this amazing week we had just accomplished. The stories that went around the tables about what happened to people this week were hilarious, scary, sad and a little unbelievable as well. Everyone felt they had accomplished this great thing, and realized the magnitude of what we had just done.

Sunday morning, I still woke up at 5am but was able to talk myself back to sleep for a couple more hours. Lo and behold I was re-awakened by an L.A. earthquake of 5.5, I really WAS in L.A.! We spent most of Sunday lounging by the pool. I wasn’t dead tired, just felt like all I wanted to do was lounge around. Since our flight was not until 8pm Sunday night, we relaxed and had dinner with Michael and Donald somewhere on Santa Monica Blvd. Oh yes, did I mention it was Gay Pride weekend in L.A.? I got to catch a glimpse of part of the Pride Parade, while I slurped down my iced Americano at Starbucks then headed back to my lounging at the pool.

At the airport that evening, I ran into Jeff Smith one last time. He was waiting for a flight on United, while we were heading to the Southwest terminal. While waiting there, I noticed a few passengers/riders still wearing their ALC wristbands. The flight to Oakland was quick with no drama (thank God). While waiting for my bags in baggage claim, I met a rider named Bill who congratulated me on the Ride. I congratulated him as well, and we talked a little about the week and how it was hard to come back to the real world. We said our goodbyes and headed off in different directions.

I sit now in my office in Campbell, staring out the big picture window and reminiscing about the week. I had to drive from Marin into Campbell for work, which is about 72 miles, and let me tell you it was quite a shock to my system to have to drive in traffic! I kept thinking “coming up on your left,” and “stopping” and “car right!” out loud. It made me laugh when I realized what I was doing. I’ve looked at the website pictures a dozen times now, and have gotten on the discussion forum to read postings, looking for signs that people feel the same way as I do right now. Sort of depressed and sad, and longing for the feeling I got while riding my bike with 1599 others, a feeling of community and safety. There is a pile of projects for me to get on with this week, but I keep putting it all off in order to read the other blogs, look at pictures again and again and to try and relive one of the craziest weeks of my life.

I met great new people on the ride; the other Bloggers: Rachel, Shiv, Matt and Emory, we would all drag ourselves into the media tent at the end of the day to try and remember what happened; Matt Carmody, who together with Glenn would welcome me into camp each day; Michael Hopkins, who goes to the same gym as me but we had not met until this week; Wayne Campbell, who saved Michael’s life and was with me when I almost lost mine; and quite a few others who I met in line at the porta potties, or showers, or who stopped me to ask me if I was “the same Julie who was writing the blog?” It was fun talking to all of you and finding out about you and your reasons for riding. It’s all of this that keeps me coming back to ride year after year.

Thanks to you readers who sent me emails to tell me you were reading my ‘blog. I was amazed at all of the messages I got from people who I didn’t know telling me that they were following the ride and reading my entries everyday. It made it that much more fun to tell you my stories, and the stories of my friends. Every night I would try and drag Michael or Charlie with me into the media tent to help me remember what we had done that day.

For those of you who are thinking of joining the ride next year, my advice is: DO IT!

If you are a regular recreational cyclist who is thinking about it, DO IT! Think of the best, supported organized one-day century ride you have ever ridden (be it Tierra Bella, Bike for Breath, the Wine Country Century, Strawberry Fields Forever, the Tour de Palm Springs, etc.) and multiply it by 7. This is the best, supported organized ride you will ever participate in.

With that last invitation, I say goodbye but see you next year!

Thank you for caring, thank you for riding, thank you for reading.

“Downtown” Julie Brown
ALC 4 Rider #5227
Training Ride Leader, San Francisco
“Come ride with me, I hate to ride alone!”