|
It’s damn cold here in Lompoc, as we scribe away, and it looks ominously like rain. Let’s
just say that walking outside after showering on a day like today is NO FUN. It was a short (47 miles) but eventful
day on the road, it being “Red Dress Day” and all.
Folklore has it that Red Dress Day originated when someone thought that with all the riders and roadies dressed
in red, the California highways and byways on which we ride would resemble a big red ribbon. And by gosh, today
they did. The outfits that riders and roadies don for this day are the stuff of legend.
And herewith, as our fingers freeze, typing madly away before dinner, where Lea DeLaria is set to preside over
a talent show, are some random observations:
- Overheard in the shower trailer line: “If it rains tonight, I’m
just going to sit in my tent all night and cry.”
- Elementary school children at the rest stops, dressed in oversize ALC t-shirts
and handing out letters they wrote in class to the riders. Lord knows what they
make of some of the red get-ups, but as someone pointed out, the rides have been
going through these little towns for so many years now, they’re probably
used to it.
- The “Free Titties” ladies atop one of the more difficult hills,
baring their breasts to urge riders to the top.
- Overheard in the porta-potty line: “Oh please God, don’t let me
show up in next year’s video as the fat person they use to say, ‘See,
ANYONE can do the ride.’”
- Lea Delaria opening the talent show with her signature jazz and bawdy, in-your-face
humor. The crowd loves her. The first talent entry brings tears to some in the
audience -- a young woman dressed in graduation cap and gown, playing America
the Beautiful on her flute. As an ALC cyclist, she skipped her high school graduation
ceremony to be here in camp with us.
Reporting by:
- Quentin O’Brien, Director of the Health and Mental Health Services
(Rider #3532), LAGLC
- Curt Shepard, Director of Government Relations (Rider #3029), LAGLC
|
Riders Digest, Day 5 (PDF, 260K)