Day 4 is my second favorite day.  Out of Paso Robles and down to the coast a little north of Morro Bay and then south to Santa Maria.  It was pretty in the morning but it got increasingly windy as we got to towards the top of the big hill.  Here's the view towards the coast from the top:

And one of me as well:

The wind was crazy coming down off the mountain.  I was blown into the traffic lane which was luckily free of cars.  I was afraid to move my hand from the handlbars to brake because I thought I'd get blown off my bike and everytime I tried to move towards  .  Yikes!  Luckily, I didn't get blown over and I still had a clean pair of pants at the bottom of the hill. 

Rest stop 2 had a caveman theme.  I think the pictures speak for themselves:

  

Rest stop 4 had an air force theme.  They all looked hot.  Again.  I showed up early enough to insert myself into their group picture:

I got into Santa Maria pretty early and spent some time with Ben welcoming the riders back in.  It had been a long, long day.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                       0.0
Week to date                            0.0
Month to date                           0.0
Year to date                              0.0
Remaining to Goal                     0.0
Over (Under) plan                     0.0

Day 3 is my third favorite day.  King City to Paso Robles.  It was a bit shorter this year which I wasn't too crazy about.  I got into Paso Robles way too early and then had nothing to do.  But the ride was nice.  Here's my friend Richard at rest stop 1:

The building he was standing in front of is very beautiful:

I made my way over the big hill and then through Fort Hunter Liggett.  As I made my way towards Bradley I stopped to get a few shots of the beautiful view.  I think I took a view from the very same spot last year.  It's gorgeous:

And here's me with the big view behind me:

I made my way into camp and then hung out with my bike team.  I don't like the Paso Robles camp site because it's very hot until the sun goes down.  Next year I'm going to stay in a hotel there.  But dinner was good.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                       0.0
Week to date                            0.0
Month to date                           0.0
Year to date                              0.0
Remaining to Goal                     0.0
Over (Under) plan                     0.0

I slept in until 5 on day 2.  Which was a bit of a mistake.  Because by then everything was nuts.  We broke down our tents and took them to our assigned gear truck.  Here is the crew from my truck:

The breakfast line was really long.  So I skipped it and ate some of the delicious Kashi cereal I'd brought.  Not really an issue because rest stop 1 is always at mile 15 or so and they've got tons of food.  They had a sports theme at rest stop 2.  Caliente!

I made my way through Salinas and then headed up the valley towards King City.  Rest stop 4 had some serious glamour drag going. 

And some amazing outfits.  I mean asses.

  

I made it to King City early and had time to clean my bike.  Here are Beau (LA rider) and Ben at bike parking. 

Bike Mileage:
Today                                       0.0
Week to date                            0.0
Month to date                           0.0
Year to date                              0.0
Remaining to Goal                     0.0
Over (Under) plan                     0.0

I got up at 4AM for day 1. Which didn't seem so early.  I get up at 4:45 most days.  Mr. Poe dropped me and my luggage off and I dropped it off and then staggered into the auditorium.  There were many, many people there.

The first thing they do is bring out the riderless bicycle which represents all of the people who have died of AIDS.  This is a very emotional moment for many of the participants and a lot of people were sobbing.  I kept it together.  That's not the part that gets me.  It's the people who ride all the way to LA with pictures of people they've lost taped to their handlebars.  I couldn't do that.  It would be overwhelming. 

Here I am looking the hot mess with my team mate Andre:

They finished opening ceremonies and I ended up in the middle to the end of the pack heading out.  Which meant a lot of waiting.  Here are some of our super glamorous roadies:

Nothing but class here:

It was a bit of work getting to the front of the pack because I was so far back.  But I managed.  I got ahead of the pack by Millbrae and was pretty much on my own by the time I got to the top of the hill on 92.  I headed through Half Moon Bay and then down past San Gregorio.  Where, to my delight, somebody had erected a sign with my name on it.  Me!  A sign subject!  It was my friends Pip and Joel. Nobody's ever done that for me before and it meant a lot.  Here's me pointing at it. 

And my wonderful sign makers:

This is the view of the coast a few miles south of San Gregorio.  It was a glorious morning:

They were still setting up rest stop 3 when I got there.  So I missed whatever costume theme they had chosen.  Which is a problem with being an early rider.  But, on the other hand, the later riders will never experience the morning calm and azure stillness of an unsullied porta pottie.

.

Rest Stop 4 had already set up.  They were all in their badminton outfits.  Which were really sexy. 

Seriously sexy:

Here's me bringing down the glamour level:

I made it to camp in Santa Cruz pretty early.  Oneish, I think.  And yet I still had to wait in the shower line.  Not a good sign.  They'd switched shower vendors.  The ones from years past were like those from a concentration camp.  These were more like from a prison.  Baby steps.  We stayed in an enormous tent city in a park in Santa Cruz.  Some of the riders made a whole lot more effort to decorate their tents than me.  These guys wrapped theirs in tulle. The drama!

Please let this be a wig:

I went to bed around 7 as I always do on the Lifecycle.  Those party animals can stay up 'til 8 but I need my rest.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                       0.0
Week to date                            0.0
Month to date                           0.0
Year to date                              0.0
Remaining to Goal                     0.0
Over (Under) plan                     0.0

I managed to get out of the house a little late for day.  Which surprised no one.  I rode Corbett to Portola to Fowler to Teresita to Gaviota to Bella Vista to Burlwood to Los Palmos to Hazelwood to Yerba Buena to Brentwood to Maywood to El Verano into Northgate to Upland to Westgate to Cerritos into Winston to Lake Merced to Southgate to Park Plaza to 87th to Washington to San Pedro to East Market to Guadalupe Canyon to Bayshore to Geneva and into the Cow Palace for registration.  I ran into my pal Wilfredo who I hadn't seen in forever and was all excited for the ride:

David Goldsmith is on my team and was princessing (staying in hotels) all week.  I was totally jealous.

My friend Ian got injured the a week ago and couldn't ride.  Which really sucks.  But he had a great attitude about it and crewed anyway.

I was done with registration by noon which really surprised me because last year it took forever.  I left my bike at the cow palace so that the next morning I'd only need to show up with my luggage (everybody's supposed to do that).  Regan took me home and I had to run down to the office to get my cell phone charger and then I got packed.  Everything was in plastic bags so it would be organized and not get wet and then labeled so I knew which outfit went with which day.  Please.  Would you expect any less from me??

All this packing tuckered out Mr. Poe and the dogs:

I managed to make it to bed early which was pretty nice because that meant I had a full night's sleep for day 1.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                      15.3
Week to date                         173.4
Month to date                     1,223.4
Year to date                       5,021.6
Remaining to Goal              5,978.4
Over (Under) plan                 868.6

I had a lot to do today so came down Market in the morning and home the same way after work.  I had a lot of errands to run over lunch.  Which took forever.  But I ran into super cute John Prochnow at Kaiser so it wasn't a total drag.  Went out to dinner at the Thailand Restaurant on Castro Street with the gang.  It was delicious.  They're tofu = awesome.  I crossed the halfway point to my 10,000 mile goal today.  A month early.  I'm really happy about that.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                       7.0
Week to date                         158.1
Month to date                     1,208.1
Year to date                       5,006.3
Remaining to Goal              4,993.7
Over (Under) plan                 880.6