Day 6 is both my favorite and least favorite day.  I love the route.  A nice climb up to the top of coastal mountains followed by a crazy fast drop to Gaviota beach and then a ride down the coast into Ventura.  What I don't like is rest stop 2 where we are corralled until Caltrans opens the route up for us.  The result is a huge mass of riders leaving at the same time and sorting all that is a shit show until lunch.   I ran into Jeff and Wanderson while I was waiting:

 

 

Assembled riders:

 

 

I was all set to be one of the first riders to go when I looked down at my bike an d realized my front tire was flat.  Fuck!  Bike tech helped me change it and I wasn't so terribly delayed but the damage was done.  I was stuck passing slower riders on the 101 all the way down to Goleta and some of them were seven man pacelines that were a nightmare to get around.  It was very frustrating but thankfully I ride harder on frustration so I was soon done with all that and heading down the coast.  I got in around 12:45 and was the third rider.  I got checked into the hotel and headed over to Dukes for lunch.  They make a passable burrito and their french fries are good so I think they're a better choice than psalm laden In and Out.  Here I am midway through lunch:

 

 

I headed back to camp after lunch and saw Ms. Gaus:

 

 

Girlfriend is ridiculously cantilevered:

 

 

Ventura beach:

 

 

I went to bed early again.  My allergies were driving me nuts and I was exhausted.  Sorrry, Larry!

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 84.3 Week to date 399.9 Month to date 488.7 Year to date 4,451.1 To Goal 3,548.9 Over (Under) plan 922.3 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (185.9) Rolling Year 9,088.1 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,918.8

I woke up on Thursday morning to more evidence that I'd been ambien sleep-eating again.  I was telling my friend Grady about it and he was HORRIFIED but I figure that until I wake up in my car with a bag full of McDonalds it's all good.  Day 5 is a short 42 miles and the dress is red.  I'm not gonna motivate myself enough to go out and get a red dress for the occasion so every year I wear a red outfit complete with mostly see through shorts.  I figure that's enough:

 

 

But check out the amazing outfits that other people are rocking:

 

 

I loved David's 'librarian hooker' chic:

 

 

Me with lulu, Larry and some of the sports med crew:

 

 

Jason was WORKING those heels:

 

 

It was cold and drizzly all morning which was a problem with some of the skimpy outfits so I kept moving and was OK.  I started having problems right out of bike parking.  My front derailleur had bent and it was rubbing in my big front ring so I couldn't use it which meant I was spinning very fast the whole way to rest stop one.  Bike tech fixed it in about a second which was very nice.  I headed off towards Lompoc and hauled ass up the hills towards town.  I stopped again at rest stop 2 and got some pics:

 

 

These guys are brothers.  Which is awkward because I asked them how long they'd been together.

 

 

I made it into Lompoc about 10AM and instead of going to camp I headed into town and hung out at Starbuck until Wanderson met me and then we went to lunch at Burrito Loco which is really delicious.  Their salsa and guacamole are very, very good and I look forward to eating there every year.  We headed into camp about 1:30 and got cleaned up and started wandering around.   Elliott had changed out of his dress but hadn't managed to get his lipstick off:

 

 

This guy should never take this outfit off:

 

 

I really dislike the Lompoc campground.  It's incredibly spread out which meant a lot of walking and the lawn is very uneven because of gophers.  In addition, the whole park is overun with fire ants and ducks.  I ate dinner and watched scooby doo in my tent before going to bed.  That was a very good choice.   I figured I was gonna eat in my sleep again so I actually left food out like I was Santa or something.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 42.0 Week to date 315.6 Month to date 404.4 Year to date 4,366.8 To Goal 3,633.2 Over (Under) plan 860.0 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (228.2) Rolling Year 8,961.8 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,834.5

I felt great on Wednesday when I woke up but the first thing that I noticed was that I'd apparently had a snack in my sleep.  Ah, Ambien aren't you always bringing the AM surprises?  We got packed up pretty quickly and headed to breakfast and then I got my bike and got ready to ride.  Here's everybody ready to go:

 

 

What I like about day 4 is that the first part of the day is a huge climb which I love because it warms me up right away.  Then there's this crazy drop down to the coast which for some reason was both fog and wind free this year.  I was really happy about that because some years it's so windy that I feel like my bike is being pushed into oncoming traffic and I need a new pair of shorts by the time I get to the bottom.  But not this year.  We headed down the 1 and pretty soon we were at pretty Morro Bay:

 

 

Here's a pic from Rest Stop 3, my last stop of the day:

 

 

I rode really hard the rest of the day and was pleased when I finished at 12:30 and was #6.  Here are Colleen and I at the finish:

 

 

My first stop was the medical tent.  I had something on my tongue that wasn't comfortable and I was concerned that I'd bitten it and it had become infected.  The medical people thought it was an allergic reaction and that it was irritated and not infected which was good news to me because I didn't want to have to be dealing with antibiotics.  I'll go to my doctor over the summer and get it all sorted because my allergies have been the worst this year that I've ever had and also I need to not have blisters on my tongue. I called my mom and texted here a pic of my tongue and she agreed allergies.  Yuck.

 

After medical I headed into Santa Maria for some food.  I like Santa Maria.  It reminds me of everything that I liked about my former home Harlingen Texas.  Both are friendly heavily Hispanic agricultural towns.  I don't know that I'd want to live there but I'm happy to ride through every year.  Food choices for vegans are a little limited so I ended up at Del Taco figuring it wouldn't be terrible and at least they have French Fries.  Here's how you know if you've gone too long without eating:  when you're eating Del Taco and thinking to yourself "This is fucking delicious".  I headed back to camp and wandered about.  I ran into Alex who was one of my riders.  He's super hot:

 

 

At dinner I painted Elliott's nails for red dress day.  I'm a one stop shop for glamour:

 

 

I didn't do a terrible job:

 

 

I went to bed super early yet again.  I don't understand how those crazy kids can stay up until 8.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 97.7 Week to date 273.6 Month to date 362.4 Year to date 4,324.8 To Goal 3,675.2 Over (Under) plan 839.9 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (172.5) Rolling Year 8,822.1 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,792.5

I felt a little ragged on Tuesday morning since Monday had been such a long day.  I figured I'd perk up as the day progressed and I was right.  Luckily, Day 3 isn't a long day so it provides a bit of a rest.  Here we are waiting for the route to open:

 

 

There's a big hill right after rest stop 1 but I didn't really have too much trouble with it and soon was riding through pretty Fort Hunter Liggett.  Rest stop 3 was the last place I stopped and Deyon was working there that day so that she could hang out with her mom:

 

 

I got into Paso Robles at a little before 11am and was #6.  One of my Sunday riders had beaten me that day and I'll admit I had mixed feelings about that.  I'm sure I'll get over it.  Here I am in camp:

 

 

This woman who was working at bike parking was bringing the FIERCE!:

 

 

I headed over to Tortilla Town for lunch.  There food is pretty awesome although I'll fully admit that my restaurant reviews for food I eat while riding always seem to be a rave.  What I don't like about Tortilla Town is the way they make all the employees shout 'Guacamole!' every time anybody orders guacamole.  It's weird and the staff doesn't seem incredibly delighted about having to shout that over and over all day long.  Especially since their guacamole is good but not great.  But their tortillas are house made and I look forward to going there every year.  After lunch I went and checked into our hotel at the Adelaide.  I love it there.  The staff is so nice and the hotel is clean, attractive and impeccably maintained.  I went back to camp and got my luggage and then went back to the room and got cleaned up.  I tried to keep the room as pristine as possible for Wanderson because it's so nice to go into a perfect hotel room after three days on the road.  I headed back to camp and wandered around a little where I ran into Emily and Bob:

 

 

I'd been struggling with what to do for bike tech all day to thank them for all the free work they'd done on bike the day before.  I wanted to get them beer but the ALC is an alcohol free event and I didn't want to get yelled at sneaking a twelve pack into camp so I was a little stymied until I realized that there was a pizza place next door to Tortilla town.  So I got them a couple of pizzas and they seemed to like that quite a bit.  I had plans to hang out with Larry that night but I soon realized that there was no way I could stay up past 7:15 so I sent my apologies and went back to the hotel room and went to bed.  I think Wanderson stayed up until 9.  I don't know how he did it.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 66.7 Week to date 175.9 Month to date 264.7 Year to date 4,227.1 To Goal 3,772.9 Over (Under) plan 764.1 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (203.5) Rolling Year 8,657.7 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,694.8

I slept well Sunday night and was ready to ride first thing Monday.  Here are all the bike ready to go:

 

 

The view from the front of the line as we're waiting to go:

 

 

We had a new route out of Santa Cruz which was a little hillier than last year but much prettier so I approved.  I got a little lost but managed to get it together and was back on the route by rest stop 1.  I skipped lunch as I always do and headed up the pretty Salinas Valley.  Where we had headwinds.  And I should have known about them because Christ Thomas had told me about them in the morning but I told him that he was crazy despite the fact that he's 1) smarter than me and 2) was holding a weather forecast.  So we had headwinds.  I hadn't eaten enough at rest stop 2 for that and I showed up at rest stop 3 starving which is not a good thing.  Next year I'm gonna have to work another stop into day 2.  They looked at my bike at rest stop 3 and told me that I needed a new bottom bracket when I got into camp.  Headwinds diminished the farther up the valley we got and it was pretty good riding towards the end.  Here I am towards the end of the day:

 

 

I was the third rider in at about 1:50.  I got cleaned up and got some food and hung out the rest of the day. 

 

Here are Wanderson and Colleen at dinner:

 

 

I went to go pick up my bike at the end of the day and they didn't charge me for the new parts or the labor which was really generous.  I love bike tech.  I tried, but I couldn't even stay up until 8PM.  I went to bed and slept like a baby.  Fabulous day.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 109.2 Week to date 109.2 Month to date 198.0 Year to date 4,160.4 To Goal 3,839.6 Over (Under) plan 719.3 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (161.0) Rolling Year 8,481.8 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,628.1

Sunday I was up at 3am so we'd be back at the Cow Palace by 5:30.  Mr. Poe drove Alvin and I over to pick up Wanderson and then to the event.  It's always a little crazy on the first day but I saw tons of people I knew.  Here's me with Larry and Lulu:

 

 

I don't have an explanation for this outfit.  But he rode 82.5 miles in it:

 

 

Ben and Courtney, two of my favoritest people:

 

 

Joe nobly guarded the entrance to bike parking and managed to keep the riff-raff out, especially me:

 

 

I got my bike as soon as bike parking opened and I got my bike and headed to ride out.  I managed to be right at the front which took some doing.  Here's Mark getting ready to ride.  He's a much stronger athlete than me.  He rode almost at my speed the whole week and he did it on a fixie.  I don't know how he managed that.  No idea at all:

 

 

I somehow managed to be the first rider out of the Cow Palace and enjoyed a police escort that waved me through stop signs and lights all the way to Daly City.  Score!  I had a hard, fast ride down the coast.  I felt pretty good the entire day and finished a little before noon and was the fourth rider.  Here I am with Sunny who was in my training series a couple of years ago but is a roadie this year:

 

 

 

I went into Santa Cruz and noted much to my delight that they'd opened a Chipotle about a half a mile closer to camp then the burrito place I'd been headed to.  Being on the Lifecycle seems to make me progressively stupider and this was evidenced by the hippy at Chipotle who had to explain the door code on the men's room to me THREE times before I could figure out how it worked.

 

 

I ran into my friend Alic at dinner.  He's been in nursing school in St. Louis for a year and it was such a treat to see him on the ride this year.  He's moving back in December which is not a moment too soon:

 

 

Wanderson is crazy flexible.  Evidence:

 

 

Here's me with my favorite rider from this season Karen who had just ridden every mile of the first day of her first ride:

 

 

I met up with Larry at dinner and entertained Lulu while he got some food.  She is the best behaved dog which is such a contrast to my any dog I've ever owned:

 

 

I managed to stay up until about 8:15.  I slept very well that night.  It had been a very long day.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 82.5 Week to date 202.5 Month to date 88.8 Year to date 4,051.2 To Goal 3,948.8 Over (Under) plan 632.0 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (187.7) Rolling Year 8,290.1 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,518.9

Friday I came into work with Mr. Poe on Muni and went to the gym before work.  Mid day I headed back for the noon spin class where SHIT WENT DOWN.  We had just started when he started up yelling at me about the hands again.  Remembering the conversation I'd had with April the manager a couple of weeks earlier, I ignored him which was very satisfying because I'm absolutely passive aggressive like that.  He proceeded to take off his headset and come to yell at me in person with the whole 'You can go ride a stationary bike in the exercise room if you can't keep up' crap.  I argued with him and told him that I was following what the class was doing and then he started in with the hand position thing again and I reached inside of myself and pulled out the response 'I don't feel like I need to do that.'.  Which made him incredibly angry.  He asked me if I'd like him to go to speak to the manager and I responded that I'd already spoken with her.  Which made him even angrier, so he left an entire class full of people in the middle of a spinning class to go in search of a manager to kick me out.  I wasn't surprised when he returned alone a couple of minutes later alone and resumed the class.  I was kind of thinking that somebody was gonna want to talk to me after class or as I was leaving but that didn't happen.  Does anybody think that this is going to be the end of all of this nonsense?  I certainly don't.  It brings me no joy that I'll bet he gets fired over all of this because he just can't leave it alone but I'm certainly not gonna get bullied by some bitchy spin coach with a Napoleon complex.  I'm on the Lifecycle for the next class so he'll get a week without me but then I'm hitting every class for the rest of the summer.  It's on.  I'm a spin class Norma Rae.

 

I headed home mid day to meet out house guest who was coming up to stay with us before the ride.  I hadn't met him before but we'd hosted strangers for the Lifecycle before and my friend Brendan said he was gonna be OK so I didn't worry.  He showed up dinner time and we all went to bed early.

 

Saturday I got up very early to go get registered for the Lifecycle.  We could have gone much later but I had a baby shower to go to so we met Buz at the Cow Palace at 8:30.  There wasn't an easy way to get us there in a car so we rode 18th to Valencia to Mission to Silver to Geneva.  Here's Alvin:

 

 

Grady and I:

 

 

TJ couldn't ride this year because of a shoulder injury.  Poor baby:

 

 

Diana and I:

 

 

Reilly bringin' the glamour:

 

 

I was done really early so I headed downtown and had lunch with Mr. Chris and David at some Mexican restaurant in Union Square.  Sadly, they put cheese in my burrito which I didn't notice for a couple of bites and which had unpleasant consequences for me later on.  Then I hopped back on the train and went down to Mission Bay to go to the shower.   Mission Bay has made such an complete transformation from when I moved here that it's unrecognizable.  Who'd have thought in 2000 that it would end up looking like this:

 

 

The Bay View Boat Club is a quirky building on the water that I hadn't been to before.  It had pretty views and a comfortable bar area and was a good choice for Stephanie's shower.  I'll admit I was kind of hoping to be in and out of there in 20 minutes but she'd started opening up presents and I had to wait for her to finish or I wouldn't have had a chance to talk to her at all.  I've been friends with Stephanie forever.  I think we met in 2002 when we did the Paradise Ride together.  I'm so happy she's having a baby and she looks beautiful.  Hooray!  Here are pics from the back deck of the boat club:

 

 

Inside

 

 

Stephanie:

 

 

I headed home and finished up packing and then we had dinner and we went to bed.  It had been a very long day.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 6.3 Week to date 120.0 Month to date 6.3 Year to date 3,968.7 To Goal 4,031.3 Over (Under) plan 571.4 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (270.2) Rolling Year 8,207.6 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,436.4

Thursday I came in to work down Market Street early in the morning and went to the gym.  I headed home for lunch and then went for a nice ride after work.  I rode 2nd to Townsend to 7th to Brannon and into REI to see about a new camping pillow for the Lifecycle.  Then I headed off Brannon to Potrero to 23rd.  I got a bunch of pics as I headed up 23rd St:

 

 

Super cute:

 

 

I took 23rd to Valencia where I saw this recently completed mural.  So super cute:

 

 

I continued on Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Monterey where I saw this super fantastic home at San Rafael:

 

 

I took Monterey to San Rafael to Darien to San Fernando to Ocean to Clearfield into 34th to Wawona to 33rd to Vicente to 16th to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  I continued my packing for the Lifecycle and went to bed.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 25.5 Week to date 113.7 Month to date 1,207.3 Year to date 3,962.4 To Goal 4,037.6 Over (Under) plan 609.0 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (276.5) Rolling Year 8,201.3 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,430.1

Wednesday I was a little slow getting up because of all the walking the day before so it took me forever to get going and get out of the house.  I came into work Market to Laguna to McAllister to Polk to O'Farrell to Grant to Post to Kearny to Clay to Sansome.  I headed home for lunch and believe it or not managed to get the first bits of packing for the Lifecycle done.  Usually I leave it until the night before we leave and there's a lot of flailing and screaming but not this year.  Developing.

 

After work I headed off down Pacific.  I stopped at Columbus and got a pic looking down towards the Financial District:

 

 

I continued on Pacific to Steiner to Jackson to Presidio to Washington.  I stopped at Spruce for a pic of the North Bay:

 

 

I continued on Washington to Arguello to Cabrillo to Funston and into Golden Gate Park at the Rose Garden which seems to have exploded in color since the last time I visited.  Fabulous:

 

 

Me:

 

 

I headed down to Lloyd Lake which is super pretty.  Fun fact:  the architectural portal on the other side of the lake is the last remnant of Albert Towne's mansion on Nob Hill that burned during the earthquake.  They call it 'Portals to the Past'.  You can read more about Lloyd Lake here:

 

 

I continued down JFK and stopped for a pic at Spreckels Lake:

 

 

I continued on JFK to Bernice Rodgers to MLK to La Playa to Irving to the Great Highway to Taravel to Merced to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett and home for dinner.  After dinner I got cleaned up and went to bed.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 26.1 Week to date 88.2 Month to date 1,181.8 Year to date 3,936.9 To Goal 4,063.1 Over (Under) plan 605.4 YTD Mileage vs Last Year (302.0) Rolling Year 8,175.8 Since Inception 10/1/07 44,404.6

Tuesday was 'Walk to Work Tuesday'!  I walked before work, over lunch and then after work and my mileage came in at more than 15 which is nice.  I left the house with Mr. Poe in the morning and started out by heading over to Liberty Hill and then Dolores Park:

 

 

I headed into the Mission.  These pretty homes are on 20th. 

 

 

It was a little sketchy in the Mission as it was still really early and the only people on the street were suspicious.  Perhaps including me.  I headed over to Potrero Hill and got a bunch of pics.  I like Potrero Hill--  it's got beautiful homes and fantastic views but it's ringed by some of the worst neighborhoods in the city and you have to be just a little more careful over there.  Lovely views:

 

 

This is more an extended community garden than a staircase but it goes all the way from Rhode Island to De Haro at 19th:

 

 

Some of Potrero Hill's beautiful homes:

 

 

I headed down to Bay Front Park and took some pics:

 

 

I walked back into work via the Embarcadero where once again I was frustrated in my attempt to get pepples donuts.  So I ended up eating junk food all day which wasn't a very good compromise.  I'm gonna stick to Whole Foods vegan donuts because they are always open when they say they're gonna be open and they presumably always have them.  I headed out over lunch to go get a new battery in my watch at Macy.  I headed there via pretty Joice Street which has lovely steps:

 

 

I then had the bright idea to walk home after work.  I started off on Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower:

 

 

The view of the bay from the entrance to Pioneer Park:

 

 

Twisty Lombard Street:

 

 

I got home about a half an hour late.  I would have only been ten minutes late but I spent 20 minutes in Whole Foods finally getting the donuts that had been denied to me all day and whose substitutes had not provided sufficient satisfaction.  Worth it?  Probably.  I had dinner and got cleaned up and went to bed.  Early, of course.