Every evening at 7:30, ALC holds a program in the dining tent. News of the days ride is recapped, including a safety report on the number of violations and injuries. The route for the next day is presented, with highlights and area where extra care is needed. Then the heads of the SF AIDS Foundation and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center talk about what they saw and heard during the day. These are always entertaining. Lori Jean from the LA Center is especially good. Her talk is the highlight of the program. A video blog from two days prior is shown, and there may be a film about the services of the two organization. Some days, there is entertainment.
At Sunday's program, they warned us that the day 2 ride was 107 miles, that it would be a long day and should get an early start. We all dutifully were at our bikes bright and early, and then stood and waited. The first 10 miles of the course is slow going through Santa Cruz. In the past, some riders have gotten impatient, have blown through stop signs and lights, and have generally caused traffic problems. The CHP warned the organization to clean it up or no more permits. They decided to only let a few riders go at a time to spread us out and relieve some of the congestion. So we waited. And waited. after an hour and a half waiting, they finally gave up and let us all go. Not a good start to the day.
Finally on the road, a steady "tick-tick-tick" started coming from my crank area, one tick per crank revolution. I later discovered it only happened when I put power on my right pedal. I chalked it up to the double-sided pedals from my rain bike that I put on for the trip. Annoying, but I decided I could live with it for the rest of the ride.
After about 20 miles, we begin riding through valley farm land, fields of strawberries and artichokes. In one of those fields is a little store with a stand out front that sells deep fried artichoke hearts. The little parking lot is crammed with bikes and riders enjoying this treat. I'd guess we give this merchant more business in one day than he normally sees in weeks.
The rest of the day is spent on roads paralleling 101. A strong north wind came up in the afternoon, usually at our backs. At times we cruised at 25-30 mph in a perfectly calm pocket of air. The few times we had cross-winds, we leaned into them to stay upright.
A second treat on day 2 is provided by the Cookie Lady. The story is that she lost her son to AIDS years ago. She bakes thousands of oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies for the riders each year. They are delicious. In the past, she handed them out in front of her house along the route. This year she set up her table at a water stop.
We got into King City some time around 5:30, very late for us. That evening, as I was using my iPhone, being careful to conserve the battery, the thing crashed. Every time I tried to restart it, it crashed again. I had to borrow Bruce's phone to call Mary. So much for advanced technology.
Here is a GPS track of the day's ride.
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