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Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Thanks!

The ride has been over for more than a month now, it's taken me some time to put this blog together, and I'm still working on a Google Earth version.

The AIDS LifeCycle 2010 was a great experience for me: physically it left me very fit, it was a fabulous travel experience and the people (the roadies and support crew, the organizers, and of course the other cyclists) made it a special social experience too. For everything I put into this, I got so much more out of it.

I'd like to thank again everyone who encouraged and supported me on the ride, including everyone who donated to the ride:

• Alissa Tan 
• Ben Lindahl
• David Bertoni
• Derek Satre 
• Dos and Shirley Dos Santos
• Google, for its generosity in matching every donation
• Heba Gamal
• Karl Robillard
• Laura Capello
• Lynnsey Skliros and Lance Schneider
• Mark Bromley and David Salie
• Reid Yokoyama
• Tom Warne
• Val McDonald

And I'd also like to thank my parents for sending a batch of AIDS beadwork badges from South Africa, to my roommates Stefanie and Nicole for helping out with so much, and other people in team Google, especially Nathan Davis, Mike Fritz and cap'n Logan Eldridge.

Extremely Fast Return to San Francisco

The ride down took 7 days to do the 875 km (545 miles) with a lot of sweat and effort. It was almost humiliating to bord a flight back from LA to San Francisco, and cover the same distance in 1 hour 15 minutes.

We flew along the fog line that we'd sometimes been cycling beneath on the ride, it looks beautiful from the air. This isn't the line of the coast, its a chain of hills inland (possibly the Santa Lucia Mountains, although I'm not sure) which block the fog's passage.

Pancake Stack

"If you've ridden 100 miles", my roommate Stefanie said when I was doing the training, "then you can eat whatever you want. A deep-fried hostess twinkie. Whatever your want."

I'd ridden 545 miles, and my first breakfast after the ride wasn't a deep-fried hostess twinkie, but a pot of really good coffee, the largest stack of pancakes I'd ever seen (15 high?) and a great omelet at the Griddle Cafe on Sunset Boulevard, together with friends Sandy and Mark. It was my farewell to LA: from there I drove through the crazy freeway system to LAX.

Pride Parade on Santa Monica Boulevard

Not far from my hotel, the LA Pride Parade was happening the morning after the ride. I was only there briefly because I met friends later on; but here are a couple of pictures of protesters protesting protesters, and the legendary Dykes on Bikes, who lead the parade.

Day 7: The End!

I rode the last miles with my friend from work Nathan. This is us, together with Julian another Googler, at the end of the ride at the VA Center in LA.

Julian and I shared a fabulous cup of coffee nearby, and then I skipped the closing ceremony to get into my hotel. All I wanted was a shower! The hotel was a boutique hotel in West Hollywood with a roof top bar overlooking the hazy city. It was a well-appreciated bit of luxury at the end of a long ride.

Day 7: Bulk Lawn

I pushed through today without stopping to take many photographs. This was the one exception: the surreal sight of fields and fields of ultra-green lawn, destined I'm guessing for the city of LA, with brown semi-arid landscapes and hills in the background.

Day 7: Ventura to Los Angeles

Our last day was a short one: 61.5 miles along the coast from Ventura, most of it along the Pacific Coastal Highway through Malibu and Santa Monica and then a final stretch short stretch to the VA Theater in Los Angeles. Once again, my phone refused to record the track (that old technology-is-so-fabulous-when-it-works story), so I've had to reconstruct the map by hand from the route sheet.


View ALC Day 7 in a larger map

Day 6: Candles on the Beach

Evenings at the ALC had long sessions of announcements and information on the San Francisco Aids Center and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, for whom we were raising money.  Tonight was the last night so it was a little different: it ended in a candlelit vigil on the beach of San Buenaventura. This event was really touching because of it's simplicity: thousands of people, each holding a candle, citing in a vast ring on the beach. Then after about 10 minutes of saying nothing, the candles were doused, one after the other, in the dark surf.

That was it. I didn't want to take any photos.

It was a sobering reminder of what this has all been about.

Day 6: Paradise Pit

I'd heard other riders talking about the Paradise Pit earlier on today: a stop where local ice cream vendors and pastry shops in Santa Barbara give away ice cream, baked goods and fresh berries to the cyclists.

It turned out the Paradise Pit was just east of the Santa Barbara beach, so we reached it in the early afternoon. I didn't want to leave again quickly: if there is anything better in the world than lying under palm trees on a perfect day and eating as much really good ice cream as you want, it'll take a while for me to find it! This was one of the big highlights of a ride which had a lot of highlights.

Day 6: Santa Barbara

Rest Stop 3 today was the beautiful palm-tree-lined beachfront of Santa Barbara.

The theme was Alice in Wonderland: here is the White Queen and the King of Hearts (Chris):

 A group of us took the advantage of having arrived in the heat of Southern California to go for a spontaneous swim (and take some of the sea's harvest back to land):

Day 6: Tagged

We were all wearing dog tags to identify luggage (and, the running gag, our bodies). Here's Julian giving away his digits to all the identify thieves:

Day 6: Early Morning

 Mornings on the ride were early: we got up between 4:30 am and 5 am, packed tents, got slathers of sunblock over our faces, had breakfast and a quick yoga or stretching session, and then we were on our way by 6:30am.

That was the normal routine at least. Today was a little more mellow: John and I left at around 7am and rode most of the day together.

Day 6: Lompoc to Ventura

85 miles/ 140 km along the pacific coast today some of it alongside the busy freeway 101 (although this was better than I feared). My My Tracks application refused to record any more today: so I've had to reconstruct the map. Mostly pretty accurate, although for a lot of the last part of the ride from Rincon into Ventura, we were on a cycle track, not the freeway.


View ALC Day 6 in a larger map

Day 5: Red Dress Day

This was, in AIDS LifeCycle lore, originally "Dress in Red Day" but it got quickly turned into "Red Dress Day". Almost everyone was dressed in red ... something.Took this photo when we got a good cup of coffee (and some odd looks) at a midday break in the town of Los Olivos

 One of the cyclists had a basket with ET in it; today ET got to wear a red dress too.