The second half of Day 4 was tough. Not much to love about it at all. There were good moments of course. But overall, just a slog.
I’ve split the Day 4 recap into two parts, of which this is the second. The stats below relate to the entire day’s ride.
Route: ridewithgps.com/routes/46874134
Miles ridden: 87
Feet climbed: 3,885
Total time: 10:11
[NB: some photos courtesy Mel Embree and Chris Eisenberg]
Lunch to Pismo Beach
We left lunch, as we tended to do, slowly. The iced tube sock draped over Kathy’s neck helped quite a bit. We were off Highway 1 now, taking something of a backroad out of Cuesta College. Further on we turned onto Los Osos Valley Road, which was much busier. Rest Stop 3 lay along here. We didn’t yet need a break and it looked very crowded, so we rolled on. We passed through a lot of congestion as we approached the 101. Drivers behaved, riders behaved, so no weirdness. Just a little tension navigating slow-moving traffic trying to merge across our lane.
We crossed the 101 and turned south on Higuera, which follows the freeway to the coast at Shell Beach. We picked up a mean headwind and with it the cool ocean air. Soon Kathy’s lifesaving tube sock became a liability. She was chilled now in the cold marine air. We pulled over at a picnic area and ditched the sock, but I don’t think she warmed up again until we turned away from the ocean and headed inland toward Nipomo some miles later.
The ride through Shell beach was lovely. The road runs on the ocean side of 101 and offers a sweeping view of Monterey Bay all the way out to Point Sal. The only problem with Shell Beach is that the main drag has a lot of stop signs. ALC rules require a full stop and foot planted. We avoided making full stops whenever we could to save the irritation to Kathy’s back. So I went slightly off course here, veering left to put us on a bike/pedestrian path that bypassed all the stops. It was empty. We rode slowly. It made for a smoother ride past a this section of shops and stops.
Soon enough we dropped into Pismo Beach. There is an unofficial stop at Old West Cinnamon Rolls on Doliver Street near the pier. The shop had taken over a corner lot next door and set up shade canopies. The area was swamped with cyclists. Kathy stepped into the shop to contemplate buying a roll, but decided against it because the line was long and she couldn’t stand without pain for more that a minute or so. Besides, we’d split one on our training ride through here and I have to say they’re pretty great. But ultimately neither of us were really in the mood that day. So after a short break we left.
A mile or so down the road, the ALC had set up a restroom/water stop at a park on the edge of town. We pulled in and were lucky enough to run into a few riders from the Chain Gang. It’s always great seeing people you know at a stop. While we were resting I remembered that there was a store about halfway between where we were and Rest Stop 4. I hit upon the happy idea of stopping there to get ice cream to break up that seventeen-mile stretch. I told Kathy, fully expecting her to be as excited as I was. Ice cream was sort of a training thing between us; we ate it every chance we got. You can justify all those calories when you’re burning so many in training. She told me she didn’t want to stop for ice cream, she just wanted to be done. The sooner the better.
We rode out of the stop in a group with three of the other Chain Gang riders. That ended up being fortunate, because riding with them was similar to taking a break for ice cream in the sense that being with a group changed the tone of my and Kathy’s ride. She still wanted to be done, but there was a little more conversation now, something to take the mind of fthe pains in our bodies. When we rolled by the store Kathy said it would be okay if I stopped. But now that we were riding with friends there was no need.
Still, our mood was decidedly down from earlier days on the ride. In her post on this day, Kathy wrote about Day 4 that, “The whole day was a poorly written script. In addition to the erratic character development of the route itself, the dialog totally sucked.” In our lighter moments, when we came across some stupid feature of the course (e.g., the hill up Rio Del Mar), we’d joke about how there was no useful purpose for that feature. We were referring to the scene in Galaxy Quest when Gwen and Jason (Sigourney Weaver and Tim Allen) have to pass through some “choppy crushy things.” “We don’t have to do this,” Gwen says, “it makes no logical sense.” Then she says, “Well, forget it! I’m not doing it! This episode was badly written!” Like Kathy says, Day 4 was just a poorly written day.
Past Oceano, as I mentioned, the air warmed again and Kathy started to de-thaw. Traffic congestion was terrible further toward the bluffs that lead to Nipomo. Thankfully, the ALC route did not climb the bluff (which is a stiff climb even though, unlike Camp Roberts, the road inclines up the slope rather than outing straight up and over). Instead, it circled around the hills on a backroad. Traffic wasn’t too bad for the most part, but it was still a long, slow haul.
Eventually we made it to Nipomo Regional Park and Rest Stop 4. The theme here was, I think, Shrek. In any case there were Shrek characters running around. They offered snow cones, but neither of us were interested. Kathy sat next to Charlie, the rider I’d mentioned earlier whom we met on a training ride out of Sausalito. They sat in the shade for a while and shared a good mutual cry. It was just that kind of day.
We had a hard time getting out of that rest stop because every time we tried to go, some other rider on a single bike swept past, making us wait. Finally, Fiona (from Shrek) stopped the other bikes and let us pass.
From here it was a short seven miles to camp. We rode past more congestion as cars stacked up trying to get on the 101. There is a pedestrian/bike bridge on the west side of the 101 where it crosses the wide riverbed of the Santa Maria River. We took it to where it emptied out at the northern edge of Santa Maria near Preisker Park, where the ALC camp lay. All in all we’d been on the ride for over ten hours. A long day. And even though we’d tried to take it easy, it had worn on us both.
Roger was there to meet Kathy, of course, and whisk her away. I retrieved my gear and found my camp spot. But before pitching the tent, I went back to the bike with my camp stool and cleaning kit and cleaned and lubed the last couple days of junk off the bike. We’d had some trouble with the gears, so I spent some time adjusting them as well. I wanted everything to be in shape for the last few days of the ride. We hadn’t had any technical failures yet and at the moment it felt more important to keep the bike in shape than to wrap up the day at camp.
The camp in Santa Maria was immense (see video below). I spent the later part of the afternoon walking back and forth making my usual stops: porta-potties, showers, dinner. There are a number of people who follow the ride as it works its way from San Francisco to LA performing one way or another to help cheer the riders down the road. One of these is known as the Chicken Lady. They set up chicken installations along the way, and you can’t help but be touched by their thoughtfulness. There were chicken installations at different areas around the Santa Maria Camp.
By the time I got to dinner the eating area was jammed and the after-dinner program had started. I sat out on the grass, still within earshot of the program, but out of the crowd. There was a program of some sort every evening. I skipped them for the most part, preferring instead to find some quiet time alone. This evening featured the inaugural ALC Community Hero award, and it was given to Doreen Gonzales, a rider with the Chain Gang who has participated in every California AIDS Ride and every AIDS/LifeCycle ride. 30 altogether, an amazing accomplishment.
The next day was Day 5, the shortest day of the ride and probably the most fun. It was Red Dress Day, which meant I finally got to pull out a piece of clothing I hadn’t yet worn: A red tutu. Not something I ever thought I’d hear myself say.
