ALC Day 7

Oh no! Can you believe that the ride is already over? It will take something pretty spectacular to top this one. I cannot think of any other way I would have wanted to spend my week’s vacation. Not only was this the last day of the ride, it was also one of the more beautiful. The sun was shining when we woke up and followed us the entire way to the finish. Luckily it was not too warm. The air was still nice and cool while cruising down PCH.

A majority of the route took us down the coast through Ventura, Oxnard and Malibu. I was bit nervous about Malibu since the last time I rode through there it was very busy with a lot of cars and people whose concentration was on vacation as much as they were. That combination can be disastrous for a biker. However, today’s beaches looked like a ghost town. Very few people out on a day that shaped up to be the perfect day for the beach. Oh well, at least we were able to enjoy it.

I was not able to see a lot of the scenery as we rode through the route. I found myself lost in thought quite a bit throughout the ride, completely floored that this was already over. We have covered so many miles and had so many new experiences in such a short time. It is almost too much to process in a coherent manner. How lucky are we that we are able to have the ability to do what we do this week in a state that is ideal for this sort of event? How fortunate are we that we were able to be this perfect little community where hope is a constant and joy is in abundance (even though our muscles disagree)? Why do the good things never seem to last as long as they should?

The closing ceremony was a great way to end such an amazing event. Thousands of riders coming in to the presentation area flanked by our loved ones who were with us every pedal stroke of the way in one manner or another. Thousands of us knowing that something great was accomplished this week beyond what we ever could have imagined before.

Thank you to all of my sponsors who were extremely generous to wards this cause ($5,345 raised!). Thank you the ALC staff who made the entire experience fun and stress free. Thank you to the roadies who made sure biking was the only thing we needed to worry about this week. Lastly, thank you to those who read my blog. Your comments throughout the ride kept me in high spirits. Maybe I will see you out here next year. I am already registered, now it’s your turn to come along too!!!

545 miles of a completed and successful journey!

ALC Day 6

There is no way that we now have only one day left to ride. What a bummer! At least we had the most beautiful day for a bike ride I have ever seen in Southern California. Really! I have lived here my entire life and have never seen a day like today. Don’t get any ideas those of you who may be reading this from out of state. You are welcome to visit, but we are filled to capacity! This portion of the ride also seems to have been cleaned up with new asphalt by CalTrans specifically for us. Thanks CalTrans!!!

A majority of our ride was along the ocean down the 101 freeway where, in some sections, it seemed as though the ocean would crash over the freeway if given the chance. The smell of the sea was so strong along the route that it literally made it difficult to breath. Who knew that the ocean spray could do that to someone?

One of the better stops was the unofficial Paradise Pit stop in Santa Barbara where the largest ice cream party I have ever been to was being held. It was held in a large median between lanes of traffic. The space was large enough to contain a number of table for ice cream, 5 or 6 massage tables (free massages by local heroes) and an entire troupe of Paul Mitchell students with face moisturizer spray to cool us off. I only mention Paul Mitchell because I met a lot of great people from around the country who run his schools. No, I do not work for Mr. Mitchell. I do, however, not feel guilty for eating as much ice cream as I did. Today’s ride was about 85 miles which surely merited as much ice cream as I could eat.

Once in camp, quite a few riders invaded In & Out, a local burger chain famous for amazing burgers, creating a few frantic cooks. We filled that place to over capacity with hunger bellies missing pure junk food. It was worth every empty calorie! Not only were we making the restaurant crazy, but a bus full of teenagers coming home from a field trip decided they needed In & Out as well. Good day for the owners. Bad day for their employees.

Finishing the day was the candle light vigil held on the beach next to the camp sight. It was truly one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. 3,000 people lighting a beach by candle not saying a word to one another. Simply us, the sand, the waves, and the appreciation of knowing that we are participating in something very important in the memory of those who are not with us anymore because of this disease. I will never forget this night for as long as I live.

Now to bed for my last night in a freezing cold tent. I would not have it any other way!

About 485 miles on the road.

Field of flowers at our Lompoc camp sight.

Another line in the middle of a field for the restroom.

David and I overlooking the Pacific.

Ginger out doing herself.

Candelight vigil.

ALC Day 5

Day 5 is the famous “Red Dress Day”. This started out as “Dress in Red Day” when someone put two and two together realizing that this many rides would form a long red ribbon if all wore the same color. Being the fabulous people that we as AIDS/LifeCycle riders are, red dresses quickly became the standard uniform for this very fun day. My partner and I almost decided not to bring a dress, but knew we would regret it in the end. We were so happy we did since it was a blast to do. I usually do not care for men in dresses, but the number of both men and women wearing them was truly a sight to see. 2,333 riders in red dresses will certainly help to fulfill the visibility part of the overall ALC mission. If someone on the street doesn’t notice that, something is wrong.

The most impressive costume I saw today was the craftiness of a man wearing red leather platform knee-high heels with cleats attached to the bottom so that he can clip into his bike. How is that for dedication and ingenuity?!?!? I still cannot believe he was able to make it through the day. We had a couple of tough hills to climb that we were unaware of and I can only imagine how hard they must have been to climb while wearing stilettos. Sure, there was Quadbuster and the Evil Twins, but what about the monsters on today’s route? Lucky for us, and for him, it was our shortest day of the week. The shorter route also allowed for us to sleep in an extra hour. 6 am is much more doable than 5 am.

My mom drove down with our friend Audrey and her daughters, Eva and Estelle, to watch us ride by and to see the spectacle that is “Red Dress Day”. How lucky am I to have these people in my life that would drive over 100 miles to sit on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to watch us fly by? And we did fly by. David and I expected them to be near camp, but they were about 1-1/2 miles out in a field. David is much more observant than I am and noticed them before we got too far. We then spent a good amount of time in camp playing with Eva and Estelle. Eva, by the way, is such a ham and a flirt. Seeing her run and dance through camp was a lot of fun to see. Not sure if those trying to sleep appreciated it, but you know what, the fact that she and Estelle are having this experience now will have a huge impact on the world during their generation. Their exposure to a world where people are kind to one another and do great things as we are doing will no doubt help them to become amazing and compassionate people. A few less “Z’s” in bed is totally worth that.

Today was team photo day and I had the honor of being a part of the Positive Pedalers’ picture. The Positive Pedalers are a group of HIV+ men and women who ride in numerous bicycle fundraising events whose mission is to put a face on the disease as well as to raise money for HIV/AIDS related services. A philosophy of theirs that I truly admire and have put into practice in my life is to feel no shame in disclosing my status. The most effective way to rid this disease of the stigma it carries is to make the epidemic a human condition, not only a statistical one.

Oh, I almost forgot our second pit stop in Casmalia. A town of maybe 100 people in the center of a small valley who throw a killer dance/BBQ party in front of the General Store. It was like an even gayer version of the Lionel Richey video “All Night Long” with all the dancers wearing red. How we found the energy for dancing no one knows. Perhaps when you are running on Gatorade and Cliff Bars the sound of music triggers that dancing gene in us all.

I have lost count, but I think about 400 miles on the road. Only 2 days left and I am not looking forward to the end of this experience.

The creative man who put cleats on this platforms.

Me dancing like a freak.

My mom, David, and myself.

My mom and Eva.

 

ALC Day 4

Evil Twins, Shmeevile Twins. This was the day of the dreaded Evil Twins. Two long climbs back to back. We have all been warned about them and the stories regarding the twins are too many to count. Well, I have to say that these twins were not too difficult. Thanks are in order to Team OC who did a great job of training all of us. Perhaps the new asphalt had something to do with it. I swear CalTrans paved the rode just for us to bike on. What a huge change from the pothole ridden rode we were on yesterday.

The most rewarding part of the ride so far was at the top of Evil Twin #2 where the official half way to Los Angeles mark is set. As you crest over the top of the hill, the vista opens up to a sea of grassy hills with the ocean beyond, the perfect location for the marker. It was another windy day which created white crests across the ocean making for a great photo opportunity. This means another line to stand in, but I will get to that in a second. There were three sets of signs saying, “Half the Way to LA”, for the riders to take a photo in front of with the landscape behind. Who wouldn’t wait in line for that?

Back to the lines we must stand in. Waiting for the Port-a-Potty. Waiting for food. Waiting for water. Waiting for pretty much everything. When you are at Disneyland, waiting in line gets annoying. While you are here, waiting in line turns into an integral part of the experience. I have met more people standing in line for something than any other moment so far. The crazy thing is that there are quite a few people who live in the same city as me. New friends to ride with are never a bad thing.

I got a bit nostalgic again today. Every summer when I was a kid, my family would pack into an RV and head out to a lake in this area to fish and camp at. We would always drive through Pismo Beach and around Morro Bay. The route today took us through both of these cities which seemed to have changed so much since I was a kid. Maybe it is because we never drove through the city as we did today? At any rate, the massive rock formation in the center of Morro Bay is just as I remembered it. It seems to have been plopped down in the middle of the bay by a huge giant. Basically it is a huge mountain sitting in the middle of the water. Looks like something out of a movie.

The wind was both a godsend and a nuisance. It was great when it was a tailwind, but was hateful as a crosswind. Later in the afternoon on our last leg into camp, the crosswind was fierce enough to almost blow us off of the road while we were blinded by the dirt it kicked up from the fields surrounding us. Thanks again to the Cycle Gods of the Tailwind who pushed us the last 10 miles to camp. Cruising at 25 mph with no effort is always exciting.

We all came back very dirty and very tired. The hot shower was much deserved for us all.

364 miles on the road.

My partner in our tent getting ready for the day.

Waiting in line foor and restrooms.

Morro Bay

Half way to LA with Mike and David.

ALC Day 3

Although today was not the longest day on the ride, it was certainly the most difficult.  For those who know day three, you may be assuming that it is because of the steep 1.3 mile long hill called Quadbuster.  Well, that was part of the difficulty.  What was truly the most challenging part of the day was keeping my emotions in check.  When I get very tired, I turn into a big old crab like the Cancer I am. Unfortunately for my partner, he got the brunt of it.  Luckily for me we were able to quickly patch things up and have a great day.

This is not to say that Quadbuster was not a hard hill to climb.  It is steep and seems to go on forever.  This is the first time since I started training for the ride that I had to stop on a hill in order to catch my breath.  I biked every foot of it though and feel very proud.  Thank goodness for Ginger Brule accompanied by scores of others riders at the top cheering us into to flatter land.  This is true community.  Riders stopping to cheer each other on when the going gets tough.

Rounding the last turn after the decent from Quadbuster the landscape opened up to amazing Live Oak/Grassland country.  Living in an urban California area one forgets that there are untouched segments of our state left.  It is easy to imagine what the entire state looked like before man took over, and it is kind of sad how much of it we have irreversibly changed.

Our lunch stop was in the town of Bradley.  A tiny little town that if you blinked while driving through it, you would miss it.  What is great about this stop is the symbiotic relationship AIDS/LifeCycle has with the local school.  It is my understanding that it is a K-12 school whose academic year depends on the money made from the lunch sales in front of their campus to the riders.  The money funds their field trips and enabled them to build a much needed computer lab for their students.  So, they need their funds and we need to get fed.  Perfect combination.

The highlight on this stretch of the ride was rest stop for at one of the many California missions.  Built in 1797, this mission was one of the many built by Junipero Serra, a missionary who built them spaced out so that one could make it to the next one up the coast in a single day on horseback.  This stop was cool because I was finally able to see one of these missions that our elementary school teachers made us make out of sugar cubes.  Yes, we were forced to make California missions out of sugar cubes as children.  The real thing is much cooler believe me.

Let’s all hope, at least for my partner’s sake, that I am not so testy tomorrow!  Until next time, have a great night.

320 miles on the road.

ALC 6 Day 2

The Cycle Gods of the Tailwind were smiling on us today and we are so grateful for it. Well, at least I am. 105 miles was the total as our longest day on the ride. Had there been no wind it could have ended up as a very long day. Fortunately, we had this awesome tailwind for a majority of the ride today. There was a brief cross wind that was not fun, but as soon as we turned right the strongest tailwind of the day pushed us into camp.

Five in the morning comes quick. Especially when a tent needs to be dismantled and put away with all of your luggage which then need to be brought to the gear truck. The fact that the rest of the camp had to do this was very helpful when it came time to step off. Instead of a hoard of bikers leaving at once, a steady stream of us trickled through the starting area making it much easier to find our pace early on.

The morning started off a bit cold of course, but once we broke through the hills and into the Salinas Valley the sun came out and the skies seemed to instantly clear. What a beautiful place to bike through. Miles and miles of fields which contained who knows what kind of vegetable. This actually turned into a bit of a game for my partner and I who tried to guess what it was that was in the field next to us at any given time. We could only recognize fennel, carrots, lettuce, and artichokes. I have to admit that we cheated a bit on the last one as this field was located next to the unofficial fried artichoke stand. Pretty good for a fried vegetable.

The highlight of the ride for me was seeing the “Cookie Lady” who has been baking homemade cookies for a number of years now to feed all of the riders. She spent her time churning out about 3,000 cookies for us. By hand! Once again I ask, “Who are these people coming from who knows where to do these great things expecting nothing in return.” Those who have little faith in humanity any longer need to do this ride. It has certainly changed my outlook of the world and it has been only two days.

The one event I did not partake in was the skinny-dipping under the green bridge around mile 80 or so. It did look inviting, but the thought of climbing the hill that waited for us after jumping in a cold stream kept me from it.

All in all today was another fantastic day on the road. The only things that may be missing are my family and friends who are not here. They would love it and I cannot wait to pester them until they say, “Fine, I’ll do it just to shut you up.” That’s what happened to me and look, I have been converted.

194 Miles on the Road.

ALC 6 Day 1

Wow! Today was more than I had ever imagined it to be. It started out a bit frantic what with rushing to the shuttle to get us to Cow Palace in order to go through all the steps of packing luggage into gear trucks with 2, 332 other people so that we can set out by 6:30 am. That’s right. 2,333 people are riding in AIDS/LifeCycle 6!!! Crazy, I know. These very different people who have come together for one goal raised a total of $11 million for this cause. We all know the old proverb about the butterfly in some far off-land beating its wings which eventually causes a tsunami in another far-off land. This is that proverb realized. 2,333 butterflies beating their wings as hard as they could causing an $11 million dollar tsunami. It is truly astonishing!

All new riders, I am sure, have heard many stories from veteran riders about how unbelievable the experience of setting out from Cow Palace is. I heard tons. I was sick of hearing them. This morning was a true “Ahh” moment of understanding. “They were absolutely right,” I thought. It is very difficult to do justice to that moment at step-off. Thousands of people “click, click, clicking” onto their bikes. It was phenomenal. What’s better is that we were all looking out for one another knowing that we started this together and must finish this together. Keeping each other safe and doing it with sincere kindness.

And what a journey this leg was. It was very hilly, but also very worth the effort. We have already moved through quite a few terrains of the many in California. Big city. Foggy wet forest areas. Foggy wet coastal roads. Grassy hills along the ocean. Live Oak Country. Farmland. We have it all.
            Of course, a bit of this was missed during the 8-mile hill that seemed to never end. All I could seem to do was keep my head down and pedal. Of course I did stop to see Ginger next to the wonderful Taiko drums beating a steady cadence for us to cycle to. It came at a perfect time on the climb accompanied with peanut butter cookies and fresh strawberries. These wonderful people were out there for us simply because they are wonderful! Then it was back on the hill. I must tell you though that the effort was TOTALLY worth it. 8 miles of climb followed by 8 miles of killer curvy downhill through pine forests that stretched over the road. Very cool.

            I find myself thinking a lot about the terrain that we ride through only because I realized about midway through today that we are very fortunate to have this opportunity of riding this length through California. It is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful states in our country. The geography can change from redwood forest to arid desert in a flash with about 3 or 4 other terrains in between. I am trying not to sound like a tourism ad but can’t help myself. California is amazing.

What’s better is the cycling pack I have been riding with: my partner David and our friend Mike. If it was not for this ride, David and I would not be as close as we are now. The training and our common need to help others has brought us together in a way I never thought possible. I almost feel as though I am getting more than I deserve, but I will take it anyway. Mike has fit in as a great friend as well. A second bonus to, say the least.

Even though I am exhausted, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s ride. 105 miles await us all and I am sure we will do as well tomorrow as we did today. Now, it is time for bed. Thank you for reading and I will see you tomorrow!

89 miles behind us.

About James

About two and a half years ago during my last year in graduate school I decided to play around with crystal meth.  I think we all know where this story goes and yes, I did live the stereotypical gay life for about 7 or 8 months after that experiment.  My addiction quickly developed in which I dropped out of school, lost an apartment including all of my belongings and completely separated myself from my family.  The only thing I was interested in doing was shooting up meth and hanging out with people who did the same.  Needless to say, I contracted the HIV virus during this period of time.  My family saved me though by forcing me into a rehab program that saved my life!  Now that I have survived that ordeal, I recognize that it is time to give back to society in any way that I can.  Riding in the AIDS/LifeCycle 6 event is allowing me to begin making up the damage I caused to society during my time as a drug addict.