Day 6. As my tentmate, Neil, explained to me, we all have off days. To sustain 7 consecutive 'good day' rides, is really hard. To get through some of the down moments/ days you have to develop a kind of short-term memory loss and keep the task at hand your foremost thought. Stay in the present. Yesterday was just that - yesterday. Friday's ride took us from Lompoc to Ventura. It was 85 miles that had a little of everything. Paths, roads, highway. A pretty flat day w/ some nice tailwinds. I felt a renewed sense of accomplishment. There was a buzz in the air when we saw the ocean again, nearing Ventura, that we were getting into Los Angeles the next day. Along with living completely in the present, you have the chance to enjoy as much of where you are on the course as possible, not thinking of yesterday or tomorrow. Today we had 2 rest stops before lunch, which came at the 47 mile mark and then 2 more rest stops and a water break before getting into Ventura's San Buenaventura State Beach at mile 85. A highlight was the 'Paradise Pit' at a park in Santa Barbara - a declared Cliff Bar/ PowerAde free zone, it offered sundaes, cookies,etc. It was a true oasis!
Almost all of the riding on the entire trip is done in single-file, so much of your daytime conversations while riding are done during very slow passes of fellow riders or at intersection stops/ delays as we wait for clear roads to cross. There is ALOT of communicating between riders while on each day's ride. "Passing on your left rider - thank you," "On your left." "Slowing." "Stopping". "Rolling." "Car back." "Car up." "Car left." Car right." During the morning there are a lot of "Passing on your left, good morning." With the cordial response back, "Thank you, good morning." It was as if 2300 people had just completed finishing school and decided to take a bike ride to celebrate the class graduation. Kidding aside, all of the hand gestures, constant yelling communications was essential to the success of every day's ride, I'm certain of it. At the end of the day during announcements, an accounting of how 'safe' the day was is share. "Today we had a very safe day, only 4 people went to the hosptial." Of course I'm thinking, "What the hell happened to these four people?" Did they not hear that a car was coming or that the road had sand on it or there was a pothole or debri in the way? As I learned on Day 5, anything can happen at any single moment along the way.
 |
| Santa Barbara merchants hosted an incredible "Paradise Pit" break for us. A Cliff bar and PowerAde free zone! |
 |
| Dinner /Announcement Tent |
Back to Day 5 for second...I ran into rider 5759 at camp today. He had 7 stitches to this face under his nose, chipped his front two teeth, had some scrapes on his face and...he was back on the road riding! Now, that's the spirit. He didn't completely remember what happened, so after explaining what I saw, I told him how relieved I was that he was ok and back at it. He was planning to ride partial days but wasn't giving up. Again, it was another reminder that it really wasn't about the actual ride, but about WHY we were riding. I've met a lot of people riding and am constantly reminded and inspired by what has so many different kinds of athletic, social, culturally diverse people riding the same ride, all for their own personal and public reasons. It is a very interesting dynamic of 2300 people doing the same thing - essentially by themselves.
Friday night in camp after the nightly announcements, there was a candle light vigil that led everyone participating from the dinner tents out to the beach. Friends and family of riders and roadies were invited to be part of this as well, as the path out to the beach was outlined by volunteers holding glow sticks. We helped light each others candles and silently walked out to the beach, making a circle, several people deep, that stretched far down the shore. Many minutes passed before everyone had assembled on the beach. Candles raised to the star-filled sky, brought back down and then brought out silently to the surf to be extinguished. This was absolutely amazing with 2000 + people, sharing silent moments of reflection, thanks, prayer and peace. Even though I had rode almost 500 miles to that point, my thoughts had nothing to do with bicycling. They were solely focused on my own family and friends and how incredible they are and how lucky I am to have them in my life, on the people and families directly assisted by the services that the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center provide and how fortunate I WAS to be able to be part of all of this.
Friday night in camp after the nightly announcements, there was a candle light vigil that led everyone participating from the dinner tents out to the beach. Friends and family of riders and roadies were invited to be part of this as well, as the path out to the beach was outlined by volunteers holding glow sticks. We helped light each others candles and silently walked out to the beach, making a circle, several people deep, that stretched far down the shore. Many minutes passed before everyone had assembled on the beach. Candles raised to the star-filled sky, brought back down and then brought out silently to the surf to be extinguished. This was absolutely amazing with 2000 + people, sharing silent moments of reflection, thanks, prayer and peace. Even though I had rode almost 500 miles to that point, my thoughts had nothing to do with bicycling. They were solely focused on my own family and friends and how incredible they are and how lucky I am to have them in my life, on the people and families directly assisted by the services that the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center provide and how fortunate I WAS to be able to be part of all of this. 
No comments:
Post a Comment