Day Three, NorCal AIDS Challenge, 2009

May 16, 2009
Mileage: 87.43
Total: 283.08
Camp: Woodland, CA (Pioneer High School)

Day Three. Day three has some of the most beautiful riding of all four days. It also has the longest hill (not the biggest, but the longest), the most flat, most interminable orchard-covered miles, some of the most demoralizing miles, and by far the best of the three camping sites.

My mom said it's not fun for her to know what goes on in my head, so this post will be a little lighter on the self-revelation, and heavier on the ride descriptions, lest I get even deeper into the proverbial dog-house. Hi Mom! I also won't be talking about max speeds (only 33.4) or wanting to ride into traffic just to mix up the horrible droning of the orchard-miles (only once).

The morning starts in Colusa, with a great breakfast, a quick tent-tear-down, and for Bronwyn (of the recent bar-passing fame), a big hangover. I was glad to be leaving, and glad it was cool, as triple digits were expected later. I love the morning jitters -- seems like no matter how many days we wake up and ride, everyone is all aflutter before we start off. Joaquin does his thing where he tells us what we're in for (a big long hill and road construction), people yell this and that across the group (usually "where is so-and-so?!" and so and so is usually still eating breakfast or discovering that he has a flat tire), and then we can't hear much of anything as the Sisters start revving their engines.
Starting off:

One of the most amazing parts of these four days has to be Jerry Mitchell. Here's Jerry on Hawaiian shirt day:
Jerry made a bunch of signs that he and Steve held up as riders passed. A lot of them said something about "heroes." Jerry is a firm believer that everyone who supports this ride and puts themselves through these four days is a hero. He might be right (he might be wrong, I suppose), but seeing his signs and his big smile pop up on the lonely, empty farm roads . . . it's like a subtle reminder that we're all out there together, and for one reason. If he's not a hero, I don't know what is. (Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see the signs)
Slingshot and Bronwyn hanging out at KC and Bronwyn's fancy ride. Slingshot is one of the Sisters and a fabulous person, to boot. And look at Bronwyn, still standing.


Should have gotten a photo while I was wearing my Rosie jersey from day two!

Close up:
Oohhh -- show us your stuff, Slingshot. Ann was on sunscreen patrol. If you didn't want to be coated with chemicals that had an spf rating of 30, you really had to run from Ann at some of these stops. Notice Ann's corsage. Today is Prom King/Queen day.

After that rest stop, we turned a corner to head up the big hill. It's 6-8 miles long (can't remember which), and just keeps going and going steadily upward.
Here I am climbing (a flattering shot).
And here's Amber and the McCalla brothers cresting the hill. Good job, folks.

Generally, the point of going uphill is the promise of the downhill. Generally, after climbing this hill, there's a fantastic downhill. Generally, there's no construction.
On this particular day, though, lots of construction. Here are the signs warning us that the downhill is not going to be as fun as we'd thought.A group of us got to the intersection where we were to turn left, and there was a looooonnnng line of cars waiting with a flagger holding a STOP sign. Only one lane was open, so cars in one direction had to wait while cars from the other direction crept by. After about 10 of us showed up (riding past all the stopped cars), the flagger switched his sign to slow, stopped all the cars that were dying to get the heck out of there, and let us all make our left turn, warning us that we were about to ride over about 100 feet of gravel. Skinny tires + loose gravel = danger. I took it slow and focused hard, and thought about the amazing trip down cache creek ahead.

My camera doesn't pick up the amazing colors and peacefulness and comparative fabulousness of this stretch of the ride. Try to imagine though.

Helmet-Cam! here are the folks coming up behind me -- Ron's at the lead.
Jeff looking back as the valley floor opens up.

Lovely!After this great stretch of road, we pull over for the Cache Creek rest stop. I'm pretty sure this is the same place I went camping about a gagillion years ago -- we got tubes and floated down the creek. It's a great place to hang out for a few minutes (and a weekend, for that matter).
Thug and Zephyr can attest to that:I love this shot. Emily struggling with Whit's car, doing whatever she's doing.
And then Jeff walks up, and he's certainly helping, but it's also like he's thinking, 'look at me, I'm a big strong man and I'm helping this young lady with her car. Here, young lady, let me get that for you. I'm a big strong man. Heh heh.' Love that Jeff.

So on we go. Emergency rest stop ala Darci, who has ice and lots of patience.
BIKE EVENT! Alas, these signs were all for the Davis Double Century. But at least they inspired some bike-awareness in the motorized vehicles.
Cache Creek Casino!
This part of the ride is HARD. Really hard. Coming off that amazing road with the lush greens, and the hills, and the, water . . . just such a great ride. And then it's flat and hot and the roads go on forever, and it's windy. Actually, you can bet right here that we are not riding into the wind, because when we were riding into the wind, Mindy offered to "pull" (that is, ride out in front so we could all tail off her), and as soon as we would turn and she would come up to the front to take her position, the wind would not be coming at us. This is usually the yickiest part of the ride for me, and doing for the third time, I was just counting my blessings to be among great folks.

Another KC Original. Lots of her photos, I don't know what she was thinking. Actually, lots of my photos, I don't know what I was thinking. This one, however, is no mystery. Here's why she took a photo of the Branigan's Turkeys Sign: About three weeks before Thanksgiving during out first year of law school, our Contracts professor paused for a moment to say that Thanksgiving is coming and recommended that we order our turkeys from Branigan's as they have the best turkeys around. KC must not have tuned this out, even though she does not eat turkeys and would not be ordering from Branigan's. It's pretty hard to tune out Prof Imwinkelreid, come to think of it.


Post-lunch ride -- Roger and Marion are the prettiest people to ride behind!

Dr. and Mrs. McCalla.Jim McCann and "Super Dave."
Ha. This is probably a common site. Heather in riding gear putting on lipstick. Joaquin's look is priceless, though.

Another emergency road-stop. Emily, Hali, Allison, and Janelle. We had JUST had a pull-over by Whit, Emily, Bronwyn, and KC, so we just waved at these kind folks and kept going.

The last few miles were longer this year -- we stopped at the fairgrounds in previous years, but this year, we went a few miles down to the road to Pioneer High School. And aren't we glad we did! Air conditioning that works, no swampy showers, a fabulous host, did I mention the A/C? We also had a huge gym at our disposal, where lots of folks opted to sleep so that they didn't have to set up their tents.
Here's Jeff, Amber, and Rick rolling on the foam-rollers.
Lots of people say they do the Ride for the food. I would't go that far, but the food was quite good this year (meaning: lots more vegetarian options and on this last night they had ice cream. Mmmm).
Ann on Prom night. Her husband Joaquin was not her date this time around. I guess he finds that funny. Doesn't she look lovely?

I guess I didn't get photos of all the prom dates. Oh! But I do have this great photo of the incomparable Jim McCann.
Here's the same Jim McCann telling funny stories at the evening program. How can you not love this guy?
Jonathan, Ken S, and Cornell Bernard. Not the greatest photo, but how cute are they??
Emily's evening program. She was more than exhausted and had to get up at 4 a.m. or something crazy, but she still sang for the folks who gathered.

Including Kelly! Always wearing or riding Orange, Kelly is. We met on my first ride in 2007 and we've been buds ever since. Even though Coral stole her away and I don't see her as much any more. I mean really, who goes to Hawaii with their girlfriend instead of hanging out in Sac with me? Psh. :)
And so ends the final night of NCAC 2009. There's only one Night Three and the exhaustion and questioning and relief sort of floats through the air as the sun mercifully sets. And on to Day Four, where we celebrate ourselves in a way that is only possible after such a journey.