Tough Chik: AIDS Lifecycle 10

I failed to mention that on Day 3 my right knee really started to bother me. I went to sports medicine at lunch and they looked at my knee. The volunteer PT (I can't even begin to explain how awesome these volunteers are) told me that my inner right quad was weak and the strained muscle was pulling on my knee cap. She stretched me out and told me to stretch at every stop and visit the sports med tent at camp. I took a few ibuprofen and continued the ride.

DAY 4 - Paso Robles to Santa Maria (98 miles, appx 4,000 ft climbing)
Devastation...my trip computer is no longer working!! I think the battery is dieing and I am not getting my data consistently. This really bums me out because I feel so accomplished at the end of a ride when I scroll through the stats of a ride. I didn't realize how much I also rely on it to pace myself.

This was my favorite day of riding, I LOVED IT! Today we had a climb titled the "Evil Twins" but the name was much more scary than the climb. At one point I even asked Marc "Was that it?", but I am a climber and we live in a very hilly, mountainous area so we trained with a lot of climbing. All of the climbing resulted in some fun and fast decents plus some wicked fast flats. At one point we had a great pace line going and the train speed across the gorgeous farmlands (although we were riding way to fast to enjoy them). Yes, I was the only chik involved and I loved every minute of it! It was so much fun and the highlight of the cycling portion of the trip!

Day 4 was the continuation of Marc's mystery flat, he was NOT a happy camper. The tire was flat when he got to his bike in the morning and once again he took off the tube and tire and check everything and NO evidence of the culprit of these flats. So, we aired it up and went on our way. It was a slow leak and after rest stop 1 he would have to pull over every 5 miles or so and air up the tire just to make it to the next rest stop. Finally at rest stop 2, I believe, he got the the 5th tube that held air for the rest of the ride.

Marc at the mechanics tent at Rest Stop 2

Day 4 was also the half way to LA, they had a bunch of signs you could stand next to and take your photo, but it was cold and Marc was still having flat issues at this point so we didn't stand in line for the photo op. Instead I just climbed on a rock and took this photo without the sign, but trust me...I was half way to LA.

Pinky and I are half way to LA!!

Another fun photo...

Rest Stop 2, Day 4

DAY 5 - Santa Maria to Lompoc (42 miles, appx 2,300 ft climbing)
Day 5 is Dress Red Day (or Red Dress Day) on the ALC ride. Everyone is encouraged to wear red and most end up wearing a red dress. I was really amazed how much people get into this and what they are able to ride in! The route was changed from previous years due to a terrible headwind that wiped everyone out, so instead we climbed! In my opinion, these were some of the more difficult climbs of the ride and since they were new, we had no warning or scary names to associate with them. If the route stays the same for next year, I am sure they will be named. This ride was exactly like the riding we did when we lived in the South Bay of LA. If you have ever ridden in Palos Verdes, it is just like this, so we were right at home. This was Marc's favorite day of ridding. It was nice a short, but all the climbing really did a number on my knee. The previous night I went back to sports medicine and they looked at the knee. I was told to come back in the morning to get taped and that is what I did. The K tape or Kineso tape helped but I was still hurting. This was a fun day full of fun costumes, enjoy!