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Dan's AIDS/Lifecycle 5 Pictures
Day Two (Monday 6/5/2006) - Santa Cruz to King City

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I usually love Day Two because it is a fast long day with usually a wicked tailwind for 40 miles. The winds didn't disappoint. However, my first crash on an AIDS ride in ten years did. I was passing another rider at mile 65 doing about 30 mph. I yelled out "On your left" as I am supposed to do. Hell, I was even wearing the official Training Ride Leaders jersey as we were supposed to do on Day Two. I must have startled the gentleman I was passing because he over reacted and went right into soft sand and went down. His bike decided to veer left right into my rear wheel bringing me down hard on the pavement.

After we both shook it off and checked for any serious injury, Matt and I got up and had a good laugh...One that hurt. We both had road rash on our right elbows and knees and Matt had some rash on his face. His glasses even got badly scratched up. I must've landed on my shoulder as my jersey was shredded on my right shoulder and I had some rash there as well as on my right thigh that I would find later. Thank goodness nothing was broken! Except for my bike. My wheel set was tacoed which means they were bent and could not be ridden. In the end, it was the first time I ever sagged on the SAG bus. What was supposed to be a 105 mile day ended up being 65 for me. Matt? He was riding a mountain bike with slick tires. After getting his bike checked out and adjusted, he was back riding after the medical crew at the next rest stop cleared him. He finished his ride for the day. Me? I had to buy a new wheel set when I returned to camp which set me back $450. It could have been a lot worse!

 

• Ride Profile for Day Two, For me? 65.02 with 1654' of elevation gain.

• Bike parking in the Santa Cruz camp in the morning

• Riders getting ready to take their bikes out.

• The Ugly Mug coffee shop in Soquel. For the last ten years, they have opened their doors and given riders free coffee drinks. Awesome. I was really surprised not more riders take advantage of the owners generosity.  I gave them a $10 tip.

• Riders stopping at the Ugly Mug.

• The owner of the Ugly Mug making smoothies for the riders. It was appreciated.

• Rest Stop One. I wasn't hungry after my Vanilla Latte and bear claw at the Ugly Mug but I needed water and needed to get rid of some.

• One of the Team Pig riders headed out of the rest stop. I love those guys!

• This day was a total Agriculture ride, riding through the Salinas Valley. Strawberries, artichokes and vegetables I couldn't ID.

• That is a power plant on the way to Monterey in the fog.

• Riders a head of me. I was putting the pedal to the metal at this point.

• Team Pig in force as I passed them.

• The Pigs behind me.

• See the hill up ahead. This day was really flat. Back in my home state, Florida, the hill ahead is called a mountain. An overpass!

• After the overpass, the famous Fried Artichoke awaited many riders. I took a picture with my buddy Bob Jensen, his friend and fellow Team PMS rider, and Ginger Brewlay

• I passed on the artichokes but had to use the porcelain toilet! I chatted with Dad.

• The bike trail near Sand City, not to far from Monterey and Rest Stop #2.

• Batman directing traffic at Rest Stop #2.

• Headed towards Salinas where lunch awaited us.

• Lunch at Mile 45. It was early for lunch (10:25) but that was OK. I was hungry anyway.

• My friend Bill who is a Positive Peddler. He's a very strong rider and we would ride together a few times which always enjoyed his company. He would ride with me today until my.... incident.

• We're headed out of Salinas to my favorite part of today's ride. We hug those mountains off to the left. Absolutely beautiful!

• As shot to our right which would be Monterey Bay and it's fog in the distance.

• Now, my favorite part of the ride because we could haul ass! What an awesome tailwind!

• A shot of my speed. Three more miles and my ride would be over :-(

• Me and Matt after the incident. He's holding his $1000 video camera that escaped unscathed. I'm holding my broken wheel set and bike. If you look real closely, you can see our new tattoos'!

• Me with Nichole Held in the middle and her fellow Team Pig rider, Trish. I saw all my buddies while I was waiting fro the SAG bus. My crash happened at 12:20 PM. We were two miles short of the next rest stop (RS #3). A support vehicle picked me and my broken bike and swept us to the rest stop. I would wait, with others, until 5 PM to be taken to camp on the SAG bus.

• Me, Mark Smith (Uber Training Ride Leader who I co-lead many rides this year) and some of his friends at the Rest Stop.

• The Coach.

• Our driver taking a pose.

• Camp at 6:15 PM. I'm usually in by 2 pm at the latest. I headed straight to the Sports Medical tent to have my wounds nursed and tended to. They are awesome! I also picked up my bike which had been trucked back to camp. I took it to the bike tech crews which got me a new wheel set and got my ride in working order. Those Cannondale tech guys were fantastic as my wheel set I bought was sold to me at a very good price! They hooked me up!