AIDS Lifecycle Day 3: 77 miles King City to Paso Robles

Every morning at breakfast, there were flyers handed out with motivational stories and reasons for riding. The flyers also gave information about how we were able to help out back at the Foundation.


Sunday:
"Today, because you rode, your support helped us provide 380 people living with HIV/AIDS with subsidized housing and support services. THANK YOU!"

Monday:
"Today —and tonight – because you rode, you made it possible for 190 anonymous callers to reach out to the California AIDS Hotline for up-to-date information, referrals and support about HIV/AIDS. Our hotline takes calls from all over the state. Perhaps in Aptos, or Salinas or right here in King City, a 15-year-old boy will call tonight with a question about his first sexual experience. And HIV. THANK YOU!"

And today, Tuesday:
"Because you rode, today at San Francisco City Hall and in Sacramento and in Washington, DC, you helped the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center work alongside elected officials to ensure adequate funding to for housing, medical care and mental health for people living with HIV and AIDS. THANK YOU!"

I will continue with more motivational bits tomorrow, but I just want to say thank you, yet again, to all who supported me so we could all help others.

Day 3
Dry and dusty are two words to describe Day 3's route. To offset this not-as-exciting route, the volunteers/Roadies took it upon themselves to design some humorous rest stops. It was a day of tumbleweeds and crossdressed rest stop volunteers.

Please don't get me wrong when I say this day was not- as-exciting as the others. Each day of this ride was incredible and uplifting biking through this beautiful country for such a great cause.

The steepest climb of the week came about 20 miles into today's route. Quad Buster is the name of the 1.5 mile mountain pass we went over. And at the top of the climb was Ginger (left). Honestly, I don't know Ginger's story and/or background, but he, or she?, was out cheering everyday wearing the most colorful outfits you've ever seen.


Over the top of Quad Buster and down a gradual 10 mile decent, riders came upon the Fantasy Rest Stop. Most of the volunteers were dressed in pixie and butterfly outfits. Being in the middle of cowboy country and a dry valley, this sight was so out of place, which made me smile and had me laughing for the next stretch.

Unfortuntely, I didn't take any pictures of the Santa's Village Rest Stop. But maybe that's a good thing, since Santa was in all leather.

Lunch was in the small town of Bradley, population less than 200 people. The local K-12 school was having a BBQ fundraiser to raise money for books, materials, and suppies. Their academic year depends on lunch sales to the AIDS riders. Although riders were offered a free lunch by the AIDS event, most chose to buy food from the school BBQ. Later in camp, the school principal came to thank us for a successful event.

After lunch, there was a long stretch of biking along a dry river bed and onto Hwy101. The last rest stop of the day was the...


...Dreamgirls Rest Stop! Every 15 minutes or so, the "dreamgirls" would perform a show on the little stage they had set up. Too funny!

By the time I got into Paso Robles, I was in a good amount of pain. I had pushed myself on a lot of the miles so far on the ride, but now my right achilles tendon had flared up to noticable proportions. I spent the rest of the afternoon with ice bags around my ankles and trying not to walk. I was going to have to be careful.