AIDS Lifecycle Day 4: 94.7 miles Paso Robles to Santa Maria

At breakfast, I read this in the daily flyer.

Wednesday:
Today at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, you helped our Black Brothers Esteem program serve more than 100 people. Because you rode, you made it possible for the Brothers of Black Brothers Esteem to become empowered to demand better healthcare for themselves and their partners, to speak up about HIV and AIDS, and to come together in fellowship to celebrate themselves and their sexuality. THANK YOU!

This was the best day so far in the AIDS Lifecycle! We climbed out of Paso Robles with two big climbs during the first 20 miles. Looking back at the top of the second climb (above), I felt excited about reaching the half way point of the ride and seeing the ocean again. The salty breezes were just ahead.

Once over the top, this was the view of the Pacific. We had about a seven mile decent to the ocean on smooth roads.

My Fuji Ma, retro Formaggio jersey, and I at the half way point. I bought arm guards after the first day due to the cool weather in the morning. Most days, I ended up wearing them the entire day to avoid additional sunburn. I should've worn ear guards too, because despite applying spf30 at every rest stop, by the end of the week I had second degree burns on them. Lovely!

Once at sea level, I joined up with fellow rider Annabel from San Francisco (actually she is British but living in SF) taking turns drafting as we went from coastal town to coastal town. I wanted to stop and jump in the ocean, but riding in wet, salty bike shorts was not something I wanted to experience.

After a quick rest stop, I decided to push on ahead to try and join a group of about 15 riders I saw fly by as I was filling my water bottles. Close to ten miles later, I caught up to them as the route turned inland and up about a mile climb over a ridge. Just as I caught them, the group blew up into a few fragments. Exhausted from trying to catch them, I stayed with the slower climbers until the top. Once over the ridge, I pushed on ahead dragging a couple riders with me. Three or four miles later, I caught the lead group. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to draft and rest a bit, because a mile or so later we were flying down a long hill into the Santa Maria River Valley. The strong winds on the valley floor were strong enough to flip you over, similar to Day 2. But some rest and humor were just ahead...

...the Spa Rest Stop! Enough said!

I spent some time in the shade icing my achilles tendon before heading out ahead of the other riders I came in with. There were just 10 miles to Santa Maria, and as luck would have it, there was a strong tailwind! Flying down this busy road with a wide shoulder felt great as cars weren't passing me as fast.

I collapsed at camp and took an afternoon nap for two hours before heading to the sports medicine tent. They taped my leg up a bit, and I remained on ice for a good part of the rest of the day. Of course, I had three full plates of food and seven or eight cartons of chocolate milk. Day 5 was going to be a short and easy day......or at least I thought.