San Fran to Santa Cruz 87 miles

Saturday: It's the first day of riding after a wonderful evening the night before. CAF does a fantastic job with this event. Check in was a breeze. We picked up another bag of stuff, arm and knee warmers, light jacket, huge sweatshirt, T-shirt and a day bag. We received instruction on where we needed to be and at what times during the trip. You should have seen the room of bikes. Wheels on Wheels does a great job with keep bikes safe and secure.

We also met many of the 11 challenged athletes we will be riding with this week. Some I knew from San Diego but others were new names and faces. A few were a part of Operation Rebound which is for disabled Vets.

Scott Kaplan got up and talked about the XX1090 Radio Contest, how it started, the process and that I was the winner. It was a very good story and again I was moved by his words. He also spoke about his cousin who recently passed away in while training for this event when he was hit by a car while on his bike in AZ. This will be a hard ride for Scott.

As promised I have taken pictures and video (having problems uploading video at this time). We started just outside our hotel at Fisherman's Wharf. Lots of people, lots of photos and you could feel the tension in the air. Lets ride!!!

Here's a picture of Todd (left) and me (right) at the start as we get ready for this epic ride.

The weather was overcast but it certainly didn't damper our spirits. We had a police escort thru town as we headed up to the old military post. I was plenty warm after the first climb. A few hours later the sun was out but not hot.

The scenery...gorgeous. Here's a few shots of what we saw most of the day. Gilberto had a flat but no tube or pump so I stopped to give him a hand.

I saw Scott K. at the start and then we caught up again with each other at the Lunch stop. He was looking very strong for guy who hasn't put in as many miles as I have. Is he that much young than I...?
We had many opportunities for pacelining. The wind was really hitting us hard in the face. But on the flats we were averaging 18 to 22 MPH even so.

With three SAG stops and lunch we had more than enough to keep us going. Here's an example of what they lay out for us at the SAG stop to snack on.

As we came in to Santa Cruz we had been told and given a course outline with graph showing climbs so we all knew that there was one at the end up to the hotel. It wasn't long but...it was steep. However, the reward was worth it. We picked up our room key, signed up for a massage, grabbed some food and sat back and talked about the day with the gang.

I'm looking forward to tomorrows ride. Should be fun and beatiful and it just keeps getting better every day.