Wheels On Wheels

28 June 2009

After only a few weeks, today was our longest ride...80 miles from Anaheim to San Diego. Realize that we started at 30 miles, then jumped to 50, then 60 and now 80. Wow, that's a quick ramp up of miles for anyone who hasn't ridden that type of distance.

But to tell you the truth, I was very impressed with the Group 3 people. Many had never, in their life, ridden that far. (I spoke to several people in our group who told me that) Let me see if I can put that in perspective for you. 80 Miles, 2000 feet of climbing, over 5 hours in the saddle, total of 1500 calories burned. (what a weight loss program).

To start the day Dan Plummer from Wheels on Wheels, was on hand to load our bikes and transport them to Anaheim. I had met Dan last year and I was very impressed with his business. He's been around bikes, teams and group rides and knows what it takes to make things work. Check him out in Santee some time. You'll like his store.

From there we rode the Amtrak train to Anaheim only to find that our bikes on racks ready to go (Wheels on Wheels). All we had to do was put on our helmets and start riding.

The bike path was a beautiful thing. Not too many people at that time and no wind to speak of. We kept the pace at about 18 MPH.

Newport Beach we saw the CAF clan banging the drum so we stopped. My mistake...they just wanted to wave at us as we rode by. That caused some to think about a bathroom break.

Next stop was outside of Laguna Beach. Come down this hill, hit the brakes and pull into a nice spot to refill bottles and get some grub. Got to keep it short.

Into Laguna Beach, watch out for the tourists, and then down to Dana Point. I always like that part. Little bike path and then this loop with small little hills. Up, down, Up, Down. Just a quick turn and then San Clamente.

We head into the park and find ourselves at a sandwich spread. Wow, Tina is the gal who knows how to SAG. The only thing missing was a few beers and band. OK...lets hit the road.

The Marine base is not a bad ride but it can hit you hard after 55 plus miles. There are some rollers but the group stayed together most of the way.

Oceanside and then home. One of my Radio people was cramping. Ouch. Been there and I know what it feels like. However, he told me, Ron, to push on and he would make it and he did. That's a big plus in my book.

Lastly. Fred is one of our Challenged Athletes. He doesn't have legs. We took a few minutes to talk with our group about how to ride hand cyclists because we can out climb them but they will crush you on the down hill. Fred had some great suggestions.

Fred asked for some help taking him out of his chair and putting his bike in his vehicle. To me that is the ultimate request and an example of what we are doing. Finding Ways To Help Others...CAF.