ALC Day 2 Santa Cruz to King City

I was a little concerned about today's ride months ago when I discovered it was the longest of the trip at 107 miles. I have ridden a 100 miles on a couple occasions and both times I bonked. As it turned out, controlling my blood sugar was not a problem at all. I was in line to get my bike at 7:15 am, but the line was very long, and it was 8am before Ieven got out of Harvey West Park. Then the line of bikers backed up at all the traffic lights so badly, that I didn't get to Aptos until 9:45 and I began to wonder if I would make it to King City before dark! But the storm that brought last night's rain blew away, and the wind once more came from the NW. And what a wind it was! 20-30 mph, it propelled us south at great speeds. After you reach 20mph on a bike, something happens where the b Ike lifts as though ready to take off. I spend much of the afternoon in this state of 'light speed'. I arrived in camp at 6:15 and over dinner described riding today as being a Tour du France wannabe-- the speed we rode at in the high 20's through rolling vineyards.

We passed both of the high schools where I spend most of my career on today's route. It was especially nostalgic for me to see the classroom where I began teaching in Gonzales 35 years ago. We. had a rest stop in the park there and the roadies made in look amazingly different, dressed up as characters from Robin Hood as they served us food. It was ere that it finally dawned on me why we are supposed to wipe our hands with alcohol pads and further sterilize them with hand sanitizer before eating. It isn't just for the healthy riders that we do this, it is especially for the HIV positive riders whose immune systems are challenged. The realization hit me hard and I thought on it as I rode south.

Tonight, walking back from the dinner tent the bobbing headlamps in the immense grassy area that opened up to the tents looked like fireflies. I followed their welcome beacons back to my little crysalis nd prepared to get a well deserved rest.