Team Amici Veloci (and other TE'ers) do ALC 6

OK, countdown time. Thought I'd post this info in its own spot.

Sunday Sunday Sunday monster tractor pull ....no ...... Sunday UK and I set of on ALC 6. We'll try to keep you posted but communication is a challenge on the 7 day ride.

For one thing no internet access in camp, for another while I plan to complete this my 3rd ride if you've ridden with me you know I'm not fast enough to complete each day and zip into town the extra miles to find a hot spot :cool: I plan to get in, get fed, get the tent up, showered, rest, get to sleep, get up and ride, repeat oh, and watch the talent show. :cool:

And I might not be able to charge my cell phone.

So I will make one, maybe two calls a day.

Otherwise the cell is off. I do a group voicemail thing and will try to call Knott, and or Spazzdog. And they can post how we're doing.

But you can send a message to us, to any rider or crew member from here:

http://experience.aidslifecycle.org/2007/

Keep it clean folks because your message of encouragement, support gets printed out by our amazing crew and pretty much anyone can read it :cool:

You'll need our rider numbers; UK Eliphant is 4591, I'm rider 4223. I had a list going of the others on this board, maybe I can re-create it.

If any of you know other riders or crew who might like to hear from TE'ers you can post it here too. It really makes a difference to the riders and crew.

There will be a "webcast" from that link that goes live I think on Saturday, day 0 with pictures, podcast, maybe video. So watch for us. I'll probably end up on the cutting room floor but watch for us in Amici Veloci red and green on Day 1, and I plan to wear the colors on day 7 as well.

Here just for fun is a video of the route

http://thebigmatt.com/2007Ride/Ride2007.htm

Duck on Wheels and Snapdragen will be volunteering (yeah crew!!!!) at the tent reservation area. We'll try to get a group shot taken there, at least the four of us. Anyone else?

Since that's the last stop at registration we'll be sure to see them, oh I recognize them all anyway.

I stand in awe of your ability.

How do we see the webcast?

Thanks Zen. Hold that thought till I finish ;) but it's good to just commit to do it of course and all about the cause.

I tell people from a cycling standpoint it's not the hardest event. We debate this on the ALC board, seems to depend on what GPS one is using but it's something around 26,000++ feet of climbing.

I think V does doubles, one day with that. :eek:

But it's the back to backness, ride a century, do it again, and again, and then in a red dress....

A funny thing happened last time I rode, I hope this is true for me again. If you make it through Day 3 after that you just...feel...stronger every day. Weird.

The webcast is not there yet on the link.

You'll start to see things posted Monday, maybe late Sunday. You can see pictures of previous rides though.

Northern CA gals day 1 will be harder this year. After the 2 mile climb up 92

pictured here riders and Taiko drumers at the top here

http://experience.aidslifecycle.org/...s/day1/g2.html

instead of the long well deserved downhill run we take a left turn and go up Skyline. :eek: I've heard we'll come down to Hwy 1 around the town of Pescadero. I've always wanted to ride that bit. Alrighty, guess I will.

Wonder if we'll stop by for artichoke bread? :)

Day 2 is a century, Santa Cruz to King City. It's relatively flat though. Just often has &*^% headwinds. One long hill coming into King City has some great views. To make up for the headwinds we have a couple of unofficial rest stops. Hopefully the Cookie Lady will be there. This gal bakes all year and sets up somewhere on the route with cookies, with or without nuts, with or without chocolate chips, I'll aks about GF options for all the riders. She's always in costume. Earlier that day we'll take over an artichoke stand (in a friendly way of course).

Highlight of Day 3 would be Quadbuster hill. We'll be rewarded if we get over the top of that there's a tiny town that puts on a BBQ for us. It's the main fundraiser for their school.

Wooooohoooooo! You guys are gonna have a blast. You must be crazy excited by now. Have a great ride!

Best wishes to Trek and all ALC riders and volunteers for a super fun and super safe ride...
I ride for the same reason - so that we can live in an AIDS-free world and just ride for the pure joy of it sometime soon - so this sister-rider salutes each and every one of you, knowing that it'll get hard, you'll hurt, get very hot, sore and hungry for anything other than road-food...but you'll all dig deep and pedal on...having the support of so many angels on every hill - for every mile...ride strong and enjoy every part of the journey!
Mary

GO TEAM!!!!!!!!

Hey Trek! I'm rider 1132, have a black/orange Giant OCR. I'd love to meet you!
This is year 2 for me.

I'm not super fast either, just very, very determined.

Hey there!! Let's try to meet day 0. We can get a group shot at tent assignment. I'm short, dark hair, lavender Mondonico road bike. I may have a potted flowering plant on my helmet :D On day 1 UK and I will be in AV gear.

PM me for my cell phone number.

Way to go! Good luck and have fun!

Arright, riders! You gals really rock! I've been watching UK prepare for this, getting stronger and faster by the week. I am so impressed! Now she's trying to talk her Dad and me into doing it with her in '09 :eek: Well, we'll see what I can work myself up to this summer when I get home to my repaired bike. Then we'll see how much form I can maintain by spinning a couple times a week through the winter, and what I can work up to again next summer, and theeeeeen I can make a dee-cide. The pledge drive should be a cinch for me that year, tho. I'd just let folks know that pledges are what I want for my 60th birthday (double eek! :eek: :eek: ) that summer.

Meanwhile, come on over and see me at the reg. desk after 1230 tomorrow. Before then I may be running to and fro as a go-fer, once UK and I have seen the safety video at 830. Trek knows what we all look like, so she can get us together for the group photo op before the DH picks med up at the end of Day 0 and we leave you rider gals to it. (BTW Trek, Mr. Duck can caravan with you back to your place and give you a ride back when you've left your car there, and do we wanna do dinner together somewhere before he and I drive back up to Sonoma?)

Mr. Duck and I and the mutual Mom (Trek's and mine) will be driving down to LA to watch all you riders ride in. We hope to find a couple vantage points where our paths will cross along the way and we can cheer you on. Prob'ly once as you head back to the coast after King City? Maybe near Pismo Beach and again at Ventura? We'll see what we can manage to coordinate, while keeping our car out of the way of your route.

WOOHOO LADIES!!!

I'm so proud of all of you. Thank you for supporting such a good cause. I will be tuning in to see it on the webcast. Good luck and tailwinds to ya.

OK, I'll try to get over to the top secret early 8:30 safety video that nobody knows about :cool: :p See you there!

Here's the elevation of Day 1

http://zoza.com/~kniwt/alc6/day1maybe.jpg

Just heard from Trek that she is getting into a taxi and on her way to the hotel room she's sharing with UKEliphant tonight so they can get up and get to the ride start by 5:00 a.m.

Go Amici Veloci!!

Edit: now they are tucked into bed and getting a good night's sleep so they will be ready to rumble tomorrow!

Left UK and Trek at their hotel room settling in for an early night. Mr. Duck commented on our way back to the car that "0400 -- there we have the main reason he hasn't considered doing the ride". 0400 hours in the morning, that is; getting up that early. UK and Trek seemed not overly daunted, tho. And as we left there were several groups of riders headed out for dinner. We'd already eaten and called it a day, but some of these folks had on blue or purple (staff or roadie team captain) T-shirts, so I guess they hadn't been able to take off before the absolute final hurra out there at the Cow Palace.

Now I'd better get to bed too. It's been a long day at the reg. desk, and I wanna see the news in the morning, hoping for coverage of the ride out from the Cow Palace.