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

[Duck on Wheels]

IM from Trek this morning. She did all 47 miles yesterday. Her broken toe hurt a bit last night, but is ok this morning. She'll check with the med folks, then try riding as far as the toe will allow, taking it ez as she goes. She reports that UK has so far ridden every single mile, not even walking the worst hills!

[KnottedYet]

Trek sagged the last part of today, and has decided not to ride at all tomorrow. She's disappointed, but glad she decided to spare her foot from further injury.

She says other riders are hurt worse than she is.

She's also worried about Menace, because riding in the sag isn't the best thing for the bike.

When she gets home tomorrow, I will do my best to cure her foot and broken toe instantly. Really. Well, I might have other things I need to do first, but I will certainly work on her foot.

[Duck on Wheels]

And meanwhile, her bike will be on its way to Chris Sulllivan. I'm sure he will be attentive as well.

We'll be seeing Trek and UK this afternoon at ride-in. Trek gets hugs from all of us and (probably more important) a lift to the airport to fly up to Knott.

[RoadRaven]

Wow, Trek! UK!

Somehow I completely missed this thread and have only read it this morning - and its all over!

I am so impressed... multi-day tours... they are so beyond what I can achieve

Trek - it was great to read through your updates (Thanyou Duck for posting them)... I just wish I had been following this right through.

What a great achievement and very impressed with you for pulling out - a sensible decision but it must have been a very hard one to make.

Trust your foot heals quickly

[shadon]

Congrats to each of you on a good ride! For those of you doing it for the first time, I hope your first ALC was as amazing as mine was. It was a truely life changing experience for me.

Sleep well and have good trips home!

[Trek420]

I'm baaaaaack. More musings as I process all this stuff, impressions, sights, sounds, feelings and all. I'm bummed not to have ridden every mile this time.

But this is my 3rd ride and I did very well the previous ones, especially the year I tented with Bikegoddess, all but 10 miles .

3 cheers to UK who rode (and I mean rode, didn't even cross-train which I do a lot) every mile!! And hats off to all riders and crew. The ride raised a record 11 million dollars this year.

[Veronica]

Really. Well, I might have other things I need to do first, but I will certainly work on her foot.

HEY!!!!! TMI! TMI!


Trek you done good.


V.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

YAY to all you awesome women who did that ride!!!!!

[Trek420]

YAY to all you awesome women who did that ride!!!!!

More thoughts as they come....there's a lot of women on the ride I don't know the exact percentage. And the women all doing really well.

Day 1 UK and I were in AV gear. A women called out to UK from one of the passing SAG trucks "hey, I know that jersey!!" Someone from here or BJ. Maybe BJ because she didn't say "Amici Veloci my as*"

Also Susan get ready for a run on the Hill Slug jersey. I wore mine on Day 5 (Red Dress Day). Anyway it was a hit, lot's of comments like
"I want that jersey! Where'd you get it?"
"www.teamestrogen.com"
Even got to have that conversation while passing someone on a hill

[SadieKate]

Trek, you done good, no matter how much or how little you got to ride. You were there for the others, both on the ride and not, and particularly your niece. You'll remember that forever.

[Bike Goddess]

Hey Trek- You rode for those of us who couldn't! I didn't know about a broken toe until I read this (when did that happen?). OMG that must have been quite painful.

You did your best and that's what counts! Even the local radio station up here (KCBS) had some news about the ride and the amount of money you all raised. They also had some interviews with the "positive pedalers"- and that in itself was pretty darned impressive.

CONGRATs on hanging in there. You are an inspiration!

Now get your foot healed!

[ACG]

I saw Trek 420 at orientation then lost her in the mass of lycra. Sorry about your toe, ouch! I rode it all, loved it all and I'm sad that next year I won't be able to ride (my daughter will be graduating at the same time).

ANYONE can do this ride, it is all about pacing yourself and self determination.

I had fast days and slow days, days with shoulder pain, knee pain and the usual pain in the behind. Used lots of chamois cream, sunscreen I wore red lace panties/bra outside my cycling clothes on red dress day. Took pictures with sailors, nuns, 1/2 naked Santas, prison guards. Ate ice cream, fajitas, hamburgers, bar-b-que, lots of apples and bananas, and lovely peanut butter. Yelled on your left as many times as it was yelled at me. Closed my eyes at the steep downhills, grunted on the uphills. Bled a little bit too. I've got a big bruise on my knee and my face is sunburnt.

On the last day, broke a cable and had to have the techs 'Mickey Mouse' my bike in just 2 gears so I could finish. I was not going to sag, it just meant I had to push myself a little harder.

What I enjoy most about this ride is the sense of community that everyone has. I wish the world was this way all the time. All of you should think about doing this ride at least once in your life.

[Trek420]

unless the system has changed, the messages get printed and put in binders and the riders have to hunt through them to see if there are any messages for them.

Sort of. They have laptops at the info tent. Our amazing crew downloads your messages, burns CD's, puts those in the laptop. Then we log in with our rider number and can read 'em.

My last two rides when I rode much better it was fun to get the messages. When you're struggling .... it really helped.

"They went up highway 92? Good grief. That's a busy road."

Hwy 92 down to Half Moon Bay is pretty dangerous as it is narrow in spots. Cars aren't very friendly to cyclists either so I suspect that is why they changed the route.

Also, Hwy 1 down to Santa Cruz is no picnic either due to the traffic. However, by doing Skyline, they miss getting a lot of publicity in Half Moon Bay and beyond. That was where I had my first encounter with the ride many years ago. I remember how touched I was by seeing all of these cyclists on their way to LA. I saw the ride twice this way and finally in '05 did the ride. It was a challenging week mentally and physically but I'm glad I did it!!!! (TREK was my tent partner that year!)

BG, the reason we took a sharp left hand turn at the top of 92 which added another 9 miles of climbing was there was construction going on somewhere on the descent.

I saw one rider get to the top and he probably thought "alright, now we go down" and flew into the descent. Too far away for me to yell or wave. I don't think he climbed back up, think they went and got him.

I don't know if we gained any safety on this.

I heard of two riders injured on the detour. One who fell into a guard rail and the other a car crash, driver error. Driver was passing on the double yellow of course, saw a car approaching and got back to the right ... into the rider. Road rash of course and at least one of these cyclists got broken collarbone.

[Bike Goddess]

Thanks Trek for the clarification. Yes, skyline is so much more difficult (and you can certainly attest to that!)

Glad you are back safe and sound!

Thanks to ACG for your report as well. I was also determined to finish no matter what! Congrats to you!!!!

Would love to hear from the rest of the TEers who rode.

[maillotpois]

Congrats for being a part of the whole huge thing. I'm sure it was a HUGE bummer to have to sit parts of it out, but you were supportive to the rest of your team and I am sure they really appreciated it.

Great job!!

Hope the toe heals soon!