TE AIDS Lifecycle Team

[Trek420]

I wrote: "Last year Tracy Chapman rode, did I ever tell you the Tracy Chapman story? Remind me when I get back. And when I crewed on CAR4 Gregg Louganis rode (both did not camp, stayed in hotels)."

Well, I'm back and gathering my thoughts will be starting on a journal of the ride so check my homepage in about 3 weeks I'll let you know as new pictures are uploaded. Just taking a moment between washloads, and before i go pick up Mae (can't wait!) got tons of stinky bike clothes to wash so before i forget to tell the aforementioned Tracy Chapman story. It's kind of typical of the humor of the ride.

One gets familiar with your "neighborhood", your block in the tent city and last year on Day 1 I was talking to the couple next to us about an unusual experience she had on the road to Aptos. Seems she was riding along, just minding her own business when a rider calls out, passes her, looks back to see that he's clear, prepares to merge back to the right (sounds good so far, eh?) and then stops dead in his tracks right in front of her (yikes, she avoided the crash) points at her and starts screaming "you're Traci Chapman! You're Traci! They told me you'd be on the ride! You're..."

In a voice quite calm, she just says "uh, no, I'm not Traci." Convinced or not of that fact, he rides on. So that night telling us this her husband joked "and we're going to sign her up to sing on talent night and PROOVE without a doubt that she's not Traci" we all got a laugh.

So I think it was the night 3? 4? I'm standing in the dinner line and the guy behind me starts snapping pictures wildly. "What's up?" I ask. "It's not every day you're 4 feet away from Traci Chapman" he says. "Yeah, right." I think but then I look and dang, it IS Chapman (who looks magnificent but NOTHING like my neighbor other than they both are black and have dreds). And that night, she sang a beautiful solo concert to us.

Anyway by now my neighbor's story is around the camp, and we know Traci Chapman IS on the ride (Traci? are you here? she passed me many times, everyone does but she's a real strong rider, nice cadence, good pedal stroke). And by morning we are seeing a few folks with plain white t-shirts that are hand lettered "I'm not Traci". It seemed to start in the morning with a few of the women of color riders, but literaly by lunch the fashion statement is spreading; from huge hairy bearded white men "I'm not Traci" to older riders (our oldest is Bert Shaw, good to see him back at 77) the more rediculous the person ie: could not possibly be Traci the better.

Where is the AIDS Lifecycle jersey that says 'I'm not Traci"? ;-)