Well, during May 18-21 I completed the 2nd Annual NorCal AIDS Challenge. This ride went through the Sacramento Valley through mainly fields and orchards. Day 2 had climbing up Table Mountain near Chico. While climbing is a challenge for me, riding that many flat miles seemed equally challenging, in that there was plenty of wind and alot of openness. Here are the basic routes we followed:
1st half of day 1:
http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=282

2nd half of day 1:
http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=283

Day 2: http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=284

Day 3: http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=285

Day 4: http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=286

I admit I didn't ride the third day.....I had a previous commitment, so I left Friday night and returned Saturday night to finish out the ride on Sunday.

This was a great experience. There were only 40 riders, and we had plenty of crew folks watching out for us on the road. It was truly awesome, and I would recommend this type of ride to anyone. The routes were clearly marked, even though I followed a guy and we missed a turn...oops....but the roadies noticed we were missing and came looking for us...four miles later.....they sagged us up to the group, since it was the last day and we were on a tight schedule....
We also had gourmet catered meals, which was great. It was like going out to dinner, even though we were camping. They did a nice job on the presentation too! A local chiropractor had massage services in camp, and that was welcomed after being on the bike so long.
I spoke with a couple of guys who've done ALC and they liked this ride too. It's a much smaller scale than ALC, but I'm guessing still just as inspiring.

I didn't think I could deal with putting up the tent after riding, but it wasn't that bad. I tried to remember all the great suggestions put out by the group and it helped!!! Packing each days clothes in separate ziplock bags was the best advice!! I had to get up an extra 30 mins or so just to make sure I could get everything back into the gear bag and tent back into it's bag too. That would be my only suggestion, give yourself enough time if you know you're slower.

I don't have my pics yet, but will post them when I get them back.

And......next year the route is changing to go from Davis to Calistoga, Calistoga to Lakeport, Lakeport to Woodland, and Woodland to Sacramento. We will overlap with the Davis Double for a day, but should be ok, since the group is not huge...at least for now. Registration is already open for 2007.

Again, this was really a wonderful experience, and if you think you can't do it, think again......as cliche as it sounds, if I can do it , any one can.....