Wheels For Meals for Alameda County, 10-29-16

Rest Stop 1, the only rest stop on the 35 miler. 

Great snacks and volunteers.

Part of our 30 + team and volunteers before riding out. Giancarlo, Jason, Jan, David, Richard,
Richard's friend, The Bhatawadekar  Family who arrived before dawn to volunteer.

 Amazingly lucky weather day. It stormed yesterday, and will again tomorrow, but we had 70 degrees by the BBQ and no showers all day.
Giancarlo, got 2 flats at the same time, darn hole in the road. We all stopped to provide jokes and camaraderie. He'd finished changing them when we arrived, so we had little else to do. Only 5 miles left and the sun was still shining so we were all very happy.

Marcie, David & Jason at Rest Stop 1, looking good.

 Team photo at the BBQ, only missing about 10 people, not bad for any event that had 3 different rides, 15, 35 & 70 milers.

Power Pedalers training to ride the Napa ALS ride

October 1, 2016, the PG&E Power Pedalers will ride on team Lana's Warriors, in honor of Russ Rylee's wife, Lana.  The ride is 62 miles in Napa, with a BBQ afterwards.
Sunday we trained together, 50 miles, from San Ramon, over the Dublin Grade to Castro Valley, Redwood Rd, to Pinehurst through Lafayette and back to San Ramon. A beautiful ride.

Rick, Jason, Mike, Jan and David, all finished strong, although the younger ones, stronger and faster than the older ones.

Day 7, ALC, June 11, 2016, 545 miles-Done!

We left Ventura in overcast but about 10 miles out it started drizzling. We pulled out at this base for a quick stretch. By the time we got to rest stop 1, the drizzle was rain. The cameras didn't come out again until lunch. Instead, Mylar blankets and rain ponchos did.

I think Emilia was saying she couldn't believe the sudden change in the weather.

Backsides got muddy, except Jan had an emergency poncho she used.

Lunch was in a beach parking lot on the PCH and we were starting to dry off.

The idea was for the team to wait at lunch and all ride in together to the finish line, but the weather changed our minds. We all rode in separately.

John, Emilia, Steven Larry, Herb, Tom, Jan, Jim

David was napping and missed the photo.

These jungle animals were in a front yard on the last leg of the ride through West Hollywood.

Emilia and Dave Haya - Wexy Wheels Team - crossing the finish line.

Giancarlo, Larry and Jan

Rick Riddick, PG&E Fresno team member.

Happy, so happy to have accomplished 7 days and 545 miles in the fight against AIDS/HIV

Most of us have already registered for 2017. Want to join us?

Day 6, ALC, June 10, 2016, Lompoc to Ventura

Day 6 includes a CHP road closure, of a lane on a bridge on 101, north of Santa Barbara. Rick snapped this photo of riders queued up, waiting to be "released". We ride out 50 at a time for safety. While waiting isn't number one on most people's list of fun things, safety is paramount on the ride. The view to the right is the ocean, nice spot for a break.

Lunch is in a large park in Goleta. Jim wanted to do the butterfly stretch like Jan was doing, but she was too concerned with stuffing her face to notice much.

Sports Med crews worked wonders on many riders at lunch.

After lunch we ride along the beach on a bike/pedestrian trail. This artist was on hand to say his mermaid had on her top today.

Rest stop 3 was another stop on a beach. This is Emilia, Jan and David's daughter with a few of the rest stop crew.

One of the best parts of the ride for many cyclists is Paradise Pit. It is an unofficial stop with ice cream, bike racks, porta potties, music and love organized by previous riders.

A very emotional candlelight vigil is held on the beach after dinner.

Day 5, Red Dress Day, June 9, 2016

Years ago it was decided, Day 5, which has some ribbon like hills, should be dress red day. When photographed from the sky the appearance of a red ribbon would be astonishing. Well, over the years it has morphed a little, into red dress, or red whatever day. Teams have themes too.

This is just one of the hills, but you get the idea.

This is the lunch crew, all the rest stop teams also dress in red.

This is not the PG&E team, but pretty amazing so I'm posting it.

This was shot with the camp in the back ground being taken down early in the morning.

Day 4, June 8, 2016, Paso Robles to Santa Maria

Day 4, is an 89 mile ride with almost 4800' of climbing. The 2 biggest hills are nick named Evil Twins.

At the top of the second hill, is the half way to LA point, where proud cyclists snap photos.

It is often difficult to get the whole team, in the same place at the same time, but we got pretty close a couple of times. This was before ride out.

This was at the half way point.

Here we are with Coney while we waited to get let out of the half way point. They were letting cyclists leave the stop10 at a time, for safety reasons, due to the steep grade.

Even though she missed our team shot, Letitia was in the video holding up her bike.

This flat was between two of the downhills. The joke was: How many PG&E employees does it take to change a flar? But seriously, the team was very supportive of each other.

We then rode together down the second hill and found David with a flat. He was having his changed by a sweep team of two folks we regularly train with.

Since most of us were together again we snapped another photo.

Day 3, June 7, 2016, 68 miles

Day 3 is famous for a 1.3 mile climb nick named quad buster. The day started out a little overcast and ended up quite warm.

This is an encouragement by a local. Or, we could say it's a rider who didn't make it, posing with David.

 This is Jan at the top. 

Lunch in Bradley is quite an event. The school district sells us lunch as their annual fundraiser to support their entire year of extracurricular events. ALC also provides the Boudin lunches for free. So many riders choose to pay for burgers that they raise over $40,000. This is the line to place your order for $10.00 burger.

 They also have deluxe service with no line for $100.00 donation, and take credit cards.

The Bradley kids also sell pins they make, t-shirts, pens and other Bradley souvenirs.

We camp at Paso Robles Mid-State fairgrounds and have dinner inside an air conditioned building instead of a tent. The food all week is tasty, healthy and you can eat as much as you want. 

Day 2, June 6, 2016, 109 Miles, Santa Cruz to King City

Day 2 is the longest day of the ride. We started out with drizzle but the day ended with sun as we headed inland. The winds are always very strong and not always behind us.

This is Herb posing in front of one of the many vineyards we passed.

During the day we were treated to scents of garlic, strawberries, onions and views of cauliflower, kale, artichokes, lettuce and more.

There is a toilet stop at Pezzani Market where cyclists often purchase artichoke delicacies. This is a grilled artichoke with garlic alioli

Jan and Tom, with Coney, the safety mascot, at the lunch stop.

Tom and Emilia finishing their lunch in Salinas. Boudin Bakery makes the lunches fresh each day and drives them to our spots in refrigerated trucks.

During the afternoon we had a nice tail wind and stunning views along highway 1.

Cookie Lady, brings hundreds of home baked cookies to the Otter Pop stop, where cyclists devour both, hosted by "bears" in tutus swirling flags.

This bridge crosses a small river where cyclists sometimes take a dip to cool off.

When someone needs a boost to the next stop, for medical or mechanical reasons, a themed sweep vehicle picks them up. This is the Oz sweep.

We all rode strong. One of our long time team riders completed Day 2 for the first time.