So, today is the first time I’ve ridden 100+ miles in a few years. The good news–I can’t remember having more fun! Today was a spectacular day! We made our way out Santa Cruz south through the Salinas valley and into King City.

The day was filled with beautiful sweeping vistas of America’s bread basket. Strawberry, lettuce, and onion fields everywhere with people hard at work readying the produce for sale. This is also the place where the early days of the ride something interesting happened. The story, as told by Lorri Jean (CEO LA LGBT Center), goes like this:

While out checking in with some of the volunteers on the route near a strawberry field, Lorri noticed a lone care driving towards them from across the field. She watched as the car pulled up and a Latino women steps out of the. She walks over and, in broken English, asks what they were doing there. Lorri explains that they are raising money to help people with HIV and AIDS. Satisfied, the woman gets back in the car and drives off. 

45 minutes later,Lorri sees the same car driving back towards them and pull up. The same lady gets out of the car, walks over to Lorri. She hands Lorri $3.10 in pennies, nickels, and dimes that she collected from workers picking strawberries. 

As you can imagine, that little money meant quite a bit to those workers and, in my mind, represent what this ride is truly about. On days like today which was long with quite a bit of wind and heat, everyone takes the time to help someone else. Its amazing to see it happen over and over again.  It’s something that I would like to see happen more in my day-to-day. 

This day was also filled some fun. Like the Otter Pop Water Stop which featured lot of dancing and a very welcomed Otter Pop. Or, the Cher The Road boys of Rest Stop 4 who gave you Cher from almost every decade! They little respites make the day even that much better. It’s like a rolling party with 2500 of your best friends!

Facts of the Day:

• Number of miles road: 109
• Total riding time: 6:30
• Average high temp: 80
• Average wind speed: 17 mph
• Number of bugs accidently swallowed by me: 4
• Number of road kill I saw: 9
• Percentage of time I was irritated by crappy wind: 40%
• Percentage of time I was enjoying the wind (tailwind): 60%
• Percentage of time my butt felt like it was riding a jackhammer: 60% (lots of crappy roads)