Quad Buster be damned! Today we took on the infamous Quad Buster and I climbed every inch of that damn hill and I lived to write about it.
ON the way to the Quad Buster, we rode through some head wind, cross wind, and managed to catch a break when we caught up with Pam.
Quad buster was not much for me..except for the fact that Ed decided to fly up this hill. He was strong as ever, so I just grinned and sat on his tail. Near the top Ed found a guy who was like 6’6 and the two of them encouraged each other to go full throttle to the top. Ok, actually Ed egged him on yellin’, “come on, don’t give up on me now”….Have you ever seen two guys over 6’4 racing to the top of the hill? It’s quite a site.
…we had just Busted the Quad. I was hooting and hollering, pumping my fist in the area and then I got off Rayne to cheer on other riders. It was the most amazing feeling. What was even more amazing was the riders who would reach the top and then race back down the way they came to ride back up and cheer other riders up. That is just so crazy!!
The descent down was incredible. The hill itself was not very long, but the momentum was enough that I was hitting 25mph on the straight aways.
This is the day that I bonked. We did the quads, and cheered some people on. But the truth is, it was cold at the top. So we decided to take off. Flying down the hill…we eventually neared the rest stop when Ed took a vote. Ed, myself and Mike said, yup, we’re good to go…no need to stop. 2 minutes later we were held up at an intersection to wait for the army trucks to cross over. This was a good chance to grab some goo, for my buddies were cookin on the bike. And as Ed will tell you, no more that 10 minutes later I said…”go ahead guys, sorry but I can’t keep this up”. I had bonked. The high speed riding for a third day in a row was taking it’s toll on me. It turns out, my body was bonking. I was slightly dehyrdrated, and needed nourishment. So, close to where Ed does the Wildflower Triathalon, we found a local shop in which I got bananas, etc to get reenergized. This helped me immensely.
Shortly thereafter we stopped at the next rest stop, which had Santa Workshop as it’s theme. There were some bad Santa’s here…but Jenna (who stopped here later with Jenna and Melissa) didn’t seem to mind.
Our lunch stop was in the town of Bradley. A tiny little town that if you blinked while driving through it, you would miss it. What is great about this stop is the symbiotic relationship AIDS/LifeCycle has with the local school. It is my understanding that it is a K-12 school whose academic year depends on the money made from the lunch sales in front of their campus to the riders. The money funds their field trips and enabled them to build a much needed computer lab for their students. So, they need their funds and we need to get fed. Perfect combination.
This was 42 miles into the ride. I’ve heard that local elementary school uses this as a fundraiser. So I was not surprised to see a long line of cyclists waiting to purchase hamburgers and hotdogs. It turns out that this annual fundraiser support the school’s entire atheletic program for the year. In addition, the remaining money goes the graduating 8th graders for either their high school or future college tuition. It was a great way to raise money, within a fundraising event, as well to teach and spread the word about AIDs, to kids who may never have been exposed to this education otherwise.
This is where I bought 3 pins for Bryce, Bailey and Jenn. The kids were great. The food was excellent. Ed, Mike and myself sat down with several riders from Vegas, etc…everyone was friendly, and the food and drink enabled me to recover 100% from my earlier bonking episode.
When we left, it had to be 90 degrees. It was hot. For me, it was a perfect balance of nutrition/hydration and warmth to keep my core ready for the challenges that lay ahead.
The highlight on this stretch of the ride was rest stop for at one of the many California missions. Built in 1797, this mission was one of the many built by Junipero Serra, a missionary who built them spaced out so that one could make it to the next one up the coast in a single day on horseback. This stop was cool because I was finally able to see one of these missions that our elementary school teachers made us make out of sugar cubes. Yes, we were forced to make California missions out of sugar cubes as children. The real thing is much cooler believe me.
…rest stop 4 whose theme was Dream Girls. I think this was by far my most favorite rest stop. It was at the Mission San Miguel at mile 65. There was plenty of shade…
Rest stop 4 was only 14 miles from Camp 3 which is at the Paso Robles Fairgounds …
The scenery to camp was again just amazing. We where again heading into farm country and we had a bit of climbing to do as well, but when you would reach the top the view was fantastic. It was just row upon row of fields. I was just blown away by the beauty before me.
While the scenery was soothing to my eyes the rollers were killing me….
Perhaps the fastest I’ve ever ridden my bike on a straightaway, was through here. Mike and Ed had dusted me at this point, as we approached the rollers I couldn’t keep up on the downhill portions. But boy were these rollers fun. I was sprinting up hills at 26mph! 26mph!!!!!! Guys who passed me on the straight away would just squirm as I hammered passed them up the hills! It was great. And when the rollers ended, we had a beautiful stretch of road with wonderful picture perfect views of the valley on your right with not even a car in site.
Ed managed to ride in this last stretch of road at around 34mph. I was riding solo at 28mph when I finally caught Mikey. Mikey immediately got a dose of adrenaline and hammered down. He pulled us into camp at speeds up to 32mph. When we arrived into camp, we were ecstatic. Not only had we arrived early, but we just experienced cycling nirvana. It doesn’t get any better.
By this time, the three of us were starving. After doing our chores, (I did my laundry, and hung up all my shorts/shirts/towels etc on a fence, for quick drying) we ventured out of the campgrounds.
We found a water bottling shop (where we bought a gallon of water). Then, we managed to fin a A&W/KFC where we had Freezes and fries, and chicken strips…boy, as crummy as that stuff is…it sure tasted great.
Later that night, when we all regrouped, we went out for dinner at the local diner. This was my first tear jerker moment for me, for when I called home Bryce was on the phone crying, saying he missed me. All of a sudden, the thought of being away from my family for another 4 days was unbearable. But I knew it was for a good cause, and that they were in great hands with Jenn.
320 miles on the road.
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