team lope / team hype — FIXED POWER.

a short while before the launch of the AIDS/lifeCycle, the organizers make a mini-version called "day on the ride." it’s pretty self-explanatory. fully supported with motorcycles, sweep vehicles, rest stops — everything that would be in a day on the actual lifeCycle, just no gear trucks or tent grid cause, well, obviously they’re not necessary.

for me personally, the ride was kickass for a number of reasons. one, riding with WR, especially with our schedules as they are now, is always a great joy. two, it was the longest fixed-gear ride i’ve ever taken. three, the overhaul i did to the tumbler’s drivetrain the night before had it rolling and performing like fucking butter. and four, i’ve been having a huge problem on the last two long rides i took and that problem is cramps. i haven’t been able to make it 60 miles without thigh, calf, or hip flexor cramps — usually all at the same time. but because of the great care i’ve been taking of myself this last week (lots of super healthy lunches and dinners, no nights out drinking, lots of protein shakes after rides, three days of no riding at all, and tons of sex), and because of the fact that i FINALLY took a half-gatorade/half-water mix in my bottles, i got ZERO cramps. in fact, even when i first drafted this post, 4.5 hours after the fact, my legs were in GREAT shape. my back is (STILL) another story, but my legs are SOLID. the hot bath probably helped, too. so for me, stoked.

the day starts the same as any regular day on the ride, with a rah-rah speech, a moment of silence, many expressions of admiration and love and thanks, then a safety speech and some stretching.

WR had an unfortunate occurrence, in that his camelbak had sprung a leak. but WR’s a quick thinker, so dude just put his sensitive shit in some plastic bags, fixed the leak, and boom, no more problem.

on the way out the door, we noticed a crew of three that we could tell straight away were other fixed-gear guys. i struck up a conversation with them while WR caught up with a rider he knew, who happened to be providing moto support today. these fixed guys, team hype out of both LA and SF, were the coolest fucking guys ever. they weren’t the cookieCutter hipster fixie kids AT ALL. they had no qualms about safe riding. they had no expectations of SAG bags and toe clips. they had no disrespect for the roadies and newbies. they were just really, REALLY good guys who i felt super stoked to meet and hang with through the day.

from there it was out the door and 17.9 miles to the first rest stop. along the way we had a 3.4 mile climb, some shitty stretch of beach (too much sand and wind, plus a massive split-plus-two-bumps about 50 feet before and 50 feet after every single traffic light — traffic lights which i don’t think belong there anyway, but they’re for pedestrian crossing in that neighborhood, so whatever.

despite the ride starting on the northeast side of town, we ended up traversing the north side, heading west through land’s end and by the legion of honor to the beach, then down the west side (aforementioned shitty beach stretch) to end up heading SOUTH into san mateo county. it was just surprising because i’d assumed … start from the north, head north. but whatever.

WR and i were able to hang out together a LOT on the ride, which was cool cause we could gauge each other’s status, talk about what we were finding out about equipment and our training’s results in a ride day situation, and of course, just bullshit. in fact the only times we weren’t riding together, it was because one or the other of us just needed to bomb it out real quick. the other would just catch up later.

anyway, the first rest stop was a quick one. we both treat rest stops the same way. get in, get some food and refill the bottles, stretch, and get the fuck back out on the road. at this first rest stop we did take the time to talk to team hype (as well as another fixed-gear rider i met along the way), but we were still back on the road in like 15 minutes, tops.

another 15.7 miles and we were at lunch. along the way here we had a 1.2 mile climb and then a serious descent, which on fixed-gear bikes is NOT easy. in fact, WR started to experience the first of what would end up being a day’s worth of occasional stings and cramps on this leg of the trip. once at lunch, though, we got a chance to sit down for a good 25/30 minutes, talk about some of the final details of our fundraiser, catch up with team hype (prior to their EFFING NAP), and actually eat some real food — turkey sammiches. we stretched again and after a quick fix of my back wheel (i’d somehow torqued it slightly crooked in the drops, loosening my chain), we cut out again, this time 18.5 miles to the next rest stop.

along that next stretch we were climbing a lot. a 2.4 mile climb was followed by a 1.3 mile climb, and there were a ton of rollers. and despite those short distances, by this point it was hot as fucking hell out. plus, you know, track bikes. hahaha!!! i was glad to get ahead of WR for a good bit of this section (my bike is easier to climb with than his), and the reason is that i was able to pull over in the shade twice to let him catch up, rehydrating and snacking an extra bit. so i loved it. and truly, the accomplishment of making those climbs gave me even more confidence in my ability to make the ride itself.

the third rest stop was the same as the first (we were headed back now, obviously), and same drill. say hi to team hype (we took the above picture this time), chat with some other REALLY nice people we’d met along the beginning of the day, snack, stretch, hydrate, bounce. oh, i forgot, at this rest stop they FINALLY had coffee. my first cup of the day. holy god it was like drinking pure gold.

17.7 miles to go to the end, and this part of the ride was actually shitty for me. it was mostly along that god-awful stretch of beach, and then from there, through the park and the presidio to get back to the starting point. while you’d think at least the park and presidio would be awesome, it was a gorgeous day so we were now dealing with every.fucking.body in the city, all on bikes. i ended up even getting into an argument with a mountain biker who forced himself in between me and a car, almost crashing us both. then when i told him he was being a jackass, he told ME off. WTF.

but on return, we were treated to a fat pasta lunch, complete with salad and desert, and we cut our separate ways to go home. i couldn’t believe that even after all this, i was still able to haul my bike up to the house without pain or exhaustion. i took a hot bath and had a well-fucking-deserved beer.

ok, two.

ok, three.

so that comes down to 69.8 total miles, in 17.9, 15.7, 18.5, and 17.7 mile increments, including climbs of 3.4 miles, 1.2 miles, 2.4 miles, and 1.3 miles. it was a great day, and in the end we learned a LOT. WR seems to be convinced that he needs to come down from his beefy 82 inch-gear, and i realized that i need to really, REALLY pay attention to taking care of myself, cause it fucking matters. so we both win.

i felt really bad for WR at a couple points, and the reason was that the ALC ride has MUCH stricter rules than other event rides that he’s used to. one is no headphones. another is that you have to stop (put a foot down) at EVERY STOP SIGN AND LIGHT. and another is that you have to generally ride in single-file. none of these things are fun for either of us, but i’ve dealt with it before, so i think he felt like he had to kind of tolerate a bunch of nonsensical shit. but this isn’t a ride of 100% cyclists. there’s a LOT of first-timers and regular joes here, and you have to tailor the ride to make sure they don’t get hurt or scared. so you do what you must. in our case that meant finding a quick foot-down-while-moving "stop" method, and riding kind-of-single-file-but-kind-of-not by overlapping the back and front wheels of the leading and following riders, respectively. it seemed to work just fine.

this was a 9/10 CLANK! ride, because the beach stretch really does suck, but other than that, we got a chance to hang out and geek out on bike shit, we met a bunch of really cool people, and we put MILES down, successfully, on effing track bikes.

next up? keep an eye out for the results of yesterday’s fundraiser, and then we have to put in at least a couple more training rides together and/or separately. then the big day in june. wish us luck, and we’ll keep you posted.

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