Our Livestreams for the Arthritis Foundation

 At the beginning of the tour this year I had the honor of hosting the first of our Facebook livestreams out to our ACE participants as well as potential riders! We wanted to connect with people at home. It was really fun! 

Here they are for posterity. Each are about a half hour long:

Steamboat Gravel (SBT GRVL)

In August I flew out to Colorado for Steamboat Gravel (STBT GRVL) and it was amazing! Eli Campbell handle all the logistics for the California Coast Classic ride in recent years and his company does logistics for other rides too. STBT GRVL is another one of his events. Back in December 2021 Eli invited Darren and I to come and sign up with an “early-bird” code. Darren is another rider who has done the California Coast Classic many times. Actually, he’s done all of them!

STBT GRVL is famous for its 140 mile “black” gravel course with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain… at elevation! When I signed up I wasn’t confident I could pull that off. There were 3 routes to choose from so I took the middle lane and opted for 100 miles on the “blue” route. I’ve done 100 mile rides before, but never that far on gravel, and never that far at elevation where the air is thinner. I learned back in June when I was in Idaho that riding uphill is much more challenging when your body isn’t getting the same amount of oxygen it’s used to. 

Gravel courses are basically the kinds of dirt backroads that you might take out car camping with Cub Scouts. These roads don’t require 4x4 vehicles, but they will certainly get your minivan dirty. Gravel bikes are basically overbuilt road bikes specifically designed for these kinds of terrain. They can handle quite a lot of different types of off-road adventuring. 

I was really worried I wasn’t going to be able to finish this ride. Steamboat Springs is at elevation of 6700 feet and off-road riding is so much more demanding than road riding. Originally I was going to bring my gravel bike out, but between packing it up to be safe on an airplane and the logistics of getting that to and from my lodgings I thought it would be significantly easier to just rent a bike out there. I’m so glad I did. That was certainly the best way to go. 

I got in on Thursday which gave me a couple of days to get acclimated and settled before the big ride on Sunday. Eli invited Darren and I to come hang out with him at a dinner that SRAM was hosting. It was our main opportunity to spend any time with Eli. He gets super busy at these events being pulled in all directions. We had a great time! I don’t get to see these guys too often so I appreciate every chance I get.  We got to try out some demo bikes at one of the booths.

First thing Friday morning I walked a few miles into town to pick up my rental bike and spent the early afternoon tinkering with the setup, making small adjustments to the fit, and playing with the arrangement of the tools and water bottles. To test everything out I rode into town to the exhibition area where a bunch of vendors had their wares set up amid the excitement of the weekend’s race. I met up with Darren and his wife Mary to tour the displays and grab some dinner, then called it a night. 

Saturday morning saw a number of training rides hosted by a bunch of different groups, and Darren found a 20 miler that looked reasonable. He invited me along, which presented a great opportunity to put the rental rig to the test and check my set-up. I’m very glad I did because on a rather rough descent my lower water bottle shot out of it’s cage. I don’t usually carry a third water bottle on the outside of the downtube, but I learned why they are frequently strapped on! Fortunately this ride was short enough to where I didn’t need a third bottle, but now I know that if I want that third bottle it needs to be tied down. Good to know!

Sunday morning. Race day! I made it to the event on time, but was delayed to due an emergency bathroom incident. Nothing like nerves to get your system fired up in the morning! The rest of the blue course participants had already left by the time I was ready. I lined up with the red group (the shortest ~60 mile route). I was told to just mention that I was with the blue group and that I would be free to go, but the closer I got to the front of the group the thicker the crowd became. I figured we would leave soon and that a half hour wouldn’t be the difference between me finishing and not finishing, so I just waited with the red riders. Maybe if I thought I had a chance of winning this thing I would have done it differently, but given the situation…

As a fun bonus, Valterri Bottas (the famous Formula One driver) was on this ride and leading this group of red riders out, so I got to be in his group! I don’t know much about F1 other than people are very passionate about it. That should make for a fun story later right?

What follows is 100 miles, over 70 of which are off-road, with approx 6,000 feet of climbing at elevation ranging from 6500-8000 feet above sea level. By the numbers, this is the most difficult day of cycling I’ve ever had. But it was absolutely beautiful! 

I was able to keep a pretty steady pace and caught up with the back of the main group of blue course riders by the time the day was done. Around 2:00 I was a few miles from the rest stop at mile 70 and the dark clouds rolled in. It poured rain for about a half hour. Most of that I was fortunately at the rest stop for and under some cover, but we were all soaked. But having reached mile 70 by 2:30 I knew I would be able to finish with plenty of time until they closed the course at sunset. I checked in with Darren through Mary and found that he was still a ways out from finishing, so I rolled out of the mile 70 rest stop setting my legs to “economy” mode. Time to preserve whatever I have left. 

I crossed the finish line after 9 hours, 45 minutes. Victorious! I was really concerned I wasn’t going to be able to finish this thing, but I did it! When the going gets tough, you gotta just keep pedaling. One more adventure in the name of the Arthritis Foundation in the books!

Bikepacking in Idaho - June 2022

 In June I tried bikepacking for the first time. What an adventure!

I’ve known Ryan since high school and he’s the one that really got me into cycling to begin with. He moved out to Idaho a few years ago, so I don’t get to see him much. He loves bikepacking and has tried to get me to do it for a while now. Bikepacking is pretty much what it sounds like: backpacking on a bike! Instead of strapping your sleeping back, tent, food, etc to a pack on your back, you figure out ways to strap it to your bike. You ride out, hopefully with a specific campsite in mind, maybe take the long way out to it, camp that night, then keep going the next day. It takes the term “self-supported riding” to a whole new level!

Ryan runs a bike shop in Idaho Falls, so we can usually make arrangements to find something that will fit me when I’m out there. This time it was a fat bike. “Fat bikes” have huge, 5 or 6 inch diameter tires that absorb the bumps in the trail where shock absorbers might serve on a mountain bike. I’ve never ridden a fat bike before, but they’re very common in the midwest because they’re great for riding in snow. Those giant tires provide a ton of grip and traction. They also work well bikepacking because one main objective is keeping things simple. Big tires are easier to maintain and fix out in the middle of nowhere than sophisticated modern suspension. 

Ryan and I met up with two of his friends, Joe and Stephen, on a Saturday after the shop closed and headed out to the trail. We started in Kelly Canyon and rode out to Moody Creek, taking as many single track offshoot trails as we could on the way out. The fat bike was a kick! Modern mountain bike suspension absorbs and dampens bumps. The big tires of a fat bike absorb a little, but mostly bounce. I felt like I was riding two big bouncing balls down all of the trails! It was really fun. 

I wore a helmet but felt like an outlier. I was riding a new bike, plus it was a fat bike which I’ve never ridden, plus it was under load that I’m not used to… I’m pretty convinced I’m going to crash pretty spectacularly at least once on this ride. Turns out I didn’t! 

I wasn’t the first up the climbs (these guys were really strong!) but they eventually decided that I should go first on the downhills. At the bottom of one decent one of them told me he’d never seen anyone “shred on a fat bike like that”. Awesome! I will certainly take that compliment!

After we got to the campsite and had everything set up, Ryan pulled a couple of Tenkara fishing rods out of a tube strapped to his bike and a couple of the guys went fly fishing. We had it all! 

After a moderate night’s sleep we packed up and headed home. We didn’t take as many side trails on the way back as we had on the way out as a storm system was moving in. Right when we got to the cars the clouds opened up and started raining. Perfect timing!

I’ll certainly have to do this again someday soon! 

RRxCCC 2020

2020 Remote Ride for the Arthritis Foundation

This is the picture from the "finish line"! My last ride to reach 525 miles over a month for the Arthritis Foundation! 

2020 was my 8th year on the California Coast Classic, the 525 bike tour from San Francisco to Los Angeles and the biggest annual fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation. Despite our hopes of being able to have an in-person event down the coast on the planned dates of October 3 - October 10, COVID made getting all of the required local permits impossible. 

We changed the format to a remote event and called it the Remote Ride by California Coast Classic, or RRxCCC. The challenge was to continue to raise funds for the Arthritis Foundation and ride 525 miles with 28,000 feet of elevation gain during the month of October. My plan was to recreate over 8 days the mileage and climbing we would do each day on tour over popular local bike routes. 

I'm very proud to report that during my challenge month I rode 527 miles and climbed 32,100 feet! It took longer than I thought it would. The remote ride format was a lot harder than I thought it would be. A normal year on tour means that we're riding a supported route for 8 days in a row. Rest stops are set up, plenty of food and water is available, and when the day is done all I have to do is set up my tent. On a self-supported ride like this year, I have to carry all of my food. During a pandemic, most of the restroom stops and water stops I rely on have been locked down. 

Even with all of this year's complications, it was still fun! In my remote ride, I included Mount Diablo, Morgan Territory Road, the Oakland hills, Bear Creek Road, and a number of other popular local routes. Here's a quick memory video I made with all the pictures I took during my challenge:

The most noteworthy piece of my remote ride was a trip I took to Moab! I follow a professional mountain bike coach named Lee McCormack online and found out he offers a 3 day advanced mountain bike clinic in Moab Utah! He and a couple other coaches take a group of up to 10 out on some iconic trails in this mountain biking mecca and critique technique. And it wasn't cancelled for 2020!

I thought that 3 days of riding would rack up a bunch of miles for my challenge, but we didn't get much mileage overall. We spend a good part of the day doing drills and repeating various sections of trails to dial in our muscle memory as much as possible. The first two days were warm and beautiful on Slick Rock trail, and North Klondike Trail. Day 3 was The Whole Enchilada, a legendary mountain bike ride. We took a shuttle to the upper porcupine section. I figured it would be an easy ride downhill since we took a shuttle. Not so. This was the hardest day of mountain biking I've ever had. In addition to the trail being technical, it started raining about a third of the way down the mountain. Brakes were screaming and grinding, and eyewear was covered in mud and rain. I decided to take mine off which is very it was hard to see.  

Lee refers to his methods as "Kung Fu". All weekend we're learning simple fundamental principles to apply to complicated situations looking for flow. Once the rain kicked in, he said "no brakes, no vision, you have to flow". I was joking with him that he must have ordered the rain. Something fitting about a final kung fu lesson in the rain. 

Here are my pictures from that trip:

The remote ride for the Arthritis Foundation was, in context, a huge success. Many of the riders continued their efforts after we announced that the in-person event could not happen this year. By the time it was over, we raised almost $1M and crushed all our expectations for the curve ball this year threw at us. I ended up in the #1 spot as highest fundraiser having reached almost $35,000! My team raised almost $130,000 which brings our cumulative total since Jerry and I started the team back in 2015 to close to $1M. 

I'm so grateful for all of your support, in this year and in year's previous. I've been so amazed by the way everyone has adapted to the challenges this year has presented, and I'm honored to be a part of it. Thank you so much!

2019 California Coast Classic

2019 California Coast Classic (photo credit: Frank Shoemaker)

Day 0: Golden Gate Bridge
Super clear day today! Absolutely beautiful! Eight riders joined me on what has become my annual prelude ride over the Golden Gate Bridge.

We started from our hotel, the Hyatt Centric on Fisherman's Wharf, and rode up to Fort point. From there we went up and over the Golden Gate bridge to the vista point with the lone sailor and on up to the top of Hawk Hill. The descent into the Marin headlands was closed to bikes so unfortunately we couldn’t do the full regular loop this year. We went back down the way we came and returned to the hotel.
This year's crew was also interested in the quad-buster up Hyde Street to get to the top of Lombard Street. It's fun to ride down the world's most crooked street on a bike! 18 miles with 1400 feet of elevation by the time we were done.

Day 1 San Francisco to Santa Cruz.
Slept like crap last night. I went to bed at 11:30 and woke up almost every hour on the hour. I slept pretty well from 230 and 530 before calling it quits and getting up. This is how it usually goes for me the night before tour. If the past is any indication I’ll probably go to sleep around 8:00 tonight and wake up about 4:30 tomorrow morning.

After a good breakfast at Boudin Bread Company we had a group picture and headed down the coast. It’s slow going through San Francisco but as soon as we get out on Highway 1 we’re able to open it up a bit. First rest stop is Mussel Rock Beach. I spent a little more time at this rest stop that I needed to but hey I’ve got to see my friends!

Pigeon Point Lighthouse means we're getting close to rest stop 3 and that the day is almost done!.

Super clear skies today. Many people who’ve been here a lot said that they’ve never seen it this clear. Today I felt quick and strong. I feel like I shot up quite a few of the hills faster than usual which always feels good. I finished the ride around 3:15 and then went about setting up camp and getting cleaned up. Early bed time for sure tonight. 84 miles, 4900 ft elevation gain today
Tonight’s honoree was Daniel Garcia. Danny lives in San Gabriel. He was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis a long time ago. He has recently finished art school. Danny really wanted to be a filmmaker but found that his disease prevented him from being able to produce as much as was expected of him on set. He started to give up and lose hope but then found us on the ride last year. He took the opportunity to shoot a promotional video. He was inspired by our efforts that he started trying his hand at film making again. He has started working on his own towards his goals renewed. Good work Danny!

CCC Day 2: Santa Cruz to Monterey

Today was team jersey day which means that we all got to wear our new "Surfing Carter" jerseys and roll out as a group! It’s always fun to see a jersey design you’ve worked so hard on show up on the backs of a whole group of your friends. We rolled out of camp and made our way to Norma Jean's coffee shop in Aptos.

This shop is the stuff of legend. They serve absolutely amazing food and to support us they comped all the riders drinks that this morning. James and I split a cinnamon roll that was absolutely incredible.
We continued on. The day was unusually clear again just like yesterday. We eventually landed in the artichoke capital of the world. We have a rest up set up next to a food truck known as the Choke Coach. They have the best fried artichokes I’ve ever had in my life. I look forward to the Choke Coach every year I do the ride.
As soon as we left that rest stop a marine layer of fog started rolling in. Most of us dropped our windbreaker jackets with the trucks at the last rest stop and we were getting concerned. Here’s hoping! If I keep my energy up I should be able to stay warm enough without much hassle.

Got to touch the ocean on Day 2 this year! Each year now I'm trying to touch the ocean more than the previous year and I don't think I ever have as early as Day 2. When we got to the bike path coming into Montery on the beach, James and I took off our bike shoes and waded out into the Pacific Ocean. This feels great! And fortunately, the marine layer didn’t turn out to be so bad.

Coming in to camp there is a really big climb line over the course of about a mile. This descent is one of my favorite parts of the ride but in the morning there’s too much other bike traffic to really open it up. So I took the opportunity to ride down the hill and of course had to turn around and ride right back up the 1 mile climb. It was well worth it! 54 miles, 2700 ft elevation gain today.
Tonight's honoree is Claire Charlie. She is eight years old and lives in Pleasant Hill! What are the chances? I had the honor of introducing her to camp this year and gave a little speech at the beginning about fundraising. It went really well and I got a lot of great feedback from other riders all week long.


CCC Day 3: Monterey to Big Sur
After breakfast we’re all rolled out toward Big Sur but I went a little bit off route to meet up with a friend at his place for coffee. We sat and talked for a good hour and then I left to catch back up with the group.

As I get back on route I’m riding down one of my favorite sections when I notice that there’s not a turn sign on an intersection that I know I’m supposed to turn on. Oh crap! They’re taking down the signs! I didn’t think I was going to be the last one on route so I didn’t think to tell anybody to wait for me! I know that my friend John tends to be the last person and the crew knows not to clip signs until he passes through. I was relieved to catch up to John about two more miles down the road. I know the route well so I'm not concerned about getting lost, I just don't want to be behind the last van in case something bad happens. It's never good to be outside of the area that staff is checking. But once I caught up to John everything was find. Smooth sailing from there on out.

Another day touching the ocean at our second rest stop coming out of Monterey!

Today's ride is short and I felt really speedy today. End of the route is in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park But the unofficial route ends at the River Inn. My route today was a little different because I wanted some bonus miles. I checked in at the River Inn, grabbed some snacks, filled up my water bottles and continued on my way. People were confused as to why I wasn’t going into the river for a beer. That will come later.
I rode the few remaining miles up to camp and continued up the road looking for Julia Pfeiffer Beach. I didn’t find it but I got in another 3 miles of climbing to the summit. Still looking for the beach, I then rode down the hill  to a store called Phoenix.

There I said on the balcony and looked out over to the view. The low fog layer made it look as though we were above the clouds. Then I rode back the way I came past camp and back to the River Inn. 47 miles, 2800 ft elevation today, plus 8 bonus miles and another 1000 feet of elevation.

I had a wonderful lunch back at the River Inn and joined some friends in the river on Adirondack chairs sipping some great local brews. Lots of fun! Tonight I was able to sleep in an actual bed since Mom had a spare room in her hotel suite. Mom is volunteering this year from start through Cambria and is having a blast! I grabbed what I needed for the night and for the next day and headed off to sleep. Tomorrow promises to be a big day. Looking forward to it!


CCC Day 4: Big Sur to Cambria
Today started early. I woke up early, packed up and headed down to the lodge for breakfast. I rode out a little bit earlier than usual today. I started out strong but then at the first rest stop I had a milk based protein drink. That didn't sit well, so I ended up hanging out at rest stop 2 for a while letting everything reset and drinking lots of water.

After that everything was great. I decided to go back over the two big climbs of the day, effectively tripling the “twin sisters" and adding another 16 miles to an already long day but it was worth every mile.

Rode strong but worn out at the end of the day. By the numbers: 92.14 miles and 7,860 feet of elevation (including the bonus miles). Job well done!

CCC Day 5: Cambria to Oceano
Today’s an easy day. It’s pretty flat and there’s usually a breeze at our backs. I look forward to getting into camp and going for a swim in the ocean with a group of friends. Today is the best day to do that. Every year I manage to rope in a few more reluctant souls to come jump in and body surf with us. It's great fund and feels so good on your legs. 53.89 miles with 1,935 feet of elevation.

Over the last couple of years the top fundraisers hold a contest between ourselves for a seat at a special dinner tonight. The six of us the raise the most money over a given period of time are treated to wait service by those who lost. Dinner itself was wonderful but as soon as the sun came down the mosquitoes came out. This kept tonight rather short and we went to bed earlier than usual.

CCC Day 6: Oceano to Buellton
Today is usually a hot day. We go through Guadalupe which is filled with farmland. The road is usually muddy and it is generally the least scenic day but there’s something about wine country in the Santa Barbara area it’s really pretty.

It usually gets pretty hot in the afternoon through here. Today is a good day to leave early and go as fast as you can. However, today is also the day with the rest stop at Zaca Mesa vineyard with the over sized chess pieces in the courtyard. James and I have to have time to squeeze in our annual chess game.

James wins most of the time but this year the victory went to me! James has to duck out early on tour this year so today represents the last day he’ll be riding with us. Great work James! It’s been fun riding with you! Enjoy your wedding in Utah!
We get in the camp and we finally get to see Lily. Lily is about 12 and lives in Ventura area and looks forward to seeing “her riders“ every year. She said she looks forward to this more than Christmas. At school when other kids talk about their favorite sports teams she brags about us and says the no football or basketball team could ride 525 miles down the coast like her riders do. Lily gives the best hugs! 69.94 miles over 3,697 feet of elevation.

At program tonight we met at a young woman who has been battling arthritis for many years since she was a kid. Fortunately she’s in remission now. Remission is the holy grail for people with auto immune disorders. Unfortunately it's very mysterious.
Mark, my father-in-law, stopped by to say hi in camp. He lives just a few miles away. He offered to let me crash with him at his house but I decided to treat myself to a massage and 9:00 was the only availability I could find. That’s way past Mark's bedtime!

Day 7: Buellton to Ventura
Today is the second of our super long days. Over 85 miles. I didn’t wake up as early as I’d like to and left almost an hour after a lot of the other people did. I finally managed to sleep in and they were offering omelettes for breakfast. I figured since I wasn’t going to stop at a nice restaurant for lunch I could at least treat myself to a nice breakfast in the morning. I was probably one of the last five riders out of camp but catching people of a long ride today is nice. I run into people I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to ride with and an able to offer a little insight for people who might be struggling either mechanically or emotionally.

I found the wheel of a really strong rider named Steve who I was able to draft behind for a good stretch of the day. Once you get up around 18 miles an hour drafting makes a really big difference on a bicycle.

I caught Jerry on the last rest stop and rode in the last 15-ish miles with him and Don Wood. We stopped at the pier immediately before camp and got fish tacos. They were delicious! We got into camp just passed four just in time to meet our teammate Jaime, Jaime wasn’t able to ride this year but provided his craft beer from his brewery Alosta for our happy hour.

After a couple of beers and maybe a margarita or two I squeeze in a shower just before program starts honoring our awesome volunteers this week. Right after program dinner is served so I took the opportunity to run down to the beach and touch the water again for the fourth time this week. While walking in the water I made a quick Facebook live video to share my progress with whoever was watching. I wrap this up just as the sun was going down and headed back for dinner.

After dinner I got hung up talking to a bunch of friends when one of the volunteers told me to go grab my helmet that I had left on the table. This reminded me that I had not yet set up camp! I went to find my gear only to learn that the logistics crew had put it in the truck to keep it safe assuming I had accommodations elsewhere. They graciously let me in the truck to pull all my stuff and I had to set up my camp in the dark, not entirely sober. I threw my tent together really quickly, tossed my bags in the tent, and went back to meet up with my friends on our last night of the tour. I’ll worry about setting up my sleeping situation later.
87.54 miles over 3,554 feet of elevation.

CCC Day 8: Ventura to Los Angeles
Rolling out today was a little slow but that’s fine. It’s a quick 50 miles to the finish line. I rode in pretty quick today and caught up with a bunch of people. Felt strong and ate well at the rest stops.

Even though today is an easy day it has my least favorite section of the whole tour. Malibu. Malibu has a stretch of highway 1 that’s really stressful. There lots of cars passing on the left and more cars parked on the right. It always makes me nervous and I leave my bell in ring mode the whole time. I’m passing out fairy wings like it’s going out of style.
To make matters worse a rain storm comes out of nowhere right as I’m coming into Malibu and there’s a downpour for a good hour as we get into our unofficial finish line at Gladstones. Fortunately Gladstones had umbrellas which protected us from most of it. The storm blew over before we gathered for our final roll into the finish line. 56.69 miles with 1,913 feet of elevation.

Riding into finish is a really great experience because they group us by number of years that we have ridden on tour. First years are at the front and those of us that have done it a lot are in the back.
As we are coming into the finish line I learned that while I had enjoyed most of the tour as the top fundraiser, I had been passed up in the last couple of days by the reigning champion. I had a feeling that was going to happen.

Carter joined us at the finish line and was very happy to see us! He stood with us while our team was recognized as the highest fundraising team for the 5th consecutive year. We've taken this prize every year since we formed!

Very proud of my god-father, Robert Figari, who joined us on tour as a rider this year. Great work Uncle Bob!

Adrienne is impressive. She has quite a network behind her. I remember when I came back to the tour in 2014 wondering how in the world she could raise as much money as she does. 8 years later here I am challenging her for her title! I'm extremely grateful for the generosity of all of my donors. The honor is truly mine!

Thank you all so much for your support of me and the Arthritis Foundation over the years! Together we are making a huge impact on many lives.