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!
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