2016 California Coast Classic

Thanks for checking out my diary of my experience on the 2016 California Coast Classic in support of the Arthritis Foundation. 2016 was my 4th tour (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016) and it was the most challenging for me. In prior years I feel I over-trained, so this year I decided to try it the other way. I limited my training to shorter rides with more elevation. It worked, but it was harder. I also pushed myself harder on tour this year than I ever have (see Day 4 below) and I had a hard time getting into my recovery routine. Protein and comprehensive stretching at the end of the day didn't really kick into full force until around Day 5.
But I'm happy to report a crash free tour for your's truly!
If your interested in learning about my goals and efforts for 2017, I'm doing a lot more behind the scenes this year in various leadership roles. It's been very exciting! You can read more about them here:
2017 California Coast Classic: http://ccc17.kintera.org/kyle
2017 Arthritis Bike Classic - Marin: http://arthritisbikeclassicmarin.kintera.org/kyle
Thank you for your support!


Day 0: Registration
Some ask me what my favorite day of the ride is. Lately it's been Day 0! I get to see all the people I've missed over the last year and excitement for the upcoming week is at peak!

I also host a few people on a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge if they are interested. This year there was a number of people that rolled out ahead of us. I had 2 other riders go with me: Derek (who came with me last year) and James, my main wingman on the tour who had to work during this particular day last year. We went out and hit some vistas, went up to Hawk Hill and rode down and around the Marin Headlands. It was a blast!
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Here we are at the top of Hawk Hill! I'm going to go out earlier next year so I can ride with more people.

I found a pocket tripod that folds up into the size of a credit card, so I grabbed it for this trip. Here's one of the first ones I used it for. Gotta have one with the Golden Gate!


Day 1: San Francisco to Santa Cruz
This was the warmest roll out I've ever been a part of on this tour! We met at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pier 39 for breakfast and a little bit of a rally. Afterward, we all huddle around for a group shot!

Here's all ~220 of us.

I've never had it this warm on Day 1 of the tour before. I was counting on having to wear by new jacket the whole day. I didn't need it, that's for sure! 

Here, me, Robert, Sabrina, Jerry and Liz stop for a picture on the vista point by Devil's Slide, just south of San Francisco.

Just after Devil's slide is this really cool old lookout. I've passed it millions of time but never got close. One of my goals this year was to stop at a few key places I haven't been been to before despite living in the state for most of my life.

The scene coming into Pacifica is always very pretty.

Here's the lighthouse out by Pescadero. You can travel down this street and go check it out. It's really cool! This is about the time in the day where I'm ready to be done with my bike. 60 miles done. 25 more to go today.


Day 2: Santa Cruz to Monterey

We stayed at a different spot this year. It worked out very well! It is a shuttered school in Santa Cruz, but the city cleaned it up nice for us.

Sometimes I find I pack maybe a little more than I absolutely need. It's hard to carry all this stuff in one trip in these ridiculous cycling shoes!

Our first rest stop of the day is about 20 miles out. A few miles away from it I met a local rider on his weekend training ride. We talked as we rode and I told him about the tour. He asks me if we stop out on the lookout for the La Selva Beach surf check. I have no idea what he's talking about. He smiles and tells me to follow him. 

He leads me out to this gorgeous cliff where you can see the beach below for MILES! We've got to add this stop next year. It was incredible! 

  

One thing about Day 2 is that you can see the day's destination for most of the day. Santa Cruz is at the north end of the bay and Monterey is at the south end.

Passing through the dunes on Fort Ord State Park is always a welcome site.

I passed this motorcycle and had to turn around to get a picture of it. That sticker on the windshield is the logo for the Avengers, and the sticker on the side fender says "Stark Industries". Fun Iron Man reference. Awesome!


 Day 3: Monterey to Big Sur

Day 3 has been really special for me the last 2 years. As a founding member of Team Carter,  I took it upon myself to design and facilitate distribution of our team jerseys. Day 3 is team day, where if you are on a team it's encouraged to wear that jersey. It's a short day so it's a good one to ride with your team. Teams are just a fun way to group you with some other people and help you fund raise, so skill varies widely within team groups.



This is the day I get to see all of my team members in the jersey I designed. It's a really special moment for me, especially in 2015 (our first year). This year was even better because the pressure was off.

I'm still very proud of this jersey. Some people say it's too bright, but bright gets attention, and attention means safety for my riders and draw to our cause!

I grabbed these pictures from the back of the pack. Probably not the safest thing to do, but worth it!

I tried to help my buddy with his rear derailleur. I'm not sure if I helped or made it worse!

This is one of the views from the edge of Pebble Beach


Many people don't know, but pickle juice works wonders for cramps. When you're riding all day over 8 days on a bike you need to stay ahead of cramps!

Here, I'm introducing a few newbies to the wonders of pickle juice shots! They keep dixie cups out for us and save the juice from the pickle jars for when I come around! It's pretty intense at first, which it why it's best taken like a shot.


After we come out of Monterey, the big climb up up over the Bixby Bridge and the southbound peak awaits us! This section can be intimidating to a new rider, but it's not nearly as steep as it looks.


Gotta get a team picture in front of the famous Bixby Bridge!

Here I am on the climb coming up that southern stretch. Once you get in the rhythm it's not bad. Use your gears!

As I was climbing up, I started to pass our team captain, Jerry. Jerry is Carter's grandfather and he and I started the team together back in late 2014. He's a very proud man and doesn't like getting help. So, of course, when I started to pass him on this climb, I offered some! 

Here's a picture of me very generously pushing Jerry up the hill with one hand and him swatting away my help. I was laughing so hard I almost fell over! 

Victory! There's a turnout at the top of this grade and it always feels great to have that climb behind you.

It's a pretty easy ride into Big Sur from this point. The views continue to be stunning.

The terrain around Big Sur is my favorite of the entire tour.

Day 4: Big Sur to Cambria 

This is my favorite day! The winding section between Big Sur and Ragged Point provide the most challenging climbs, the fastest descents, and the most epic views! I didn't take as many pictures today as I was hoping I would.

I did, however, take a slight detour to check out a section of Julia Pfifer State Park. The McWay Falls and McWay Beach are really beautiful in the morning.

This is a long day in the saddle, particularly after backtracking and doing hill repeats on the biggest climbs of the whole tour just for fun-sies! 

This was the first year I felt compelled to do a repeat of "The Sisters". This would usually be a 70 mile day with about 6,000 of climbing. On paper it's the hardest day, but with the terrain, most of us serious cyclist consider it our favorite ride day. There's a big climbing section affectionately referred to as the "Twin Sisters" or the "Twin Bitches". It's two fairly big climbs back to back. The two of them together are about 1000 elevation gain over about 7 miles, with a 2 mile decent in the middle. So really it's about 1000 feet over 5 miles. Comparable to the climb up to the summit of Diablo from the Ranger Junction. Almost all of the riders do this section once. Some of the meat-heads go back 10 miles and do the whole thing again, effectively climbing the Sisters 3 times. A couple even go back for more and come out with 5 times in the end. I just wanted to do the one repeat, for 3 effective times. I had never done it before and I can't really explain why I wanted to this time. I think I wanted to feel even more connected to the experience. I was thinking about those people we ride for. This was going to hurt for sure, but for me when I hurt I lay down and go to sleep and feel better. The pain goes away for me. For people with arthritis, the pain never really goes away. This was for them. 

At the rest stop at the end of the first climb I asked around for someone who was interested in going with me. Safety in numbers, even small numbers. Israel was interested and we set out.

We took this victory shot having made it back to the undisputed "Repeat Marker". Thanks Israel! Great job! Great wingman!

Coming into San Simeon and seeing this lighthouse in the distance is always a welcome sight on Day 4. Almost to camp! 

Day 5: Cambria to Oceano

Today is only about 54 miles. Nice to have a break after a big day like yesterday. Now that James has had a few days of cranking hard at the front of the pack, he's a little spent and rides more with me. HAHA!

As silly as it sounds, in the four years I've done this ride I've only actually gotten into the ocean once before this day. Isn't that silly? So many opportunities. I made time today to go to the beach. On the way out I flagged a few friends over with me.

James (of course) and my friend Gavin from the UK were the brave souls that joined me. The water was COOOLD but it felt so good!


Day 6: Oceano to Buelton

I think this day is my least favorite day. We spend most of the day going through farmland and the road is jacked up from all of the heavy truck traffic. There's usually a lot of mud in the road too from all the irrigation. And it's one of our longer days coming in at 70 miles. The Santa Ynez Valley can get really hot in the afternoon this time of year, so it's best to blast through this day as quick as you can.
This particular morning was really foggy, which helped a bit.

Before James was my cycling buddy he was my chess buddy. My first year on the tour (before he started riding) I found this chess set at Zaca Mesa winery and I knew someday I would have to play with him here! 2015 was his first year on the tour and the first game we played. This game below is our second on this board (our first was last year when he was a CCC rookie!), and the first time he's beaten me in quite a while! My strategy recently has been to get a couple of drinks in him before we play. I didn't have anything with me this time. 

This game was really aggressive and bloody. We don't usually trade pieces as early and as often as we did in this game. He ultimately took it down. Good game James!

I grabbed this one of him on one of the peaks in the SYV. I really like this one!

Here's a selfie that our teammate Jorge grabbed of us at a rest stop. Team Carter!

Day 7: Buelton to Ventura

This is a LOOONG day at 87.7 miles. Especially this late in the week. I don't think I grabbed any pictures today. This is one that another rider took around our rest stop in Santa Barbara. While it's a long day, it is really pretty. Southern California beaches almost all day. This time of year, the beach is really clear.

But you've got to keep moving this day as it is a long one. I have a habit I can't seem to break of waiting for my friends at the rest stops or sitting down at some awesome restaurant in Santa Barbara. Then I'm really pressed for time getting into camp.
As we get closer to Ventura there's a long stretch near the ocean where motor homes set up shop for the night. On sections like this it's nice to have someone like James to ride with while we take turns blocking the wind for each other.
Tonight get in right as the resfreshments are closing up. We've splurged for a hotel tonight, our last night on the tour. It's a good decision!


Day 8: Ventura to Los Angeles

Last day! Today is a little over 55 miles, and with a tailwind on relatively flat land it goes fast! Right out of Ventura there's a really cool outdoor air museum.

Gotta grab a picture by the F-14!

There's something memorable about this rock... A lot of riders always feel compelled to grab a picture by this rock. Here Jessica steps in for a picture with me and James. The three of us had a blast on this section. On some parts I was laughing so hard I was tearing up and had trouble seeing!

The unofficial meetup is Gladstones in Santa Monica. They have a lot of great beers on tap. It's hard to keep it to one, but safety first! And the calamari... oh man! 

After Gladstones we roll another mile to the field by Pacific Palisades 

We gather up here with a few refreshments waiting for all the riders to come in, then we have a big parade finish down the street to where our friends and family have gathered to receive us. The sea of riders going in is really quite impressive! This year they had the great idea of lining us up by How many rides we've done. First year riders got to go in front as they experienced this very powerful moment for themselves. I'm a 4th year rider, so I was toward the back. Of the ~230 riders we had this year, only about 45 have done this ride more times than I have.

Finish line! Fourth California Coast Classic in the bag!

Vengeance is MINE! Tierra Bella 2016

In 2008 I attempted my very first century (100 mile) bike ride. It was the Tierra Bella in Gilroy. The Tierra Bella is put on by the local cycling club there and had been a staple in the area for about 30 years. That year it was on April 19th, just 4 days after our big deadline at work. I ended up camping at the top of Henry Coe park the night before to get an early start and did not sleep well during the cold night at fairly high elevation. During the ride I "bonked" out around mile 60, meaning I pretty much ran out of gas. After a bit of a break at the top of the ride's big climb up Henry Coe, I rode back down the mountain and through to the finish line, but I cut out a 20 mile loop around the Gilroy Hot Springs.

I've always had a chip on my shoulder about not finishing this ride. So far, it's the only one that's beaten me. I started riding seriously in 2014 and have checked on the Tierra Bella every year to see if it was reasonable for me to attempt again. One year it was on April 12th. That's not happening. This year it was on April 30th. This was the best shot I was going to get to beat this ride. In February I registered for it and booked a local hotel room the night before so I would be as fresh as possible.

THe course opened at 7:00 am and I wanted to be starting at 6:45. I ended up starting at about 7:45 because the trip from my hotel room to the start line was a comedy of errors. I locked my key in the hotel room as I was leaving with one bag still left in there, decided I needed to stop at a store and buy a couple of things I don’t think I ended up even using, and missed my exit from the freeway to the starting line going about 10 miles out of the way. Then when I got I have all my repacking and pre-ride rituals that have to happen before I can even clip in and roll out. SMH. 

I was with the main group for the first half but got started falling behind up the climb to Henry Coe at mile 50. When I climb Mt. Diablo I can usually do it with just stopping once at the Junction campground for water, but I had to stop 3 times on the way up to Henry Coe. I forgot how steep it is. You're basically on the ridge line, so there are descents mixed in with the steep climb. I took a little longer break up there at the top than I wanted to. I felt tired, but strong. After a cup of ramen noodles and some other snacks I headed back down the mountain. 

After the decent down Henry Coe there is an ~8 mile flat section leading north and there was a nasty headwind. On mile ~70 this woman on an aero bike passed me on this stretch. I hopped on her wheel to draft her for a bit. I didn’t even bother offering help pull her at that point as she clearly had more legs than I did and I would have been way to slow for her. She pulled me for about 6 miles before I couldn't keep up with her anymore. 

During the final loops on mile ~80, I started noticing that the people riding my pace were starting to get rides in from the support and gear (SAG) vehicles. SAGs start rolling up on me fairly regularly now asking if I need anything or want a ride. No thank you! I gotta do this! I don’t care if I miss the meal at the end. I gotta do this. If you need to close the course you can have my wristband! 

Mile ~86 I came to an intersection with no route markers. This is never a good sign. I pulled over to check the route guide sheet and this guy in a truck rolls up with a bike in the bed. “You lost?” No. I’m good. “You’re on the Tierra Bella today?” Yeah. “Bad news, brother: you’ve got 8 miles of headwind that way” No, I already did that part. I’m on mile 86 headed back to Gavilan College. “Oh, then you missed Llagas. About a mile back you shoulda turned on Llagas.” *checks route* You’re right! Thanks man!

Tailwinds and adrenaline launched me past a few worn souls on the last 10 miles. The final tally was 104.8 miles, 6,643 ft elevation, 8:23:03 moving time, 10:56:11 total elapsed time. I got in about 20 minutes after they stopped serving dinner. Not bad for what amounts to about 5 training rides since the end of tax season. If there was an official finish line it was taken down by this point. I took a hobo bath in the men’s room at the sink and rode over to my truck, stretched, had a protein shake and changed right there in the empty parking lot.  

As I drove home I’m pretty sure I flipped the bird to the course. Vengeance is now MINE!!! I won’t have to do the Tierra Bella ever again!

2015 California Coast Classic - 9-26-2015 to 10-3-2015

Day 0 - Registration and the Golden Gate Bridge

Eager to meet up with so many friends that I haven't seen in a year, I left for registration after dropping off Andrew at school. He helped me pack ;-)
I had gear for myself, two friends, and a box and a duffle full of Team Carter apparel I'm hoping to distribute soon.
I got to go into the registration area early because Amy Robertson challenged me to a chocolate chip cookie throw-down! To our knowledge we are the only ones who sell cookies as a fundraising tactic. Since we're both cyclists and inherently competitive, we naturally had to figure out whose were better... I manned the booth for a couple of hours at the start.

It was an anonymous contest, but between you and me, mine were in the blue plate on the left, hers in the green plate on the right. She used a little more granulated sugar and salt than I do. It was funny how seriously participants too their judging responsibilities! The polls were pretty even at the end so Amy and I called a tie after each proposing that the other should be the winner!

After manning the station for a while I geared up to lead a late afternoon ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. I ended up taking about 10 riders with me. Here's 6 of us that opted to go out to Fort Pointe before we crossed. Some continued up over to Hawk Hill and down and around the headlands with me. It was a very pretty ride. About 22 miles by the time all was said and done.

Some people like to cross the GG Bridge and do this ride in the morning to avoid the winds. Since the fog doesn't usually clear out until the afternoon I like to go late and just deal with the wind.

And here is where my first of two crashes on this tour comes into play: heading back as we were just about to cross the bridge again to get back, I was shuffling to get out of traffic. There was a drainage grate that I didn't anticipate and it didn't have the horizontal safety bars. My front wheel went right in at slow speed and my bike dump trucked me over the handlebars! Didn't flip or anything but I smashed my finger and my elbow pretty good. My front wheel wouldn't spin either. I though I had damaged it but once I calmed down I reseated the quick-release and everything was fine!

On the way back I had one more thing to show those interested: Lombard Street! I had never ridden down it before and was excited to do so. I took them up Hyde Street, a wicked climb that was easily the hardest segment of the whole tour! 25%  grade at one point! It was all in good fun though and the ride down Lombard was awesome!

Day 1 - San Francisco to Santa Cruz
Today's morning honoree was Christiana Powery. Christiana was 10 years old when she died of complications stemming from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDMS). Both are auto-immune disorders and are forms of arthritis. Check out here story here: www.alsotouch.com.
This is why we ride. In today's modern day and age no child should ever have to suffer like this. "Athritis" is an umbrella term for muscular-skeletal joint and connective tissue inflamation disorders that covers over 100 types of diseases and ailments, and they are all related. There are 300,000 kids like Christiana and Carter in the US; more than all the kids with juvenile diabetes, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy combined. Yet very few people I talk to know about this. Why? Let's do something about it!

After celebrating Christiana, all 300 of us gathered for a picture and headed out for Santa Cruz! My whole family was there and got so see me off. They surprised me with signs made the day before.
This was a longer day at 85 miles, but very scenic. Too scenic, apparently, to stop and take any pictures! Sorry about that...

Day 2 - Santa Cruz to Monterey
This is a shorter day as we just have to go around the bay. It's about 50 miles from Santa Cruz to Monterey so I tend to be one of the last ones out of camp on this day. There's usually something that happens that makes it worth it. This time it was one of the riders son's dancing to the complete song of Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).
This is the only picture I can find of this day this year. I'm sure I'll get more soon. There were about 15 of us on the tour that raised over $7500. If you raise at least that amount they call you one of the "High Roller$" and give you a special high fundraiser cycling jersey. This was my first year as a High Roller thanks to your generous donations! By the end of the tour, my final fundraising total was just over $20,200 making me the 4th highest fundraiser on the tour!

Day 3 - Monterey to Big Sur

Today was Team Jersey day! This was the first year for Team Carter. That's me on the far left. The bald guy (he actually just has super short hair) a knights move up and over to the right (next to the guy in the American Flag bandana) is Jerry Davis. I met Jerry on the 2014 ride. He got involved because his grandson Carter was diagnosed with a painful form of arthritis when he was 3. Jerry and I became friends on the 2014 ride and decided we should form a team for Carter for 2015. After all, my boys are Carter's age. It could easily be them. I spent a ton of time designing our jerseys and kits and working out logistics with Jerry this year, and this was the moment it pretty much all paid off! We had about 40 riders with us this year and there's only about 24 riders here. Some people in the hotels didn't get the memo or decided not to come in for picture time. 2015 was the team's first year; we're going to beef up communication for 2016...

This is the day we cross the famous Bixby Bridge, which always lends itself to some great photo-ops! Here's me, my buddy James Smith from high school that I recruited this year, and our teammate Megan Bent reppin' Team Carter!

Then once you get to the top of that big climb you of course have to take another one...

 Little did I know that this picture at the top of the Bixby Bridge would be the last one taken of this helmet intact and my bike in this particular configuration....

Which leads me to my second wreck of the tour! Well, that's debatable because since the first one was on Day 0 it was technically before the tour and therefore doesn't count. So, there's a wonderful descent down and around after this climb, followed by another bit of a climb out of a little bay and then a descent into a little meadow area. It was on this meadow, this false flat down, that James and I were sprinting away and having a grand ol' time, when all of a sudden my sprint pressure hits what must have been a damaged tooth on my front chain ring (big gear) and my chain fell off completely. This change from full sprint pressure resistance to absolutely no resistance forced my weight forward and to the right at a catastrophic rate. During the weight shift, I turned my handlebars completely to the right, stopping the bike almost instantly and flipping me over the handlebars at somewhere between 25 and 30 mph. I launched off my bike and twisted in the air somehow, landing on my upper back and skidding for a while before my head hit the ground and blew out my helmet. After a couple of tumbles I stopped, shook it off, and pulled myself off the road. James was a little in front of me when all this happened and circled back to help me clear my stuff off of Highway 1.
Cars stopped and asked if everything was OK. Somehow, it was. We had our phones and the numbers for support. We waived traffic on and got our bearings. In about 5-10 minutes a support van had come and taken my bike to camp (we were only about 5 miles away at this point) and Jett, the one in charge of Iconic (our logistical support) had come by in a car to take me to the local clinic to make sure I didn't have a concussion. Somehow I escaped all of this nonsense with only an abrasion on my left knee and shoulder. My gear, not so lucky. My rear derailleur did it's job perfectly and snapped clean in half, my seat had a big gouge in in, my rear wheel bent like a potato chip, and of course my helmet is done for.
This is why you always, always, ALWAYS wear a helmet, kids.

So now that I'm back in camp I go see the mechanics. They say my bike is toast for another day and a half until we get parts and that I'm in the cars tomorrow. No! Come on man! The doctor said I could ride! I wanna ride! PUT ME IN COACH!!! Big Sur to Cambria is my favorite day! I can't miss tomorrow...

Day 4 - Big Sur to Cambria
Somehow the AMAZING mechanics on this ride arranged a switcheroo and my trusty steed for the day would be a 1979 Raleigh complete with tension shifters on the downtube! Have I ever ridden with tension shifters before? Of course not! Is that going to stop me? Of course not! And I got a loaner helmet from my teammate Tyson who couldn't ride today. I'm all set! I just have one last score to settle regarding the crash...

One thing I'm not interested in doing on this ride is having a car carry me. I'm an EFI rider baby! EFI stands for Every Fantastic Inch (or another F word of your chosing...). I have the issue of the car ride I got yesterday from the crash site to the health clinic and then back to camp. I have to ride every inch of this tour. I'm not going to let this little wreck stop me. Instead of turning south to go the rest of the route, I head north. I want to get back to that crash site to fully connect the dots on this tour. For some reason, my GPS tracker started the day at 5 miles, so when I looked down a while later and noted that I was at mile 7, I thought I may have passed it. James and the Jett both said it was about 5 miles out. I continued another mile or two and, not recognizing anything, and decided that I must have passed it. I don't mind adding 15 miles to today after a big crash, but I don't want to add 20. When I got back home I checked, and sure enough, I was .8 miles from the crash site!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! So disappointing...

The top image is the end of my route from Day 3 and the bottom image shows how far back I went on Day 4. Almost there! Oh well. Since I did have to double that mileage since I rode back to it, I'm going to give it to myself... LOL
Tuesday is easily my favorite day on this tour. This section of Highway 1 is second to none.
Here's my faithful steel loaner steed. This beast will carry me all of today and half of tomorrow.

And here's me grabbing a quick donut on the way back from my little detour. Donuts are kind of a running gag with my team. The "ultimate" riding food! Or something...

This is our biggest climbing day of the tour, which carries with it the best descents! What? You think this helmet is too small? Nonsense...

Day 5: Cambria to Oceano
Today we have a rest stop very close to the Brown Butter Cookie Company in Cayucos! Last year I promised them I would wear my Cookie Monster jersey there when I cam back. I gave Tyson his helmet back and borrowed one of Pete's extra helmets for the rest of the day. Here I am getting ready to leave Cambria! I'm excited because I get my bike back today at the rest stop at Wally's Bicycle Works in San Luis Obispo!

Here's Jerry and me at Wally's in SLO. A year's worth of hard work for Team Carter paying off!

Serious helmet hair here. You can get a good shot of my "beer-view-mirror" too! It's a little mirror housed in a beer bottle cap (I chose Widmer Heff) and mounted to your sunglasses with a bent bike spoke.
Wally and his family make homemade tomales for us every year! They are awesome! The mechanics said they could file the problem tooth on my big gear down for me, but I said I wanted a new ring. Wally said he didn't have any rings of that size in stock. Then he looked around, said "but that bike does!", and pulled it off a bike he had for sale right then and there! That kind of service is WAY above and beyond in my opinion.

AND I GOT MY BIKE BACK! Albeit with a loaner rear wheel and spending some money at Wally's to get it back up to par.
Getting into Oceano was relatively uneventful. The camp here is great. Right on the beach! Today's honoree was Andrew Poole. He, like Carter, was diagnosed at the age of 3 with JA and uveitis, a from of arthritis that is the leading cause of blindness in children. Arthritis robbed Andrew of being able to play basketball, his first passion, as a freshman in high school, but he's taken up a slew of other sports in it's stead! Including mountain biking (my first love)! He wants to join us on the tour as soon as he's 18.
He was telling us about a wreck he had riding his bike home from the shop. And he WASN'T wearing his helmet at the time! I had to bust him up for that one... That picture of my busted helmet above was actually taken today when I pulled it out to make a point. I think the point was made.

Day 6 - Oceano to Buellton
Today is a hot one, so I like to motor on this day. Rain on the farm backroads left them quite wet and muddy. This morning felt kinda like a cyclocross event.
One of our rest stops is at Zaca Mesa winery. My first year here I thought about how awesome it would be to have my chess buddy James with me, and sent him a picture asking "which hand?"

But this year he was here! So we got to play!

The Santa Ynez valley is really pretty. My wife was raised here. My friend John Dlugolecki took this picture of this cool tree.

Camp was at the Flying Flags RV campground in Buellton. It's a really great camp. Safe and sound after a long ride reppin' my college alma mater UW-Milwaukee on college jersey theme day!

This evening's youth honoree is Lillian (Lily) Hicks. Lily is a little firecracker! Her energy is amazing and the days she gets to spend with us on the tour are her favorite days of the year, including Christmas and birthdays! "Her riders" are her favorite people in the world! She talks about us year-round. I spent more time with Lily in 2014 than I did this year. She took a liking to me last year but grew out of it this year hahaha!

These two pics above are from 2014, taken and processed by the great Kevin Schley! Lily has been "adopted" by team Also Touch as Ross is and always has been her favorite rider. This year Also Touch updated their jerseys and had an additional one made for Lily! She was sooo proud! That's her in the middle.

Well done, Lily! That jersey looks awesome on you!

Day 7 - Buellton to Ventura
This is a LOONG day! At just shy of 90 miles it's the longest day we have on the tour, but at this stage in the game we're feeling pretty good and pretty strong. I rode with James all day today. Riding with someone strong like James is wonderful because you can take turns "pulling" each other. On those long stretches it can be a real grind fighting the wind, but if you can get a couple of feet behind someone they can punch a hole in the wind for you and you save around 15% of your efforts.
Another gorgeous day riding by another gorgeous beach!

Today's honoree is Natasha. Natasha was 12 when she was diagnosed. She's in college now and rode with us on the tour last year. Her fiance proposed to her at one of the rest stops! It was really cool and my timing worked out so I got to see it! Natasha is awesome. She told us about having to go to school as a kid in a wheelchair just a short time after she was able to play soccer. She told us about her first time at the Arthritis Foundation's Camp Esperanza for kids like her. She told us about never previously being able to ride a horse because of her disease, but Camp Esperanza had side-saddles so that kids like her could ride a horse! She told us about the friends that she made there and that she still keeps, and about the experimental drug that was funded by the AF that has put her in remission (on and off) for the last 11 years!

Day 8 - Ventura to Los Angeles

Last day! I had to get a picture with Lee Ruttenberg, me, and Glenn Hopler. As far as we know, we are the only 3 CPAs on the tour. Too bad the sun was at a harsh angle!

It was wonderful having James on the tour with me this year! Sure, you get to ride with 300 of your closest friends on this thing, but it's really nice to bring one from home with you!

This was the first year that my whole family made the trip down to the finish line to see us come in! From left to right, back to front: Mom, my wife Kelleen, my brother's girlfriend Kristin, my brother David, Dad, my sister-in-law Claire, my wife's brother Dan (cousin Ellie's chair!), then in front my sons Owen, Andrew, and Wesley, and their cousin Alexa bottom right. All reppin' Team Carter and our 525 miles 4aCure!

Jerry and I cross the finish line with a couple of other riders.

The Fam! I think the boys are happy to see Daddy.

Carter was the official finish line honoree! His dad Brett had some very moving words for us thanking us for supporting the organization that has helped his son so much. A year and a half ago Carter was having trouble walking he was in so much pain. Now he can play T-Ball (the mention of which makes Carter light up like a Christmas Tree as you can see :-)) and he even got the game ball the previous weekend for getting a fat lip, tagging someone out at third, and hitting well! 

We were able to get a child's jersey printed up special for him given the circumstances.

Carter reminds me a lot of my boys. I'm so thankful that I'm lucky to have well children.

I think he remembered me. I dressed up as Spider-Man last time I saw him! I spoke to him for a bit and asked if it was cool if I picked him up. He nodded and Jerry snapped this picture of us.

Team Carter raised north of $200,000 in 2015 for the Arthritis Foundation! That's going to be a tough act to follow for us in 2016, but we'll do our best! Here's Carter accepting the #1 fundraising team award for us!

 Thanks again for your support! Your dollars are making a HUGE impact on these kids lives. I've seen it first hand!

We would love to have your support in 2016! If you have room in your charitable budget this year, please consider the Arthritis Foundation on behalf of me and Carter: ccc16.kintera.org/kyle