Art's AIDS/LifeCycle Journey: Day 5 Fashionable Fifth Day Santa Maria to Lompoc

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Day 5 Fashionable Fifth Day Santa Maria to Lompoc

Distance 42.1
Moving Time 3:05:20
Elevation 2,113ft
Avg Speed 13.6mi/h
Max Speed 40.0 mi/h
Calories 1,250
Temperature 59

Wakeup Time: 4:00 a.m. / Ride-out Time: 6:45 a.m. / Elapsed Time 6:11:57

Alysse woke me up before the alarm and had me ready to head to the showers to make her look as presentable as I could. When I left the shower ready to relinquish control, Alysse took over shaved and dressed up. By the time she got back to the tent, Art's tent mate, Carlos, had already left for breakfast. Alysse packed up Art's belongings and with the last zipper on the duffle zipped, Carlos had returned and they broke down the tent.

Lucky Alysse was wearing her Gitty Duncan designed super power wristbands, Alysse could do anything, including cycling all 42.1 miles in heels.

Posing with the riffraff

Other riffraff beauties

Ta-dah she's ready for ...

Billy with Nuun to fall in love with her
Billy asked for the photo to be taken
(Well, kinda - he asked to take a picture of Alysse and Alysse demanded one with him)

So time to rip Billy's arms away from Alysse and let her cycle to mile 9.6 RS1 Pioneer Park. What a site! She was wearing her commuter pumps, so no worries. As she whisked away and at about mile 6, she saw a rider fiddling with changing a tire. She asked if he needed help - he did.

Have no fear ... and minutes later, the tire was changed. Alysse primped and was primed -- hopped onto Art's bike and rode away into the morning to RS1. She was one of the first few to arrive and into the arms of Ben. Ben was in awe (his words not hers) of Alysse being able to cycle in heels without clips. Not even a hair clip. Ben stopped her, begged for a photo. Of course she acquiesced anything for the AIDS/LifeCycle cause.

Now, how's a girl to get to her next rest stop if she keeps on being asked to pose?

Okay, just one more, since it is being taken by a professional

and not just with a smartphone.

Ms. Geisha said I could be her mother - THE NERVE

Alysse can now leave her, supposedly geisha tramp of a daughter and ... wait a minute, Ms. Kabuki Kickass has already left. What's a mother to do? Well, cycle, duh! Onto mile 22 RS2.

And, who the heck thought of placing a hill with spurts of a 13% and a 17.6% grades?! Remember, Alysse is wearing her Gitty Duncan superpower wrist bands. She cycled the 1.5-mile Casmalia Northside Climb in 13:16 minutes, which was a personal record. She just learned about Strava personal records when a fellow rider pointed them out last month at a training ride. The descent put us into RS4 at Marshallia Ranch Golf Course with a Firefighter theme. Alysse loves her men (oh, I suppose women, too) in and out of uniform.

Our next stop is mile 39.5 River Bend Park for lunch, only 17.5 miles away with a bit more climbing. Alysse had to stop at the entrance to Vandenberg Air Force Base for some glamour shots.

Sorry, Alysse, this is a PG site - and THAT, pose will not rally the troops

With Newlywed-to-be James Casad

How time flies when one is having fun. Already at lunch and having photo ops with the Amazing Julie Brown and the redhead hussy, Buzz - we have the same hair stylist. The sun never broke through the clouds, hence the mylar fashion show. I was supposed to start the ride with Johannes Casado, but we missed each other, so I went ahead. I saw him at lunch and plopped myself next to him and uninvited joined the conversation he was having with another rider. While asking Johannes a few questions, he answered politely and finally introduced himself. I was in stitches. "I'm Art!" To which he replied with, "OH, MY ...!" And, we spent a few more minutes trying to keep warm and decided to head to camp when an announcement was made that we would be able to cycle to camp, get our gear, and pitch our tents, but services would not open until 1pm. Anything to get out of this cold.