As I mentioned in my previous blog from Day 3, I woke up to a bit of a surprise. I was well rested and ready to take on the day. Got 7.5 hours of sleep, which was record-setting for the week. Got up, got around and packed, Munoz and I got on the shuttle from the hotel back to camp to have breakfast and for the first time in days, I felt really good.
Well, I felt really good until it was time to roll out. I got to bike parking and my front tire was flat. I’m talkin’ all the air was gone, hanging off the rim, sealant all over the grass, flat. Never fear, though. I had a spare tube! I rolled my bike over to the mechanic tent for them to work on it for me and after about 10 minutes realized that the tube I’d bought didn’t include a stem long enough to work. The mechanic had to sell me a tube they had on hand for a swap out. My friends were patient and kind enough to wait for me to get my bike fixed up and then we rolled out. Wasn’t the best way to start the day – kinda killed the momentum. One thing I did appreciate though – even though the previous night was a rough with my disagreement with Munoz, he cared and waited for me. Part of me wished he wouldn’t have because I felt I didn’t deserve such kindness after how I’d talked to him, but another part felt so appreciative that he didn’t just abandon me to ride on my own. Anyhow, I got my life together and got rolling.
This day had another emotional moment – the halfway point! As you can assume, this is Day 4 of a seven day ride, which means the halfway point hits somewhat early in the day (before lunch). The ALC folks do a great job making this feel awesome. I climbed a hill and at the top was an AMAZING California view. That’s where I took a moment to take some photos with “HALFWAY TO LA” signs. Of course, trying to plan that out to get everyone together isn’t that easy lol. Everyone rides at a different pace and so meeting up can be a challenge. Again, luckily is was early enough in the day that most everyone is still pretty close together. However, since we’re out in the middle of nowhere, phone/data service is very shotty. Text messages don’t go through and actually phone calls follow suit. The halfway point is a bit of chaos, too – everyone is trying to get their friends together to take pics. After some work, we figured it out.
There is a really steep/fun downhill that runs for a solid 10 miles. You have to be really careful because you can really get some speed, but has some amazing views that you get to enjoy – just have to watch out for that crosswind! Unfortunately, someone got hurt at the top of the hill as they got started. They literally went down, and a couple of other cyclists did too. The rider had to be air-lifted out. It was scary – my clan had just made it down the hill and were taking more pics when we saw an ambulance going back up the hill; we knew that wasn’t good.
Later in the day at lunch, my friends noticed my cleats were worn way down on my shoes. I’ve not ever changed out a cleat before, so decided that I should wait until I’m back at camp so as to not waste too much time since it wasn’t totally worn away yet. That was one of the best decisions I made for the week, because swapping out my cleat on the morning of Day 5 turned out to be pretty interesting…