park. think I'll do day 7. mile 56.3 so far

guess they are proud of this. the minster of neglect. is there anyone that did less?

Simi Valley

the other side of the pass

begin santa susanna pass

power on the ride

I had this 12 volt battery that holds a charge for quite a while. It's a little over 5 lbs. Between this and the wind up flashlight charger I should be able to keep the ipod and cell phone charged for the duration of the ride.
The flashlight

5000 miles

About 3/4's of the way back down Stunt Road the odo hit 5000 miles. I put it on the bike 3/21/06. A little over 13 months to log the full 5000. Despite the short distance this was a tough ride. 2100 feet of climbing in triple digit temps. The ride back down was a lot of fun and took a lot less time then the ride up. The compact crank was a big help, it's a great investment. I'm sure I'll be happy it's on the bike during the AIDS/Lifecycle ride.
I had intense pain in one of my toes on the left foot. I have plenty of space in these shoes so it might be cleat position.

stunt road ride

Top of Stunt road. Top picture is looking toward the beach, Bottom picture looks toward the San Fernando Valley. Temp dropped to a nice cool 101

stunt ride

Damn it's HOT! I'm sure it's a lot cooler in the shade. Too bad there isn't any.

training and test ride

Time to test out the new compact crank newly installed by bicycle builder Will. Thanks Will. I was looking for climbs nearby that would mirror the Quadbuster that I along with 2200 other lifecyclists will face in June. It occurred to me that it's not just the climb up the accumulation of miles before you begin the climb. A hard learned lesson on my Lake Arrowhead climb. The Quadbuster on it's own doesn't look that bad but add 2 long rides before that climb and it will be much more difficult than its elevation profile suggests. Click here for Quadbuster.
So I figured that Mulholland to the top of Stunt road would provide a better simulation of the effort that will be involved. It's elevation profile looks considerably tougher and the total distance will be just about 10.5 miles one way. Click here for the ride. This ride includes one of the steeper blocks I've ridden in SoCal. Click here for a map of that section. For all the maps you can click on the elevation button to see the climb profile.

Got the Compact from Probikekit. Arrived pretty fast considering it came from across the pond.

End of the ride

back at the start. The bike computer said 5 hours 33 minutes not counting rest periods. Average speed 14.2 mph. Maximum speed 46.5 mph! The downhill after climbing to over 1k ft. was incredible. A blowout at that speed would have been painful.
This event went off without a hitch. With 400 riders and a long twisting route, running sweep, providing 4 well stocked rest stops, a banquet on return and keeping it safe left me in awe of those that are responsible for pulling this off. I wish out government were 1/10th as efficient. We certainly wouldn't be in the mess we are today.
80 miles on a bicycle with the hills we had to climb was no easy task but it certainly was a great experience especially when surrounded by such an incredible group of people. If your looking to restore your faith in humanity spend some time with this group.

Final rest stop with Hawaiian theme.

lunch break. A very nice spread!

First rest stop. It warmed up enough to peel off some layers.

damn its cold. My cateye said 44 but if sure felt cold, at least to this wimpy Californian.

Across the street from Bike Attack. They had some very nice Lightspeeds there. Offering a hefty discount to Lifecycle 6 participants.

day of the ride

FDA Warns of HIV Drug Tampering

Combivir Bottles May Contain Another HIV Drug Called Ziagen

Medicine net article

HIV drugs 'still denied to many'

Just 28% of poor people with HIV have access to the antiretroviral drugs that could save their lives, a study shows.


Click here for BBC article

Winner of the Ipod raffle

Many thanks to all the generous people that bought raffle tickets!

mango picks the winning raffle ticket