Some time ages ago, day 5 was dubbed "red dress" day, the idea being that everyone dresses in red and the ride creates a long red ribbon down the coast, symbolic of the AIDS ribbon. Some people took this phrasing a bit too literally, and, well, they always wear red dresses.

Contrary to its deceptively small milage, day 5 is a difficult day both because of the hills and from a psychological standpoint. This is the day of the stupidest hill ever where the route meets back up with Highway 1. Unfortunately, it's been decided that to simply turn left, crossing over highway 1 is far too dangerous. Instead, one must cycle up an enormous hill, turn right, then left, then left, then left again at a stop light, then come immediately back down the enormous hill, ending up just on the other side of the intersection where one was 30 minutes earlier. It's frustrating, but safety really is that important.

Just before that annoying hill, I got my picture taken with the Chicken Lady. Chicken Lady is one of the fixtures of AIDS cycling events and inspiring to us all. I adore Chicken Lady. Chicken Lady leaves snacks for us along the route.

Day 5 is the day with "ant hill" as named by another of my favorite cyclists, Scott Moore. (Scott is a very entertaining speaker who would tell us details of the weather and route each night over dinner.) It's called "ant hill" because when you're at the bottom looking way up in the sky, you see cyclists who look like little ants.

At the top of ant hill folks were getting a little push from fellow cyclists, and I got a nice picture of another ride fixture, the omnifabulous Ginger.

On this day I recalled amusing call-outs: tractor, broccoli, and "duct tape".

A wedding of two cyclists took place over dinner, which featured both Ginger and the Chicken Lady.

By this time I was tired, my butt was sore, my face and lips were getting sunburnt and my knees hurt just a bit. I got to bed early after observing that Lompoc's airwaves were controlled by fundies...

Day 5 Newsletter: front back.

---Nick