Back to Ride Itinerary       Meet the Riders      Bamacyclist Home

Day 0
Just puttin' 'em together

DAILY DOINGS: Wow, seems just like yesterday when we finished the Fast Ride.  Here we are back in California again starting another ride...this is somewhere around the 35th or so trip with ABB.  Hope I get the hang of it soon. 

Barb, Karen, and I drove out from Alabama and arrived in Burlingame CA just south of San Francisco on Wednesday.  It takes us a day or two to get all the gear ready and to get all organized before the riders start coming in on Saturday.  We spent Thursday washing vans, finishing up the last minute shopping, and Karen and I rode the first part of the route to get an eyeball on what we would be up against on Sunday when we roll out.  Friday morning we spent our time trying to get the last minute of rest we'll get until after we get to Portsmouth in 52 days.  I declared the "Party Over" at about 3 PM on Friday when we started early bird registration and bike assembly.  I needed to get a jump on the bike assembly since I'm working all the mechanics on this trip myself.  We have about 35 riders starting out on this ride so I felt that I needed the extra time get them all done.  We did get 14 people processed...nice start.

Saturday started out hectic as the remainder of the riders flocked our room with bikes just waiting to be put together.  It took the entire day, but we got them all assembled and in good riding order by 3:00.  We really had a pretty good assembly day as usually we have lots of missing parts that need to be procured from a local bike shop, but this day was pretty much trouble free except for one striped stem.  We do get all sorts of bikes on this trip so nothing surprises me, but Laura's bike had a front wheel that was covered with mud and I couldn't help but harass her about it until she explained that her bike had blown into the bay by the motel while she was putting it together the day before.  "A gust of wind came up and there went my wheel...good thing it was low tide!"

At 3:30 we did our orientation and introductions...then off to eat at 5:30.  We start tomorrow on our journey across the country so we'll see if anyone remembers anything from our orientation session.  Check in and see what we will be up to as we try to find our way out of San Francisco...everyone who can find the motel tomorrow will be seasoned ABB navigators.

Bear with me for a few days.  It may take me awhile to get into the flow of the website this trip.  I'm going to be a bit busier than usual so it may take me a day or two to get it going and I may miss a day once in a while...but I'll get something up eventually so keep watching.  Thanks for following our ride...see you tomorrow.

DAILY DISCERNING DIALOGUE:
"There was something I meant to bring...I should have brought my dog.  Oh, I don't have a dog."

"I had only 27 pounds of stuff I was bringing until I read your note that said I could bring 35!"

"If it rains, we won't have to shower!"  Laura when we talked about rain on the trip.

"I haven't been in any state we are going to ride through...I've lead a sheltered life."  Clarence in intros.

"Coast to Coast?  Sure, I'll ride coast to coast with you...it's only 190 miles."  Bill from UK when Alan originally asked him to ride cross country...he didn't realize Alan was talking about the US.

 

 DAILY DUH:  I guess I have to be the first one this trip.  10 minutes before showtime, I was preparing the room for orientation after all the bikes were put together.  I was trying to take down a folding table.  I was fighting with the legs that wouldn't fold.  I turned the table upside down and started trying to trip the mechanism that released the legs...no luck.  Maybe if I force it!  When it released, the leg flew forward and hit me square in the middle of the forehead...SMACK!!!!  Stars everywhere and immediately I put my hand to my forehead to squishy liquid..."I'm not going to like what I see I thought."  From the amount of blood and from the pain in my head, I thought I might have to go to the ER for stitches.  Luckily, Barbara hustled to the van and got some bandages for my head and a butterfly seemed to put an end to the bleeding and a cover bandage seemed to be all I needed.  Just a lump and a splitting headache, but that won't stand in the way of orientation. 

That was bad enough, but when I was making a point in my talk, I punched myself in the forehead...OUCH!  Orientation went on until Barb couldn't stand in any more and motioned me to take a break so she could redo the bandage on my head...it was bleeding again pretty well but it hadn't gotten to my eyes yet.  I was wondering why the people in the front row was starting to turn pale.  I thought it was just because I was talking about the hills they were climbing the first day.  I can see now that I'm on my own out here with this group, they were just going to watch me bleed to death without saying a word...now who would load the luggage?

Copyright © 2006 by Bamacyclist  
All rights reserved.