Journey of Hope (South) 2010: Santa Cruz, CA

6.13.2010

I feel great. The best I have since my high school graduation. We finally started. Today we had an 85 mile ride starting in San Francisco and ending in Santa Cruz along the California coast. Two of my brothers from Psi Chapter, Nyk Lotocky and Sean Mitchell, came to see Chris and I off as we crossed the golden gate bridge. It really meant a lot to me that they took time out of their days to wake up early and show us their support.

After the bridge however, things started to get pretty tough. The ride itself was not only long (5 miles shorter than the longest ride I’ve ever done), but it was over some pretty treacherous terrain. The roads were along the edges of cliffs that went right up to the pacific ocean, making for awesome pictures and unforgettable memories. These cliffs were on the sides of what would be considered mountains on the east coast, and we had a couple of pretty long climbs along the way. We started out going along sky line drive, and checking out the lego-looking brightly colored suburb houses, and moved on to the hilly Route 1 later in the day.

We were rewarded for the pain we had going up the hills with the speeds we reached going down. James Lawrence who was riding with me the whole day, said we registered a max speed of 37 Miles Per Hour. When the dust cleared, only 7 of the 26 cyclists were able to complete the entire trip, the rest had to rack up their bikes and drive to the next location. Most people had to rack because we were on a strict time schedule, and only did so after putting an impressive 50 to 70 miles. I was one of the 7 people who were able to complete the entire trip today on schedule, (despite the frustrating flat tire I got ½ a mile from the finish line) which is the main reason that I’m going to bed so happy right now.

My pace line in front of some pretty choice views of the beach

One rider who really impressed me today was Andrew Chinn, one of the 7 cyclists who was also able to finish. At one of the rest stops, Andrew wanted to rack himself up and ride it out to the end of the trip. He didn’t think he had anything left, and there were still about 20 miles to go. With the encouragement of the crew and other riders at the stop, however, he was able to continue onward and complete the four or five remaining climbs to the finish line. Whether it was the crew screaming from the sides of the vans, or the last member of the pace line talking about how great dinner will be, there was so much team work and so many words of encouragement between every Pi Kapp who started off in San Fran today. That’s what’s really great about the Journey of Hope, it brings people together. I know that without the help of everyone I was riding with, there is no way I would have been able to complete today’s trip.

The other reason I’m so excited is that I just had a great dinner with an awesome group of people. The team went to today’s friendship visit at the Easter Seals Center, where we were treated to a potluck dinner by the staff and participants. Each member of the organization brought their own dish. I was speaking with a very energetic man named Ron who baked a delicious sourdough / sunflower seed bread for the occasion. We talked about everything from movies and music to what it is like to live in Santa Cruz. He never stopped asking me questions, wanting to hear all about my snowboarding hobby and the trip I am taking this summer. Along with the bread, there were an assortment of entres. The bean soup, chicken, macaroni and potato salad, were complimented by a variety of deserts ranging from brownies to coffee cake, and all of it was cooked by the program’s participants! They even had a live band performing music from the 50s and 60s, and a dance floor where we proceeded to get our boogie on after dinner.