First Day Finished!
The first day of the 2009 ride for world health has come and gone. This is Christian Walker-Richards, one of the national riders. As some readers may already know, I rode the first week of the 2008 ride for world health. Today I was on the support team, so I got the chance to see the day from a different perspective than when I rode it last year. I’d like to tell a little about how the day went for us.
As a support rider, I was up 45 minutes before the rest of the team, packing my own gear and getting team equipment ready for packing into the vans. As the riders woke up, we required them to have all their gear completely packed before they could eat breakfast. As the gear was taken down to the vans we started loading in on top of all the gear we put in there the night before. I can’t claim much credit for the amazing packing job the support team did this morning, they managed to fill every nook and cranny in the back of our cargo van and keep it balanced and stable. After making sure all the riders were properly equipped with water and bars and their bikes were safe for the roads, we rolled out of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, our home for the last three days. After a short stop at Torrey Pines Park for a ceremonial tire dip, we were on our way north towards Los Angeles. I felt very excited to dip this year, as last year I was there to dip my rear tire in the Pacific Ocean to start the journey, but I wasn’t able to be there to dip my front wheel in the Atlantic at the end. I plan to remedy that shortcoming this year.
Dipping our tires into the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines beach
Acting goofy...
Driving the support vans is a more complicated task than it seems. We have to be responsible for the other 20 riders on the road. We make sure they get the calories and water they need to safely and healthily complete the ride that day. We work hard to keep them all on the correct route by marking all the turns and tricky parts of the course that day. On some days, that won’t require a lot of marking, but today had a few sections of multiple closely spaced turns that required Clare to jump out of the car almost every thirty seconds and mark the concrete with our flashy orange chalk. Today was especially tricky because the route went through the Camp Pendleton Marine base, where the riders are welcome, but the vans can’t enter to mark the way. Fortunately, everyone made it through safely. After that they had a stretch on a bike route that we again couldn’t mark much of, but Brandon and Stephen found the places that needed it and guided everyone through.
At this point Clare, Farhaad and I drove ahead to Laguna Beach where the town rotary club was very generously providing us lunch. We arrived a little late due to the traffic and were greeted by some of the rotary members and the local chapter president, Tory Thomas. We set up a few of our educational posters and R4WH banner near the beautiful Laguna Beach boardwalk and main beach for anyone who wanted to stop and learn about global health. The rotary club provided a delicious and much appreciated lunch for our riders, who had covered more than 60 miles over rolling hills by the time they arrived. This was one of just many visits to Laguna Beach for me. My fiancée Angie grew up here and her parents still live in town. Her mother Elaine has helped the ride the last two years in helping to set up events in town and this year also provided some great cookies and candy for the lunch. It was very exciting for me to be in Laguna Beach, because in just a little over a month I’ve be taking a short leave from the ride to fly back here and get married. It’s a day I’ve been looking forward to with greater and greater anticipation as the date gets nearer, and it can’t come soon enough.
As we ended the day, we loaded everyone and everything into the vans and took a short drive through the LA traffic to Pasadena where we’ll stay the next two nights. We’ll be doing an event day at the USC medical campus tomorrow then riding on Saturday through the mountains towards Hesperia for one of the most physically demanding days I remember from last year. I felt utterly defeated by the mountain last year, and I look forward to the challenge this year. Thanks for reading and we hope to see you at USC tomorrow!
Christian