After arriving at the Huntley and doing a few brief fan events we headed off to situate ourselves for the Cubs/Dodgers game at the Water Grill and began the festivities. A bit later our good friend Bret Barker joined us–he had to arrive a bit late as he is teaching part time at USC where he chairs several departments. He did look quite professorial if you ask me but you can judge for yourself shortly. Whenever Bret is around a seafood tower cant be far behind so Bret treated the table to some fine wine and a very hefty bounty from the ocean including Lobster and Scallops! We had a grand old time and were really happy that Bret was able to take time away from his busy schedule to join us so thanks Bret! As you can see we did a good job of calorie loading and hydrating pre Ryloride 4-The All Star Edition.
The next morning we were up early to prepare the bikes and ourselves for the ride!
And we were off…but alas we didnt get far before chaos ensued..Yes, sadly for the first time in Ryloride history a rider went down and yes it was me. I know, nobody is more upset about this than me as I constantly preach safety and preparation but alas biking is a dangerous sport and sometimes you smack into the pavement. We were 8 miles in weaving through the beach streets of Marina Del Rey when we came to a maze of turns–being the team leader it was my job to point out the way so I took my hand off the bars to give directions right when I hit some sand and well then it was 8 seconds of chaos as the handlebars got torn out of my other hand when I hit the sand I went over the curb (that hurt a bit) with no hands bounced up a bit and then slammed into the pavement on my right side with my left knee and hip stopping me. Did it hurt? Hell yes man it hurt bad. I am TOO old to smash into the ground. After determining that nothing seemed too broken our lead Medical Officer–Bobby J–deemed me fit to ride which I did. But, at mile 14 the bracket that holds on your derailed snapped off and that was just bad. So, I immediately started to weep uncontrollably but Bobby and Nathan took control of the situation and believe it or no we found a bike store in Torrance I took an Uber–the rest of the team went back to Hermosa for beverages and then STR picked me up and returned me to my team 2 hours later! Yes, day 1 had some issues. I thought it was over I was prepared to buy a new bike but the bike gods took care of me. This did put us way behind schedule so we had to battle some hefty head winds and didnt get into the hotel until almost 6 vs our 3 pm target–thanks for helping me out team! Here are some pictures of that and the store that fixed me up and the transport back to the group!
I have to go meet the team for some Post Ride Fan Stuff so I will finish this later hope its not too long but day one was QUITE dramatic!