Thursday, October 4
There is a lot of planning that goes into putting on this event. The riders must train and raise money but the Arthritis Foundation also does a lot of work: Donna Trujillo, the coordinator/planner for this event works for the Arthritis Foundation. Backroads, a company that does cycling vacations, is hired by the Arthritis Foundation to take care of the riders for this event.
Each day of the ride, a mini city is set up then moved to the next camp site. Each campsite has bathroom, showers, masseuses, bike mechanics with bike parts, and a catered breakfast and dinner. Backroads employees transport our camping gear and lu
ggage (if you choose to stay in hotels) from campsite to campsite. In additions they drive along the roads we are riding and pick us up (and our bikes) if we’re tired or injured.
We check in at the lunch stop that has been set up along our route, and eat. Along the route we ride, there are also rest stops with food and water. And boy does this army of 250 cyclists eat!!! We ride for 4, 5, 6 or more hours a day and we all consume unbelievable amounts of food. But there is never a shortage of food.
--From Dave-- This is an unusual day of riding. It was fun to go alongside the farms and see and smell the different kinds of crops we could recognize, like broccoli, collard greens and cilantro! We left the Coast, headed inland into small towns and farms and it got a little hotter weather-wise.
There were some long challenging hills also and the feeling crept in that it would be nice to just put my hand up when the support van drove by, or make a phone call, and just take a ride to the end. So for Kellie and me to complete it on our bikes made us both happy. It was a character-building, if not the most interesting day of the Tour. 
There is a lot of planning that goes into putting on this event. The riders must train and raise money but the Arthritis Foundation also does a lot of work: Donna Trujillo, the coordinator/planner for this event works for the Arthritis Foundation. Backroads, a company that does cycling vacations, is hired by the Arthritis Foundation to take care of the riders for this event.
Each day of the ride, a mini city is set up then moved to the next camp site. Each campsite has bathroom, showers, masseuses, bike mechanics with bike parts, and a catered breakfast and dinner. Backroads employees transport our camping gear and lu
ggage (if you choose to stay in hotels) from campsite to campsite. In additions they drive along the roads we are riding and pick us up (and our bikes) if we’re tired or injured.We check in at the lunch stop that has been set up along our route, and eat. Along the route we ride, there are also rest stops with food and water. And boy does this army of 250 cyclists eat!!! We ride for 4, 5, 6 or more hours a day and we all consume unbelievable amounts of food. But there is never a shortage of food.
--From Dave-- This is an unusual day of riding. It was fun to go alongside the farms and see and smell the different kinds of crops we could recognize, like broccoli, collard greens and cilantro! We left the Coast, headed inland into small towns and farms and it got a little hotter weather-wise.
There were some long challenging hills also and the feeling crept in that it would be nice to just put my hand up when the support van drove by, or make a phone call, and just take a ride to the end. So for Kellie and me to complete it on our bikes made us both happy. It was a character-building, if not the most interesting day of the Tour. 
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