10-22-09 – QMDC Day Five – Santa Barbara to Marina Del Rey
Good morning friends!
Yesterday’s ride totalled 89 miles and headed from the beautiful coast city of Santa Barbara and ended just north of Los Angeles at yet another beautiful coast city at Marina Del Rey. Yesterday, me and Joe Weickgenant had an adjoining room with the XX 1090 champ, Adam Beck and we all had a great time laughing it up, talking about how our experiences have been over the course of the last 4 days and sharing each other’s great pictures. The surly guys that Joe and I am, we heard Adam hop in the shower so we decided to play a prank on him and mess around with his room.
While Adam was in the shower, Joe and I ran into his room, picked up all of 
his furniture off the floor and placed it on his bed. We piled the furniture so high that some of the chairs were about a foot away from the ceiling.
Once we heard Adam getting out, Joe and I ran back to our room and closed the door! When Adam got out of the shower, all we heard in the other room was “What the f*ck?” and when he walked into our room, all we said was “Hey man, good morning, do you think I can borrow some toothpaste?”
This morning my body felt great. A bunch of the ride leaders and QMDC veterans kept telling me to “conserve and leave some in the tank” and I definitely did that over the last four days. So today, I definitely wanted to open it up and crank out a fast day. This morning, in the parking lot, me and my buddy Joe Da Rosa had a chance to meet David Zabriskie from the Garmin team. Cool dude for sure. I’m not going to touch that guy on the flats! By the way, today was also Joe Da Rosa’s birthday. Believe it or not, the dude is 73 years old! How’s that for someone in great shape!
Rode today with Group 2 and I absolutely loved the faster pace. Got to hang
with Lisa Jennings and Alex Hamlow along with the rest of Group 2 and held a vicious pace through Coast Highway and made sure to take my pulls in the front, which felt great. Just when I think I’m holding a good pace at around 23 mph, Garmin rider Peter Stetina rolls up on my left, hardly breathing hard at all and said: “hey man lets pick it up” to which I said “screw you, you go ahead” or words to that effect. He laughed and we kept pace until lunch.
Lunch was hilarious. We pulled up to the lunch rest stop and everyone flocked to the table for snacks when an In & Out truck pulls up and starts taking orders compliments of the QMDC ride. So, 59 miles down and now you have 100 cyclists chowing down on Double-Doubles and Dr. Pepper before getting back in the saddle. Awesome!
After lunch, I got back in the saddle, and this time had a chance to ride along with Scott Kaplan and a bunch of the XX 1090 team who tagged along with Group 2. Next thing you know, the clydesdale, Alex Hamlow takes the pull and brings us to an insane pace. Lisa Jennings yelled “Brian, hold onto his wheel!” and I never let go. Up the rolling hills through Malibu, I hung with Lisa and Alex as the rest of Group 2 dropped off, and they definitely pushed me to my red zone as I arrived at the last SAG gasping for air, but with a big smile on my face!
Later in the evening, after meeting up with some of my best friends Matt and 
Ashley Cadle for a wonderful dinner at my favorite Cuban restaurant Versailles and hanging out with them for the evening, Matty took me back to the hotel where I had a chance to share some beers with a bunch of the team who were in the lobby. As I was at the bar, Lisa Jennings came up to me and gave me some awesome compliments, saying that I was one of the smoothest riders she’s ever ridden with and that even though we were holding a vicious pace, there was never any quit in me. I told her that I always listened to her directions and followed her and all of the other ride leaders advice. That’s one of the best parts about this whole experience. In the process of doing something great for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, I get to ride with some of the best riders I’ve ever ridden with. Oh, and the picture above? This is the product of not knowing where the heck your room is every night. I’ve given up entirely on trying to memorize my room numbers.
Hope you all are having a great day and stay tuned for the next update from Newport Beach!
-BB