11/3/09 – The Bailey gets new shoes!
Good afternoon friends,
Thanks again for all of your support throughout these great experiences — from the Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association to the America’s Finest City Half Marathon to the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge, including all of the great training rides from June through October 2009, the fundraising for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and the Scott & BR Cycling Contest. Without your help and unending support, I would’ve never had the opportunity to be a part of all these great events.
With that said, cycling offseason paves new avenues for training, and I will continue to train, whether it be cycling or running to keep up the level of fitness that I’ve gained from the QMDC. What the cycling offseason also does, is provide us cyclists with a good opportunity to take care of our bikes, making sure everything is working and also upgrade anything that’s been pounded on over the hundreds of miles we’ve put on them.
While there a number of ways you can score great deals to pick up great items for your bike, whether it be going to your local bike shop and checking out their deals, browsing online at a number of great sites like “probikekit.com” or “nashbar.com”, or even checking out the deals on craigslist, there is a great event that only comes twice a year and it’s the SD Velodrome Swap Meet at the San Diego Velodrome just off Pershing in the Balboa Park area. If you have a chance, come out this Sunday from 0800-1200 for some great deals on everything from wheelsets, frames, components, saddles, helmets, accessories and clothing! It’s about $5 to get in and I guarantee you’ll walk away with some great items. Heck, if you’ve got some bike stuff to sell, you can certainly do that there as well. The bike swap meet is just one of those beautiful biproducts of cycling — where one person wants to upgrade, another wants to pick up his/her used stuff and at the same time, the person who wanted to upgrade in the first place, gets cash towards their new upgrade. It’s a vicious cycle that we cyclists do.
With that said, I’ve been searching for a new wheelset for the Bailey and I’ve located it in Great Neck, NY of all places at a bike shop called “Brickwell Cycling”. After much research and debate over what kind of wheelset I wanted to upgrade to (after checking out Spinergy, Reynolds, Flash Point, HED, Bontrager and Mavic), I’ve decided to go with the Mavic Ksyrium ES wheelset, for its bomb-proof durability, feathery weight for climbing, and easy maintenance.
This will be a big upgrade from my current wheelset, and I’m excited to see what these babies can do. My current wheelset is a 2003 Mavic Ksyrium wheelset with over 5,000 miles on them as I was the third owner of the wheels after my cousin Eugene purchased them from the bike swap meet a couple years ago and used them prior to handing them over to me.
As the new wheelset arrives in about seven to ten business days, I’ll be sure to post some pics of the Bailey’s new shoes once I’ve installed them. 1600+ grams from my previous clunker wheelset to 1400 grams for the new wheelset will shed almost a half pound from the Bailey! Someone is super amped and that someone is this guy!
Until then, keep riding, keep smiling and always remember to set goals for yourself – whether it be at work, at home, in the gym, or on the road. Goals keep us focused, goals make us stronger!
-BB
10-25-09 – CAF SD Triathlon Challenge
Good evening friends!
Today was a great day. To be honest, I didn’t think my body would be up to the challenge, but I’m glad I did. Before the QMDC, we were told at the end of the very last training ride that we had an optional 8th day to ride the bike leg of the SD Triathlon Challenge to support the Challenged Athletes Foundation.
What a great sight, all of the Challenged Athletes were in attendance to compete in the SD Triathlon Challenge. On stage, the CAF spokesman called up a number of the great athletes onto the stage and listening to their great stories. Then, Samuel, another Challenged Athlete who sang the national anthem for the Qualcomm riders in San Francisco sang his heart out for the crowd this morning!
A number of the Qualcomm riders were in attendance, and we all had our cameras out to see the
triathletes take on the swim portion of the challenge. All of the swimmers had their color coordinated caps to let each swimmer know which heat they were in. As an avid cyclist and rookie runner, I know first-hand how hard these two separate disciplines are, but to add in a grueling, cold and rough swim portion for 2.1 miles is just amazing.
The spectators were roaring as the crowd buzzed, cheering for their loved ones and flashing cameras at every turn. To see the look on families faces as their brother, sister, husband, wife or parent charged for the water was something I was proud to experience.
As we were getting ready to take on the bike portion to support our fellow riders and challenged athletes, we ran into a familiar face that we played shuffleboard with back in Newport Beach — our bud Floyd Landis. Me, Chin and Adam had a chance to snap a quick photo before taking to our saddles for the 56 mile ride!
Me and Adam took to the streets, hammering our way up the hills of La Jolla, through La Jolla Shores and up the nasty hill up Scripps Beach, around the Stephen Birch Aquarium and up to the University of California – San Diego to head to Torrey Pines.
While on the way, we got to ride alongside our buddy Fred, who we had a chance to ride with for
every ride from June through October. Just as we were getting into a rhythm and getting our legs back, Fred’s bike started having some issues with his strap that keeps him locked into the bike!
Me, Kip, Adam, Richard Whittington and Mark VD stopped to give him a hand, and Kip and Adam used their Macguyver skills to ziptie the strap back into place so that Fred could continue on with the ride! Then, I took hold of bars that are attached to Fred’s handcycle and bobsled pushed him to give him a running start! He yelled, “Whoa, is that me?” and when he realized I was giving him a ‘turbo-boost’ he yelled “THANKS BRIAN!”
Then, we all got out of Fred’s way as Fred absolutely flew down Torrey Pines as his handcycle got crazy speed plowing downhill! As Adam and I made our way up through Torrey Pines and towards Del Mar, our buddy Floyd pulled up to us and we made our way towards San Dieguito.
Riding 50 miles with Floyd Landis was hilarious. While we as cycling fans have followed his career from his time on the Phonak team all the way to his recent Ouch team at this year’s recent Tour de California, we’ve gotten to know Floyd as the dude who got pulled over by a cop for running a red light in Long Beach, getting lectured about citation numbers for running red lights while he carried Mari Holden’s Yorkie Mr. B in a backpack, a funny dude who talked smack over 6 straight games of shuffleboard in Newport Beach, and a guy who’s watched tons of movies and can almost (yes I said it) almost quote as many key movie lines as yours truly. While a guy like that could’ve easily raced ahead and dropped us average joes behind in a heartbeat, he told us he wanted to hang out because we were “cool as sh*t”.
We arrived back at La Jolla Cove for the finish line and had an awesome time seeing all of the
runners make it in from their 13.1 mile running leg that completed today’s triathlon. To see the look of amazement and joy when each runner, able-bodied or challenged, passed that finish line was something I’ll always remember.
I’m glad to have had this experience and will continue to be in attendance for future SD Triathlon Challenges for years to come.
-BB
10-23-09 – QMDC Day Seven – Newport Beach to La Jolla
Great Friends!
Well, the last day has come and the Qualcomm riders are exhausted from our long journey down the coast starting in San Francisco over 6 days ago. The time has come to bring this ride to a close and cross the finish line where our friends and family are eagerly awaiting our return from this weeklong trip of a lifetime!
All of the riders had a great time on the last night in Newport Beach, with the excellent festivities that we enjoyed at the last presentation, from the excellent food, presentations, slideshow and awards ceremony. Before the ride even started, we all had a great task before us — how to pack in all of the stuff that was given to us along this entire trip. From books, plaques, extra clothes and things we’ve all picked up along the way, we all had to stuff everything in our luggage as best as we can!
After a delicious breakfast filled with danishes, oatmeal, waffles and fresh fruit, I joined Adam Beck and Alex Hamlow on the last ride to finish up the QMDC. We left a little later than the rest of the riders, but we were told that we needed to meet up at La Jolla before 1:00 p.m. so that all of the riders and regroup to ride into La Jolla Shores together. Adam and Alex had a chance to get in some last photos and autographs from Christian Vandevelde. Adam had me take a picture of him and Christian while he was signing Adam’s helmet for “proof of authenticity.” Christian, jokingly asked Adam, “hey man, what’s the picture for, you gonna put your helmet up on Ebay?”
So we got in our saddles and I immediately felt all of the muscle pain rushing back full swing in
my quads, hams, lower back and especially my butt! Of course, as is usually the theme for every ride, the last ride began with a pretty hefty climb, which we flew up as fast as we could, only to leave us gasping for air at the top saying “why are you all racing!” Just when I thought we were going to keep a slower pace, we got to take the lead of Alex the clydesdale who pulled at an insane pace from Newport all the way to San Onofre!
Right as we were pulling up to the end of the San Onofre campgrounds and were getting ready for the challenge of riding on the Interstate 5 due to the shutdown of Camp Pendleton, we pulled up alongside Scott Kaplan who just arrived via car after finishing up the Scott & BR Show. Scott asked if he could join us on the ride down the coast, but with a caveat, mentioned that he wasn’t warmed up as he just arrived. We decided to take it slow to keep Scott with us, but Alex’s legs just wouldn’t stop spinning as we took it up to 24 mph down the I-5! Way to warm Scott up!
Just as we were making our way down familiar territory from Oceanside down the coast, we found ourselves swallowed into the peleton of the Garmin-Chipotle team, Mari Holden and Floyd Landis who were racing down the coast! Just then, Joe Weickgenant grabbed my lower back, yanked me into the pack and yelled “DO YOU SEE VANDEVELDE’S WHEEL IN FRONT OF YOU? HANG ON TO HIS WHEEL AND DON’T LET GO!”
“Holy crap”, I thought to myself, how the heck am I going to do this!
But while the pace was fast, I held on for dear life and rode down the rest of the coast with the group! They were all cool people, laughing and having a great time. Then, one of the coolest things happened. Maybe it was Don Parker’s Sheriff connections, but just as we started stopping at stoplights, we suddenly had a police escort blocking all of the stoplights all the way down the coast letting us fly by at full speed!
We arrived at the corner of Scripps Beach (which was coincidentally the beach that I proposed to
my wife at over three years ago), and cheered in our fellow riders as they were pulling in! Everyone was all smiles as they pulled into Scripps knowing that this marks the end of a journey as we were officially in La Jolla! All around us you could see hugs and smiles and high fives and many of the riders screaming “WE MADE IT!” into their cell phones letting their loved ones and friends know that they made it in safely to our final destination. The grassy park was emphatic, with cheers and smiles of exhaustion all around as we all gathered for one last group picture!
After our picture, we all listened to Scott Rhodes giving us last minute congratulations to all of the riders and instructions of how we’re going to proceed into the finish line! As we pulled into the finish line, the Qualcomm riders went through the CAF archway first and lined up followed by me and the XX 1090 TOP SEVEN and Scott Kaplan, followed by the Challenged Athletes and then Dean Roeper and Scott Rhodes. Then, we got to see something completely amazing that brought many of us to tears, seeing Luvo Fanqwela walk with his brand new legs through the archway for the first time.
This was an amazing experience, having an opportunity to ride with 99 of my friends and 
teammates all the way from San Francisco on October 17th, heading to Santa Cruz, to Big Sur, through Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, Marina Del Rey, Newport Beach and all the way to La Jolla on October 23rd.
It was an opportunity of a lifetime, making lasting friendships and being able to witness the most wonderful sights all the way down the coast as well as support the challenged athletes who did an amazing job riding along with us throughout this great experience.
Thanks to Scott & BR, XX 1090, the Challenged Athletes Foundation, my teammates (Alex, Adam, Joe, Joy, Rob M. Mark, Pat, Rob L., Efrain, Ofelia, Ron Pilon and Chris Glossner) all of my friends, family, co-workers and my loving wife for the wonderful support throughout this entire experience that started in June and ended on this beautiful day on October 23rd.
Without you all, I would’ve never had an opportunity to take on this journey. Thank you all very, very much.
-BB
10-22-09 – QMDC Day Six – Marina del Rey to Newport Beach
Good evening friends!
Today, we went from Marina del Rey to Newport Beach for a total of 53 miles. The ride in this area is always a bit slow, as we have to ride through the bike paths along the beach and through multiple signs and stoplights along the way.
As was the case for the entire week, the Scott & BR Show continued on, but on location. So, this morning, me, Alex and Adam went down to the ballroom where the Scott & BR Show had an on location set. Scottie, BR and Pratty were there doing the show and had a promo to give away “Flippy Floppies” Rainbow brand sandals to any QMDC riders who came down and said “GREAT FRIENDS!” We picked up our sandals and then Scott & BR interviewed me, Adam and Alex live on the air to share our experiences!
Today was particularly fun as Floyd Landis came into town to ride with us 
this morning. What was hilarious about it was that QMDC Head Coach Mari Holden made Floyd hold her dog Little B in the doggie backpack all through the ride. While Group 2 made their way through Marina del Rey and through familiar territory of Rancho Palos Verdes that we rode just weeks before on the back-to-back century days, we entered into the “not so much” fun area of Long Beach.
While in Long Beach, something unexpected and yet absolutely hilarious happened. Floyd (with puppy in his backpack) and Mari were at the head of the group and ran a red light on their bikes when the police pulled them over. I came to find out from Floyd later on that the cop didn’t give him a ticket, but wanted to lecture him about the penal code instead!
We pulled up to a great lunch in Seal Beach compliments of Steve Bryant of 
Bryant Rubber, which is one of the main sponsors of the QMDC at a restaurant called Schooner or Later! After having a great cheeseburger, me, Mark VD, Adam and Chin caught up with Josh, one of the Challenged Athletes and rode with him through Seal Beach. Just then, on the way, Mark hits this massive pothole and his rear derailleur popped upside down and into his wheel causing the chain to destroy the rear triangle of his frame! Luckily he wasn’t hurt, but his bike, which was scheduled to be replaced in a year or so with a new bike, was now dead and officially unusable. So, the great folks at Trek Travel gave him a bike to use for the rest of the QMDC!
After arriving at the hotel, we had a chance to get some delicious food followed by getting our rooms and massage work done. Today I was in dire need of getting my neck and lower back taken care of. The masseuse then went through some stretching and she said I was one of the most flexible people she’s ever worked with! Heck, I didn’t know I was that flexible! After the massage, me, Chin, Scott and Adam ended up hanging out with Floyd Landis and played a couple of games of shuffleboard with him. Turns out, none of us knew how the heck the game works, but as dudes with beer usually goes, we ended up just making the rules up as we went along and ended up using our beer cans as targets to hit with the shuffleboard pucks!
Afterwards, we all had our final QMDC dinner where we were all given 
plaques compliments of the ride with our own professional picture and group picture as a parting memento. Then, we had our last presentation, where CAF owner Jeff Esakow, Vikki Indermuehle, Challenged Athlete Rudy Garcia-Tolsen and Co-Chairs Dean Roeper and Scott Rhodes acknowledged all of the great people who helped make this year a great success. What a pleasure this was to be a part of this group and I’m excited to have a chance to ride down the last leg of the QMDC with them all tomorrow!
Stay tuned for the next update after we cross the finish line and finish the QMDC at La Jolla Shores! Also, if any of you readers want to make it out to the finish line, there will be a massive party there and we’ll be crossing the finish line at 1:00 p.m.!
Hope to see you there!
-BB
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
10-20-09 – QMDC Day Four – Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara
Great Friends!
Today was a rough day to wake up after yesterday’s epic ride through Big Sur. Everything was sore. Neck, lower back, quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, everything. But I live and die by my motto: “no painkillers, no supplements, no excuses.” I knew that the first thing I had to do to get around the pain was to stretch everything out and that five minutes of stretching would do wonders the rest of the day. Afterwards, I ran down just in time to grab some breakfast, pack up my stuff and drop off my luggage at the front desk so I could catch Group 3. The best part was that the group was waiting for me to arrive as a bunch of my friends were looking for me as I made my way to my bike.
Today’s ride was long, as we were scheduled for 119 total miles today, but 
the elevation wasn’t anything near yesterday’s ride. After the first SAG stop, I discovered that a number of tired souls were dropping off the pack, so I decided to give them all a hand and lead a group of about 10 riders at a slower pace to help them out. I picked up Michael, Ellen, Dianne, Rocco, Dr. Jae, Brian Lewis and Mark VD and we all got through the heavy winds and all the way to our lunch stop at the Fess Parker Winery! Leading a group was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work! But I was certainly happy to do it. We are all riders throwing down the pedal for a great cause in the Challenged Athletes Foundation, but we’re also friends and I was glad to help my friends out and take a slower paced group in to lunch. Michael made a funny comment when he said, “today the role of Joe Weickgenant will be played by Brian Brillo” commenting on Joe’s heroics in pulling everyone in during yesterday’s brutal ride through Big Sur.
The winery was beautiful. In fact, my wife Becky and I went there just months ago and enjoyed some wine tasting and lunch there. When the group arrived, we were greeted by a number of our fellow riders, but I was most interested about how my buddy Radio Joe did hanging with the Garmin team all day. As I mentioned before, Radio Joe Weickgenant is a stud rider and if he had two good lungs, you probably would’ve heard of him by now because he could’ve been pro. I met Joe on the lawn who said he had a fantastic day, riding along with the pros and giving them a run for their money. Way to go Joe!
One cool moment was that I had a chance to hang out with Christian 
Vandevelde and his wife and got to talk to them for a bit before heading back out on the road. They were hanging out wine tasting in their Garmin cycling kits and looking to pick up a couple of bottles to pack into the Garmin chase car to take home. The thing that so many of us don’t realize about our sports heroes is that they’re also real people who do absolutely normal things. Christian and his wife are great people and I was glad to have met them.
Today told a different story for me. It wasn’t about how fast I could go on the flats or how strong I was on the hills, today was about racking up some good mileage, saving some in the tank, and helping others. So while the groups took off, I again made it a point to hang with the dropped riders who had trouble hanging in the pack and pulled them back into the group. Brian Lewis made a funny comment telling me that I’d have his vote for ride leader next year and I told him that there are a number of factors why I wouldn’t be a good ride leader. First, my name’s not “Mike.” Second, I don’t have patience. Third, I can’t change a flat tire in 45 seconds. And fourth, I’m just not that responsible:)
One quick note was about Alex Hamlow, who finished in the TOP THREE. He 
was also known as “Broken Collarbone Alex” in the XX 1090 contest. Anyway, last night, Alex was walking towards his bed and nailed his pinky toe into the bedpost breaking his pinky toe. Did he still ride? Absolutely. Speaking of injuries, we had one rider go down today, Jim Penseyres, one of the Challenged Athletes in the Operation Rebound program. Jim crashed after clipping a white pole and ended up going down, breaking his shoulder and a rib. We all wished him a speedy recovery!
So, 119 miles down, stomach full of happy food like ice cream that the group got in Solvang and plenty of great food at Fess Parker along with great company in wonderful riders like Brian Lewis, who definitely kept me entertained by his fantastic stories about his other favorite outdoor activity – DIVING, the group pulled into our new resort, where my room, my shower, and my masseuse were waiting for me! We left at 715 and we arrived at 545. What a long day!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update from Marina Del Rey!
-BB
10-19-09 – QMDC Day Three – Big Sur to Pismo Beach
Good evening friends,
Today marks one of the most epic days I’ve ever faced. Today, with over 6000 feet of elevation and 114 total miles, I took on one of California’s best rides, Big Sur to Pismo Beach. We woke up at the butt crack of dawn to head out to breakfast, and right when we opened the door of our cabin, we were quickly reminded of why we’ll be wearing vests, arm and legwarmers today. It was absolutely frigid.
After this morning’s breakfast, we walked into the parking lot to see the Garmin-Slipstream team and the stud bike mechanics getting all of their sweet Felt bikes ready to rock for today’s ride. The Garmin pro chase car was in the parking lot just outside our cabin door!
After getting ready to take on the cold morning (complete with knee warmers, arm warmers, vest and long fingered gloves), a group of about ten of us met up at the bottom of the hill from the hotel to begin our big journey through the mountains.
As we made the first left out of the hotel entrance, it was “only about 14
inches” as Group 1 Ride Leader Kevin Linggi put it, before we began the first 7 mile climb through Big Sur. After yesterday’s awesome massage compliments of Lori from the professional masseuses on this ride, my legs felt great and I decided to hit the climb hard, focusing on my breathing as I made my up the hill.
At just about the 6th mile up the hill, you wouldn’t believe who just passed me: Team Garmin-Chipotle, QMDC Head Coach Mari Holden and the Garmin-Chipotle Chase car! So I’m thinking you would’ve done what any moron would’ve done in such a position — you guessed it, I decided to catch up to them! For video of this awesome experience, check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piLmnFqY9Vs
So I held on for dear life, pushing my pedals as hard as I could up the hills
while trying to stay on their wheel. One minute flew by, two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes! Holy crap, they didn’t drop me yet! I looked back at the Garmin chase car behind me and the driver gave me a smile and a wave!
Next thing you know, I’m passing by my bud Chin on the road and yell “CHIN, GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!” and he hung in with me a for a couple minutes. Just then as I’m descending down a hill, I pass the Grand Poobah, Adam Beck and with a great big smile, wave him down and point to the team I’m racing to keep up with ahead. Later, he told me that was one of the most priceless faces he’s ever seen. Next to my wedding day, 20 minutes of hanging with Team Garmin-Chipotle made today one of the best days ever! For video of this, check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aGbmzGzeok Be sure to turn up the speakers!
After my sorry butt got dropped by Mari and the Garmin Team, I got picked up by Adam Beck, Alex Hamlow and Ride Leader Lisa Jennings and rode in their group until the next SAG, where I chowed down on the much needed food and refilled my bottles from the earlier excitement. Afterwards, I took it easy and rode with the Andrades and Kip for the next 5-10 miles until I picked up Joy riding by herself up the mountains and cliffs of Big Sur. So, Joy and I stuck together for the rest of the day, climbing through the mountains and absolutely bombing down the decents!
While the windy roads up through Big Sur had tons of beautiful cliffsides to 
look out on, we took a rest break at this beautiful site! Riding along the cliffs is one of the most amazing thrills as the windy roads seem neverending and there’s a feeling of calm and oneness with nature as California decided to show me her most beautiful roads and all I could do is ride them.
During one of our other stops, we befriended a funny little squirrel who was not only brave, but no stranger to begging for food. We shared a little granola with him before he decided to take matters into his own hands and climb right onto Joy’s bike!
After clearing the mountains, we were all pretty spent and in need of some 
well deserved lunch, so we dropped off at our lunch spot, which was adorned with sandwiches, pasta salad, green salad and plenty of refreshments to feed our tired bodies! After lunch, I hooked up with Radio Joe Weickgenant, who fearlessly led a group all the way to mile 114 as we made our way to Pismo Beach to end the evening!
Right when I rolled in, I grabbed a shot with the Garmin chase car and then headed to the massage therapists where I was scheduled to meet with my therapist in 15 minutes! I got in the shower, rinsed off, put on a pair of shorts and ran to my appointment where the dude worked on my quads, lower back and hamstrings. He even stretched me out and literally took my leg and stretched it all the way past my head! Afterwards, I ran back to the room, grabbed my new Dan Fouts Chargers Jersey and headed to the ballroom where we watched the game and Scott Kaplan got to do a Q&A session with Christian Vandevelde and some fo the Garmin members.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update from Santa Barbara!
-BB
10-18-19 – QMDC Day Two – Santa Cruz to Big Sur
Great Friends!
For all of you tuning in daily, I didn’t have a chance to update the blog yesterday as we were in the tree covered forest of Big Sur in a cabin last night. What does that have to do with internet access you might ask? I couldn’t even call my wife as there was ZERO reception. No WIFI, no internet, no nothing. I wondered how these people communicated with the outside world. Or, maybe it was a reminder of how ‘plugged in’ I am, living my life connected at the hip with the internet.
Day Two’s ride totalled 86 miles and was fantastic, with beautiful views all through Santa Cruz on the way to Big Sur. Talk about some of the most beautiful sights, this ride went along the coast of Monterey, with breathtaking coastlines, lush green golf courses and more breathtaking coastlines. What a complete contrast to the rides we do in San Diego. You want a great photo for your Facebook on this Day Two ride? Pull off the street and smile. Seriously, everywhere you go is gorgeous.
After the morning breakfast at the Hotel Chaminade, I headed out with 
Group 3 for the early ride, coasting through the city of Santa Cruz. One thing I never realized was that there is quite a lot of farming in Santa Cruz, with fields and fields of vegetation. After the first SAG where where got to fill up our water bottles and replenish our food, I decided to take it down a notch and slowed the pace in preparation for tomorrow’s massive ride at Big Sur.
So I headed out of the SAG with friends Chintan Turakhia, Joy Muehlenbein, 
Joe De Rosa and Mark Vandierendonck and we headed on a photo tour, taking numbers of photos and trying out the local cuisine, like “fried artichoke” from a local market in Santa Cruz! Here’s mainly what it is: artichoke hearts, battered, deep fried and served with a side of ranch dressing!
After our snack, we headed out to Monterey, which is beautiful by car, but 
even more so by bike, as we got to take in the bike paths, meet some local riders, and brave the winds together while stopping for some great shots. Monterey is just one of those places you can retire to. Antique Victorian homes line the streets and bed and breakfasts are around every corner. And its completely bike friendly, with miles of bike paths that wind all around the ocean. There was a moment where I had to take my focus off of my cadence, my heartrate or my speed and just look around to see what a breathtaking state we live in.
Nearing the last remaining miles of the ride, we began to make our way towards Big Sur, as our brave Qualcomm Riders and Challenged Athletes headed into the mountains towards the forest. Along the way we all had a chance to take a picture next to one of Big Sur’s most famous bridges — and this guy had a chance to take in a quick banana and gel before joining Colonel Mike and Dean Roeper on the biggest climb of the day.
We finally arrived at Big Sur, and much like the day before, no ride is 
complete without the long climb up the entrance towards the hotel. I’m thinking they wanted to punish us a little longer by making us climb into the hotel instead of pulling up to it. The hotel reminded me of 6th grade camp, with green hills surrounded by trees with cabins lining the winding roads. The team met at the dining hall down the hill for some much needed dinner!
After Dr. Mike’s update that one of our fellow riders Dana went head over handlebars and ended up injuring her hip and groin, there was a heartwrenching presentation where Scott Kaplan talked about his cousin who passed away on the Big Sur to Pismo Beach ride after a horrible crash through the mountains. We all raised a glass in his honor. To close the evening, Vikki presented Adam Beck with the Grand Poobah hat to celebrate his winning the XX 1090 contest and we all got in for the picture.
I ended up sharing a cabin with fellow TOP SEVEN riders Adam, Mark and Joe and we all laughed and shared stories until we fell asleep in preparation for tomorrow’s epic 114 mile day through the mountains.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update!
-BB
10-17-09 – QMDC Day One – San Francisco to Santa Cruz
Great Friends,
Today was the start of the most epic ride I’ve ever been on. 
I got to wear my brand new San Francisco to Santa Cruz jersey, one of 7 jerseys we’ll get to wear along the way. Joe and I got our lazy butts out of our beds and headed down to the ballroom for breakfast, which was spread out with breakfast burritos, bagels, fresh fruit, coffee and my favorite pre-ride meal, oatmeal!
Roll out was at 730 and we checked out of our room, dropped off our luggage with the CAF luggage truck and headed out to the back of the hotel to see an amazing sight. There was a huge inflatable CAF-QMDC archway, our bikes were all on racks, all tuned up, cleaned and ready for the ride, and police escorts were ready to go. We all were so happy to be here taking on this great challenge in celebration of the challenged athletes and had a ton of hugs and hi-fives all around before we were called up for a group picture.
Right after our group picture where we had all 100 riders and 11 challenged 
athletes altogether at the starting line, we had a singer perform the National Anthem and then we were on our way! Rolling out made us all feel so pro as we rode under police escort all the way through San Francisco. It was pretty chilly at about 56 degrees in the morning, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with the size of the smiles on our faces. Vikki and a professional photographer were riding along with us in a convertible Mustang snapping pictures of us along the way!
The ride was amazing, 85 miles from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, and the views were stunning. We got to ride down the coast through some fun climbs along the cliffs of Half Moon Bay and also through the famous Mavericks beach, home of big wave surfing. Weeks before we even left for San Francisco, the Ride Leaders and riders who have gone through this experience gave us a fair forewarning not to push to hard in the beginning due to the sheer excitement. I don’t think any one of us listened. We were absolutely flying for the first half of this ride before me and Chris “Fireman” Babler decided to take it back a notch as we yelled to each other, “what the heck are we racing for?”
Along the route, we got to see stuff here in Northern California that we don’t
get to see very often in Southern California. While our mountains and climbs are through canyons and valleys, their climbs are through woods and rocky cliffs. We were riding along towards Santa Cruz when we saw a deer in the bike lane! Its a good thing Chris yelled that it was in front of me as I was staring off at the scenery or I would’ve had to try to bunny hop the deer, which would end in one of two ways: super cool bunny hop points with my fellow riders as I could brag that I jumped a deer along the way, or I could’ve smashed into it going head over handlebars and making a big fool of myself.
After an amazing lunch spread complete with pasta salads, green salads, sandwiches and snacks, we all had professional pics taken of each one of us along the beach line. After we wrapped up, Fireman Chris and I got to ride with speedsters David Crabb, Tamara Gonzalez, Brian Sorriken, Dr. Andrew and Dianne Connell among others. We pacelined through the hills and flats towards Santa Cruz and finally made it to the finish at the Chaminade Hotel. Of course, no part of the ride is easy as the driveway up to the Chaminade was a super steep hill at mile 86. Nice.
As we pulled to the finish line at the Chaminade, the Trek Travel folks picked
up my bike and pointed me towards the post-ride reception, complete with food, water, BEER, and massages! This is so what feels like to be pro. A moment after lunch I was called up for my massage where a sports massage therapist worked on my quads, calves and hamstrings from today’s long ride. I can definitely get used to this!
After a wonderful dinner, we had a great presentation by some of the members of Operation Rebound, veterans who have sustained injuries that have left them disabled during their service to their country. Each of the members got to share their own stories of adversity and courage and one of the Operation Rebound members said it best when he stated: “where one door closed, many more opened.”
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update from Big Sur!
-BB
10-14-09 – Arrival in San Francisco and Pre-Ride Festivities!
Hello friends!
Thanks to my lovely wife who happily woke up at 400 a.m. this morning to get me to the airport at 530, I got on a plane headed to San Francisco to take on the biggest physical challenge of my life.
As I walked into my terminal, I was greeted by a number of familiar faces, including the Millums (Rob and his lovely wife Jayne), as well as Group 1 rider Scott and Group 3 rider Brian. Ended up catching a cab ride with Brian and Scott to our Hyatt Hotel here at Fisherman’s Wharf where we met a number of the Qualcomm Riders all here to take on the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge!
Upon arrival at the hotel, I met up with XX 1090 Sixth place finisher “Radio Joe” Weickgenant and QMDC Co-Chairman Dean Roeper at the front desk and there were big smiles and hugs all around. Joe and I got to our awesome room and decided that since we got in so early, we should get out and do a quick ride!
Joe and I headed out from Downtown San Francisco to Sausalito to Mill 
Valley for a 35 mile ride. Coming from always doing rides in and around the San Diego area, this was quite a treat, to have the opportunity to ride over the Golden Gate Bridge (where, for the record, we had to spend the majority of the time weaving through pedestrians, which is always a treat), but had the chance to take in some great views and see places that I’ve never seen on a bike.
San Franisco is a beautiful place to ride, and it has some great climbs all over the city. Joe is one of my favorite people to ride with not only because of his amazing skill, but his coaching prowess and willingness to take care of everyone he rides with.
After the ride, we headed back to the hotel and I got to experience first-hand what it feels like to be a pro rider as I got to talk to the QMDC professional bike mechanics about making a couple minor adjustments to my bike. The dude placed my bike on the stand, spun the cranks, adjusted the front derailleur and bingo, it worked like a dream.
We all headed out for a quick lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf and met up with Ellen, Joy Muehlenbein and Steve Bryant, who is one of the major sponsors for this year’s ride. Lunch was delicious, and I had one of my favorite San Francisco foods — Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl. (For the record, I ended up having it again for dinner too.)
Once all of the riders arrived, we all headed to the ballroom downstairs at 400 where we got to pick up some great goodies, including bags filled with new QMDC/CAF Jackets, armwarmers, bottles and a bunch of great stuff that we’ll be using on the ride. We also got our first taste of massages as well, which this guy could definitely get used to!
The 100 riders, sponsors, and CAF staff all headed into the ballroom for a great presentation from Dean Roeper talking about the fact that the entire team has worked hard for the past 5 months to raise awareness and funds for the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge, and collectively, this year’s 2009 team raised the 1 million dollars!
We also had an opportunity to congratulate all of our Ride Leaders for a job well done over the course of the training rides, learned about what to expect from Vikki from the CAF and J.B. of Trek Travel, safety precautions from Dr. Mike McHale and got to hear a great speech from Scott Kaplan, who individually recognized all of the TOP SEVEN riders including this year’s 2009 XX1090 champ, Adam Beck. Adam had a chance to say a couple of things, including the fact that today marks the day that one year ago, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. What a great story.
As we closed the presentation, we had a chance to recongize what this experience is all about, and got to individually meet the 11 Challenged Athletes that will be joining us on this year’s ride. Among the great athletes, we all got to finally meet Rachel Cowan, who has been doing all of the training from her home in Florida in her home on a cycling trainer. The CAF then presented her with a brand new handcycle compliments of a number of great sponsors!
So, here we are, back in our rooms and resting up for Day 1 of tomorrow’s big trip. Waking up at 530 tomorrow as breakfast starts at 600 and we’re scheduled to roll out at 730!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update from beautiful Santa Cruz!
-BB