Day 1 SF to Santa Cruz

The first day was awesome. Day 1 was from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, an 86 mile adventure. Although I started the day incredibly nervous and uncertain of what to expect for the ride, I ended the day confident and amazed at how cool this entire group of riders really is. The day started off in style with photos, a great national anthem sung by a fellow amputee, followed by a countdown and then we were off. The first 30 miles or so was led by police escort vehicles until we got out of the city, no big deal. In the meantime I had the pleasure of riding alongside a man named Andy Hatcher a below the knee amputee. Andy is an avid cyclist and former member of the paralympic cycling team. I made it my goal to keep up with him throughout the day, and I did! But I think I may pay for that in the morning. I was able to learn a lot from him. He taught me what it takes to be an amputee cyclist and about the amputee cycling community in general. Over the course of the day I also learned that Andy had lost his leg in Iraq to a roadside bomb and that he began cycling as a means for rehabilitation and ended up falling in love with the sport and the speed.
The ride itself was beautiful! Ocean views the entire way. My group consisted of about 6-10 riders. We stopped for lunch at mile 44 and after refueling and resting I got to get back on my bike when I realized that my back tire was flat…no wonder the last hill was so difficult. Turns out I had a pretty good size hole in my brand new tire. Lucky for me they had mechanics on site that replaced the tire and repaired my flat in record speed. Not more than a mile down the road I noticed a clicking noise coming from my back spokes. Apparently my rear derailleur was bent and it was hitting the spokes on my back tire. So we called the mechanics up and they repaired my bike again. After this we were off and problem free for the rest of the ride. I made it to the hotel got a quick massage, some excellent food and then a great nap. At dinner they entertained us with a Q & A session of the five wounded soldiers that are on the ride. Two are below the knee amputees from Vietnam and three are from Iraq. There are so many cool people on this ride and everyone has a story so I am looking forward to day 2 and the adventures that it has in store. Day 2 is from Santa Cruz to Big Sur, another 86 miles! Good night.