GliderKing's photostream

GliderKing's photostream on Flickr.

Some more pics from Million Dollar Challenge. This time from our roving moto photog Wil Mathews.

CAFrica... the adventure continues

So just when you thought my crazy fundraising and bike riding frenzy would finally come to an end, I signed up for CAFrica. A Challenged Athlete Foundation ride to South Africa in late February. In fact, there's just a few spots left if your interested. Here's the sales pitch!


CAFrica is a journey that will challenge you physically, astound you with beauty and leave you more connected to the world.


On this event along the southern tip of South Africa you will experience miles of open road, both paved and path, which weave through the countryside delivering endless vistas, challenging climbs and a peek into the culture of this proud country. The Outeniqua Mountains (which includes the Langeberg  and Tsitsikamma mountain ranges) will be your constant companion as you cycle alongside - and sometimes over – their dramatic peaks.  

Link to photo overview of our Journey

The journey along the famous Garden Route often dips south to touch the edge of the ocean and also carries you upward to ride along ridges overlooking the vast untamed landscape.  It connects endless villages and towns that range from outposts to thriving cities. 

Each of our stop-over accommodations has its own personality, and night after night offers a different cultural experience.  Beachside houses, country homes, colonial inns, luxurious wine land hotels, and Bush chalets, all offer a style of South African hospitality that we don’t experience in North America.  Innkeepers and the local population are eager to serve and entertain you, and show great care for your individual experience. 


In addition, the dining opportunities will bring a sense of adventure and satisfaction to every meal.  Try something uniquely local (ostrich, pap and wors, or Peri Peri sauce?) or savor a dish with a European influence.  The treats are especially fun to try including biltong, Steri Stumpies, and Rusks to dip in your coffee! To satisfy hungry riders, all our favorite “fueling” foods are available too.


The ride itself would be rewarding enough, but by far the opportunity to engage with the local people will make this the trip of a lifetime.  South Africa is known for its multiethnic society.  You’ll hear a multitude of languages and have the chance to understand the lifestyle and passions of the people, including local challenged athletes you have supported.

Link to mileage, climbing stats

A touching, wild, luxurious and inspiring adventure awaits! Be sure to click on each of the links below to get full information and I am happy to answer additional questions.

Link to guest program itinerary 

We look forward to having your join us on Thursday, February 27 through Sunday March 9, 2014 as we travel along the Garden Route of South Africa, all the way from Jeffreys Bay to Cape Town.

Link to Signup

2013 Million Dollar Challenge is now complete

Harder to pedal than any spin class... but far more rewarding

Day 7: Started the day with some trepidation and warnings from others. I was to ride Lance Weir's tandem handcycle for part of today's journey from Dana Point to La Jolla. I was supposed to meet him just before the entrance to Camp Pendleton and pedal as far as I could. I heard rumours of how hard it is to ride. Turns out it's far harder than I thought, but also by far the most rewarding part of my journey for the entire MDC North or South.

Graduation Day. That bitter sweet sensation of being stoked and bummed at the same time.

Day 7. We made it to the end of our adventure. Today we ride from Dana Point to San Diego. Last night the plaques were handed out, the Templeton was shared, more amazing connections were made. We got a a chance to meet Eduardo who was electrocuted and was in ICU for 45 days fighting for his life but won. He lost an arm, and had 21 surgeries to put things back together, but will be competing in his first triathlon on Sunday... with a very special bike. Rene Roth donated Duane's bike to Eduardo last night in a incredible ceremony. I had a moment with him last night after nearly everyone had left the room. He's a special guy, and it's a perfect match. If he gets just a little of the Duane affect, he's in for a great ride in life.

We roll into La Jolla Shores park at 2p. If you are around, it's an incredible experience to see.

8401-8405 El Paseo Grande, La Jolla, CA 92037

Link: <https://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.858926,-117.255701&num=1&t=h&vpsrc=0&gl=us&ie=UTF8&z=18> 

More photos and blog soon. 

Day 6: Santa Monica to Dana Point with a slight detour

Today we left Santa Monica late. Rumor had it that it was because of a fog advisory. A fog advisory for our heads after mixing Templeton Rye and Foxen Pinot. Coincidently, the weather outside was perfect. Hummm...

Barbara enjoying the bike path life

We cruised down the bike path and enjoyed the morning scenery and tried to not wipe out on all the sand. It pretty dicey when riding in a group and people walking dogs, roller bladders, bums mumbling, yoga classes, surfers, moms pushing double wide baby haulers. And this is 8am. Can't imagine on a sat afternoon!

Day 5 Santa Barbara to Santa Monica

Perfect weather and a great send off in the morning of the Star Spangled Banner by guitar and a pep talk by sports broadcasting legend Dick Endberg (who's wife is riding with us this year btw). We were off down the coast. The scenery is spectacular as we keep the water on the right side. The roads however, required constant attention.

Nancy's chain is beyond help courtesy of me

Day 4 Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara

What does the Foxen Say? Day 4 was spent retracing some of the same roads I took on the way north. In that respect it was a bit anticlimactic, but I had some time to look around and see some things i didn't see before. We had some early offshore winds that caused some havoc in the peloton. A lot of people are riding deep section carbon wheels that are hard to handle in a cross wind, and early yesterday, that was the case.

Don English (r) and John Howard blasting thru the crosswinds

Day 3... Epic Day Along Big Sur...

We've been cruising. Day 2 we hit the digital black hole of Big Sur. The hotel we were at... well, the motel we were at doesn't really have internet. So the blog, instagram, facebook are onhold. Today we broke the digital impasse, but really, who cares. were on the most beautiful section of coastline in the world as we hit the Big Sur coast on a early monday morning. Spectacular... more tomorrow night. Today was a 115 miles and it's time to prep for the longest day of the ride. 130 miles tomorrow. Stay tuned.

CAF's Million Dollar Challenge 2013: The Main Event

The 2013 CAF MDC is underway...

We're off! After early morning send off ceremony and an amazing rendition of Country's National Anthem by Breezy, we set off for Santa Cruz across the Golden Gate Bridge. Once again, it was awe inspiring to see towering in the fog as crossed over into the city to be met by police. No really, we had a police escort all the way to the southern border of San Francisco through every intersection. We all got pretty spoiled pretty quickly.

R & R Day: Restless and Ready...

Spent the day today trying to figure out how to spend my day. I got up early, then went back to sleep. But that didn't last long. I got out of bed, threw on my cycling clothes and pulled out my bike and headed over to the city across the Bridge. Not hard, not easy either... just a little ride to not let my legs forget we have some work to do this coming week.

Bike laundry day...

Day Five... glorious Day 5... we made it to San Francisco

Not the usual direction, but that's what made it epic!

We made it. Crossed the bridge today on route to our hotel at the Lodge at Cavallo Point about 2pm today. That's after we had a coffee at Rapha in the city. I've been meaning to check that place out, and it was worth the visit. But I digress... 

We left Mountain View at 7am, and it was chilly. We headed up and over Old La Honda, which is a incredible climb. In fact if the light was better, I wanted to take more pictures. As it was, we only took a few. The road surface was fantastic, and the climb was beautiful in the early morning. 

Day 4: Carmel to Mountain View and a look ahead to Day 5

Wow, what a day. We started the day with rain. No really, some pretty heavy wet stuff as we left the motel to 'warm up' on the 17 mile drive. It was more like the 17 miles of driving rain and wind. It was stunning even with the weather, but it was not good for morale when we had 120 some miles to go with ninety percent of the climbing in the last half of the stage.

Climbing up Empire with our Dodge Journey CAF service car

Day 3 Paso Robles to Carmel Recap and look ahead to Day 4

Wow, what a day. Started off cold... like stop the car, get all the cold gear out and suit up. It was in the 40's from the hotel and kept that way for a good portion of the early ride. Wished I had dug out my toe warmers... But the possible rain prediction never came to fruition and the beginning of the ride along the 101 at spots was not a problem. Cody was up for the challenge after his gallant fight with some sort of food poisoning on Stage 1. 

The signature of the day, and maybe even the 5 days of riding was Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd which is a picturesque ass-kicker that takes you from the valley side of the 101 and puts you on Highway 1. It goes through an Army base and because of the federal shutdown, all the national park campgrounds on the ocean side of the climb were closed, so we saw at most 4 cars the entire climb and descent. Fantastic. Couple that with epic weather, we were in heaven. 

Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd heading west

Day 2: Santa Maria to Paso Robles... the transition stage and a preview of Day 3

Today I had company. Mark Fillebrown joined me after Cody had food poisoning mid stage on day one. It wasn't pretty, but luckily Cody's Australian constitution is tough, so he's up for tomorrow's queen stage... but we'll get to that in a second.

Mark was my wingman on day 2. Pulled into the wind most of the day!

Looking ahead to CDM Day 2..

90 miles and 7,000 feet climbing
Leave the farming community of Santa Maria for a roll around the heart of the central coast near San Luis Obispo. Then up you go as you clear the coastal range and cruise into wine country.
Highlights:

• Cruise around quaint central coast towns near San Luis Obispo
• Take on the well-known leg stretcher, Old Creek Road
• Cut across the vineyards located west of Paso Robles
• Cruise down the ever popular and fun descent of Peachy Canyon • Grab a nice meal with wine in downtown Paso to cap off the day 

Link to the route: 

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3429765

Day One... Santa Barbara to Santa Maria.

Fabulous weather greeted us for the first pedal strokes of our northbound journey. The views from Painted Cave were stunning as we threaded our way over the top of Santa Barbara and down toward the Figueroa Mountain climb. That climb was the real deal. Like really tough, long and did I mention long. Then after a incredibly beautiful but bumpy descent, we hit the wind we've been warned about. It was blowing down Foxen road, which brought us all the way to Santa Maria. But nothing that a little mexican food couldn't cure. We'll hit it again tomorrow. 90 miles, and 7,000 feet on tap. Hopefully if we get an early start, we can avoid some of the afternoon wind. We'll see. 

Cody Stevenson

Looking Ahead To Day One: Santa Barbara to Santa Maria

Day one. We start the journey with a 100 mile, 10,000 feet of wonderfulness! No seriously. 

We begin in lovely Santa Barbara. Proceed to climb the famous Painted Cave with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. Later, we tackle Figueroa Mountain, hallowed training grounds of many World Tour professional cycling teams in the off season. Then we ride through wine country via Foxen Canyon Road. Perhaps a quick stop for a sample? Well, maybe a photo now and then. 

Link to the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3451153

Day One of CDM: That's backwards for Million Dollar Challenge in reverse...

Training complete... now rest

Ugh, so if I would have known that Rob Panzera, my favorite coach (well, my only coach) would have me as worked over as I am today, I might not have signed up for the northbound express. Today was a 'short' 40 miler with about 3,000 feet of vertical. This was on the easy side of my recent rides. Yesterday for example was over 100 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing. The legs are feeling sore but good, so having a couple of days off before starting on Sunday should make them feel even better!

One More Big Ride

With tomorrow's ride from Rob Panzera calling for 3hrs and 3,000 feet, today was the main attraction on the training schedule. I headed east and started the ride in Pine Valley. It was in the high 40's this morning, so luckily I learned my lesson to always have arm warmers and a light wind vest in the car for east county starts. The weather on the coast is almost never the same weather as in the mountains.