For those who are wondering what i’m talking about, you can go here.
Yes, i did it. All 575 miles of it (or thereabouts). And i had a blast. Wasn’t at all sore or even tired at the end, though i was very happy about not having to hear or say “on your left!” or “car back!” for a while.
A few stories to share:
[ul]
[li]I did the entire ride wearing a kilt. There were multiple reasons for this: 1) i was riding in honor of a fallen comrade who was very proud of his scottish heritage, 2) i wanted to be a little unique, and 3) i hate spandex. I didn’t, however, wear the kilt in a traditional fashion, much to the dismay of many fellow riders. That would be very painful.[/li]
[li]If you’re a gay man looking for action, the AIDS ride is seventh heaven. At least half the guys here are gay, many are single, and they all work out. Never mind the fact that there’s 1000+ guys in bike shorts, and communal showers. Unfortunately, i’m not gay.[/li]
[li]If you’re a straight man looking for action, you’re pretty much SOL. My tent-mate explained the reason for this: “after 85 miles of riding a day, our koochies HURT!” Fortunately, i wasn’t looking for action. ;)[/li]
[li]One thing i don’t really need to hear at any time, but especially not at 5am just after waking up in a tent, from a few tents down: “did you wake up with a big hardon like me???”[/li]
[li]My team did the ride with pirate flags flying over our bikes. These were very useful when it came to finding each other, and for finding the bikes at camp every morning. When there’s 3000 bikes parked together, it’s nice to have something you can see from far away. Sure, it created some wind drag, but we weren’t racing here.[/li]
[li]The key to enjoying the ride is to stop early and stop often. The pit stops are often the best parts of the ride: oftentimes the pit crews will dress up in outrageous costumes and do all sortsa silly things. Plus there’s free food. In addition, there’s plenty of other places to stop, offering everything from steamed artichokes to donuts to hot springs, and they’re all fantastic. I totally screwed up on this on the first day and took off, only stopping for lunch. I got to camp early enough to shower and do laundry and everything without waiting in line, but then i had to wait 3 hours before any of my friends arrived.[/li]
[li]On the second day, we rode 103 miles through endless fields of crops. At the last pit stop, there was a group of kids from a nearby school (1st or 2nd grade, i’d say). They were all children of migrant workers, and they were handing out sweets that they’d made for us in school! Right after that, another group of kids stopped us on the street and asked for our autographs. Very cute, very touching.[/li]
[li]While heading for the showers with my friends Jim and Nicole, this woman came up to Jim and said he looked like the kind of guy who’d be willing to show his ass in public (he was also wearing a kilt). He was like, “uh yeah, sure” and she proceeded to lead us to a truck full of guys holding ratings cards. So Jim raises his kilt, Nicole and this woman start slapping, and the crowd goes wild, showing "10"s across the board. In the middle of this, an anonymous passerby returning from the showers sees the target, sticks a finger in her mouth, and wedges it up my friend’s ass! The look on his face was priceless! :D[/li]
[li]No offense to local dopers, but i hate LA.[/li]
[li]Finally: i’m still alive! 
But getting back to real life sucks. :([/li][/ul]
I wanna give a HUGE thanks to everyone here that contributed. I got over $600 from dopers, which went a long way towards meeting my total goal. I owe you all a drink.
