Saturday, September 15, 2012

Arthritis Ride - Day 7 - Buellton (Solvang) to Aventura

92.5 miles from Solvang to Aventura through beautiful, sunny Santa Barbara. The first part of the ride started with a climb on Hwy 101 and then a nice swift downhill! Thank God for the CHP.

It was perfect riding weather along the coast and seeing the ocean and the beaches. We got to help a woman (75 years old and her 95 year old mom) when the flap from their truck got caught around the tire, as we were
cycling. We were able to cut off the flap and they were on their way. They were ranchers, but she explained that she left her tools back at the ranch. It is amazing when you slow down, how you can help another person just by asking.

Also, it is special when various people along the way are thanking us for riding for a cure for arthritis! Honking and yelling - very supportive! Very, very special!

Day 8 is coming tomorrow and into Santa Monica.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Arthritis Ride - Day 6 - Oceano (Pismo Beach) to Buellton (Solvang)

71 miles cruising through the strawberry fields, lettuce fields, and wine grape vineyards of southern SLO county and northern Santa Barbara county.

We started by going a little off-route for 7 miles for some delicious cinnamon rolls BACK in Pismo Beach!!! Incredible!!!

After flowing through the farming fields and picking out the smells - lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, parsley, etc we met up with 96 degree heat through the Foxen Canyon on our way to Buellton. Another great day of riding though - can't beat it!!

Onto Ventura tomorrow!!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Arthritis Ride - Day 5 - San Simeon to Oceano / Pismo Beach

67 miles through some cute, small beach towns - Cambrian, Cayucos and Morro Bay. The sun finally came out as we rode into SLO (San Luis Obispo) and saw a couple of family friends - Priya and Ashleigh, who are attending Cal Poly.

We did have a little adventure (or should I say Maria did) with her shifter cable snapping and then learning how to change her 1st flat. Thanks to Jamaica and then to Jerry for their assistance!

The day ended beautifully with a trip to gorgeous Avila beach. I did not know it even existed.

Tomorrow we go inland to Solvang / Buellton for a total of 65+ miles.

Arthritis Ride - Day 4 - Big Sur to San Simeon

70 miles of climbing today with 5200 feet of climbing. A long day and sore legs, but with a view like this, who can complain. Great riding weather again - nice and cool with light fog along the coast. You have to see the new bridge / tunnel they are putting in. Amazing!

Onto to Pismo Beach / Oceano tomorrow...

Arthritis Ride - Day 3 - Monterey to Big Sur

58 miles today to Big Sur through 17 mile drive and into Carmel before the last 26 miles to Big Sur. Beautiful scenery along the coast. Nothing like riding 17 mile drive on the bike! Had some light fog, but what a beautiful view.

Onto San Simeon tomorrow!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Arthritis Ride - Day 2 - Santa Cruz to Monterey

Day 2 is done and in the books. It was 55 miles with some headwind. Up at 5:45 to get packed up (tents and all) and roll out by 8:15. We cruised by the lighthouse and the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, Capitola and onto Monterey. We are staying at the Veterans Memorial Park where they play Taps and Revelry in the morning for our wakeup call. It was foggy and overcast, but a beautiful day cycling in memory of Christiana. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Arthritis Ride - Day 1 - San Francisco to Santa Cruz

Wow! What an incredible day!! Serena was amazing - that girl is a natural cyclist - 'On Your Left'.

Today we rode 91 miles with 5000 feet of climbing as we rode from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. The temperature was perfect and the scenery was even better down the coastline. There wasn't any fog as we rode across the Golden Gate bridge and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. We just had to be careful as we went around the bridge towers with oncoming cyclists. From there it was down the coastline and enjoying the ocean and breeze to Santa Cruz. What a nice tailwind ;-) for the last 40 miles.

We had special visitors in camp as Cherie and Cheryl Cole came to visit us and bring a huge football SpongeBob!

Santa Cruz to Monterey tomorrow - Mocha Chai and Chocolate Eclairs ;-)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

LA - Which way do we go?

We will be on our way tomorrow .... Can you believe it?


Thank you all for your contributions and your prayers. Continue to check our blogs for updates.

I believe Serena's expression says it ALL ;-)


Sunday, September 2, 2012

One more week .... LA here we come!!!


Can you believe we are only 1 week away from cycling down the coast?  We leave next Sunday, 9/9, from San Francisco!  We have been training pretty hard to get ready; in fact, yesterday we rode 74 miles with 4500 feet of climbing as we cycled down to Pt. Reyes from San Rafael!

Thank you ALL for your prayers and your donations!!  We have raised over $10K ($10,013 to be exact)!  We are over our minimum and only $2000 left to reach our goal of $12,000!  Thank you SOOOOO much!

Until the next blog :-)

Sunday, August 26, 2012

13 Days to Go!!!


Woo hoo - 13 days to go!!

As most of you know, SpongeBob was Christiana's favorite character, so he will be riding with the whole team (Team AlsoTouch) down the coast of California!  We are only 2 weeks away from our start of the ride and we are getting excited.  We are 78% of the way to our minimum goal, so thank you all for your contributions!  We really appreciate your contributions, your thoughts and especially your prayers.  If you would still like to contribute, here are the links to each one of us!  Thank you again!

For Serena - http://2012cccnca.kintera.org/usc
For Maria - http://2012cccnca.kintera.org/heaven
For Dwight - http://2012cccnca.kintera.org/christiana

God's Blessings,
Dwight, Maria and Serena

Friday, July 27, 2012

Last weekend, Serena and Maria, completed a century (100 miles) cycling with 15 ladies from our church, Abundant Life Christian Fellowship.  They started in Fremont and ended in beautiful (yet windy) Monterey.  The husbands (and boyfriends) helped to support (SAG) them all the way down to Monterey!  All in a weekend ride, getting ready for the cycling down the coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles!  Great job ladies!!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

LA - Team Also Touch is on it's way!

Welcome to our blog for the California Coast Classic. This Dwight's 6th year, Maria's 4th year and Serena's 1st year (YEAH!!) in riding down the coast in memory of Christiana.

Here's where you can find the updates on our rides and even comment!

We currently have 10 weeks until we leave San Francisco for our bike ride to Los Angeles. We leave from San Francisco on September 9th and arrive in Los Angeles on the 16th. It is a total of 525 miles over 8 days (but we do a little more as we do some site seeing :-). The team (Also Touch) will be 12 people (so far) this year; 8 from Northern California and 4 from Southern California.

Over the past 5 years, we have been able to donate $180,000 to the Arthritis Foundation because of your generous donations. Thank you all so much!

If you are able to contribute please click on the following links below for Maria or Dwight. If you notice that one of us has already reached our minimum of $3000, please donate to the other.

For Serena - http://2012cccnca.kintera.org/usc
For Dwight - http://2012cccnca.kintera.org/christiana
For Maria - http://2012cccnca.kintera.org/spongefan

Also, continue to keep us in prayer as we continue our training for the ride.