Day 6 - Santa Monica to Dana Point - 72 miles, 1,500 ft. climb

Carnitas, Cervezas and Bill Walton

Ezra Frech of CAF and Chris Self, 7 tours in Iraq, Special Forces and CAF Athlete

I had to have a picture taken with my bike and the mechanics who had cleaned and adjusted all of our bikes, every night of the ride and delivered them to us in the morning. The men from "Onsupport" were great, the loved my old steel bike and kept it running well through the whole ride. Thank you so much.

I had planned on riding with Sully again today as yesterday was my most enjoyable pace of all the days, but as we gathered up some other riders and I rode with some different riders. Duane, a Vietnam veteran, double amputee who had just rode down the coast last week with "Operation Rebound" who was pictured on my sto[ to eat pie on day 3. A little ride time with Tara, who lost her leg in an auto accident and is now a speaker for Challenged Athlete Foundation.  We rode together in our training rides and it was good to spend some more time with her.

(Tara's story is at http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/20/san-diegan-reborn-after-losing-part-her-leg/

The ride out of Santa Monica is along the bike path through Huntingdon Beach and a fellow rider, Maggie Osburn wanted to stop at Taco Surf in Belmont Shores but I had lost her during the ride. As we're at a light in Belmont Shores, another rider came up and said that she just saw Maggie, eating by herself at a taco shop.  Maggi said Taco Surf had the best carnitas so I turned around and we had a great lunch and a beer. That sounded great but as we went down the coast the wind picked up but with an even slower paces but higher cadence, we worked our way to Dana Point to our hotel.

In we went to the Laguna Cliffs Marriott hotel, Darcy and the kids were walking up the steep driveway as I rode in. A brief massage and as I was ready to leave, my coach came by after stopping at the $10 Halloween store. Pat Jak is not Superman, he's a great coach though, even if he is from Cleveland.

Great closing ceremonies. Videos from the rides, time with new friends and plans for the next day. But we had spoken briefly to Bill Walton earlier in the week and he was very kind with Luke. So since he was sitting next to us I wanted to thank him and have Luke's picture with him. Bill talked to Luke us for 20-30 minutes. He spoke about to Luke about the pressure to be cool, how tough it is growing up now and the importance of "squares"like the old people in the room. Bill talked about overcoming challenges like he overcame stuttering at age 28. I mentioned Luke's challenge with reading and then Bill really spoke to Luke about how important Reading and Math are and that if Luke ever had problems that he couldn't speak to his dad about that Luke should call him.  Yes, the 3-time NCAA basketball champion, two-time NBA champion, NBA MVP, a student of  the great John Wooden and current NBA announcer said, "call me if you have any problems." That is just so cool. Bill also raised over $140,000 this year alone for Challenged Athlete Foundation. So we all got our pictures taken with Bill. When you see how he hobbles around, both ankles fused together, raising money for CAF. riding down the coast with the largest orange bike you have ever seen, you realize what a special organization this is.

We made some plans for the next day, said goodnight to some new friends and we talked abut maybe next year, riding again. Some people have asked me if I would consider being a ride leader for the slower groups. I am kind of flattered that people thought of me that way and the fundraising is less so I'll see how I feel  after the ride and when registration opens next

But I would definitely consider it.