I thought I could blog this bad boy while I was on the road but turns out they didnt have computers for us to use to do that and besides, I was so exhausted I couldnt have even if I wanted to.
So here's the scoop.

To bed at 9 pm to up at 4 am to meet at 6 am to start work at 7 am....sunday May 31st.

It was all a blur even as I moved through it. Confusion, wrapping my head around the paperwork displaying directions, trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to do when I arrive at my assigned corner...
It was all just a cluster fuck in my head.
But the high of having a packed motorcycle with all I might need and meeting my crew mates all decked out in their moto finest was an over the top rush.

This is how it works. 2100 bicyclists leave from cow palace s.f. anytime between 6 am and like 9 am, heading towards L.A. On this day Sunday, the first day, they will ride around 90 miles. They turn many corners. They cross many wicked streets. They merge where cars are unforgiving. They face death at every turn.

Hence the Moto Saftey crew. We jump ahead of them, position ourselves on a nasty corner and warn/direct/encourage them as they pass. Once the last rider has passed us (noted by the infamous Caboose which is a bright yellow truck that travels from S.F. to L.A. going 10 mph or the speed of the very last bike rider...Day in and day out)
We then we speed our motorcycles up ahead of the group and position ourselves at another knarly corner and do it all over again.
We leap frog them all day. 30 of us on our moto's. Leap frogging the bicycles.
The mapping out of scary corners, the assigning of moto's to the corners, the making sure that the moto crews are not consistently assigned to the most hairy corners is an undertaking that boggles my mind and I saw it all happen.

Some corners were no more than a reminder to turn right. Very boring. So you get creative.

Other corners were so scary that you spend 4 hours yelling the same instructions over and over again. "come to a complete stop, cross traffic does not stop, the drivers dont know what they are doing so proceed when you feel comfortable" over and over again for 4 hours, on your feet while you wave a flag or a stop sign to alert drivers to your presence.

Up everyday at 5 am, speeding off to a new corner, doing it for 3 to 4 hours then on your bike to the next one. By 7 pm were done but we have our daily 7:15 moto meeting so Dinner happens around 7:30 and if you can stay awake long enough, you can have a shower.

I fell asleep dead in my bed every night no later than 9 pm. One night I tried desperately to stay awake long enough for the sun to go down. Didnt work. I was out before I knew it.

The biggest shock I had in all this was the fact that people CAN actually ride a bicycle for 90 miles a day. It never crossed my mind, in all my life, that not only is it possible but 2100 can and will do it for 7 days. Of course they have sweep vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with bike racks and at any time any rider can quit for the day. This is a fun ride, not a forced ride and each person has their agenda/abilities/plan for riding. Some go the distance each day and some just have a goal of say...20 miles. But I can say that most did the distance. Fantastic.

Once we arrive at the destination of the end of the days ride, they set up tents, sleeping tents, massage tents, chiropractic tents, sports medicine tents, food tents, sales tents, for the love of pete it's huge. They set it up, we come, we eat, we shower, we get massaged, we sleep, we wake up, we go and they pack it all away and drive ahead to the next days end camp and set it all up again.

FANTASTIC!

Are you with me. It's fucking amazing.

There were a few highlights for me.

On the day I couldnt keep the peepers open before the sun went down I crashed hard. But I was woken up and as I opened my eyes, there was Lori staring down at me, it took me a quick second to realize she had the most gorgeous kitten in her hands. Yup. A real live, omg, beautiful kitten. It was like a sweet flowing dream to pet that bundle of fur. They soon went away and I fell back into a deep sleep. As I always remember my dreams, I awoke to realize I had dreamt about kittens all night.
It was a magical night that actually felt like some kind of fantasy of bliss. I really cant explain it to it's righteousness. But it was other worldly.

The other highlight was watching nearly 3000 people (oh did I mention that while there were 2100 bike riders there were upwards of 600 roadies/workers)
file onto the beach in venture, at night, full moon, all holding a candle,...........in silence.
IN total and complete silence.

We all sat. still. quietly. crying. a vigil. for all those who got the shaft by aids. we left when we were done. randomly filing out and back to the life of the camp.

And again,
closing ceremonies.
every bike rider and their relations, every roadie and their relations, every person who wanted to experience closing ceremonies, all standing in silence as a beautiful song played and someone walked an empty bike into it all. The empty bike that represented all who were no longer here to ride.
The power and sadness of that moment will haunt me forever.

There is so much more. As most of you festies know and even you burners...try relaying what it's like. 20,000 things happen in one day. You could never cover all the fantastic deets. So you give up and just say, you gotta go see for yourself.

I am slammed with burning man work, slammed with getting ready to leave for mich, slammed with my impending departure for nearly 3 months.
I would love to write this trip down, not just for you, but for me to keep fresh on all that happened.
Perhaps I will on a slow night. Cause it's gonna be a great story to tell.