Picture this: 100 5th graders and their parents biking (single file!) 267 miles from Yuma, Arizona west to Moonlight Beach in San Diego, California in one week. Sounds like a highly unlikely and extremely difficult event to organize, let alone participate in. But this has been going on for over 25 years and I was fortunate enough to participate in the Ride Across California this year.
What is the Ride Across California?
The Ride Across California (RAC) is an annual event organized by 2 founders (Dennis & Mike) along with many dedicated volunteers and supported by the local YMCA. The Ramona Journal published an excellent article about the RAC after we stayed at a rest stop in their town on our way back to SD.
The RAC always had a goal of building the self-confidence of students preparing to enter into middle school, it is a character-building activity and a morale boost for the kids. This event gives the opportunity for them to grow both physically and emotionally, like a rite of passage as they move into the next phase of their lives.
We first learned about the RAC back in September of 2017 during our 5th grade daughter’s back to school night. We were actually late to the meeting and just as we sat down, the presentation slide was about the Ride Across California. The presenter did a great job highlighting this one of a kind event but also warning us that all available spots will fill up quickly and to register early.
The biking route from Yuma to San Diego is quite diverse. You bike through desserts, trails and mountain sides, up and down long and steep hills, along the road with cars zooming by and then capped off along the ocean to Moonlight Beach. The most important thing during the RAC is to ensure the safety of all riders, which takes a lot of work from the riders themselves as well as the volunteers and chase drivers.
Training
There were very specific requirements to be able to participate in the RAC including biking a minimum number of miles by April (300), joining a certain number of group rides a month, as well the final hill training rides in the weeks leading up to the RAC.
Our daughter had always enjoyed biking, but in a much more casual environment like around the block…once. So when we went on our first training ride for the RAC, our daughter struggled to complete just 4 miles. The following week, we were able to ride 10 miles but the real test was the following week which was a 23 mile group ride with the other RAC riders. While it was nice being able to ride with other people, the distance was something our daughter was having trouble getting used to. It was a combination of being really long, boring and tiring. When we first started training, we only needed to ride about 50 miles a month. If you break that up into enough days, it’s not too bad. But because of busy schedules during the week, we only had 1 or 2 days a week to ride.
To my relief, our daughter started to build more stamina to handle the longer rides. But then we started going on hill rides. The first Escondido hill ride was brutal. We knew the distance (about 30 miles) and we knew there were 3 major hills. As a requirement for the RAC, all riders needed to participate in at least 2 of those rides. Because we were behind on the mileage requirement, we actually participated in 4 hill rides, which I was glad we did. Not only did it prepare our daughter for the RAC, it kept her in biking shape leading up to the actual RAC.
I was a little worried we’d fall too far behind to meet the minimum miles but we picked up the slack the last few months and were able to hit that requirement. Check out the progress we made each month:
October – 37
November – 23.5
December – 20.7
January – 72.6
February – 72.4
March – 120
On the days leading up to the RAC, there were a couple of things we needed to get in order. How do we pack for this event? One set of biking clothes for each day, or rotate between a few sets while hand washing the dirty ones? We chose the latter to try and save space when packing. My wife signed up to volunteer to be a chase driver and support the riders along the route each day. Because of that, I had the coordinates to all of the water and snack stops for each day, which was a good and bad thing. It was nice to know how many stops we had left until a major checkpoint in case we needed to refill on water or Gatorade. But on those long and hot days, it was so painful (physically and mentally) to see how many more miles we had left between the next stop or even worse, the end of the ride. There were some days I didn’t even tell my daughter how much was left because I didn’t want to discourage her. In fact, I believe the volunteers were told not to share that information as well, which in hindsight was a smart thing.
As mentioned before, most (if not all) of our training rides took place on the weekends in…San Diego. The most we biked on any training ride was 30 miles, but there were at least 2-3 days of the RAC where we biked much more than that. The weather in San Diego never really got too hot either. I think the organizers did a great job preparing the riders for the hills, which I’m happy about. I was also worried about whether or not the kids would be able to bike for 7 days straight! On the training rides, if it was a tough ride, we had at least 6 days to recover from it. But on the RAC, we literally had to do it all over again the next morning!
I found a very informative blog post from another parent that participated in a previous Ride Across California event. I also emailed the blogger and he provided more information about the ride, which was a little reassuring and helped us prepare for the RAC.
The Ride Across California (April 8 – 14, 2018)
The Ride Across California starts in Yuma, Arizona by dipping your tires in the Colorado River and concludes when you dip the same tires in the Pacific Ocean in Moonlight Beach, San Diego, California. The entire ride is all a blur now, it would be difficult to recap the details of each day. But here are some of the highlights from the RAC:
The Challenges
Heat – I’ve heard stories of how hot it can get in Arizona, but I didn’t think it would be that bad. Boy was I wrong! Our first day was actually the shortest ride, only about 18 miles or so. But we struggled right from the beginning because of the heat. We were slightly unprepared in regards to hydration and the water stations were not stocked at each stop. There was actually a point very early in the ride where we had to get off our bikes and walk about a mile across a sand trail. The sand was too soft to bike on so we had no other choice but to push our bikes along the sand in the scorching hot heat. According to my GPS, we were walking for about 40 minutes! Things got better once we actually got to ride our bikes. But the combination of having to push our bikes across the sand under the heat really tired us out for the rest of the ride.
The next day or two were just as hot, I think temperatures went up to 110 degrees! I heard some of the volunteers say that the ride had never been that hot before (same with the winds). Probably not the best type of records to be breaking. We did our best to stay hydrated, constantly re-applied sunscreen, and kept a wet towel around our neck. Fortunately, temperatures started to drop toward the rest of the RAC.
Wind – This is something I did not think would be an issue. We never really had to deal with any major wind during our training rides so it was difficult to handle when we did encounter winds during the ride. There were some days and some parts of the ride where we struggled to ride in a straight line. The headwinds really made it difficult to ride on a consistent cadence and it just tired us really quickly. Day 5 was supposed to be one of the most difficult rides of the RAC where we would have to tackle Gorilla Hill and Banner Grade. However, due to the strong winds (gusts up to 65 miles per hour!) the organizers decided it was not safe to continue riding for the day. We ended up being shuttled to the campsite for that day. We did meet up again a few weeks after the RAC to ride those hills that we missed.
Hills – Even though we skipped the notable hills on Day 5, we still had our fair share of hills before and afterwards. Some were quick, short hills that we were able to climb really quickly. Others were much longer and/or steeper that really took a lot out of us during the ride. Each day we ascended anywhere from a couple hundred to 2,000 feet. Banner Grade was its own beast with a 3,500 feet climb!! Needless to say, we got some very good quad workouts during the RAC.
Distance – This goes without saying. We already knew from the beginning that the RAC was 267 miles. What we didn’t know until just before the event was how many miles we were going to be biking each day. Here is a breakdown of the miles rode on each day of the RAC:
Day 1: 17.4 miles (539 feet climb)
Day 2: 54 miles (1062 feet climb)
Day 3: 48.6 miles (837 feet climb)
Day 4: 35.5 miles (1818 feet climb)
Day 5: 35.1 miles (3572 feet climb)
Day 6: 43.3 miles (1748 feet climb)
Day 7: 29.1 miles (1651 feet climb)
The silver lining with having to bike so many miles is that we never had to do it without breaks. There were always water stops along the route with volunteers providing drinks and a place to rest. For the longer rides, we would have points where we would regroup and wait for every rider before heading out again as well as stops in the middle for lunch. Those longer stops definitely helped make the ride not seem as long as it actually was.
Miscellaneous
Organization – From the training rides, to coordinating all of the chase drivers and water stops and making sure all riders had enough water, gatorade, snacks and food while staying safe during each ride, the organization of this event was top notch. Obviously, there was nothing that could be done regarding the weather. But when they decided to cancel the rest of the ride for Day 5, the organizers did a great job transporting everyone (and their bikes) to the next checkpoint.
Food – One thing that was not listed in the RAC checklist was food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner was provided, as well as snacks during the ride. While breakfast and lunch were pretty basic (eggs, cereal, bagels, etc. and ham/turkey sandwiches), dinner was always a treat. There was always water and Gatorade available in the mornings for us to stock up on and during the rides as well.
Sleeping/Shower Situation – Because this was a week-long ride, each night we camped at various locations (campgrounds, park, local elementary schools, etc.) Camping is a nice way to take a break from electronics, technology and living the same day to day life. But doing that for 6 nights straight is a lot to ask for. Fortunately, we were able to rent a hotel on night 5 and actually drive home and sleep there on night 6 (before driving back to the starting point for the final ride). While not the most comfortable sleeping situations, we were able to sleep most nights simply because we were so exhausted from biking all day. There was one night I recall the tent being too stuffy and I actually tried to sleep on a chair outside the tent.
Not every camp location had showers, which was not something we were looking forward to. Some days we only had restroom sinks to clean up while others we had nothing but the baby wipes that we carried with us.
Post-RAC Thoughts
Although the Ride Across California took place during Spring Break in April, we were not truly ‘done’ until we completed the makeup ride 5 weeks later. But once we finished that ride, we were able to look back at everything we had accomplished. We gave up 7 months’ worth of weekends that we could have spent sleeping in, but instead spent the day biking anywhere from 5-7 hours. We trained and biked for a grand total of 346 miles during that time. For the RAC, we started with a short 17 mile bike ride but jumped all the way up to 54 miles the very next day and similar numbers for the rest of the week.
But through all of that pain and misery, the 5th graders came out stronger and more resilient. This once in a lifetime event has shown that while there are things that seem impossible, you will never know unless you give it a shot. If you can do the RAC, then you can do anything!
Check out some photos from the Ride Across California to get a glimpse and what we were able to experience and will cherish for the rest of our lives.
