The four man relay teams leave at 1:00 pm. This is great as it lets us all get as much sleep as possible. We get to hit that all important breakfast buffet and fuel up. The flip side of the late start is that it lets us have plenty of time to get antsy.

So, the support staff for Team Polar Bear get the bicycles down from our rooms and pack up the trucks.

Spike lives about 15 minutes or so from Magic Mountain. Tony actually lives out in the desert so he stayed with Spike. We have to put reflective stuff on the bicycles for visibility so we all get to work.

Unfortunatly my camera appears to be better at blue and green but not so hot at red. Spike's bicycle is a beautiful new red De Rosa bicycle.

Here comes Doug !
Brian took a while to come down. His dinner did not agree with him and it took a while for him to get going. He looked very serious when he came down, understandable since he was going to start the race.

 

So we kept on going with our preperations for the ride.

The locals came by as always for breakfast. I doubt that they understand what is happening. I do know that they either think we are crazy or when you do try to explain what we are doing they just don't get it. Sometimes the idea of riding a bicycle for 508 miles is big to fit in a head. I just don't worry about it, avoiding the whole problem. Just turning pedals is enough work as it is. I am sure that when they come by for breakfast they are a bit curious about all the bicycles.

After a while the stars of Team Polar Bear take the parking lot: Doug, Tony, Brian and Spike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basically, it is bicyclists in all directions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually the starting time rolls around and ready or not, the start is on!