While this was our last day, it was not a short one...78 miles. It was mostly along Hwy 1 though, and I finally got to see some of our "local" northern beaches. We rode from Ventura inland for a while, then turned south and came out to Hwy 1 just before Point Mugu. We rode along Hwy 1 past Leo Carillo to SAG 2 at El Pescadore, where MTV was taping their Beach House Party (will be aired May 30th, 8pm!). I think I got on tape; I'm in the crowd yelling when what's-her-name is talking to Doug Savant about how he got involved w/ the AIDS Ride. I got a picture w/ Doug, Lise, Angie, and Linda too! *bounce* You know, I do admit I'd still be watching Melrose Place if I wasn't lifting or watching Voyager. *grin* We then rode past Zuma Beach and Point Dume (rolling hills!) through Malibu, and had lunch at Malibu Lagoon State Beach. We then continued south to Will Rogers State Beach, got on the boardwalk (I was so happy to be there; I've actually *skated* that boardwalk) and took the pedestrian underpass at Chautauqua Blvd, and headed *up* and inland. The final SAG 4 was at Inspiration Point, Palisades Park, Santa Monica. They had a wonderful couple of final cheers: one "we're glad to be going home we're tired" song and a "This ride is your ride, this ride is my ride, full of committment, hard work and self-pride, from San Francisco, to the City of Angels, this ride was made for you and me". That was wonderful; we all sang that one together. We then rode through Brentwood (*no* OJ jokes here!), got onto Olympic and took that east under the 405 into a holding area just southwest of the closing ceremonies at San Vicente and Santa Monica Blvds. We had to wait there for quite a while, as they organized everyone, but the result was fantastic: we all got long-sleeved shirts, solid colors of either red/orange/yellow/green/blue/purple, and we rode into the closing ceremonies in waves of 12-abreast, single color rows...rainbow after rainbow after rainbow. We didn't get too many rows into the final area, of course, and there were riders way back at the top of the hill, but the speakers were set up so they could hear as well. Judith Light spoke, Lori Jean and Pat spoke, Jeffrey Goodman's Dad spoke, Paula Abdul sang, another lady (don't know how to spell her band's name) sang "Climb Every Mountain", and then were were allowed to leave -- not to be a party pooper, but we were *all* tired! so we got our gear 15 minutes later, and I found Randy on the walk back to the equipment trucks. Trish appeared about 10 minutes later, and we found Dwayne about 10 minutes after that. Randy gave Dwayne and I a ride home, and we pretty much crashed immediately...*not* on our bikes, or in the car, in our *beds*!!! *smile*
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