Dear Parents
A recap of last week’s RAC meeting, because some of you asked.
Camping:
● Unless you plan on future camping trips, borrow from friends. Don’t buy. Good camping gear is expensive.
● Practice setting up your tent before the trip
● For a list of camping items we will not accept on the RAC, please attend the mandatory March meeting.
Youth Support:
● We cannot promise Youth Support or Volunteers at every corner.
● We often place Youth Support in groups of two, for their safety, which means we might be short.
● Makes sure you know the route (on ridewithgps, in this newsletter|on the website)
● If in doubt, wait. You will never be the last rider. There is always a volunteer behind you.
Bob’s Bike Tune-up
● Please contact Bob directly: rjacques888@gmail.com.
T-Shirt Design context
● Included in the price of the RAC is a T-shirt for every participant (child, parent, chase child, chase parent, volunteer, Youth Support).
● Your 5th grader may submit a design and the volunteer committee will vote anonymously.
● The winner will be announced at the March 16 meeting.
Guidelines and tips
● The design must be submitted to Christiane by March 1.
● It needs to include “Ride Across California” or “RAC.”
● It needs to include “2023”.
● Do not add your child’s name to the design.
● Please limit the number of colors.
○ The exact number of colors has not been determined yet.
○ We’ll let you know asap.
The design that wins is typically
● hand-drawn (and not computer-generated)
● bold (and not fine, detailed, intricate)
● a design that was clearly done by a 5th grader (and not a parent)
● You will receive the t-shirt on the RAC. We wear it for our group picture.
● Please encourage your child to participate.
It is great fun for the winning child to see her/his design on a few hundred people in a group picture (and around town for decades to come).
Q&A | Where do we charge our phones?
Volunteers will bring power strips
We also recommend power banks.
Q&A | Are there bathrooms along the road?
Not always
● The campgrounds have bathrooms or portable toilets.
● During the day, you will often have to use the great outdoors and those can be traumatizing for kids.
● Here are some educational websites
● A Woman's Guide to Peeing outside.
● How to teach your kids to do 'their business" in the woods
RAC training is hard. Presentation by RAC volunteers
○ Sometimes it looks as if other parents and other kids are breezing through training rides.
○ Not so. Training rides are hard for most of us.
○ Many volunteers had never undertaken an athletic endeavor close to this scope before we began training for our first RAC.
○ We often wondered if we could make it. And when we made it, somehow, we were so proud of ourselves. We want that sense of pride for you.
○ Please reach out to us if you need encouragement. We can help you. We have been where you are.
That said…congratulations to all who came to last Sunday’s ride. That was a tough one!
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Our next ride.
Saturday, Jan 14 at 9 am
Mesa Verde Elementary School | Entreken Way | San Diego 92129
might get rained out again.
Should we have to cancel, we will notify you by 9 pm the night before via email and Facebook.
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Why we don’t ride in the rain.
● Wet participants are not our main concern. (Sorry)
● Reduced visibility and slippery roads are.
○ And we all know how San Diegans drive in the rain.
Why we don’t reschedule rides that we canceled.
● Parents and volunteers block their calendars months in advance
● Rescheduling rides on relatively short notice becomes stressful.
What do we do when it rains on the RAC in April?
● If roads are safe, we ride in the rain.
● If roads are unsafe, we cancel the ride for the day, arrange to go home that night, meet up again the next day at that day’s starting point, and complete the stretch that we skipped a week or two later.
● Rain on the RAC typically happens in Julian or Ramona or Rancho Bernardo: getting a ride home from those areas is not too difficult.
● Rain on the RAC is rare.
● Should you not be able to attend our makeup ride, you still receive full credit for completing the RAC.
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Please don’t walk up steep hills
Why not?
● You don’t get stronger if you walk, even if walking is faster now.
● The Banner Grade on the RAC is six miles long. We need to ride it.
● Read below for what to do if you feel you need to walk a hill.
What to do when you are ‘done.’
● Stop where it’s flat (top of the hill, at a side street).
○ Starting back up will be so much easier.
● Step out of the way of riders behind you.
● Catch your breath.
● Drink a few sips of water.
● Check your gears.
○ Is your chain in the very lowest gear?
■ Largest chain ring in the back. Smallest in the front
● These breaks should be short. 30 seconds. Stay straddled on your bike.
When you are ready to ride again
● Start where it’s flat-ish.
● Slow down.
○ Slow and steady is the mantra
○ Fast and furious wastes energy.
○ Get your mind off the agony.
■ Count to 8. Repeat.
■ Sing in your head.
● “The Wheels on the Bus go round and round….”
● “Why are there so many… songs about rainbows?”
● “Freude schöner Götterfunken. Tochter aus Elysium.”
● You get the point. The choice is yours.
● Find a pace that YOU can maintain. Don’t compare yourself with others.
● Don’t worry about being last.
○ “The heroes are born in the back.” Dennis Bueker
That is true for parents and not just for kids.
Water
● Rides are tougher now. Bring plenty of water.
● Bring one 20 oz bottle of water per hour you are riding
● For some training rides, we have water for refills. But for some rides we don’t. Be prepared
● Consider sports drinks.
○ We typically don’t push sugary drinks, but our training rides are now “strenuous exercise.”
○ Check out this article by Harvard’s Public Health. Sports Drinks
● Children need to carry their own water supply.
○ Most children do best with a hydration backpack.
○ They will not want to stop to ask you for water out of your backpack.
● Exhaustion is often dehydration.
● “Drink before you are thirsty. Eat before you are hungry.”
Saddle height
● If you have been told your or your child’s saddle is too low, please adjust it. We will help you.
● A low saddle means you are working harder than you have to (because your leg is not extended).
● We don’t want you to work harder than you have to.
● If your child resists a higher saddle because her/his feet can’t reach the ground, please teach your child ‘how to stop and how to start’. We will help you.
Single File. Again. Yay.
Please single file. Even on the bike path
Why?
● If you ride next to your child or friend, another parent will want to do that.
● If parents ride next to their child or friend, kids will want to do that.
● We have found in 30+ years of RAC experience that 5th graders are not always great decision-makers. Yet
○ We want them to focus on the road, the people in front of them, cars behind them, riders up, riders back, slowing, stopping….
○ They have a lot to think about.
○ They do not need more to think about.
○ They should never have to make the decision “is this a good place to ride next to my friend or not.”
● We cannot stress enough how concerned we are about your child’s safety.
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Upcoming dates
The RAC meeting on Feb 2 has been canceled.
There is a mandatory RAC meeting on Thursday, March 16 at 7 pm at Design 39
RAC reunion and potluck: Tuesday, May 2nd at Design 39
Food, pictures, certificates. By then, you will have missed us
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Thank you for coming to the Panera Bread RAC fundraiser.
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This newsletter got long. Sorry. Thanks for reading.
Your friendly RAC volunteer team
Abhi | Ana | Bill | Bob | Christiane | Frans | Hannah | James | Jeff | Joel | Julie | Kate | Kirsten| Kumar | Mani | Olav |Robert | Sabine, and co-founder Dennis
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You are responsible for knowing RAC rules, procedures, and announcements and for sharing all information with your family.
You are responsible for reading all weekly newsletters.
