A. Congratulations to our latest qualifiers. You are awesome and can be very proud.
Sophie - Evan - Ruby - Kenji - Violet - Cameron - Ranbir - Bodhi - Quincy - Claire - Sebass - Adrian - Thomas - Ryan - Andy
B. Late breaking news.
A few really cool people are meeting today, Tuesday March 10, at 4:30 pm
We will ride down and up the bike path for some extra miles
Come meet us in the gravel lot across from Wynston’ Ice Cream Co.
8250 Merge Avenue. SD 92129
No attendance will be taken. This ride does not count towards your monthly ride with us
C. From Dr. Bob, Bike Mechanic
Next week (3/15 - 3/20) is the last week we will be servicing bikes. There are a couple of spots available. Contact mechanic@rideacrosscalifornia. Please remember that you should not have any major service or modifications done on your bike during the two weeks prior the RAC
D. 26 RAC Please record your child's miles here. Update as often as you like.
Still waiting for these three families (down from 21 last week. Thank you!)
Wesley A
Maxwell A
Rishi C
Connor D
E. Last Sunday’s Wind
“Please tell the parents that not all RAC days are fun.” Dennis Bueker. 9 March 2026
Whatever reward you and your kid treated yourselves to - ice cream or a new Mercedes - enjoy. You truly earned it.
At least one volunteer and I are actually glad - if that is the right word - about last Sunday’s wind. It gave us a true taste of what the RAC can be like.
The enemy of the RAC is wind, not heat, not miles, not hills.
Heat we can manage. Eat and drink, drink, drink and keep moving. You will become your own swamp cooler
Miles and hills we have trained for. We are strong. Compare your little team’s performance from Sunday’s ride to our early rides and be amazed.
Wind is different. Imperial Valley wind is hard to train for because we usually don't have such winds in San Diego. Until last Sunday.
How to ride when it’s windy.
Slow and steady. Find a sustainable pace.
Stay seated and tell your kids. If they stand, they become a sail that’s facing the wrong direction.
Parents in front. The kid follows closely. Not so close that tires touch but close enough that your child can hunker down and hide from the wind.
Parents, keep track of your kids behind you. A mirror might help.
If you are riding with more than one child, you may not leave the slower kid to fight the wind alone while you and your faster kid chill at snack.
The slower of the two kids rides right directly behind the parent.
Ride in groups with people at your speed. If you don’t know them, now is the time to meet them.
Parent - kid - kid - parent. Parents take turns leading.
Stay together. Stop together. Pee together. Snack stop together. Kids often fall apart when groups split up.
Keep stops short. The wind picks up in the afternoon and the kids in the back are the ones who fight that wind the longest.
About nagging
You might have noticed that I am in your kids’ ear all day long (shift, sit down, lower gears, slow and steady) and you wonder why I can’t leave them alone because they are riding just fine.
Yes. They are riding fabulously. It’s just that the RAC can be very different from training rides.
I am not a natural athlete or the strongest rider out there, but I have tips and tricks that have gotten me through tough days. I want you and your kids to have these tools in case you need them.
What happens if exhaustion shuts you or your kid down?
We are not going to send anyone home.
We let you rest, put you in a chase car and move you up a few or many miles so you can maybe ride again later that day.
We do it all the time and no one is the wiser
Caveat. Parents do not decide when a child is too exhausted to ride.
Volunteers assess and Dennis makes the final call.
Here is why: Some kids feel a deep sense of shame if they cannot finish a stage.
They carry that shame with them long after the RAC is over. And we don’t want that.
If a child needs to stop, Dennis will sit her/him down. “You are not quitting. I am putting you in the car.” (insert voice of God)
By making it a call from Dennis, the emotional outcome changes.
Why does this matter?
In the old days, when we were the Y, two volunteers and up to 24 RVs, kids who weren’t feeling it would sometimes hide in parents’ vehicles and emerge in secret at the end of the day.
Weeks or years later, I would run into them and congratulate them on riding the RAC. They’d squirm. “Well, I didn’t really ….”
What if the wind makes riding dangerous?
If conditions become dangerous, we end the ride for the day and truck everyone to snack or to lunch or the evening camp site.
We are amazingly good at that.
For the purist who feels strongly about riding every inch of the RAC: We offer a make-up ride two weeks after the RAC in (we hope) better conditions.
Now for some good news
Some years we have no wind at all. None. Zero. Null.
Or maybe for two hours
And some years we have tailwinds
Seriously
F. Our Next Ride
Saturday, March 14 at 8 am
Please arrive by 7:45. We leave promptly at 8 am.
362 W El Norte Pkwy, Escondido, CA 92026
Please park in the south end of the LA Fitness parking lot.
Thank you for reading this long message. Great job last Sunday! Shout out to Youth Support.
Christiane