In a few short weeks we Riders and Roadies will descend upon the Cow Palace to make all of this official. Here is a brief rundown on what to expect on Day 0.
Hopefully by now you have all received your Ticket to Ride, which verifies that you have met the minimum fund raising requirements and filed your medical form online. If you haven’t you can take care of these items today, but it involves extra steps and extra stops to an already not terribly short process. Pro tip for Day 0: Weather can be all over the rodad,
So what do you need to bring to Day 0? Your bicycle, of course and your Ticket to Ride, which will likely be on your phone. Be sure that you have picture ID, your insurance card and a credit card as well. (You had to know there would be shopping…) Don’t bring your luggage, unless you are not returning home that night. If necessary, the ride will have a short term baggage check where you can leave it. If your bike is in a case and needs to be put back together, there will be a team of bike techs there to help with that.
When you arrive at the Cow Palace, there is plenty of parking. Your first stop will be to walk your bike over to the Bike Parking area where you will likely encounter your first queue; Best to get used to that. The volunteers here will take your steed and slap a tag on your shirt with the row number where your bike will be valet parked.
This year’s Day 0 should be a lot less time consuming, as the usual Safety/Orientation video has been moved to Online. You will find it in your task list on the MyRide Portal on the ALC site. It may be overly clever, but do pay attention. This is really is important.
Once the amazing volunteers have taken your bike, you can head into the hall to complete your registration and tent assignments and pick up your rider packet. The packet will contain your wrist bands, your frame and helmet numbers, your tent assignment chip and chips for your tent and baggage. If you have already secured your tent assignment online that step will be covered. If not, you and your tent mate will be assigned an address where you will find your little piece of real estate each day. If you do not have a tent-mate, you can find one by the tried and true method of asking around or the ride can assign one to you. Just chat folks up in the lines and you will likely find someone. We call it “Snorers Roulette.” There is a reason ear plugs are recommended on most packing lists.
While you are there, be sure to visit the Camp Store and Incentive desk to pick up any swag you have earned with your stellar fund raising. If you have qualified for it and not received it by mail it should be waiting for you there.
Now that you are all registered and tagged with your wrist bands it is time to head back to your bike to apply your frame number. Try to keep the tape off of your frame by only peeling off the ends do that no exposed tape is on the paint, or you can put down a layer of plastic food wrap first. Affixing that number to your bike is a classic s**t just got real moment for most riders. Yeah. This is really happening. Pro tip: Take your computers and bottles with you and bring them back in the morning charged and full. There are usually water monsters (more on those later) in the morning but but this is one less thing to do in the excitement of the morning. Not a bad time to safety check your bike and pump up your tires to get ready for Ride-out.
And now, back to home or hotel for a very early evening. After all tomorrow is gonna be a big day…
