RIDE WITH ME

PHOTOS: AIDS/LifeCycle, Day Five: “The Scarlet Litter”

Clark

My name is Clark Harding (pictured above right, not in a red dress) and I’ll be blogging from the road.

Thursday, June 6 2013, 7:51 p.m.

The Scarlet Litter

There’s nothing more amusing than seeing innocent bystanders stop dead in their tracks as  2,200 cyclists bike past…every one of them in a red dress. Most of them, however, in a slutty red dress. Mouths drop, kids point, old women clutch their pearls and the riders have a blast.

Today on AIDS/LifeCycle we celebrated the tradition of Red Dress Day. With only about 40 miles of trail from Santa Maria to Lompoc today is the shortest biking day on our way from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Thus sacrificing comfort for fashion is totally legitimate and welcome. “The story began,” tells Greg Sroda, Director of AIDS/LifeCycle. “Back when this was called California AIDS Ride, we had a ‘dress-in-red day,’ because the route is very hilly, and when the bikers rode through the hills single file, it would look like a red ribbon.” We all leaned in for story time, “But when we changed to AIDS/LifeCycle the riders switched it, and it became Red Dress Day.”

In the spirit of red dress day, I’ll keep it short…and fabulous.

Read about Day OneDay TwoDay Three and Day Four. Scroll through for photos from Day Five

Photos: Chris Stewart

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