With varying degrees of anticipation and trepidation, four PAA members travelled to Aid Station #6 (Chumash Trailhead) early Sunday morning (10/26/2025) to support the annual Phil’s Cookie Fondo. For three of us (Bill, Rosemary, and Diana) this was a new experience, having benefitted from aid stations on a variety of sponsored rides in the past. On the other hand, Randy was an experienced support volunteer and carried with him an impressive array of bike repair tools, tables, and bike-specific stands.
We all arrived close to the 8:30 am meeting time to meet Daniel (official support, with all the rider supplies, e.g., cookies, water, bananas, energy drinks, popup tent), only to find the parking lot nearly full of cars for the early morning hikers. As the hikers left, one at a time, we edged into our ultimate staging area, erecting our own PAA popup tent in a prominent location. We finished laying out the rider supplies just in time to greet the early Sugar Cookie riders at ~9:45 am.
Photo Credit: Tony Dang
The stream of riders was fairly spread out in the early hours. The Sugar Cookie riders all seemed fresh but knew that the Potrero Canyon climb was yet to come. We were very impressed by a couple of very fit 12–13-year-olds riding solo (not sure our respective parents would have allowed that!). Jeremiah cruised in with the Sugar Cookie crowd; he must have had afternoon plans! PAA riders Letitia, Anthony, and Nancy arrived shortly thereafter.
After a steady stream of riders, the Chocolate Chip Cookie riders started to arrive. The first ones were serious and stopped for quick supplies. Phil Gaimon led in a large group and stepped in to say hi and survey the state of the rider aid area; we passed muster with flying colors. Shortly after that a large PAA contingent arrived, including Mike, Chad, Russell, Lou, Igor, and probably others we missed. We saw lots of school jersey wearers, including UCLA, USC, Cal Poly (SLO), Cornell, and Northwestern as well as quite a few Cookie Monster ones. Best jersey of the day (IMHO) went to the rider from Cairns, Queensland, Australia who sported a butterfly motif design promoting a local, to her, hospital charity ride.
Photo Credit: Tony Dang
As the Chocolate Chip riders continued to stream in, the Double Fudge riders started to arrive. They were in remarkable shape, having already climbed at least 8000 feet and were ready for more; not a lot of chit-chats with them.
In addition to congratulating, encouraging, and talking to the riders, we spent a lot of the time pointing out the various cookie varieties (Randy had the schtick down pat – “gluten free, vegan, and regular on the far end”) we did manage to help a few riders with mechanical issues. That consisted of one flat tire (replaced a tube in a tubeless tire, complete with messy sealant, but that’s a discussion for another time) and adjusted a seat post. The Velofix guys were on the scene and covered most of the needed repairs earlier in the day.
Time went by amazingly fast and before we knew it was 3:00 pm and time to pack up. This activity went reasonably well, although stowing the PAA popup tent is harder that erecting it! Depending on our respective schedules and return drive routes, some of us went to the finish line where we had lunch (jackfruit for the win!) and talked with some more riders about their experiences. One Double Fudge rider stated, unsurprisingly, that they don’t have hills like this in Texas!
All-in-all we had a great experience and will likely do it again. If not, we will be riding and seeing the aid stations from the other side of the tables.
William Mateer, Rosemary Mosquera, Randy Chow, and Diana K.