Amgen, who's going and where?

I went to the Amgen site and found streaming video of the race and saw the whole climb by Levi and then the end in Santa Cruz. It was awesome!

Since it was a long climb, I really looked at his form and how he climbs. I figure take what I can get from the pros regarding bike handling skills. What really impressed me was how low he can get on his bike and how flat his back is when he is hunkered down.

More rain today and more wind. I hope they have some nice weather after Modesto. As Levi said it was like standing under a cold shower for 4 hours!!!!
And then Lance saying it was one of the worst days he'd ever had on the bike. And yet, we're still in a drought here. :(:(:(

the unfortunate reality is that most pro women racers can't really make a living by racing their bikes. I know one local pro team who has a dual national champion among their ranks. the top salary for that team is $6,000 a year. can you even imagine? most of the pro women I know work at least a part-time job.

Just saw the thread today. I WENT :) to the Prologue and the end of Stage 3 in Modesto. Wanted to try to get to the start of 4, but couldn't pull it off. Having been at both starts and finishes, starts are the best places for pictures and autographs, that's for sure.

My DH and I saw Stage 3 at three spots -- the start in San Jose, the Patterson Pass KOM (KOM #2), and Hwy 132 where the course turned off of Kasson Rd. just outside Modesto. We tried to beat them again to the finish, but we ran out of time.

Here are some pics:

A favorite of many of us, George Hincapie:
Attachment 8778

Lancy-poo:
Attachment 8779

The chase by Astana up Patterson Pass:
Attachment 8780

George Hincapie and Michael Barry (Columbia-High Road), Patterson Pass:
Attachment 8781

The breakaway still held at Hwy 132 & Kasson, but was gone by the time they reached Modesto:
Attachment 8782

Hope you enjoy these -- my camera was cooperating. :) I also got a picture with Bob Stapleton, one of the founders of Columbia-High Road, around the mechanics' trailers in Modesto. He was gracious, and I was in awe -- he's done so much for cycling in such a sort time. I'll post Stage 4 pics in other post to this thread.
~BikeMomma

For Stage 4, since as part of the organizing committee for the Merced City I had the lowdown on where Team Astana would be coming in, we had prime viewing of Lance's first appearance. He got out of his s.u.v., signed a few autographs, then hopped into the bus to meet with the rest of the team. We milled around for a while, saw Bob Roll and got a pic with Johan Bruyneel (AND the podium girls :p), then left town before the start in order to find a good spot on Guadalupe Grade, the site of KOM #1. From there, we broke alot of speed limits along the way (6 cars of us worth -- the CHP would have run out of ink....) to come out on Hwy 140 at Derra Rd. to see them again (forgot to grab my camera for that stop -- whoopsie! -- and no time to run back to the car). We tried to beat the breakaway to Clovis, but deja vu from Stage 3, we ran out of time and saw them at yet one more spot (not sure of the location).

Here are the pics that turned out -- my camera chose NOT to cooperate as well as the day before:

Lance signing autographs:
Attachment 8787

A blurry half-Levi :o , with George Hincapie three wheels behind:
Attachment 8783

I believe I heard Phil Liggett on Versus' coverage mention that there were citations issued to several riders during the day -- I think these were two of them -- somewhat illegal :rolleyes:. They should have been - drafting a team car on a climb??? Things must have been bad early for these two, as this was only KOM #1 and they still had a whole rollercoaster of KOM's to go:
Attachment 8785

This was the only semi-good one from our stop outside Clovis. By then, the full chase was on by all the sprinters' teams and the break split time was coming down very rapidly. It was coming down so fast that CHP's estimated split time of around two minutes was probably more like just over one -- by the time the latest split times got to the CHP, they were no longer accurate. Tyler's face looked weary when the break passed by, and I knew they were doomed to be caught. Pretty exciting racing, at this point -- they were hauling arse when they passed by, I can attest to that!:
Attachment 8786

Fun times -- looking forward to next year already. Word is, it may happen later in the year, but that's nowhere near confirmed.

Hope you like the pics! (maybe next year I'll have a better camera...)
~BikeMomma