Tour of California

[mimitabby]

Took a walk at lunch, on my way back into the building one of my co-workers stops me and very seriously asks "Were you on that ride I saw on TV, they went up to Santa Rosa, now they head down to LA and ...."



"those are men, the top international pro racers. I ride 2 miles to work and back."

"But you did that ride this weekend too? "

"No"

Cute, Trek.

[snapdragen]

Took a walk at lunch, on my way back into the building one of my co-workers stops me and very seriously asks "Were you on that ride I saw on TV, they went up to Santa Rosa, now they head down to LA and ...."

Yep. My brother asked why I wasn't riding the TOC......

[Deanna]

Took a walk at lunch, on my way back into the building one of my co-workers stops me and very seriously asks "Were you on that ride I saw on TV, they went up to Santa Rosa, now they head down to LA and ...."



"those are men, the top international pro racers. I ride 2 miles to work and back."

"But you did that ride this weekend too? "

"No"

Hee Hee. I got asked this once, my husband, who is an amateur racer, gets asked a lot. One of his band mates asks repeatedly,even so far as "Do you race against any people in the Tour day France?"

We now just ask him why he's not in the Masters or the US Open (he's a golfer, so whatever tournament is going on at time).

[Trekhawk]

CC - My photos are of Ivan Basso, Paolo Bettini (world champion) and Fabian Cancellera (Time Trial World Champion).
It was extremely windy and the latter had kleenex up his nose because of either a cold or allergies. During his warm-up he was practically gushing, which made his fast time even more remarkable. I have some more pics of Hincapie, O'Grady, Danielson, etc, but right now there are just too many photos I have to go through.

Oooh I would love to see a pic of Stuey pleeeeaaaase.

[bikerchick68]

http://www.photoshow.com/view/SI4Ud9VZ

wow, what an amazing experience... having had this opportunity last year as well, I knew better what I could expect, what I could do and not do and felt more comfortable all around...

It was awesome seeing my friends Mark and Hector again. Mark is in charge of the Mavic crew and Hector is on Moto 1... Mavic provides neutral support to ALL the teams. It is very cool how fast they can change a wheel or a give a rider an entire bike! Yesterday they gave 2 people new bikes, assisted George Hincapie and Tony Cruz when they crashed and did numerous wheel changes... I have to say, the driving skills required are astounding and my friend Mark ROCKS at this! You have the riders averaging 30 mph, the entire caravan of cars around you and riders coming THRU the caravan (after pulling off for a "nature break" or a mechanical issue) all within a foot to inches, literally. Then you have slow climbs where everyone is bunched up, and FAST descents down windy roads with everyone bunched up still. We descended Grimes Canyon at 60mph with tight turns and riders flying by... whew! Not a job for the faint of heart, let me assure you... In between all that, Mark has to man the radios, instruct his crew where to be at any given time, AND watch what's happening on the course. I would have been overwhelmed. I can't say enough how amazing it is to see it all happen from there in the front seat by him. Another Mavic crewmember rides in the back seat and helps "spot" riders coming up, as well as passing wheels, tools and food out the window to the Moto WHILE we're doing 30-40mph! Incredible really.

The race started at 11AM... I got there at 8AM. I got to see the Mavic contingent arrive, get a ton of close ups of the pros and get numerous signatures!!! I got signatures of Levi Leipheimer, Jens Voigt, Thor Hushovd, Bobby Julich, Paolo Bettini, Chris Horner, Danny Pate, Brian Dziewa, and Tom Danielson... it was pretty cool.

I hope you enjoy the photo show...

[maillotpois]

Amazing!!!

[Adventure Girl]

I hope you enjoy the photo show...

Thanks so much! It was like being there!!! Your writeup and photo show were excellent, exceptional, exquisite, first-class, great, magnificent, outstanding, priceless, prime, superb, supreme, tiptop, top-notch, wonderful!!!

[Bluetree]

I hope you enjoy the photo show...

That was awesome. You really get a new perspective on all the stuff that goes on to put on a bike race!
BTW, What kind of frames were those bikes on top? I noticed the components were SRAM Rival.