Amgen, who's going and where?

[Eden]

I see my teammate in your photo Trek!

[Trek420]

I thought that might be her sneaking into the race at the last second

[Eden]

naw - she was the only one of us there so she made sure she lined up early and got a good spot to start - no teammates to help her get to the front after the race started.... She's just about as far left as you can see (you can see her head and shoulders and one head just to her left)

[Bike Goddess]

It was bitter cold up at Moskowite corner (the store is open and restaurant being remodeled BTW). We had a nasty wind, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything!

I saw the picture of the guy who won the stage today- when they passed us (3 of them), they were about 15o-17 min ahead of the rest. We were sure that the peloton would catch them/him, but he really did a stellar job.

I too am sorry to hear about the stolen bikes. Hard to believe that someone from the support group wasn't around. I'd NEVER trust security, I don't care who they are!

No pics- too cold and wet to even try!

[Trek420]

naw - she was the only one of us there so she made sure she lined up early and got a good spot to start - no teammates to help her get to the front after the race started.... She's just about as far left as you can see (you can see her head and shoulders and one head just to her left)

Oh, that wasn't her hoisting the bike over the fence? I saw the green kit and .... must have been Webcor. I discovered that I have VS. I thought I didn't get it anymore with my cheap basic program package but it's there! Yesterdays coverage of the tour they could barely get a shot from the mens ride, and those they got the lens was covered with water.

But did they show the women's race? Nooooooo.

As we walked to the car we saw a fine Specialized race bike just lying on the dirt der side up. Stolen bike from the mens team? We stopped to look around it then heard a woman's voice "don't worry, it's my bike"

"fantastic ride!" we said.

No team bus, no sonier (sp?), no post race chef for these gals. Ride in freezing rain, pee in a cup, change in the car

[Eden]

VS did end up showing some of the women's race while they were waiting for images from the men's. Seemed like they showed about 5 laps of the beginning then the last lap. Very hard to see much though, through the rain, and amazingly the video cameras aren't really fast enough to catch the riders clearly.... if you pause everyone is blurry...

You're right about the women not having the good life.... probably not the biggest pro teams, but the semi pro and amateur ones usually even have to pay their own way to the races and buy a lot of their own equipment.... and certainly no soigneur awaits, even more certainly no chef...

I know I saw Metromint, and I think that they are an amateur team from California. They probably all paid their own tickets to be there.

[Trek420]

I know I saw Metromint, and I think that they are an amateur team from California. They probably all paid their own tickets to be there.

Yes, but while the other riders rode the course for a half hour or so before the race to stay warm and find the spots they'd fall (downtown Santa Rosa has cobblestones on some corners not the most fun thing in the world on a critt in the rain I think) Metromint and Team Highroad I think spun out onto the course late.

So I think they at least had somewhere warm and dry to warm up?

[Eden]

Yes, but while the other riders rode the course for a half hour or so before the race to stay warm and find the spots they'd fall (downtown Santa Rosa has cobblestones on some corners not the most fun thing in the world on a critt in the rain I think) Metromint and Team Highroad I think spun out onto the course late.

So I think they at least had somewhere warm and dry to warm up?

When we drive to races we usually try to stake out a building with an awning and set our trainers up there.... My teammate flew down and probably could not pack a trainer....

Got to see J's war wounds... VS didn't get the whole story - they said there were not any crashes... apparently there were several. The wet conditions and the multitude of road turtles made it quite treacherous.

[Trek420]

Got to see J's war wounds... VS didn't get the whole story - they said there were not any crashes... apparently there were several. The wet conditions and the multitude of road turtles made it quite treacherous.

Spazzdog got shots of the crash on the first lap, 4th corner. She says about 4 riders went down. She got some incredible closeups of blurring wheels and legs on the turns in the rain too.

You might want to ask her about copies for your club. They are incredible shots.

Yesterday as the men went across the GG bridge VS called the Exploratorium the Legion of Honor/Palace of Fine Arts and they said that both the GG bridge and the misidentified Exploratorium were built in the recovery effort after the 06 quake. uh, that would be no

The Exploratorium is one of or maybe the last remaining original building from the world fair that followed and was to celebrate building the Panama canal. Both were built after the 06 quake but one could say that everything built since then was a part of the recovery effort .... or prep for the next one

[Karma007]

While none of my pictures are share worthy (this b/c I dropped my camera in a puddle, and there was a guy next to me, OBVIOUSLY not a fan there blocking my view to take his own pics with a camera larger than my head. ) I did spend yesterday AM in Sausailto. Despite the rain and cold, it was SO much fun!

[Bike Goddess]

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.

[velogirl]

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.

[Lifesgreat]

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.

[BikeMomma]

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:


Lancy-poo:


The chase by Astana up Patterson Pass:


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


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


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

[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 ), 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:


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


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 . 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:


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!:


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