Tour of California - spoilers allowed

[Veronica]

You're so lucky Jo! I couldn't take any time off this year to go to the race. Stupid Open House at school.

Veronica

[ny biker]

Hahahahaha. Posted on twitter by Radio Shack's Ben King, with the caption "First stop."

http://twitpic.com/51aaet

The top five finishers were all from the US. Horner, Levi, Tommy Danielson, CVV, Tejay Van Garderen.

[jobob]

Here are some of my photos from Sierra Road:



One of the many places I needed to stop on the climb up Sierra Road to catch my breath. That's Leebob patiently waiting for me.



Killing time before the race arrived. It was a fun crowd up there.



There were many reminders of Wouter Weylandt, whose funeral was in Belgium earlier that day.



Chris Horner was well in the lead by the time he reached our location, and was looking super strong.


I missed getting a photo of Levi and Ryder, rats.



This was the second group after Horner: Andy Schleck, Tejay Van Garderen, Tom Danielson, and Rory Sutherland.



The next group back: Christian Vande Velde, Laurens Ten Dam, Linus Gerdemann.



Oscar Freire.



The cattle were fascinated.



The early finishers started to make their way back down Sierra Road ...



... well before the final group made their way up.



Notable riders in the autobus included world champion Thor Hushovd, Lars Boom, and Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Van Summeren. It was a hard day.


I didn't manage to get a photo of Jens, I was too busy cheering for him as he rode by. Darn.

[pll]

While commenting after the stage, Phil mentioned that Chris Horner would make a good tv commentator. Yes Please! He'd be great! I've read his blog, and he can write, too.

In Steephill.tv, they had clips of Chris Horner with a preview of each stage -- fun to watch: http://www.steephill.tv/tour-of-california/

Jobob -- wonderful pictures. Thanks for posting! What spectacular places to ride. My area is so flat...

[Fredwina]

I rode up to watch the Tour of California. Lot hard with 57 miles in my legs than 17:





I also made a video You Tube race coverage starts about 7:15

[jobob]

Cool! Where on Mt. Baldy were you?

[Fredwina]

about 10 miles into the race @ the corner of Mt Baldy and Shinn(mountian ave)
Roads

[jobob]

Someone took a video of his descent back down Sierra Road after the stage. The video begins right about where I watched the stage.

When I rode down, well before this guy, there seemed to be a lot more pedestrians all over the road. Or maybe that just how it seemed to me ... I was at the bottom of Sierra Road when the fire truck passed by me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5tBe...layer_embedded

Check out the appearances by Andy Schleck and the Radio Shack guys.

[luv2climb]

That's bamarian. He has great ride videos! I'm subscribed to his YouTube channel. He always has great raw footage of rides and races.

I must say that he has an interesting image stabilization program. It moves the entire frame to smooth the image.