Tour of CA Prologue

[jobob]

What a great day !

LeeBob & I arrived at Justin Herman Plaza fairly early in the morning while many of the vendors were still setting up. The first order of business was to get a copy of the start order. None were to be found, anywhere. We then meandered over to the team area to check out the team set ups. I was hoping to get a glimpse of some faves so I hung out at the CSC area (you may now call me Jo Stalker). Alas, the best I could do was photos of my faves’ bikes. So it goes.

The Team CSC area



A pile of Cervelos



Whose bike is this?? Hint: check the chainrings.




SadieKate and husband Bubba showed up soon after and we wandered back over to the vendors’ area. I was still on the lookout for a start order and I was hoping to score me some CSC schwag. I succeeded in the latter, and now I’m the proud owner of a very stylin’ black CSC baseball cap. Still no start order, though, argh! We did a little more stalking (er, sightseeing).

Here's one for you, AG!!



Finally the race started and we wandered over to the Embarcadero to watch the mystery riders whizz by, since there was still no start order to be found. We had a copy of the start list so we could at least identify the racers from the numbers on their backs after they past. Ekimov started out fairly early but as far as we could tell he was one of the few notables early on.

We started walking towards the finish line up at Coit Tower but instead of following the entire course we cut up the Telegraph Hill stairs, which were featured in the documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. The parrots serenaded us (well, screeched at us) on the way up the steps. Some cyclists were actually carrying their bikes up the steps (yow), and it was a pretty long climb up, but people were going at a decent clip so we made it to the top without missing many notable racers.

Up we go!


As could be expected it was very crowded on Telegraph Hill but we found a good place to stake out. Lee, Bubba and I stood on a rock retaining wall a couple of feet above the road along a curve in the road, which ended up being quite the primo spot. It was about 150 meters from the finish and although the road curved so we couldn’t actually see the finish from our vantage point, we had a pretty good view of the road immediately below, so we could see the riders coming up. SadieKate chose to stand along the rail, chatting with the spectators around her. At some points I thought she was very wise, since I spent most of the time with one arm wrapped around a No Parking sign to keep me from tipping over, since one of the rocks I was standing on was not particularly stable - yikes.

The view down the hill from our vantage point, 150 m to the finish.



The view behind us



When I saw how the course was laid out I wondered how they were going to get the racers back down the hill once they finished. Well, come to find out the racers had to wend their way along a narrow and very crowded sidewalk with their bikes, and walk down a flight of stairs still wearing their cleats. Some racers had volunteers carrying their bikes and others carried their own, and it was quite the sight seeing these poor guys, some of them obviously dog-tired, gingerly negociating the stairs in their racing cleats ! As luck would have it, that stairway was right behind where we were standing so Jo Stalker had some good photo ops.

Dave Z and Floyd Landis, discussing where to go for lunch.


One of the high points of the race for me was spying Jens Voigt carrying his bike down the steps behind me. I yelled out “Hey Jens, thanks for being here!” and the rest of the group on the wall let out a cheer and he smiled and waved at us. Needless to say I missed the best Kodak Moment of the day, but I did photograph him continuing down the steps.

Bye Jens!


Taking photos of the racers was kind of tricky since I had a fairly narrow unobstructed view. Plus, even though it was uphill they were still going darn fast ! Naturally I’d be so jazzed when I saw my faves coming up that I would mess up the shot, plus as the day wore on the sun went behind the clouds a bit which slowed down the shutter speed so near the end even though I had the timing down most of my photos of the last dozen racers were fuzzy blobs. I still managed a few OK shots.

Stuart O'Grady


Michael Barry, turning his pedals in anger, no doubt


Christian Vandevelde


Gilberto Simoni



After the race was over we walked back down along the race route. Levi Leipheimer whizzed by accompanied by a bunch of “civillian” riders, that was fun to see. We stopped off at the Fog City Diner where an outdoor table miraculously appeared for us and we had a nice al fresco lunch.

We then made it back to the expo in time to check out the Cervelo booth where they had Dave Z.’s infamous time trial bike from the TdF on display, complete with the nasty gouges in the aerobars – ow.




All in all, a really fun time.

LeeBob and I plan on seeing Stage 2 somewhere on Sierra Road.

- Jo.

[Nanci]

Wow, great report! Great photos!! I can _never_ photograph a moving cyclist.

For some reason I had it in my mind that this event was in the spring, not now!

Nanci

[DeniseGoldberg]

Awesome! Thanks for the report and the photos. Seeing this really makes me wish that I was out in California this weekend...

--- Denise

[Veronica]

Nice pics Jo! Really enjoyed the write up.

V.

[aka_kim]

Very cool, Jo. I spent the whole race just behind the starting tent along the entry "chute", and was wondering how the heck the riders got back. My spot was great - I saw every single rider, often literally only inches away, but never saw any action once they left the gate.

Some spottings and highlights for me -
* An (over?) anxious George Hincapie rolling through the chute, then making a very precarious 180 degree turn in about a 6 foot wide area, just about brushing my arm as he turned. Three times! Each time I was afraid to move, since klutz that I am, I would surely have knocked him over. George also was the only rider to actually get up on the starting block, and then on his bike, while his "one minute man" was still on his count down.
* You can see nipples through the Discovery skin suits
* Many riders "glistened" from their warmups
* Floyd Landis is much tinier than I'd thought
* Every rider has an unbelievably tiny butt and flat belly (duh - but it's really a shock to see just how thin they are when wearing time trial skin suits).

Alas, no pictures.

[snapdragen]

Excellent!

Here's a website with more pix: http://www.steephill.tv/grassyknoll/index.php

[fixedgeargirl]

Nice write-up and photos Jo! I loved the report.

[Jo-n-NY]

Well thanks so much Jo. Especially that the coverage that ESPN2 is giving to the east coast completely stinks. Sorry, I am just so mad & bummed. They are giving us one hour of highlights at 1-2:00 "am". We didn't hook up a vcr when putting in a new tv and we do not have tvo yet. My husband called for it during the week but it won't come for two more weeks. Since I get up at 5:30am there is no way I can watch this tour.

I did send them a shame on you e-mail for what it is worth when I found out last week.

I will be able to at least watch the end on Friday and Saturday Night as I don't have work the next day.

So, thank you for the info and great pics. It is the next best thing for me.

~ JoAnn

[jobob]

LeeBob and I plan on seeing Stage 2 somewhere on Sierra Road.

Aaaaaack, who am I kidding ?????

http://www.chainreaction.com/sierra_road.htm

"The casual cyclist should probably allow an hour and a half to get to the top."

Jobob and LeeBob should probably allow a day and a half

V., I hope you and Thom have a great time up in the stratosphere

[Bike Goddess]

Jobob- You are a saint! I was doing inventory just a mile away! BUT I'm a course marshal for the beginning of Stage 2 tomorrow so I'll get to see them as well. You really made the race real for me and I hope others here. Thank you so much!

For those of you who don't get the SF Chronicle, the report from the riders was that they REALLY appreciated all the noise from the spectators even tho they couldn't acknowledge it at the time. Kuddos to everyone who could come to cheer one these great riders!

I'm riding over to Martinez for my volunteering so I may not have a camera. Others in my club will, so I should be able to get some good shots from them (I'll be busy to say the least).

Yes, I understand these guys are really small. Wouldn't have guessed from seeing them on bikes!!!!

[alpinerabbit]

Best I can say - I've got their pants!!!

Dave Z and Floyd Landis, discussing where to go for lunch.


Bye Jens!


Stuart O'Grady



boy how I miss San Fran.... *goes to check job listings*


Christian Vandevelde

[bikerchick68]

oh my!! wonderful report and fabulous pics!!!!! I am SO hoping to get to see stage 6 from Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks... fingers crossed it works out... if not, I'll have these fond memories...

[laughlaugh18]

Those pictures are so coool. Makes me even more excited for the Stages I'll be working - 6 and 7. I'll have my camera, but dunno if I'll be able to match your shots.

The ESPN2 coverage is about what I expected - it sounds like Bob Roll and Paul Sherwin were told to commentate for an audience that's not familiar with racing at all.

JoBob, Jens Voight really, really heard you!! Here's a quote from Jens Voigt in the San Franciscol Chronicle article:

The raucous cheering section even impressed Jen Vogt, a veteran of the European peloton who rides for CSC. "The crowd was great; they were fair, they cheered everybody," said the German, who compared the ambience of the Sunday's hill climb with the infamous and legendary Alpe d'Huez leg of the Tour de France."

Link to the article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PG9THBOBU1.DTL

Keep those reports coming, folks!

Cathy

[jobob]

Glad you folks enjoyed it !

LeeBob and I did a recon ride up Sierra Road today to scope out places to view the race. Sierra Rd is the Cat. 1 climb on stage 2 so it should make for interesting viewing.

Well, I can now say with assurance, that road is quite the stinker !

It starts out with a steep bump of about 14 % right from the get-go. After about a 1/2 mile straight stretch it starts getting very windey. I really dislike roads like that, I start dreading what I'll face coming around the bend, and for the most part I was not disappointed - dismayed is more the word.

Here's what you first see when you turn onto Sierra from Piedmont.



This is looking down from the end of the straight stretch



And this is where it starts undulating ... upwards ...



Now, in my own defense (oh, oh, it's excuses time ) I haven't ridden for nearly 2 weeks so I'm hardly in prime shape. Plus I was still achey from yesterday. Plus, uh - I can't think of anything else at the moment, if I come up with something I'll let you know. Oh, right, jet lag!

But even if I was in decent shape that stinker would still be hard.

Here are a few more photos on the way up, and looking down from where we'd been. The views are gorgeous up there.




We reached a point where we had a really good view of the road coming up. There was a bit of a gravel shoulder and it seemed generally pleasant so we figured that might be our viewing spot for tomorrow, it's about 1.5 miles up. But we thought we would press on to see what else we could find.



About 1/4 mile farther up we reached a bend in the road with a small clump of trees on either side. We looked up and it seemed the road was kicking up even more ! Lee and I both decided at that point that gee, that spot we passed a little bit back looked fine & dandy and we really didn't need to go any father.

Uncle !!!!


So, we made it about 1.75 miles and climbed about 950 feet up Sierra before we threw in the proverbial towel As far as I can tell that's a roughly halfway up - depending on where I read the climb is between 3.2 and 4 miles. Someday I'll make it up that thing and find out for myself.

I checked the gradient display on my computer after we returned home and it looks like the first half of Sierra averaged about 10-12%. Once in a while it would "level off" to 5-6% but the climb was for the most part in the double digits. Gahhhhh. And according to the profile on the Chain Reaction website, it doesn't let up until the top. Double gahhhh.

Now maybe my lack of conditioning plays into this but I think Sierra is *way* harder than Mt. Diablo. It's quite a bit shorter, but it's so much steeper for much more of the time.

People who finish the Devil Mountain Double (which is Diablo & Mt. Hamilton followed by Sierra at mile freakin' 150) are demi-gods in my book !

[Veronica]

OOOOO I'm in line to be a demigod! How cool is that!

Yeah - I hate to say it, but Diablo has become an "easy" climb. The back side of Hamilton and Dry Creek, the road I did today are much harder. Dry Creek is shorter, but is much steeper.

Tomorrow I get to do Sierra.

V.