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[Veronica]

The men's was a great race! I wish they would televise at least some bits of the women's. We've got 636 photos to wade through from both races.

V.

[Trek420]

Adventure Gal & I looked for you, but we saw nobody who looked like a buffalo ;-)

We had a great time.

Also saw Levi Leipheimer before the race began chatting with the Postal crewmembers and mechanics. Will post pictures to the web as soon as I get them developed (how old fashioned).

[Adventure Girl]

Photography is NOT my strongest skill... Taking action pictures is the worst for me! I'm more of a snap-shot kind of gal. Here's the best of what was in my camera. (There were actually a lot of shots of the sky, building roof-tops and lots of blurry riders.

The first shot isn't so bad because they wre walking!

[Adventure Girl]

[Veronica]

My 309 photos were quickly cut to 93 in the first run through. I'm still learning to use my new camera. Thom got some nice stuff though.

This is cool.




She led the whole way I think. It would have been nice if she had looked up.





We'll have lots more in a few days.

V.

[jobob]

Lee & I arrived very early, in time for the start of the women's race. The crowd was pretty sparse so we got to stand at the barrier right next to the start line. The entire Safi Pasta Zara Manhattan team pulled up right next to where we were standing -I was inches away from Nicole Cooke. Me with no camera, naturally

After the women completed the circuit around the Embarcadero, Lee and I headed up Broadway en route to Fillmore. It was so cool to watch all the 'civilian' riders out on their bikes cruising along the temporarily deserted streets. We stopped at the turn from Columbus to Broadway (where the Condor Club and City Lights Bookstore are located, on opposite corners) to watch the women whiz past. One support vehicle nearly took out a woman near the back of the pack, she let out a mighty loud yell. I guess you need well-developed vocal chords to survive in this profession.

We then continued on to Broadway and Fillmore, where we found Veronica - finally got to meet her! - and her husband Thom. It was mighty cold up there with the damp wind blowing down on us. Then my friend Angie managed to find us in the fray during the men's race. It wasn't anywhere near as crowded as I expected it to be, and we were having a great time so we ended up staying for the whole time the race was on the Fillmore loop.

The racers all went up that steep hill at an awe-inspiring pace. What really amazed me was how they could got up in such tight packs - those at the very front and the very rear had the luxury, so to speak, of being able to traverse back & forth, but those stuck in the middle had to keep their line the best they could. That had to be hard. It was interesting to see the different climbing styles too, even though I think some of them abandoned all technique in the interests of surviving. I remember seeing one woman basically standing straight up over her pedals, trying to use what little body weight she had () to somehow propel herself up.

Nicole Cooke had a bit of a lead on the last Fillmore climb. She held on and then (I found out later) on the last climb up Taylor at the top she cut the corner onto Union very close to the barrier and bombed off down the remainder of the course for the win - bascially what she did last year. Trek and AG, did you get to see the women's finish? It must have been thrilling, it looked so on TV.

The last time the men climbed up Fillmore there was a 2-man breakaway with an enormous lead over the rest of the field. There was still at least 20 miles to go after their last time up Fillmore, so we knew anything could happen, and evidently it did. We had taped the live coverage and it was funny to watch it when we got back home, since with about a half hour left to the race Phil et al. were basically proclaiming McCartney the winner, then, as the final Postal/Horner chase gained steam, they kept backpeddaling more and more on their predictions. Bummer for McCartney that he blew up on the very last acsent of Taylor.

But how about that Fred Rodriguez? He had to switch bikes after a crash and have his seat adjusted on the fly, when all was said and done he was way in the back of the pack and must have lost at least 30 seconds, yet he still managed to finish 2nd to Charles Dionne, only 8 seconds back. And AG must have been thrilled to bits that George finished third - more photo ops

Lee & Angie and I wandered thru the Expo area on our way back to take BART home after having lunch with V. & T. We passed by the US Postal/Berry Floor team area, where Chechu, Benjamin Noval, and Damon K were signing autographs. I can verify that Chechu has a gorgeous smile. Me with no camera, naturally

It was a grand day out!

[Susan126]

Thanks so much Veronica and Adventure Girl for sharing your pictures with us! I'm so jealous! I wish I could have been there myself to watch! I'll be checking back often to see if you guys put any more pics up!

Looking at the hill . . . I was wondering what the grade must have been?

Speaking of grades . . . today hubby and I took our son out to dinner (he's leaving for his second year of college this week) we passed a hill with a 21% grade! Honest! Next time we drive by that hill I will take a picture of the hill and the sign!

Sue

[Veronica]

Fillmore is 25%, Taylor is 17%.

V.

[MightyMitre]

Yeh - hurrah for Nicole - she's done it again in her lovely British National Champion jersey. This is one race I really wish the showed on TV over here. It looks incredible with all those climbs. They're too busy showing the Tour of Spain at the moment.

Thanks for posting your pics guys - it great to hear from people who were actually there.

I've met Nicole a couple of times and she's so nice- you'd have trouble imagining her being anything but lovely, but once on the bike she's one tough cookie. I really admire her guts and determination. Hopefully winning this one has eased some of her disappointment after her Olympics didn't go as well as she'd have liked.

Check out www.nicolecooke.com ...

[Trek420]

MightyMitre "This is one race I really wish the showed on TV over here. It looks incredible with all those climbs. They're too busy showing the Tour of Spain at the moment."

Do you get OLN? They will run it there.

AG and I were at the finish line, she coasted in, pumped both arms up, spectacular finish. I did not get a picture of the finish because the noise was so loud I did not notice that my roll had rewound 8-(

It was also great to see so many bikes and different kinds of bikes in the city.

[Susan126]

Nicole Cooke Rocks! She is an awesome cyclist! It's nice to have women like her to look up to. I'm thrilled she won, too!

Yes, OLN will televise it on October 2nd and October 6th!

Also on OLN on October 13th will be Tour de Suisse, on October 27th Vuelta a Espana, and finally on October 30th 2005 Tour de France Route Announcement.

Oh yes, the bikes are wonderful to admire! Some day I would love to get a new bike! When our youngest finishes college in two more years Joe and I want to do a road ride in Italy the summer he graduates. Wouldn't it be wonderful to buy a bike while I am over there? I know some of the best bikes come from Italy! But for now it's great to admire and dream about beauiful bikes!

[Veronica]

We saw a guy walking up the hill with a beautiful Columbine. Thom hunted him down and took lots of pictures of his bike. They'll go up later too.

V.

[Susan126]

I should be out the door on my way to work but I have to reply to this one . . .

COLUMBINE bikes are BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I saw one once and it was just beautiful. The lugwork on it was just breath taking! The paint unbelievable. Yes, Please post a picture! I wish I had a camera the time I saw my first Columbine Bike!

Drooling Sue

[jobob]

There were about 20 minutes between each lap so we did LOTS of bike watching when the racers weren't motoring by. Saw a beautiful deep red Waterford with stainless steel head tube lugs and a subtle-yet-lovely pinstripe paintjob. I love steel frames, they're so elegant. It was fun to talk to the owners about their bikes, most were more than happy to show them off. I think it was Thom who quipped 'some of these bikes are almost too beautiful to ride'.

[Adventure Girl]

It will be great to watch these races on OLN. Being there in person was fun, but we didn't really get to see much of the actual race. We were at the finish line to watch Nicole win. And we were there for the men's start, but there were so many people we could hardly see anything. (It doesn't help much that Trek420 and I were probably the two shortest people of the 500,000 spectators!) I didn't even know that Charles Dionne had won the race until I got home! On the last lap, Jason McCartney was SOOO far ahead we all assumed he had won!

After we watched the start of the men's race, we cruised around the expo for a while looking for good swag, then we just walked along the route for a while. We probably saw them ride by about a dozen or so times at various places on the course. I know they're professionals, but it is still REALLY impressive how scary fast the ride downhill and how scary strong they are climbing! WOW!

And when half a million cycling fans get together, you do see a lot of interesting stuff! Bike-watching and people-watching were almost as big a part of the day as squealing, "OOOOOhhh, there he is" whenever George passed.