We just got back from the Tour of California a few hours ago. We had a lot of fun, but I must say, if you’re a real cycling fan you’re probably better off watching the action on your tv instead of going to the event. It was really cool seeing the riders going by us, but we really had no clue what was going on! We didn’t know who was in the lead, and when the cyclists were going around the Rose Bowl we didn’t know if there was a lead group and a chase group, or if the peleton had lapped one of the groups (the annoying man standing beside me was just sure that one of the groups had been lapped, but we found out later that he was wrong).
Anyway, in my attempt to scale down our hundreds of pictures and two days of action, here were our highlights.
Andy was our tour guide, and he decided to watch stage 7 from a street corner fairly close to the start of the stage. We were so surprised when we got to the corner and found it almost empty. We had no trouble parking in a lot right at the corner, and hung out for a few minutes while the kids ate some sandwiches and we grabbed some freebies that were being handed out by Livestrong volunteers.
After the kids finished their lunch, we decided to walk up the road a bit to get a better view of the action. We found a spot where we were almost alone and waited for the riders to come by. When they finally passed us, I couldn’t believe how fast they were going! I got a LOT of really good pictures of the action, but in this one Frank Schleck swerved over and came right by us.
I also got some good pictures of Floyd Landis, and I’m sure when I’ve had a chance to look more carefully I’ll spot more of the big names. Maybe I’ll post more pics as I recognize them.
After we left that corner, we went to the 5 laps around the Rose Bowl. After parkind the car, we took a ridiculous hike through the outskirts of the stadium grounds to find the perfect spot to watch the race. Unfortunately, the girls had to use the bathroom and we had to hike even further. We finally found a bathroom, did our business, and found our way back to a spot just past the finish line. Each of the riders’ 5 laps would take them right past us before finally finishing the race. I got many good pictures of the riders going past us, but here’s a nice one of Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer’s entire Astana team going by us together.
Okay, I have to take a minute here to add my own commentary. Lance Armstrong said that he was going to be Levi Leipheimer’s ‘domestique extrordinaire’ during the Tour of California. Basically what that means is that Lance will be doing the grunt work so that Levi can win the race. Now look at my picture. Lance is wearing an Astana jersey and a yellow helmet, Levi is wearing the blue helmet and the yellow jersey. You can see Lance is safely tucked in right behind Levi in this picture. As I go back and review my pics, Lance is behind Levi in almost every single photo I have of him. It’s like Lance made an effort not to be seen. How is he doing the grunt work if he’s tucked in behind Levi all the time? You can see the rest of the Astana team out in front, but not Lance. So what’s up? Is he so out of shape that he can’t get out there and help the team with the real pace making? Or is he the real team leader? Everyone knows that the Tour of California is Levi’s event, did Lance let Levi win it with the understanding that he was going to stay back in the group so he could save his energy for the more important races? And where is Alberto Contador? I guess only time will tell.
Even with Lance staying behind Levi most of the time, I still did manage to get a pic of him. Not a good one, but you have to take what you can get.
So the riders went around us 5 times, there was a lot of battling for the win, but of course we didn’t know anything about it. I did, however, manage to get this awesome pic of the stage winner as he crossed the finish line. It was totally luck, I zoomed way in and snapped the pic when the crowd cheered, I had no clue what I was taking a picture of. Pretty good timing, don’t you think?
After the stage was over, the riders just happened to go right past our spot to get to their team trailers! I managed to snap a few good pics of riders I didn’t recognize, and I’ll update when I figure out who they are. But for now, here’s…
George Hincapie!
And my man, Big Tom Boonen!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the race was over, we headed back to our car. The crowds were terrible and we did whatever we could to avoid them. We were walking through a semi-secluded area when guess what we saw!
That’s right! The Tour winner, Levi Leipheimer, rode right by us after getting the Tour Leader’s jersey at the stage ceremony! I’m so proud of this pic, because there were several Tour photographers right by us who complained that their lens caps were on and they didn’t get this pic. Sorry guys!
So on to day 8. We went to see the start of the stage. Let me tell you, if you ever get to go see a professional cycling tour, catch the beginnings instead of the ends! I was standing there as George Hincapie rode by.
Then Mark Cavendish rode by a minute later.
…and this was all before the stage actually got underway! Oh, and just to prove that I was actually there…
Do you see me? I have a little girl in a blue shirt almost entirely blocking me, but I’m wearing a white t-shirt and I have two purple noisemakers in front of me. Yup, that’s me. Ain’t I cute?
Finally the whole group went riding past us. I could sit here and point out every recognizable face in the group, but I think I’ll leave that for another day. Right now, I’ll just post a pic of Floyd Landis, who won the Tour deFrance in 2006 but had the title unfairly (in my opinion) ripped from him. I hope he can come back from his suspension and hip surgery, he sure didn’t deserve the crap he’s been dealing with. See him there in black, red, and white?
After the start of the stage, we went on to the end of it. Let me just say that I do not have enough patience to deal with people who save their spot along the fence with a little pink sweatshirt carelessly flung over it. Nor do I deal well with people who decide to stand in front of someone who has been saving their spot for over an hour. After several such irritations right by the finish line, we decided that it wasn’t all that important to be right at the end. We trekked a few hundred meters further down the road and found a nice spot to watch the action. Here are the two riders who battled it out for the stage win.
Honestly, I don’t know who they are or which guy won. We still need to watch the tv coverage to find out. But it sure looks exciting, doesn’t it?
I have other pics of the peleton coming by us, but the day was so overcast by then that my camera settings just made everything blurry. Maybe I’ll show them later. But didn’t I get a good picture of Andy and Sophie?
So there you go. We had a really fun time, and we learned a lot about the ins and outs of watching professional cycling live. If we go next year, we’ll definitely have some tricks up our sleeves to make the whole experience more fun. But I’m glad we went this year, I’m looking forward to going through my pics to see who else I can recognize. And I’m excited to go to sleep in my own bed!
