Monday, February 23, 2009

Tour of California finish




Well, another edition of the Amgen Tour of California is behind us. The addition of an extra day, an epic climb, and some early bad weather made for a great race to watch. The Versus coverage was a bit spotty at best, but I love Phil, Paul, and Bob so I have to watch when I can. My biggest gripe is VS cutting off the end of stages during live coverage (even when I tivo for 1 hour past) yet finding the time on their channel for Bull Riding when cycling is supposed to be on. But I digress. I went to the final stage of the ATofC with my wife, 8 month old son, and my in-laws. It was a first for my in-laws who happen to live really close to the race finish. The crowds were epic. I have been to every edition of the race so far, and yesterdays crowds were insane. So lets hope the race keeps on getting bigger and bigger. The fans were well behaved for the most part, but I do think that American fans have not yet mastered how to be unique and fun without getting in the way of the racers. I saw a lot of yahoos running around in costume right in the middle of very narrow roads. Bad news for the riders and bad news for the fan if something goes wrong or the person trips or something. Anyway, I took a couple of pics at the finish. The boys went by fast and it was hard to get a good shot with all the yellow chalk dust in the air, and fans with point and shoot cameras trying to get their piece of cycling history. But I managed a couple worth while pics.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Tour of California

Well it is almost upon us. I can't tell you how excited I am for the next edition of the TofCA. The field is stacked, and the local teams (Read: Domestic) are ready to throw down as well. Landis, Armstrong, Sastre, the Schlecks, Leipheimer, etc. It reads like a TDF lineup for the ages. Lets keep this race coming back.

Get out to a stage if you can!
Watch the coverage on Versus!
Don't paint the roads with anything but chalk (they are really going to crack down on this)
And most of all, go ride!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009