Tour of California Week, Part IV: Memorable Modesto

Tour of California Week, Part I
Tour of California Week, Part II
Tour of California Week, Part III

I can’t remember the last time I received flowers from a man. Oh wait, yes I can… it was 1995.  Not that this qualifies as the same thing, but I'll take these as a gift anyhow.

Hope I don't have to wait another fifteen years...

The day started out gorgeous and I found myself thinking at one point that with the move to May the riders would complain about the heat. My opinions on this matter quickly changed as a high cloud cover began to roll in. Over a couple of hours, the cover became thicker. By the time the race was showing on the screen, the temperature had dropped noticeably and a few drops of rain had started to fall. I’d spent all day in the sun, sitting on a corner in direct sight of the finish line, to be rained on. Obviously not ideal, especially if you’re trying to get pictures. Luckily, the rain stopped and the roads started to dry before the peloton reached downtown.

As the riders flew by, I snapped photo after photo just as I did for the first stage. However, the lens I was using wasn’t as cooperative when the riders came around the corner. Life isn’t Burger King; I can’t have it my way, but this didn’t stop me from trying and cheering my heart out.

Cervelo leading into the first turn of the circuit, Levi Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie staying up front

The real action came after the race.

See, the corner I situated myself on turned out to be golden. Once the riders plowed through the finish, they came down to the corner and stopped to turn around and return to either the podium or their team buses. I caught interactions between soigneurs and their riders, teammates, and even riders from different teams.

Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) congratulates Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas) on his win

My favorite moment came when I noticed Mark Cavendish pedaling slowly back towards me with a soigneur’s arm around his shoulder. The soigneur was leaning in closely, speaking to Cav in a very intimate manner. Neither of them was smiling and I realized that Cav was being consoled.

Mark Cavendish and his look of pain, suffering, and extreme disappointment

I was able to capture a few choice moments of congratulations and comfort from my vantage point and I honestly didn’t think things would get any better. After a few minutes, a course marshal approached and removed the barrier that was keeping spectators off the course. I asked if I could go through and pointed down the street to the finish line and was allowed to do so.

As I made my way down the street, I started getting the distinct feeling that I didn’t belong there. Trying to look as confident as possible with my camera in hand and Garmin-Transitions inspired messenger bag over my shoulder, I briskly approached the podium area. I was the only fan there, but nobody stopped me so I made myself comfortable.

Again, I struck gold. Dave Zabriskie was already on stage waiting to be presented with the leader’s jersey, something I missed in Sacramento. By the time the presentation began, many fans had filled in the gaping hole behind me. I just did my thing and enjoyed the moment. As each rider was presented with his jersey, he tossed his bouquet into the crowd. My first thought was, “I want DZ’s flowers!” Guess I missed the boat on that one. Each rider was throwing his flowers about five feet to my left. Oh well.

Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) is golden

Eventually, Peter Sagan of Liquigas was brought on stage and presented with the jersey for Best Young Rider. After he received his kisses from the podium hostesses, he did a quick scan of the crowd. I don’t know what made me do it, but I raised my hand and waved. Imagine my surprise when he actually threw his flowers to me. The woman next to me reached in front of me to make a grab for them and we had a little scuffle, laughing. “We’re like bridesmaids at a wedding!” We ended up splitting the flowers, which was nice of her since he threw them to me in the first place.

Peter Sagan (Liquigas) receives the Best Young Rider jersey

I immediately tweeted, “I just got Liquigas Best Young Rider’s flowers.” (I was too excited to try to type an exclamation point, possibly kinda maybe shaking a little bit.  In fact, I don't recall using an apostrophe either.)

Totally gratuitous photo of Lars Boom because he's beautiful and has a cool name

When the presentation was over, I turned to leave and was stopped by a woman who asked, “Are you Michelle?” She held up her Blackberry and showed me the tweet I’d made about Sagan’s flowers. Turns out she was one of my tweeps, Jen (@jenfairfax), who was working as a course marshal for the Tour and is every bit as awesome in person. We got to talking and ended up sending D’Andrea a text to meet in the hotel bar for drinks.  D'Andrea brought me a Tour of California shirt... thanks!

Of course, the excitement didn’t stop there because Jen let me hold Jens Voigt’s water bottle that she picked up the previous day. The thing still had liquid in it!

My street cred went up about 17.38% because I held Jens Voigt's bottle

Yeah, I’d say it was a pretty exciting tour and I most certainly have fond memories and connections now.  I can't wait until next year!

Tour of California Week, Part III: Let the Race Begin!

Tour of California Week, Part I
Tour of California Week, Part II

Having found a comfortable spot on the corner to watch the race, I waited patiently for the coverage to begin on the screen that was across the street. When 2:00 PM rolled around, we had no video and there was no sound. Desperately wanting to know what was going on, I called my parents to ask. My mom wasn’t much help. Luckily, a man sharing the corner used his fancy phone to look up what was going on in the race. (I could have done that had Verizon gotten my fancy new Palm Pre Plus working, but no such luck after a week of trying.) I was excited to hear that Paul Mach was in the break.

Shortly before 3:00, we still had no video and little idea what was going on, but I did get to watch Kathleen King (@bikechik) create one of her fabulous bike scribbles.

Happily, shortly after 3:00, the video started working, but we still had no sound. No use worrying about it. The boys rolled in at about 3:45 to complete a few laps of the circuit before the big finish. On the ground with my camera poised, they flew passed. Kelly Benefit leading the charge followed closely by the HTC-Columbia train.

HTC-Columbia setting up Mark Cavendish for the win

With my finger pressed to the shutter release, my camera fired off photo after photo, working exactly as it should have been.

Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner of Team RadioShack

After Cavendish took the stage win, most of the riders made there way by again. I was able to get some additional shots at this time when the action slowed down. Turns out some of my favorites were in that group.

Chris Butler of BMC Racing... one of my favorite shots for the day

A hairier than usual Andy Jacques-Maynes of Bissell

When the riders had cleared the course, I headed down the block and a half to the podium to try to get a few shots of the presentations. This was the first time I ever bothered to do this. While I missed the presentation of the “gold” jersey to Cavendish, I did catch the King of the Mountains presentation to Paul Mach. He had many supporters in the crowd that day and it seemed to be a truly proud moment.

Paul Mach would start stage 2 in Davis (where he calls home) sporting a fancy red jersey

At the conclusion of the podium presentations, it was time to hunt down D’Andrea (@deedee315) who would be the first of several “tweeps” I’d meet during the course of the week ahead. We joined up with Martha Van (@marthavan of Action Wipes fame), whom I’d actually met briefly before at Levi’s GranFondo and headed to get some drinks. They are both absolute sweethearts and I enjoyed a relaxing evening with the ladies before being forced to head back to the parental unit’s home to pick up my car and bike and make the long drive home.

Additional stage 1 photos from Sacramento here and here (Lifestyle Festival, including some serious bike porn).
 
Hmm... I think I might finally be getting the hang of this photography thing.
 
Next up: Tour of California Week, Part IV: Memorable Modesto

Tour of California Week, Part II: Sacramento Grand Prix

Tour of California Week, Part I

Last Sunday morning started just like any other morning when I wake up at the parent unit’s home – with an achy body from the air mattress deflating overnight. That wasn’t going to stop me from taking care of what I was there to do. Photograph and enjoy the stage 1 finish of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California.  First, there was the matter of the first ever Sacramento Grand Prix that needed to be addressed.

The morning got off to a chilly start when I arrived downtown at about 10:30 AM. The crowd was already buzzing and the Lifestyle Festival was more or less already set up. I spent some time checking out a few of the booths, photographed some of the bikes, and although I had already chosen a location for photographing the race, I checked out my options.

The Sacramento Grand Prix was also being held that morning so I was able to walk around the course and actually get some photos before the big guns flew into the city.

The men’s race was fun to watch with quite a large field of some stellar regional talent. Yahoo! Cycling, Webcor, Metromint, Adageo Energy, and Cal Giant were all well represented. The start list also included a small handful of riders from Ouch-Bahati, but as far as I’m aware, they didn’t show up. Floyd Landis wasn’t one of those scheduled to race, but I can’t help thinking that their absence was due to the shitstorm that was about to hit midweek.

I furiously tweeted the race and tried to get the best shots possible in preparation for the afternoon.

Tim Farnham (@NorCalBikerBoy) of Adageo Energy

I believe each team took a turn pulling at the front. In the end, Justin Williams of Trek-LIVESTRONG took the win. I’m cool with that. Justin seems like a good kid and I was happy to see him race well after witnessing the difficult time he had at the Merco Road Race.

Justin Williams of Trek-LIVESTRONG (center)

The women’s race didn’t boast of as large of a field, but there was some extraordinary talent racing. Tibco, Team Type 1, Peanut Butter & Co/TWENTY 12, Vanderkitten, Vera Bradley Foundation, and even HTC-Columbia were represented.

Women's field flying down 9th St. with the capitol building in the background

In the end, 17 year old Coryn Rivera of Peanut Butter & Co/TWENTY 12 (and a Bike Pure rider!) won the women’s event. A huge score for such a young rider.

Women's podium

Once the Sacramento Grand Prix wrapped up, it was time to take one last break before planting my butt on my corner and wait.

Up next: Tour of California Week, Part III: Let the Race Begin!

Tour of California Week, Part I

Like many other cycling fans, I’ve waited well over a year for the Tour of California to roll around again. The waiting was brutal. Now that it’s here, like any other fun event in a person’s life, it is passing us by much too quickly.

My experience this year with the race has been one of great anticipation and excitement. Although it all started weeks ago, the most memorable moments began when I decided to head up to the parental unit’s home outside of Sacramento to visit before catching the finish of stage 1 in Sacramento. I hauled Zippy along with me and we hit the American River Bike Trail (ARBT) for a relaxing afternoon spin.

When I ride in the city in which I currently reside (more or less against my will), I seldom see cyclists out. Even on really nice days, I can ride 40 km and not see a single rider. On the rare occasion that I do see someone else out on his or her trusty steed, I find that I get incredibly (well, stupidly) excited. However, when I ride the ARBT, the path is absolutely teeming with cyclists (and squirrels). Oddly enough, I think that even though I ride solo, seeing others out on the road/trail inspires me. It makes me a better rider. I have more endurance, drive, passion… I even smile when I ride, but nothing really prepared me for that day’s experience.

I’ve been having a tough time with my riding. Illnesses, poor weather conditions, and a busy work schedule have cut my riding time drastically. Optimism wasn’t part of my emotional range that day when I headed out. Thinking that perhaps I would get in about 15 km, I hit the trail at what wasn’t exactly a leisurely effort for me.

Soon I found out that I felt great, mind and body, despite putting in extra effort. The other riders out on the path, the beautiful weather, and the excitement of the Tour energized me. I could feel it in the air. About a third of the way into my ride, I looked down to check my computer. When I looked back up, I got an eyeful of argyle in time trial position coming at me from the opposite direction.

Yep, a Garmin-Transitions rider. More excitement to feed off… *pedal pedal*

At 20 km, I decided to turn around and head back as not to worry the parental unit. I stopped briefly and heard a noise in the brush on the side of the trail. Turning to look, I saw two deer grazing in the grass. While preparing to snap a shot with my phone, I was distracted once again by Mr. Argyle Armada heading back in the opposite direction. He had picked up a bit of an entourage at this point.

Yep, once again an exciting day, but I’m not sure it could compare to what was coming.

Oh, and I never did get a picture of those deer.

(And yes, as the title suggests, there are more parts to this story...)