Photo today:
In the foreground is
Jose Luis Rubiera Vigil of Team Astana.
Today we went to the starting line of the final leg of the
Amgen Tour of California in
Rancho Bernardo. This is the largest cycling event in America (750 miles of California) and it is a Tour de France-style cycling road race featuring the world's top professional cycling teams.
Lance Armstrong rode with
Team Astana and played a major role in helping
Levi Leipheimer become the eventual winner of the whole Tour.
Our friends
Anne & Gilbert invited us to go with them. Here's everyone at the starting line:
(Photo pilfered from
Anne's blog.)
We walked around and look who we found! Cindi of
AKA Alice! I've never met her before but she said she recognized me from my blog, and she had just
met Anne yesterday. It was so cool to meet a blog friend!
I got to step out into the lane for a quick photo of the starting line:
We had to jockey for position quite a bit in order to be close enough to take photos of the cyclists at the start of the race. Anne can tell you that it was hard work!
Frank Pipp of team Bissell:
Jens Voigt of team Saxo Bank:
Robert Gesink of team Rabobank,
Mark Cavendish of team Columbia, and others I can't identify:
Tom Zirbel of team Bissell,
Cameron Evans &
Patrick McCarty of Team Ouch:
After the start, the cyclists headed towards Palomar Mountain for some killer elevations, finishing in downtown Escondido. We left and went to lunch at Chile Peppers with Anne & Gilbert. Turns out our favorite Mexican place is also a favorite of Anne & Gilbert's!
I turned on the TV when I got home to watch the cyclists en route to the finish in Escondido. I didn't know hardly anything about cycling, but learned a lot from the commentators. I enjoy learning new things so it was fun.
Dinner tonight was
Chicken Penne Salad with Green Beans. We've been making this one for years and it's one of our go-to dishes.
No one but me knows how hard it was for you to get those great shots of the cyclists. Word of advice to anyone considering lining up along a race barrier: stay away from the elderly with coffee cups, chairs and cameras! I really enjoyed yesterday and am looking forward to our next adventure.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures! So sharp and focused, I guess they were already up to speed when the passed you by. How cool to see a cycle race close up. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat pix! We ended up having to leave before the race even started (isn't that silly? but the kids had "other events" to get to...)
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to meet you (I felt a little bit like a stalker) and Anne (x2)...but OMG, I need to get my roots done! I had NO IDEA!!!