Just Another Cyclist

You may not have heard of them before, but you’ve really got to check out The Woodward Family.  I honestly do not recall how I found these folks initially, but their blog details a ride they did together across the United States – from the east coast to the west coast.  Right now (yes – possibly this very minute) they’re at it again – only this time they are traveling the California coast line.  They are posting blog entries, videos and photos along the way.   You can also keep track of their travels via twitter feeds @zachwoodward and @somewhereonabike.

Join me in wishing them the best of luck, no flats, safe roads and tailwinds all the way.

Well, we’ve wrapped up both the Amgen Tour of California, and the Giro d’Italia.  Both had some amazing stages, with final results that could easily be thought of as surprises by some.  But now that I’ve gotten somewhat accustomed to catching the live Giro footage uber-early, and then following that up with the California events, I can’t help but feel like I just got fired and am now unemployed.  I mean, how will we all spend our days now?

Well, I’m sure we’ll adjust.  For me, it is time to ramp up the training for my wife and I’s Seattle to Portland ride in mid July.  And of course there is my real job.  I’m sure I can put an hour or two a week into that now that I’ve got more free time (Yes, coworkers, that was a sarcastic joke.)

I think more than anything, however, I’m going to begin plotting and scheming about the possibility of traveling to every stage of the Tour of California next year.  I learned a thing or two about following, capturing and writing about a major stage race.  I’ve got big ideas for next year – so we’ll have to see how things pan out.  So to all of those that enjoyed the california sun (and rain) with me this year – good times.  Hope to see you next year if not before then.

Safe riding, and keep those cow bells ringing.

The evening after the crash that completely disrupted the start of Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California, reports were coming in about some of the other riders.  Of course, news of Lance Armstrong was quick to come to light.  In fact, Bicycling magazine even came out with video of the conversations between Lance Armstrong and Johan Buryneel – filmed from the team car – from the point of the crash to the decision for Lance Armstrong to abandon.

Unfortunately – but not surprising for the Lance-centric American media coverage of cycling – details on the other riders were few and scarce.  Sometime after 9pm, details on another Radio Shack rider that was taken out in the crash – Chechu Rubiera – appeared on twitter from the @TeamRadioShack stream:

Update: Chechu is very banged up & covered with road rash, but he was managing a smile at dinner and looked to have a good appetite!

Not long after that – Viatcheslav Ekimov posted a photo of the very much road rashed Chechu:

Chechu's road rash after Stage 5 crash.

At this point I’ve not been able to find out the status of Stuart O’Grady – another rider that abandoned – or to get a list of all the riders that were unable to complete the stage due to injuries in that crash.  Unfortunately I think the noise created by Floyd Landis and his accusations of pretty much anyone in American pro cycling that he has ever had contact with probably derailed the coverage of thiseven more than the fact that Armstrong involvement normally would have.

Triathlete & champion chrissie Wellington

Yup – you read that right.  According to IronMan champion Chrissie Wellington’s blog, she has secured herself a guest slot in the time trial stage of the Amgen Tour of California to be held in LA.  Very cool….

I dug long and hard and finally came across the most fitting commentary on the entire Floyd Landis debacle:

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Sure – there’s always been the older guys in the saddle of the grand tours.  But check out Team Radio Shack roster in the Amgen Tour of California.  You’ve got the guy the media as apparently labeled as “legendarily old” – Lance Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) and Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) – both into the latter-30′s “Do a beer add and start being a commentator” phase.  Oh but wait – there’s more.  Mr. Armstrong himself was nice enough to point this out in his twitter post:

I’d once again like to thank Jens Voigt for being the oldest in a race that I’m also in. Jens (9/17/71). Me (9/18/71). Hahaha!!

That’s right – my favorite rider in the Tour of California is older still.  But these guys seem to be counting off the days until the magic 40th birthday the way others count the centimeters on a Stage 3 sprint finish.

But the sprinters are still all young bucks – right?  Well, let’s look at the extremely exciting Stage 4 finish.  In third there was the 12 year old Mark Cavendish (well, actually born May 21, 1985). JJ Haedo (born January 26, 1981) pulled second wheel, and the stage win went to Francesco Chicchi (born November 27, 1980).  Hmmmm – looks like the older guys were faster to me.

Maybe bike riders are like wine.  I mean – Floyd Landis is an old guy too, and he seems to be pretty good at whining…

After some unfortunate logistics I was forced to resort to Vs. television coverage of Stage 2 from Davis to Santa Rosa.  However, I got back on track for Stage 3 – heading out by bus, then train, then another bus from Sacramento to Santa Cruz for the finish.

One of the first things I noticed – Santa Cruz is “way bikey.”  In fact, just from my impressions that one day, I think Santa Cruz has Davis beat in daily bike usage.  It is also a little more relaxed on the bike front – more “european” if you will.  By that I mean there is a bigger emphasis on the utilitarian nature of the bike.  A lot of casually dressed (read: no lycra) hat headed (read: no helmet) cruiser and cargo bikes with riders going about their daily lives.  After meeting up with local bike celebrity (or maybe that is celebrity bicycle tracker) Cyclelicious, I asked him if the amount of bike traffic was normal for the town, or more a result of the fact that a major bike race was in town.  He assured me that the bikes were a completely normal part of everyday life.  I believe that is true – especially after I started to look around and noticed how many places in town had bike racks or bike lockers available.  Clearly there was demand for places to keep bikes – which means clearly there are folks out on bikes.

But on to the racing…

Finish line - Santa Cruz Boardwalk

It was an interesting course to the finish line in Santa Cruz.  There was a final, sharp turn at 150m before the finish line.  It is actually probably good that the groups broke up going over Bonny Doon about 30Km or so before the finish.  I imagine this corner could have been really really nasty for any bunched finish.  After some scouting from the cargo rack of a particular Santa Cruz area resident’s ride, I ended up passing on photo spots further up from the finish and parked myself at the 200m mark – just before that final turn.  Unfortunately, my love the using the bowling alley as a backdrop for my photos overrode my “sun sense” and as a result most of my photos turned out washed out and riddled with lens flare.  I opted for stills instead of video with my GoPro hero – a decision I now regret.  All that said, however, it was a fantastic finish.  Zabriskie, Leipheimer

Team Type 1

and Rogers came in first as a group of three going full boar.  I did manage to get a grainy shot of Jens Voigt (yes – I’m a Saxo Bank fan) at the front of the chase group, and also caught some great photos of one of the Team Type 1 riders.

Finally, the Team Radio Shack once again did their “Turn around and cool down by riding backwards from the finish line” gig, resulting in this shot of Jose Luis Rubiera Vigi:

Jose Luis Rubiera Vigil

As well as a mostly blurry shot of Mr. Armstrong:

Lance Armstrong

All in all an awesome day – great racing and an exciting finish.

Had a great time hanging out in downtown Sacramento for the finish of Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California.  There was the usual lifestyle festival – filled with booths – as well as a men’s and women’s grand prix that took place prior to the arrival of the main pro peloton. I got some video of both the Women and the Men, and of course all 4 passes of the pro peloton as they finished up.

The turn out was great – it felt a just little smaller than last year, but then I realized that last year was a prolog.  So last year all of the spectators were in Sacramento.  This year, some of the spectators were at the start, or along the route, in addition to all the folks hanging out with me at the finish line.  Definitely more folks overall this year I would say.

The final lap of the circuit got pretty dicey.  Some of the exact details are a little sketchy, but best I can tell Boonan was taken out when he crossed wheels with another rider, and then there was another crash – involving more folks near what appeared to be the final turn before the finish.  I watched as JJ Haedo and Cavendish passed me at the 300m line battling it out for the finish – me screaming ‘Saxo’ like a mad man.  Alas Cav pulled it out at the end, with Saxo Bank taking second place.

Unfortunately a nasty combination of logistics and poor planning on my part prevented me from attending any of Stage 2.  I’ll pick this up again at Stage 3.