Ann and I decided to cancel our Sunday flight, then drive the 3 hours to Mt Palomar summit, the king of mountain finale in stage 8 of Tour of California, a 5200 ft climb, 11 miles. It was well worth it to see the pain on those guys faces. Notably, got good shot of Lance Armstrong (Astana, yellow helmet), putting the hurt on those around him. However, Levi Leipheimer was in the break, 2 minutes ahead at the summit and believe me, if Lance could have gone with him he would have. So this doesnt mean he's not competitive, as it's only February and Lance has never been in top shape this time of year. As well, he led out the Astana peleton throughout the race while Levi drafted behind him, so yes, Lance probably did more work overall in the race, so he should be tired. Check out the pic of the guy with the Guinness shorts. This is Shawn Wallace, a co-teammate on Guinness Cycling Team. Shawn has won world TT championships, masters division...twice. He pedalled up the 5200 ascent on Palomar today on a beach cruiser...carrying a surfboard. And...the 4 other guys on road bikes got left behind. That is strong! For those of you who dont know cycling...no...they arent reading the newspaper as they crest the top of the mountain. Spectators hand the cyclists news paper, of which they then stuff in their jerseys for extra insulation as they descend the 14 miles off the summit. 
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tour of California Stage 8
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tour of California Stages 5 and 6
Some more pics...Stage 5, over 130 miles and you can guess the stage 6 photos, the Salvang Time Trial. Leipheimer, Armstrong, Rogers, Voigt, Hamilton, and a few other shots in the TT. I was fortunate, a rep from Columbia High Road saw me taking pics. Came over to me and said, "you look like you know what you're doing, would you mind getting some pics of the Columbia team?" He then gave me freedom to go out into the middle of the course with the cyclists coming right at me and take photos. As well, he flagged the chase vehicles around me...yeah it was funny to see the media badge photographers kept off the course while I was allowed exclusive pics. So...yeah, every now and then the little guy wins out. 
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tour of California Stage 4
Wow, I am not a cyclist. But, I love this sport. This morning, walking around before the start, the athletes pedalling around, Landis, Hamilton, Gaimon, Hincapie, etc. so easily mingling around with the fans. It was cool. WAY different than the Tour de France where they isolate the athletes. Here, they were just mingling around on their bikes. All except Armstrong. Man...you gotta have some pitty for this guy. There were about 200 kids surrounding the Astana trailer just waiting for him to step out. This guy is bigger than a movie star. At the 60 mile mark of today's 116 mile stage I was waiting on the side of the road for the cyclists. (See the pic with the line of Team Astana and Team Garmin). Two people stepped in front of my camera to get shots of the 3 sprinters going for the sprint points, 4.5 minutes ahead of team Astana and the rest of the peleton. Both people stated, "wow, did you see lance!!". I turned to them and said, do you know what colors Lance has on? Do you know what team he is on? (All 3 sprinters were in black and white kits). They both said to me, no....but Lance was there right? Man that's sad. These people dont even take the time to get a program to see what team Lance is on so they dont look like fools chearing and taking pics of the sprinters thinking Lance is one of them. Only in California. Well, he's probably good for the sport though....people are out here in droves.
Some Pics I took today at Tour of California, Stage 4: Merced to Clovis
