Tour de CA

We've been meaning to post about this for months, but with Le Tour just a few weeks away we thought now is a good time. Our good friend Roger came in town for the Tour of CA and we spent a few days following the race. It was pretty cool. We have attended pro races in the past, but usually for just one day or stage. Cycling is the most accessible professional sport in the world as you will see by how close we were able to get to the action and the athletes as they compete (also before and after the day's racing).

Jens
This is how close we were to the time trial riders.
Levi in yellow (gold) on his way to the time trial stage win in Solvang. This was our favorite day. It felt very Euro.
All these guys do is ride. They wake up and warm up a bit, and then pre-ride the course. Next they spin to warm up before they race. Then they race, and finally they have to ride to cool down after going all out. Here is big George on his post race cool down.
Solvang was longhorn day. Most days were elk days for this nut.
The peleton hits the Rose Bowl for several laps.
Is this France?
Most of the big names of the race are in this group climbing. Most of you wouldn't know who they were if I told you, but you might recognize the rider with the yellow helmet on the right.There goes Lance and Levi again controling the pace at the front.
"Hi Mom!" Roger and I made it on TV. I am in the black hat and Roger has the white t-shirt on (left side of the screen). Pretty funny!