Tour of California

Today was stage two of the Tour of California. Previously the race was held in February, but this year was moved to May (conflicting with the Giro d'Italia) for better weather. Good luck with that! It was cold, rainy and gruesome today. I took an assortment of jackets, and my fleece vest and ended up wearing it all to stay warm. We had hoped to get up to the last ferocious climb, but the road was closed when we got there. It's too bad, because it was a pivotal section of the race. So we stood in the rain for what seemed like forever and waited for them to come around this corner.

The pictures are not that great, sorry about that. In this picture, the 4th rider (silver helmet) is Lance. He was looking strong here. There were two riders in front of them, they were just flying here.

More riders.


There was a pervasive smell of hot brakes from the team cars after their descent down Trinity Hill. Apparently it was just a bear to get down; switchbacks, rocks on the road and wet.


More riders, still chasing.

It was cool to be out there and see them.

While waiting for the race to come through, I was talking to a B&B owner. She said that she's lived here for 12 years, and the weather has never been this yucky in May. I think Jim and I brought it here.