Tour de California - wet motos and wet bikes.

[Roadstergal]

Any decent anniversary has to include 1) motorcycles, 2) rain, and 3) getting yelled at by a policeman.  This one succeeded on all three counts.

We headed out in the morning on the 'tards (well, the Drizz had its dirt wheels with knobbies on, so it was technically a dualsport at that point in time) to Great Highway to see the Tour of California fly by.  As it's sponsored by Amgen, I made sure to wear my Team Genentech shirt.

It was very, very wet.  Despite the reputation of Aerostich, I noted that I stayed dry while Slydrite had some wetness encroaching by the end. 




A dirt helmet visor, by the way, serves as a miniature facial umbrella.

CHP came by.  Lots and lots of CHP.




Slydrite kept warm with coffee.  Is there anything you can't do with an XD?




Finally, the lead car came by.  Must be quite heavy.




"You!  No jokes!"




We watched the procession of marshals, photo bikes, and other support vehicles.  Just about every motorcycle that gets recced when a "What bike should I take across the country?" thread comes up went past.







This is not a motorcycle.  But it was bright yellow and begging for a photo.




This is a motorcycle, and it is bright yellow and begging for a photo.  Some of the wheels are strapped to the bike, but the pillion is hanging on to three of them.




Is this a bike race or a motorcycle show?




Ah, it's a bike race!  The breakaway appeared (along with an F800GS).




Poor bastards, riding in the rain... wait, they're getting paid to do it!








"What are you lookin' at?"




Working hard.






We dropped the motos off at home.  It's the cleanest they've ever been.






We dropped our boots on the Peet Dryer.  My Alpinestars are far from waterproof - especially with the big rip in the left one.  The Peet Dryer is made of awesome.

We headed out to Santa Cruz with bicycles in the car, to have a bit of a different experience.  We were worried about making it to Santa Cruz in time, as sleet and mudslides had slowed traffic to a crawl.  But we did, and when we got there, we discovered evidence that we were, in fact, in Santa Cruz:




And once again, before the bikes appeared, we got a moto show.






This woman was very enthusiastic about her job.  To the point where she was blowing her whistle and summoning people who were crossing the street in order to tell them that they could only be in the street if they were crossing.






This excessively hearty announcer told us the bikers were 12 miles away.






There are times when using the words 'airhead' and 'hippo hands' is not an insult.




I was pleased to see that you could do this job with something other than a BMW.  Now, can you do it with something other than a Euro bike...?






The breakaway - Levi Leipheimer, now holding yellow jersey.






I chatted with this chica afterwards, as she's the only gal I'd seen so far doing this job.  She came to the job from cycling, not moto.




Peloton.




Gutsy camerawoman.




Playing catchup.




The support cars were going big.




On the way home.

[Toogoofy317]

Those are some sweet pics! I love cycling one of my favorite sports to watch. Would give anything to go see the Tour one day. Did Lance ride in this one? I know he used to. If he came back and got an eight while doing the Giro too now that would make him the man! I like Levi too. So, who won?

I think they should do a Tour of America and get cycling popular in the US! I need to get a new jersey I still have my Discovery one. I guess the team pretty much changed to Columbia right?

Well, its the time to be watching VS!

Mary

[GeeP]

Way too much pedaling for me.

I was in Los Gatos, CA one day when I complimented one of the locals on their pedalcycle.  I got "Well, it should be for $9,000" in a very indignant tone. 

"Nine grand and you still have to pedal it?"  was my reply.   

Never did quite get the bicycle thing, or the bicycle people for that matter.

Nice pics though.   

[Roadstergal]

Well, some people spend 30K on a moto, some spend 9K on a bike.   I like doing more with less, but I'll admit that the bike I have my eye on (Fuji Finest with the aluminum frame) retails for not much under a grand.  But the local shop has one in my size that's been discounted to $700 - if it goes lower, I'll be tempted.

Yep, Lance is riding this one - as a domestique for Astana!  I heard him called "Super-Domestique" - I want to see that on a cape. :p  Levi has the yellow jersey, but the guy behind him in this pic, Thomas Peterson, won the stage.

[ohgood]

awesome photos ! looks like you had a blast

really good to see some shots of california again - and that lead car, it should be banned ! think of the children !

I <3 ROADIES

[yamahonkawazuki]

Good god RG i though i was a photowhore. NICE work, reminds me iof a patriot guard memorial ride i did recently on my gs ( it didnt like hot slow rides lol) but the procession of law enforcement was almost 2 miles in length. i rode behind em. those guys were good. 2 of tehm would block traffic let us though, and overtake us and block again further up the road, for about 45 miles. that i had to marvel at tehir skill. and courtesy. my uncles son is a CHP moto officer as well. he was mentioning this recently in conversation. (i was comtemplating working for tehm in some capacity and we got lost in talk lol, but again, nice writeup. BTW how did slydrr (sp?) drink his coffee with helmet on?

[TheGoodGuy]

Nice pics RG.

[Roadstergal]

Danke, y'all!

that lead car, it should be banned ! think of the children !

BTW how did slydrr (sp?) drink his coffee with helmet on?

He had a straw - but I liked that the pic makes it look like he's just drinking through the helmet, like Dark Helmet.

[cafeboy]

I liked that the pic makes it look like he's just drinking through the helmet, like Dark Helmet.

LMAO 

[Toogoofy317]

Yeah, I didn't even realize you had a picture of Lance. If I ever got to see a professional race I'd probably be dressed up like one of those crazy people! I loved the dude yesterday was dressed up as a black devil with live clean on his back. The pitch fork made out of needles and his "poking" them was classic craziness on races. Levi wrecked yesterday but got back up and went on.

To me a wreck in the peloton is ten times better than  a nascar  wreck. They got up to like 55mph on a bike. That is faster than some motorized scooters can go. Besides in what other sport can you get so close to the athletes? Cyclist are the most elite of athletes!

Mary

[yamahonkawazuki]

my reconrd was 57.6 mph downhill ona MTB, wiht HARD road tires ( 100psi) i damn near wiped out. but it was hella fun

[pantablo]

great shots RG. I love/miss bicycle racing. I used to race before motos.

those dudes do NOT get paid much...most of them anyway...

[Roadstergal]

Ja, likely only the guys at the front are getting anything to speak of.

I raced some cyclocross last year and a crit... I want to do some more, but no time! 

[bucks1605]

I always look forward to reading your theads RG, I love looking at your pics. Thanks for sharing.