bicycle.net -- World Road Championships 2009 :: cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video

So how often is there a UCI Pro Tour race in your own state? Maybe Missouri and Georgia too, but I have to say Tour of California has to be on top! This year I watched the last stage with my dad and some friends! We came out on Friday night, and stayed over at my half-sisters house because she lives nearby. And we rode the race course twice on Saturday. The pros had some gnarly climbing ahead of them! On Sunday we woke up early and rode the course again before the race came through. But we finished riding 3 hours early! So we sat around in the middle of the mountain for 3 hours waiting for the race to come through. Luckily Livestrong was there passing out yellow chalk to write on the ground. If you check out my pics you’ll see what I drew!! haha. Anyways thats what we did to kill some time. And as the cars and marshall motorcycles came through we awaited for the racers to come by. And finally after all the waiting the break away came through with Andy Schleck and Jens Voigt up front, Levi Leipheimer just chillin on their wheels, a few others, and Frank Schleck in the very back, jersey unzipped and wide open, breathing easily and ready to make his move. As the break went by I saw the camera man go by and everyone was telling me I was on TV! But after the break came by, the peleton came by soon after with Lance Armstrong in the front! Then there was a chase group with Mark Cavendish! and there was also a guy from Rabobank #58, he looked me straight in the eye when he passed by! After the whole caravan came through and the struggle sprinters in the back came through everyone began to descend to the bottom of the mountain, and when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. It was like another race to the bottom! A zoo of people with and/or without experience trying to get another glimpse of the pros at the bottom of the mountain! When we got there it was another 10-15 minutes till they arrived and they were smokin’ fast! And that was the end of watching the Tour of California this year. We were parked in the casino parking lot, so we didnt make it to watch the finish but of course FRANK SCHLECK won the stage!! And Levi won overall! But we did encounter some dead stop traffic on the way home! So long Tour of California 2009, see you next year!