Tour of California

Yes, it's that time again...one of my FAVORITE times of the year. The time when the pro peleton comes to MY backyard to play.

Today they rode from Santa Barbara up and over San Marcos Pass on route 154, through Los Olivos (a mere 7 miles from the base of the awesome Figueroa Mountain), up Foxen Canyon, then Palmer Cyn Road to Dominion Blvd to Clark Ave (which is where the broadcast coverage started), down Clark and over hwy 101 and into Santa Maria, downhill thru Old Orcutt to Hwy 1 where they then go north thru Guadalupe, Nipomo, Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and finally finish in Avila Beach.

And I didn't see a SECOND of it in person. They rode by my house by less than TWO MILES (the intersection of Clark and Bradley is where I turn  off of Clark to get home from any rides that go to the east). I ride Foxen Canyon ALL THE TIME! It's truly my backyard for road riding.

Along with missing pretty much the entire ToC (thus far, and sadly the rest of it too), I'm also missing the Giro. I have NBC Sports AND BEIN networks, and my DVR is faithfully recording the daily broadcast of the Giro and the ToC, and I've seen VERY LITTLE of either. In fact, tonight after I got home from work I watched my FIRST bits of the ToC...today's stage. The reason I'm missing all the bike racing is that after I got home from my Sunnyvale trip (5 weeks) I immediately started working at our payload processing center as we were preparing to receive our bread and butter spacecraft to process for launch.

That spacecraft was delivered to us last weekend, and it arrived into our processing center on Monday. Alas, I'm suddenly working 12 hour shifts nearly every day. 4am to 4pm. I have to get up around 1:50am to get out of the house no later than 2:45am, so I can be at the base around 3:15am, so I can put out my LIVESTRONG fundraising goodies at 2 of our buildings. Yes, even through 12 hour days I will keep my fundraising alive. Then after that I can get to the processing center by 3:45am for the start of my 4am shift (we arrive 15 minutes early so we can get to wherever we need to be...typically we have people 'on-station' somewhere in the cleanroom with the spacecraft, and we need to be able to get dressed out in our bunny-suits and relieve them so they can get out by roughly 4am, and 12 hours later they (hopefully) repay the favor.

After work I stop by my 2 buildings and gather my profits for the day, take stock of what I'm short of (so that I can bring it by in the morning on my way back to work), and finally head home. I typically get home around 5:30pm...spend some time with Jeannie and the babies, eat some dinner, and to bed by 7:30pm. Thus is my life for the next few months (until it launches).

OK..enough on my work-life. About today's race....GOSH! WAY TO GO JENS! Of all the days to MISS being at the finish of a race right in my home-area, THIS was the worst! Tyler was 2nd, Thor was third...WHAT A PODIUM!!! I'm DYING that I missed it! I had planned on catching the race in at least 3 locations and most likely 4. I could have seen them as they turned the corner from 154 onto Foxen Cyn, then again as they turned from Foxen to Palmer Cyn, then again as they go down Clark Ave under hwy 135, and again in Guadalupe at the sprint point (each of these intersections give me an escape road for easy access in my car to zoom to the next viewing area). In the inaugural ToC 5 or 6 years ago (won by Floyd Landis if you recall) they did almost this very route going the other way. My brother Greg came up and we caught the sprint in Guadalupe, missed them by seconds on Clark Ave, and we then were able to catch them as they came down from San Marcos Pass on Hwy 154 in Santa Barbara.

Also if you've seen the telecast of today's stage, you saw after they passed thru Orcutt onto Hwy 1 a little tid-bit of our famous winds. This is the road where they first started riding in echelon formation, and where the peleton broke apart separating the GC guys from the yellow jersey. Of note to me was how badly Phil Liggett pronounces so many things. He and Paul don't know how to pronounce the finish city (Avila Beach, pronounced "Av-il-la", but they kept saying "Av-oo-la" (makes me crazy to hear that over and over), also the sprint city of Guadalupe (pronounced "Guad-a-loop-ey", where they constantly dropped off the "ey" at the end). They need to hire someone local wherever they go to help them say the local names right. There were others in the broadcast, but I can't remember them just now....but if they were mangling this much in my little area, it makes me wonder about all the broadcasts they do of places I've never heard of. But that's OK...it was still nice to hear them...it's the first race this season  that I've heard the full OLN/VS/NBCSPTS broadcast crew...ahhhhh!And Bobke had funny commercials too! Well, sort of funny. Hopefully they do full on crazy at the TDF.

Back to the local winds. Pro-Peleton, welcome to MY world! I deal with that wind on a daily basis! 15-20 mph is pretty normal. And it DOES shift directions quickly...which is what happened to them. It was almost a direct headwind as they were going north on hwy-1, and suddenly it shifted to a head/crosswind. That's when the alert Radio Shack and BMC squads quickly split the field. I've ridden all the roads they did from the junction of hwy 154 and Foxen Canyon to just a few miles from the finish (never yet ridden into Avila Beach). I rode a part of them just last Saturday, when we were up in the Arroyo Grande area. I do wish they'd consider re-doing this stage someday, only alter it to finish right here in Santa Maria/Orcutt...that way they could add in Figueroa Mt (it's an HC climb...10 miles up, 10 miles down, 3500'), and they have roughly the same overall miles for the day. It would be a GREAT ride for them, and many teams still come to our area in the winter and train on Figueroa Mt. And Santa Maria would offer an awesome finish...so many places to do it at, and easy access into/out of the city via Hwy 101 and 135. Avila Beach is a HORRIBLE location for a finish. Horrible for the spectators anyway...even if I had the afternoon off I doubt very much I would have made it in for the finish, unless I gave up seeing all those spots and just went straight there in the morning. There's basicly one way in, one way out. I can guarantee it was a NIGHMARE for the spectators.

But such is life. I MISSED the race of the year (for me). And alas, I must now get to bed. It's already after 8pm suddenly, meaning that I'll only get about 5 and a half hours of sleep IF I can get into bed in mere-moments, and actually fall asleep quickly.

Enjoy the rest of the race! I won't..I might not even get to see the stages, will probably have to read about them on Velo News. How sad is that?

Cheers.

And good-night!