Tour of California-Prologue, Sacramento

Hello to all from cold and cloudy Sacramento!

The weather did not keep the crowds, estimated at 70,000 – 75,000, away for Day 1 of the Tour of California and we were right there along with them. Of course the big news is the return of Lance Armstrong, but there are many others to watch.

We decided to play it safe and arrive several hours ahead of time and were surprised to find parking, a bonus. After a nice warm breakfast, it was back to our ‘secret’ parking space. Since the wind was blowing and the temperature a bit nippy, we read the newspaper from the cab of our S10 pickup!

The course in Sacramento was a 2.4-mile loop around the State Capitol. Many of the riders did some of their warm up practicing the course and we watched Lance and his Astana Team do a few laps.

After scouting the course we found the perfect spot to watch the riders coming off a nice turn and stood there for the duration of the race…about 3 ½ hours…man, you really have to be a fan of this sport!

Today’s stage winner was Fabian Cancellar with a time of 4:32, amazing…

Tomorrow we will be off early to catch a spot on the climb of Pope Valley. Weather calls for a new storm…lots more wind and rain showers. So much for riding in sunny California!

I’ll include a bunch of photos of the ride below J

Signing off for today…will add images as I get an Internet connection along the way!