"It's Incredible!" - Christie's TV appearance

Coming soon is our recap of our last day of the Tour. We are in the process of editing photos (and video!). The most exciting part of the day? Christie's interview with Channel 8! This adventure gets more incredible by the day. Check out the clip through the link below (Christie appears about 1:50 through)...

Tour of California Bike Race Ends in Escondido
Local cycling enthusiasts lined the streets from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido as the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California made its first appearance in San Diego County.
http://www.cbs8.com/global/story.asp?s=9886815

Thanks for listening. Ciao.

Christie & Anna

The Rose Bowl Finish

Although the riders started from Santa Clarita, we joined them in Pasadena for the finish. And, our friends joined us, which made the day more special. First things first, we hopped in the hotel shuttle which dropped us off at the edge of the Rose Bowl. Henry, our driver, was super friendly and come to find out his brother-in-law was a lieutenant with the Pasadena Police force, a useful bit of information should we need to drop names.

We wandered the festival and it was 10-year old Sarah’s lucky day. Not only was she on TV for Livestrong but she also won 10 burritos from Chipotle in the big spin! All we won was free Chips and Guac. Why do we feel cheated? In the meantime, the rest of the group went for shaved ice while I trained Sarah to hunt for free cycle swag. She’s now a pro and her favorite swag of the day? The free dog treats. Don’t ask. Potty break before heading to secure our spot along the race route, Anna got distracted with her jacket, forgetting to lock the porta-potty door. Surprise!

Perched on our secured spot, we met a bunch of cool people, including the director of Team Columbia Highroad (that’s George’s team!). Suh-weet! Anticipation and the crowd grew as the race leaders approached with the first of five circuits around the Rose Bowl. Five circuits = five Lance sightings! Check out the pic of Lance (in yellow helmet) and Levi (in yellow jersey) side by side. Also, Lance gives Luca a wave on the third circuit. Awesome! An Italian won the stage and as the riders circled around to leave the area, Big George (can you pick out the pic of my boyfriend?) came right through our group to head back to the Team RV. It was an exciting day to say the least.

After a great Mexican dinner, a walk through downtown Pasadena, and a quick glance at some ice skaters, we hit the sack. It’s exhausting being a cycle groupie!

Hope you enjoy the pics. Thanks for listening. Ciao.

Hey George! Would you take a picture with my monkey?

Solvang.  Time Trials.  

Great start to the day - we had breakfast with men in leather pants at the Holiday Inn Express.  It was great to sit next to the moto riders and the race marshall while we ate - we felt like we got the inside scoop.  

The race groupies adventures started the moment we arrived in Solvang.  We caught George Hincapie (Ride #21 and Christie's new boyfriend, sorry Anna) coming out the team RV to pick up his bike for the warmup.  He was kind enough to pose for a photo op with Lorenzo's older cousin, Luca.  This after Anna chased him down..."Hey George, would you take a picture with my monkey?"  We were giddy.  

Next, we tried to get a glance of Lance when Team Astana's RV pulled up but since there was no sign of him, we darted after the other teammates into the Bull Dog Cafe, the local coffee shop where the riders stop in for breakfast.  Guess who we bumped into?  Legends Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin!  How cool is that?  They were more than happy to pose with Luca.   After bumping into Johan Bruyneel (famous for coaching Lance), we camped out at the starting gate of the Time Trials' staging area.  We saw all 107 riders (except Ivan Basso, who had a "mishap" during warmups).  Anna swears they all looked at Luca who was zip-tied to a tent pole.  The next few hours were great - Luca went for a ride on Mavic's motorcycle, we saw Italian riders warming up (ciao!), and saw cycling greats like Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton, Thor Huschovd, Stuart O'Grady, Christian Vandevelde, LANCE ARMSTRONG, and the time trial winner LEVI LEIPHEIMER!!!

We were exhausted after standing still for 4 hours and we were hungry for food and a cold one.  Ahhh...  After lunch, we hit the festival booths for cycling swag.  Our hearts were beating fast as we scooped up stickers, pens, Livestrong bands, Gu, chalk, and elixir dietary supplements (which we hear are great for hangovers).  As the Livestrong reps handed out bands, Christie was asked "do you have kids?"  Without batting an eye, her response was "a couple" to which she was rewarded more yellow bands.  All the buzz was about Lance's stolen bike which was finally recovered on Thursday and on display.  And, what better way to finish the day then meeting Bob Roll (Bobke).  Anna was excited to get his autograph and when she finally got up front, Bob reached to sign Luca..."you can't sign my monkey!!!"  That got a good laugh out of Bob who then posed for a picture with Anna & Luca.  

We had a great day and saw, up close and personal, with the riders.  More excitement is guaranteed tomorrow when we meet up with friends in Pasadena.   

Thanks for listening.

Ciao!

I'm in love...

...with George Hincapie! Alright, alright. Don't get any ideas but the man is quite handsome!

After saying our goodbyes to Hans & Tessel at 8AM this morning, we hit the road, the Matrix packed with our Race Fan gear - chairs, snacks, and cameras. We hit what we thought was the morning commute traffic in San Diego but as it turned out, the traffic was due to a pretty bad fender-bender . The weird part was that upon a closer look, Christie recognized one of the folks involved as the Executive Administrative Assistant to PETCO's EVP. Really, how weird is that. Despite the traffic woes following us into LA, we were treated to the amazing white capped San Bernardino mountains along the route. It was simply beautiful.

We stopped in Downey for gas, prostitutes, and (free) hub caps on the side of road. We're kidding about the prostitutes. And, the free hub caps. But we saw it all. Claustrophobia took the best of us while driving on the 101 as trucks and loosey goosey steering wheels closed in on us. All the while, Anna took "what to blog" notes on a magazine subscription form not prepared for how much Christie was going to dictate to her.

12:40PM, Santa Barbara, CA. We were stressed. The race was set to be over at 3:30. Sigh. San Luis Opisbo, Astascadero, and finally Paso Robles. We arrived at 2:30PM and were already looking for Lance Armstrong (Live Strong!). It was immediate that we caught race fever, especially Christie who began inspecting the festival booths for cool (and free!) goods and peering into the crowds to find Lance, Levi, George, Ivan...anyone. We huddled and strategized to decide that Anna should position herself along the sidelines and Christie at the end of the race route (for photo ops of course). Anna saw most of the action - she watched Lance Armstrong cross the finish line, was within two feet of George Hincapie (say cheese!), and other riders. Christie didn't see much but told the crowd the racers had no brakes. Confused, naturally, with the indoor track circuit.

Once the race was over, our enthusiasm continued. We watched the awards ceremonies, saw Levi ride through crowds, and watched Mark Cavendish leave the doping tent. He's clean (we hope) and really great with his fans signing a bunch of hats and posters. As the crowd and racers dispersed, we headed to the hotel and discovered that we were sharing the Holiday Inn Express with the entire fleet of moto photo journalists riders (including the marshall!) and CHP for the Tour. They took up half the parking lot. Seriously.

We don't want to miss any of the action tomorrow and continue to strategize the hows and wheres we should sit tomorrow to get the best view possible.

Thanks for listening....CIAO for now!

Tour of California!

For those of you who don't know, the Tour is the largest professional cycling event in the US. It's the US "Tour de France" and is now in it's 4th year! This year Lance Armstrong will be racing with Team Astana, exciting!

We will be posting a daily blog to keep you up to date on road trip and Lance Meter. The Lance Meter will tell you how many times a day we see Lance or meet him!

Talk to you all soon!
Ciao!

Travelinggals!