Tour of California

Well, finally have some more time to get another entry in. I had the opportunity to go and see the last leg of the Tour of California down in Redondo Beach. I took Emily and went down to Redondo Beach with the Hodgson and Ireland families. I was lucky enough to get hooked up with a VIP pass prior to the race thanks to the Hodgsons. The VIP area was a row of tents along the start/finish line with a great view of the riders going by, all the big screen TVs that you could want to watch the race, free promo gear, and best of all free food and booze. It was luxury spectating at its finest. Anyway, since I was so close I got to take a few good photos as the riders moved up for the start of the race.

Here is a good photo of Bobby Julich heading to the start line.


This next photo has George Hincapie in the foreground followed by Floyd Landis(Tour winner), David Zabriskie(#9 hiding behind Floyd), and Bobby Julich getting ready for 1.5 hours of pain.


This last photo is the peloton passing by with Floyd Landis right in the middle behind his team mate Martin Perdiguero.

As you can see, the rest of the Phonak team were right there to support Floyd.

If there was one bad point it was the crappy music that they kept pumping out of the huge speakers at the start/finish line. You couldn't even hear the announcers! All in all, it was not a bad day though. I didn't score as much cool promo stuff as I would have liked but I did get a sweet Phonak hat! The crit format was good since it allowed you to see the riders come by more than once and the flat course allowed them to hold some speed as they came by. I would definitely recommend attending the race and plan on being down there agin next year. Who knows, if the Tour of California organizers get smart I may get to see a stage come through Topanga!