Even though I spend more time in Belgium than my home town of Mill Valley, CA, I am really excited about the Amgen Tour of CA. If I weren't a pro cyclist myself, having conflicting obligations to be in Southern France at the Pruneaux D'Agen Team Presentation and Training Camp, I would have considered flying home just to watch some of the fastest cyclists on earth travel my local training roads at mach speed.
I know where I would have stood to watch them - along the first climb of stage 1 that runs through Marin County, at the intersection of Shoreline Highway and Erica Road as they make their way up Mt. Tamalpais. It is a pity they will bypass last year's stretch of Highway 1 between Muir Beach and Stinson Beach as it is postcard gorgeous! It undulates along a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
What i don't understand is why name brand euros such as current World and olympic Champion Paolo Bettini will travel for 15-25 hours on a plane for this race which is completely out of their way. For the views? Financial incentive? Maybe the weather? Team orders? Why are the teams willing to put in the time, effort, money to travel across the world for one early season bike race?
8 comments:
i think you mean mach speed.
mock speed, that's how i ride....
HAHAHAHA! Maybe i should take a bit more care when i write! Although that WAS a funny screwup! Thanks for catching it before my coach/grammar critic saw it.
Bettini riding ToC = Specialized bike sponsor.
best Bettini quote:
"Tuesday I go from La California to California," joked Bettini to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The wines they have copied are good. We will see about the riders."
grammar critic? you mean olaf? his punctuation was all over the bloody place last night. don't listen to him...
hey!, you changed it! now its not funny....
oh, and bettini is a twerp.
Elmo, pab
Definitely not Olaf. Yep, Elmo or Elmer. Maybe Elvis? (And I do not mean "The King.") What I've heard is that before he worked with riders he was the guy whom people like C.T. Onions consulted on matters of diction. Peanut's in deep.
-- E.C. Chamberlain
Hi Peanut. Olaf has it right. Specialized has asked him to attend.
I think it's Elmer Fudd, master of diction. Loves to point his bunny wabbit hunting wifle at dangling prepositions, and whatnot...or that speck of dirt between your 19 and 21 cogs.
My bummer is that I'm flying to Philadelphia in the morning and I don't get to go see any of the hoop-la. I don't care who thinks Il Grillo is a twerp. I'd get downright giddy seeing the rainbow jersey warming up for the prologue. I think it's rad that the likes of Zuelle, Tafi and Backstedt have rolled on two wheels along the Embarcadero (for the SF GP). I love having all those pros in town.
And I'm out of town...
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