Saturday, February 21, 2009

Almost Nothing New on Race Day

My tri suit arrived this week and I am happy to report that it fits. I don't look horrible in it but I'm not going to be so pretty on the bike :-). I don't expect to be self-conscious about wearing it at the race and I'm planning on riding in it next weekend but I am so not running or swimming in it before the race. Sorry but that will have to be something new for race day. That and my transition bag and I am done with goodies before the race.

This week's swims were okay. I think I need to have an easy swim workout rather than easy swim weeks. I seem to lose fitness by doing a whole easy week. I was really out of gas at the end of Thursday's swim.

I volunteered at the Amgen Tour of California today. I did my 29-mile ride this morning then headed off to the Rose Bowl. It started off a bit frustrating with all the roads to the Rose Bowl closed. How was I supposed to get to the volunteer parking lot? I finally found a way in and got checked in. Free t-shirt and free lunch! After checking in I had a few hours before I had to go to my post so I walked around the Lifestyle Festival. Lots of bikes and components that I can't afford. $30 for an official ToC cowbell? The ToC jerseys were okay but nothing I had to have so I passed. Watched the race on a jumbotron for a bit before it was time to get ready to move out. I brought my bike so I changed shoes and rode off to my post. I was a Course Marshall and we're supposed to clear any debris and make sure nothing (people, cars, animals) get on the course once it's closed. I was out in the boonies so I didn't expect much to do (and Pasadena is so clean there was no debris to speak of). However, just as the CHP are coming down the road there's some bozo on a mountain bike. I wave him off and the CHP encourage him to get off, too. The breakaway comes in first but I can't take a picture of them because I'm telling two women to get off the road and onto the sidewalk. The peloton arrives a few minutes later but I didn't get any good pictures at that time. After a while the caravan completely passes and we volunteers race down to catch the circuit around the Rose Bowl, which was very cool. I got pretty close, too:

That's tour leader Levi Leipheimer with Lance Armstrong right behind. Sports photography on an iPhone is not a piece of cake. Anyway, it was a fun day. Next year I will either volunteer again or make a run on the course ahead of the pros. We'll see how fit I am in a year.

2 comments:

Thor said...

That is an amazing picture considering the circumstances. I actually saw the race at 3 different point on Sunday in San Diego and none of my pics were any good.

Good luck next week at the Tri

MTS said...

Fortunately they did five laps around the Rose Bowl so I got better each time. I wouldn't recommend an iPhone, though :-).