I finally got around to uploading and tagging the 149 pics I took at the Stage 6 Amgen Tour of Californina time trial in Solvang, CA. While the pictures aren’t great (they’re not so bad if you look at the high resolution copies), I was there to see the race, not photograph it. I’ll leave that up to Graham Watson! You can view my Flickr Gallery here and I highly recommend using the slides how feature for this set. I did my best at labeling all the riders but missed some. If you know who they are, please leave a comment here or on the Flickr page.

I drove out from Colorodo Springs to experience this one stage because 1) I knew it’s where the race would be decided, 2) I love the bike porn of time trial bikes and 3) I’ve heard the riding is good around the Solvang area (it is). Was it worth the 2 day drive? You bet. When Lance Armstrong announced his retirement and his plans to do the race, most of the elite UCI teams signed up and this was probably the greatest field ever assembled on US soil. Additionally, Amy was still in her first trimester and my projects at work were really quiet enabling me to take most of the week off. The start had truly aligned. I’ll never forget it.

Here are some of my favorites of the big name riders (click the thumbnail for the full size image):

Race winner Levi Leipheimer:

2009 ATOC Winner Levi Leipheimer

Here’s Lance Armstrong:

Lance Armstrong

Tyler Hamilton:

Tyler Hamilton

Christian Vande Velde:

Christian Vande Velde

Floyd Landis:

Floyd Landis

Michael Rogers:

Michael Rogers

Tom Danielson:

Tom Danielson

Tom Boonen:

Tom Boonen

Mark Cavendish:

Mark Cavendish

2008 Tour De France winner Carlos Sastre:

Carlos Sastre

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California time trial will be held on a 24 km (15 mile) course that starts and finishes in the Danish village of Solvang, CA. I had a chance to ride it 3 times today and here are my thoughts.

* The first mile will be the hardest. After .3 miles of flat, the road climbs madly for about 1/2 mile with grades around 9%. I hit a kilowatt every time on this section, the pros will likely hit 1.3 - 1.4 kw.

* The course is very technical with four 90 degree corners coming after fast downhills.

* Ballard Canyon is a twisty, short yet steep climb on a very crappy road that looks like it could have been paved my the incompetent folks at the Colorado Dept. of Transportation.

* There are very few flat and fast sections. I rode with a Cat. 1 who was riding a Specialized Transition TT bike and though he could drop me on the flats, his TT bike was no match for my road machine once the road tilted up.

* The course offers a lot of natural protection from the wind.

* My best time was a little over 35 minutes and that was riding with the guy I mentioned above. I think the winner can go sub 30.

I’ll be taking pics and will post them here. [UPDATE 2/25/09] Finally got my pics up here.

It takes a lot to make me post but I actually choked on my dinner when watching Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) froth at the mouth about the government spending $1 million a year on providing small tax breaks to companies who encourage bicycling to work and money to promote the improvement of bicycling infrastructure in urban areas. Of course, I’m biased as a cyclist but $1 million a year? Seriousy, Rep, McHenry. That’s what you chose to stand up and call out in this $819 BILLION stimulus package?

Worse, Mr. McHenry pitches this as if this is the Democrats’ pillar of their energy policy. Regardless of your political affiliation, I think you’ll find this guy laughable.

[EDIT: Lance is computer illiterate and was unable to use a Flash player that didn't auto play. I've removed the embedded video and apologize to all of my readers.]

Lance’s Comeback to Cycling in 2009

I have to say I’m pretty surprised and though I don’t think it’s such a good idea, I have to admire his panache. He looks lean, mean and motivated. I like that he made the announcement with a video to put an end to all of the written speculation. 2009 is going to be a very interesting year for professional cycling. Good luck dude.

Though I hadn’t ridden outside sine June 26th, I decided to make a run at the North Cheyenne Canyon climb.  I’ve previously written about this HERE, HERE  and HERE.

Though I’ve lost about 100 pounds since I first tried it last year, I’m still surprised that I’ve been able to knock almost 5 minutes off my PR.  Oddly, tonight’s climb felt the slowest of all my efforts though I did notice that I stayed above 7 mph on the super steep section (usually drop below 5 there).  Initial attempt:  24:44.  New PR:  19:39!

The conditions were ideal, about 60 degrees with no wind and I literally climbed into a cloud which cooled me off even more.  When I had set out for a ride, I hadn’t even though of doing NCC but then I realized that I’m unlikely to see weather like this until November.