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.