The Road to Palomar

More photos from my ToC weekend - Pasadena and Palomar 2009.

Having driven home to Long Beach from Los Olivos Friday night, I happily slept in Saturday morning knowing I had plenty of time to get to Pasadena before the riders arrived. I went to this stage last year - in the pouring rain - and I knew there were a few good locations besides the Rose Bowl finish line to watch the final circuits. Originally I thought I'd camp out on one of the climbs, but ended up on a curve just after a climb. They came around the corner and accelerated around the bend....

Astana leads the pack chasing the break.

Another lap and here comes George.

And CVV.

Around they go again and I get my Lance shot.

More laps pass with....

Chechu Rubiera.

Thomas Peterson.

Thor.

And a battle scarred Tom Zirbel.

Having traveled to Solvang and now Pasadena - even this So Cal gal gets tired of driving - I really debated on if I wanted to trek down to Palomar on Sunday. But I also knew I'd probably kick my self if I didn't.....

I read that they were going to close South Grade Road on Palomar at 9am Sunday morning. Well, I didn't even make it out of the house till 8:45am!

I found my way to Route 76 by 10:40am, and the all the signs were saying road to be closed at 11am. Made it! :-)  There were a line of cars heading up and I followed. I figured I go as far as I could go, and eventually was able to park just east of the entry to South Grade Road - yay!

I hiked up South Grade Road a bit to the first big bend and hung out with about a half dozen others, waiting for the race to come by. I'd be checking my iPhone so much for various things I was almost out of juice. But I made sure I saved enough to email Gav the photo of my chalk job. Of course the folks around me wondered what Podium Cafe was and I talked it up good!

Finely the lead motos and cars started arriving and I cheered....

Andy leading the break.

CVV leading the chase.

More riders passed, now in smaller groups.

Cav looked a bit pained, and there was still a long way to go.

I hiked back down to my car and waited for the race to come back around Route 76.

Frank was leading now.

Levi chasing hard.

With Dave Z right behind.

And Chris Horner was in another group.

Little by little the last groups of riders past by. They were all on their way to the Escondido finish as I hit the road - with what seemed like the rest of civilization - to get off the mountain. ;-)

But I didn't care, I was on a ToC high!!! See you all next year!!!

Note on the photos: I shot both stills and video. Several of the photos are still frames from those videos. I actually never know what I'll catch as the bunch races by and I really need to do this more than once a year, to remember how to do it each time out! I'm going to try and attend more local races this year, so we'll see.....