2015 is the 5th year in a row that I've visited the Tour of
California. This year I got to hang out at the team bus area for Stage 1 in Sacramento and at the feed zone for Stage 2 from Nevada City to Lodi. If you want to take a trip down memory lane, here are some Spectator Reports from previous years.
Stage 1
Stage 1 was very similar to last year. It started at the same spot in Sacramento and had the same winner: Mark Cavendish. I spent a little time walking around but focused most of my time on the Tinkoff-Saxo and Lotto-Jumbo buses that were parked next to each other. It worked out well because my two favorite riders at this year's race were Peter Sagan and Laurens Ten Dam. I've always been a Sagan fan. I just like his energy and it seems like he's having fun out there. He may not be winning as often as he used to, but I'm still a fan. As for Ten Dam, I've been following him on Strava for a long time. I guess I'm a weird Internet stalker, but because of Strava I feel like I know him better than most of the other pros. Last summer before the Tour de France he did some training in Truckee, which was super interesting to follow since I've ridden a lot of the roads he was riding during that trip.
I started the day in Sacramento, checking out the festivities. Trek was displaying an interesting piece of history: the bike that Jens Voigt rode when he beat the hour record. Jens didn't hold the record for long, but it was still interesting to see the bike that once held the record.
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| Jens Voigt's hour record bike |
I don't know why, but I'm always amused by the team bus situation in America. Here you have a huge team like Tinkoff-Saxo, which usually has one of the fanciest buses you can imagine, riding around in a cheap looking rental RV.
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| Tinkoff-Saxo team bus |
Same goes for Lotto-Jumbo.
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| Lotto-Jumbo team bus |
I saw Steve Schlanger with his camera crew waiting for a Peter Sagan interview, so I decided to stay close to him. This used to be a good strategy for me back when Bob Roll was doing interviews. He seemed to get quick access to riders and I'd just follow him around and get to see a lot of the big-name guys. However, Schlanger wasn't having much luck with Sagan. He spent a lot of time waiting around. Sagan did eventually appear, though, and I got a pretty close look.
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sagan |
I also managed to catch a glimpse of .
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| Laurens Ten Dam |
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| Laurens Ten Dam |
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| Laurens Ten Dam |
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| Laurens Ten Dam |
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| Laurens Ten Dam |
After the race start, we drove out towards Davis to catch some more race action. I got a tiny ride in before the cops closed the road. There wasn't a hill in sight, so the guys rolled by very quickly.
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| Breakaway |
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| Peloton |
Stage 2
Stage 2 also gave me a little deja vu from last year. I drove past the exact same spot near Folsom Lake where I stopped to watch Stage 1 last year. There was a park nearby and I stopped there and got my bike out. From there I followed the race course with no real plan. I was just hoping to ride as far as I could before the peloton rolled by. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon the feed zone, which was on a slightly uphill section of road. This made for a perfect viewing spot. I rode a little bit past the feed zone hoping I might get some bottles or a discarded feed bag.
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| The feed zone. It was still early, so not many cars were parked here yet. |
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| My spot in the shade, just past the feed zone. |
You wouldn't believe what happened next if I didn't have video evidence. Laurens Ten Dam rode right at me and dropped his feed bag right at my feet! Here are some still images from the video:
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| Laurens Ten Dam, looking straight at me |
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| Laurens Ten Dam, moving closer with his feed bag in hand |
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| Laurens Ten Dam, throwing his feed bag right to me |
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| Riding away |
I couldn't believe it. I've picked up quite a few bottles over the years, but I've never really known who threw the bottle. This year I didn't get many bottles at all, but I did get Ten Dam's bag. One bag from Ten Dam is better than 20 bottles from unknown riders.
That's probably it for me this year. I won't be able to make it to Utah or Colorado this summer (I have
other plans) and as much as I would love to make it to Richmond, VA for the Worlds in September, it's not likely that I'll be able to pull that off. However, I'm sure I'll be back for the Tour of California next year. Here's hoping they finally return to Lake Tahoe.
