Friday, May 29, 2015

Spectator Report: 2015 Tour of California Stages 1 and 2

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.

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.

Tinkoff-Saxo team bus
Same goes for Lotto-Jumbo.

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.

Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan
I also managed to catch a glimpse of .

Laurens Ten Dam

Laurens Ten Dam

Laurens Ten Dam

Laurens Ten Dam

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.

Breakaway

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.

The feed zone. It was still early, so not many cars were parked here yet.
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:

Laurens Ten Dam, looking straight at me

Laurens Ten Dam, moving closer with his feed bag in hand

Laurens Ten Dam, throwing his feed bag right to me

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.

Week 22

Date
May 25, 2015

Distance
105 miles

Strava Link
Week 22

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

This was day 10 of a 10-day training block for Petoji. The goal was to average 110 miles per day over 10 days. I ended up with 1110.8 miles, for an average of 111 miles per day. Mission accomplished.

Day 10 was another cloudy day with a chance of rain, so I did a few laps around Washoe Lake. After the 3rd lap the weather looked clearer to the north, so I headed that way but ended up getting rained on anyway. It was a fitting way to end the week. The weather wasn't cooperating all week, but there's a chance it won't cooperate during the real deal in August, so I suppose it was good training.

A fitting finish to the 10 days
I'm happy with how the 10-day training block worked out. Except for my pacing mistake on day 5, I didn't run into any major problems. My legs felt better than expected. I'd say the biggest challenge was mental fatigue from riding a lot of the same roads. (I was hoping to travel a little more, but with all the rain in the area I decided to stay close to home.)

I'm going to take it easy for a while. Time for a recovery week.

Week 21

Date
May 20, 2015

Distance
120 miles

Strava Link
Week 21

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

This was day 5 of a 10-day training block for Petoji. The goal was to average 110 miles per day over 10 days. I headed to Fernley for a little change of scenery and for a lower chance of rain. My legs were feeling surprisingly good for day 5 and the route was flat, so this was the fastest day of the 10. It was a fun day until the last 5 miles or so when a storm rolled in and brought strong headwinds with it. The good news is that I finished before the worst of the rain rolled in.

Sand Dunes
I was happy to feel good on day 5, but I got a little carried away and rode too hard. I paid the price on day 6. Hopefully this is a lesson that I will remember when Petoji comes around. No matter how good I'm feeling, I still need to be disciplined with my pacing.

Week 20

Date
May 16, 2015

Distance
113 miles

Strava Link
Week 20

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

This was day 1 of a 10-day training block for Petoji. The goal for the 10 days was to average 110 miles per day over 10 days. The weather was cold and cloudy with a chance of rain, so I stayed away from the mountains and did a flat route out to Pyramid Lake and back.


There was a little snow in the mountains, as you can see in the picture. It almost felt like winter out there.

Week 19

Date
May 9, 2015

Distance
102 miles

Strava Link
Week 19

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

Nothing special this week. This was just a simple ride the day before I headed to Sacramento to watch Stage 1 of the Tour of California.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Week 18

Date
May 2, 2015

Distance
124 miles

Strava Link
Week 18

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 

The weather was good, so I decided to climb Mt. Rose for the second time this year. I followed that up with both sides of Kingsbury, then a descent down 50 for a flat final 40 miles or so of the ride.

I felt pretty good on Mt. Rose. I wasn't setting any PRs or anything, but I was keeping a pretty good pace considering that I still had a long day ahead of me after Mt. Rose was finished.

Mt. Rose descent
I felt OK until Kingsbury, and then I started to run out of gas. I have plenty of excuses. I had a short episode of food poisoning on Wednesday. I thought I was over it, but there may have been some lingering effects. The more likely explanation is that Mt. Rose can really suck the energy out of you if you're not in great shape. I did a slow climb up the east side of Kingsbury and took it easy for the rest of the ride, spending most of my time thinking about the watermelon that was waiting for me at home.

It wasn't a great performance, but it's almost starting to feel like summer out there and it will take a few big climbing rides to whip my body into shape. Hopefully I'll get another chance next week. I'll be riding on Saturday and then Sunday I'm heading to Sacramento to watch Stage 1 of the Tour of California.