My friends Ann & Kim rode with my husband Lee and I from our house in Union City across the Dumbarton Bridge, thru lovely East Palo to Palo Alto to watch the prologue.
Soon after we arrived I saw sweetnsourbiker & his wife on their tandem.
We parked our bikes at the secure parking area and moseyed around a bit, checking out the vans & busses of the various teams and occasionally spotting a cycling star. Some may call it stalking.
(At least, that's what the judge who issued my restraining order called it ...)
After lots of stalking, er, sightseeing, we got some lunch at a cafe (conveniently situated where the Astana bus was parked). After lunch we stationed ourselves behind the start ramp area where we were able to see the racers up close & personal. Ann brought her camera & took some amazing pics - alas, she has a social engagement tonight so we won't get to see them until sometime tomorrow.
I saw Curtis in his BF jersey and we chatted for a bit.
It was unbelievably cool to see Mario Cippolini. He was very tanned and very fit.
I am happy to say I did not make too much of an asz of myself when Bobby J and Jens showed up. Those pesky restraining orders ...
After Levi took off we headed up University Ave & Palm Drive to catch the awards presentation and to see what was left of the Expo. Saw Spingineer en route, but we wanted to see the awards so it was just Hi & Bye.
We had a fabulous day, but it nearly ended very badly for us. As the four of us were riding on University Ave in Palo Alto heading for home, an older woman in a Jaguar made a left hand turn and very nearly mowed into us. It seems as though she never saw us coming and she turned left immediately in front of us. I was leading and had enough time to yell "Hey!" and hit my brakes as she passed right in front of me. Kim likewise narrowly avoided running into her. But the most spectacular avoidance maneuver was accomplished by Ann, who made a 90 degree right turn and wound up parallel to and within inches of the side of the car, and remained upright & in control throughout. Pretty amazing instinctual move on her part! Lee was able to avoid the fracas. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to be terrified and it was soon clear we were all OK - and meanwhile the @#$% jerk in the Jag just continued down the road.
It's just as well that we needed to be on our way, otherwise I think we all might have been more inclined to chase her down and give her a good talking to - and it might not have been pretty. Instead we took a few minutes to collect our wits, and continued on the rest of the way without incident. Major kudos to Ann for her quick reflexes - it could have been very very bad.