spingineer

So we all met at Canada Rd and Hwy 92. Bostic and I rode over from Los Altos (met him at Peet's on Homestead and Foothill Expy). It turned out I got 56.60 miles out of this.

Only no show was Genejockey ... too bad, because I did want to meet him. Still haven't met him after all this time. Didn't catch up to Steelblue either. But to everyone's surprise, Taxi777 did show up. Something about wussing out???? It was great to see blastradius back. Even though he'd been off the bike for some time, he's still got strength in those legs.

We rode over to the start of the Prologue, and got there a little after 11:30 am. We spent a bit of time at the festival, where Taxi777 and SesameCrunch participated in a pseudo Computrainer event, sponsored by Herbalife. The difficulty there was the bikes they use didn't have cleats ... so SesameCrunch decided to go barefoot. He won that heat, but later on, uspspro took a stab at it. He got first place (at the time). Way to go Marco!

Anyhow, it was a great day. Some of us sat in the infield of the oval at the Stanford quad, and I was able to take a few pictures.

Here are some:





Nice skewers!


Blastradius is back!


Pete showed up!


Quick pit stop


Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwin, and Bob Roll


There's someone in the background there

spingineer

Oooh, bike porn


Taxi777 and SesameCrunch dueling it out


Festival entertainment ... small dragon

spingineer

Rock Store ... ugly jersey




Dave Zabriskie


Bobby Julich


More pics at https://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w...Ca%20Prologue/

Bostic

I got in just under 55 miles today. Nice to see the regular suspects out. On the way out from Stanford I heard someone say "Bostic". Turned out to be Big Sean on his new Specialized Tarmac. He was on his way home too so I tagged along and we rode back on Foothill. I managed to keep up until Arboretum where I faded and bonked. I realized I didn't eat all that much and my body not anywhere near recovered from yesterdays ride. When I got home I made a proper Scooby Doo sized PB & Jelly and tore through it in record time. My left hamstring is sore to the point of taking baby steps so no stage 1 ride for me tomorrow.

BigSean

It was good to see you. I actually began to feel pretty good, and rode most of the way home with Michael, the guy in the San Jose Bike Club kit.

sweetnsourbkr

It was good to see Ron and Marco out there today. I took some pics too, so it'll be a bit before I get em edited and uploaded. It was dark by the time we got home.

taxi777

Hey I didn't know or forgot you were gonna be there. To bad you didn't meet up with us, we had our own entertainment crew!
Pete

taxi777

Man I was toast and left early, the luna bar didn't do it for me. I barely hung on to Alan and Henry on the way back. Henry got me a Mocha grande at Starbucks that saved me for the way home. I'll post my picts later. Gotta do some work I've been putting off now.
Pete

sweetnsourbkr

I actually saw jobob too! How could I forget???

cccorlew

Here are a few of mine

This is Levi screaming by. Joyce (OrbeaJ) is in the background.


I don't know who this is, but I like my photo.


Didi i mention I won?


Is this my new bike?

cccorlew

I shot a 10 second video on my little toy camera. It's Levi his own bad self!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEHVdDi1KLc

Faster than fast....

jobob

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.

steelblue

I started late and didn't get to Canada until noon. Didn't get down to PA until the prologue already started. I walked around hoping to spot a BF jersey or a familiar face but no luck. But I did see some nice blings and the Toyota girls were pretty hot. I left about 3 and took a leisure pace back. I am glad I left when I did because by the time I got back to the car, the sun was behind the fog and it was cold. I didn't have any warn clothes on except my vest. I was hoping the weather was warmer like yesterday.

Here are some of my pictures.








Got bored riding back on Canada.

BlastRadius

Wow Jobob, glad you and your crew weren't hurt. Sounds like the rest of the day was good.

It was good seeing everyone again and meeting Justin for the first time (who BTW, is doing pretty good for only having been riding since October). It was great how accessible all the celebrities were, literally inches from them. I look forward to the next BF ride.

msincredible

Wow, fantastic report, sorry I missed it!

SesameCrunch

I had a great time. It was good to meet up with the gang again. It was a surprise to see Taxi777 at the start, since he had declared he was wussing out. The irony is that cccorlew was one of the people who shamed him into coming, and we couldn't see a hint of him at the start!

We waited a little for USPSPro and his G/F Ruth. We were almost ready to take off, when I took a last look behind me and I recognized his jersey coming down the road. So, we rode down to Palo Alto together. Got there a little early; the race route along Palm Drive was still open, so we got to ride down the course for a little bit with some spectators along the side. I felt like such a pretender/wannabee .

Got the the finish line and saw the Versus announcers - Ligget, Bob Roll, and the other guy whose name I can't recall. Anyway, Taxi777 made a fool of himself fawning all over these celebrities:


We found the vendor tents and drooled over the bling they had. It took a lot of self restraint to emerge from that gauntlet without breaking the bank account! Pete and I found the computer simulated sprint race and had fun riding the .25 mile sprint course. I had to take my bike shoes off and ride in my bare foot. Ouch! Ended up .02 seconds off second place. Grrrr. Next time. Of course, then USPSPRO comes along and gets first place. He can crank the watts out, fer shure. The computer gave a reading of wattage, and it was the first time I had ever been measured for power output, so that was fun.

We got to the course and found a great spot at the top of the oval finish area. Had a great view from there. As you saw from Spingineer's photos, the riders were pretty much a blur when went by.

I left a little early 'cause I have babysitting duties, so I rode back along the Portola loop. Had a nice fast ride to get the old heart pumping. Got passed by a couple of pros on TT bikes like I was standing still. Wow. I restored my manhood by passing some grandmas on their cruisers and giving them "the look" as I whizzed past . When I got to Roberts, BlastRadius and Taxi777 were arriving at that intersection at the same moment! They had left also and took the shorter Sand Hill Rd route. So, we ended up riding back Canada Rd together. Taxi777 was worn out from yesterday's 107 mile ride, so we were supposed to take it easy. But you know how boys can be boys when riding together, so I fear we went a little faster than was prudent for him, but hey, in the words of the famous Blutarski from Animal House: "he f*cked up, he trusted us."

Got stuck in traffic going back down Hwy92 to Half Moon Bay. Whenever the weather gets good, half of SiliValley wants to go to the beach. Took me about an hour to get back. Oh well, the price one pays for living in Paradise .

It was a great day. I was thinking that it's only February and we've already had bunch of nice BF rides. Bodes well for a great riding year!!!!

redspoke

Great pics Steelblue and Sping... Thanks.

jobob

I love that pic of Pete paying homage to Phil, Paul & Bobke. Priceless.

sweetnsourbkr

Here are some of mine:

Riding down Hesperian towards the bridge.



My buddy John and I getting ready to do a spin race...



Ok, that was hard!



It's the Specialized water bike!



Kid @ play:



Step master bike:



I hope that seat is well made ...



Thomas Voeckler



Tom Boonen

sweetnsourbkr

The guy had to borrow my bike because his wasn't fast enough. It took me a while, but ultimately I relented.



Paolo Bettini



Fabian Cancellara



Georgio



Levi's jeans



All here.

redspoke

I looked at this picture 100x before I realized it's almost a mirror image of this London TdF prologue shot.

We turn left, and in England they turn right...

It's also the cover photo of the Nov/Dec issue of RBA magazine.

Nice pic SnSB!

taxi777

Finally some time to report: Short and Sweet Version

I was bullied, brow beaten, and just plain beat up to do this little jaunt with the group. I was dog tired from Jo's intense ride Saturday. So I put the coffee and Sunday paper aside and fired off a -alright already- email to a certain bully who I won't mention his name, but it starts with a C and ends with an S!
Arrived 1st and SJ Bob right after, Alan showed and soon everyone arrived. We took off semi-easy. Stopped at the Bathrooms. I was in the porta-san and I thought just Ron was waiting, someone jiggled the door, so in a high pitched girl voice I said hellooo helloooo there's nooo one in here big boy! so wont you come in???? nothing will happpennn.... As I opened the door there we're a bunch of chicks waiting..DOH! laughing at me. Well it just so happened one of them was a very nice woman friend I had met last year at the Primavera! So we all took off the Ladies 1st. In passing a announced to the little ladies that they should get in a single file and let the Strong men pass, which was like throwing a rock in a hornets nest!! It turned in to a Cluster**** all out sprint to Roberts in Woodside. I had nothing so I reeled my friend Deyon in and we had some nice conversation. Well got to the show and hung around and I won't repeat the story you've already heard but needless to say I had another amazing time! What a weekend. The only bummer was I didn't get to hang with Jo, and David/with Wife and all the other cast of characters that have made my year so much fun and positive. We need to have a really huge get together and drag out some of the non posting lurkers also to hang and enjoy each others company. Anyway thanks to Alan and Henry for dragging my ass back to the car cause I was finished, and thanks Henry for buying my doubleshot Mocha
Pete

jobob

We had situated ourselves behind the start ramp where we could get up close to the racers, and my friend Ann took some great photos.

I hope this link works !

cccorlew

Your thumbnail page on Flickr would make a good poster! Nice job!

taxi777

I agree! really cool, My favorite is 2nd row from the bottom last pict
Pete

BTW Curtis The persons name I was referring to in my post, whose Name begins with a C and ends with an S, was actually a guy with the handle "CrumpleStilskiens" so looks like your off the hook.
Pete