DXchulo

My favorite place is the team bus area before the start. At the very least you're going to see lots of bike porn. With a little luck you'll see some of your favorite riders. Every start area is different, which means parking arrangements for the buses are different. Sometimes you can jump from bus to bus quickly. Other times they are more spread out. I went to Stage 1 in Sacramento this year and they were parked on a long, straight road. That made it hard to jump from Team Sky to Giant Shimano, for example. However, Giant Shimano, Cannondale, Trek, BMC, and Omega Pharma were really close, so I just stayed in that area and got to see quite a few big-name riders.

I used to look for Bob Roll and just follow him around. He'd get lots of interviews in a short time period. This year I saw Steve Schlanger by the Omega Pharma bus, but he seemed to be waiting there forever, so I just did my own thing.

As for the race itself, uphills are obviously the best because guys are going slower and you can see what's going on a little better. Another really fun thing is to find the feed zone, but that's not always easy to find. The finish line has never really appealed to me. It's packed and guys are going so fast that you can't really tell what's going on. It is a fun atmosphere, though.

THSdrummer

I've never scanned the race routes, maps, or profiles close enough to find out - are the feed zones mentioned on these?

I thought the finale to stage 7 was pretty fantastic. Maybe not with 3k to go, but with Greg van Avermaet up the road in the breakaway Ben King, I thought they might have a shot. I love watching breakaways slip to the line. Late breakaways that is. Taylor Phinney in both his road race wins, and Jens Voigt at last years Tour of California type stuff. I figured Sagan wasn't going to be challenged in a sprint with that field, so I was hoping Greg could hold a little longer, or we'd see a 1km break from Taylor Phinney. Not that Greg didn't do a fantastic job. He raced real well yesterday. It was awesome to see. Excited for today's stage, although I'll be at work during its finish....

nesdog

Awesome time on Rock Store today, but surprisingly empty. Nowhere near the crowd we had in 2010.

TexMac

I can always count on you for a funny quote.

TexMac

nice pic. Is he the one that thought he had won the race with 3 laps to go?

DXchulo

No, that was Eloy Teruel from Jamis. Van Avermaet was in the late break with Ben King.

AndyK 

Cool shots!! Were you wearing a Viking costume?? Big foam hat and a speedo?

nesdog

Definitely not! We rode up in regular club kit from CVC.

Dudelsack 

Dopers. They're all dopers. Except Sagan.

AndyK 

Cool! Must have been a fun ride and time!

Young Version

Especially Team Sky. They're all too skinny to be fast, so they must be dopers.

coasting 

has this been posted? what a great view.

DXchulo

I was skeptical about those cameras (they don't seem to add a whole lot to auto racing), but they really do give a different perspective. I hope the UCI allows them in more races. If you let the camera be part of the 15lb weight limit, riders would really have no reason not to use them.

I don't even care if they add the footage to the live coverage, honestly (using the in-car DS cameras during the classics seemed to be a big cluster****). As long as it's up on YouTube I'd be happy.

Dudelsack 

That was cool. A little more argy bargy than I might have guessed.

lsberrios1 

The camera work for the tour de california was horrendous. The commentators were good and Christian Vande Verde was pretty good himself. However I can't believe the most powerful country in the world can't properly televise a bicycle race.

SumoMuffin

Awesome video, it's so much more intense from that perspective. I feel like if I was riding in that peloton I would cause a crash in a heartbeat.