Tour of California

Christian and I went off to see the end of Stage 5 of the Tour of California about a mile from where we live in Old Town Clovis. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of Lance Armstrong (ah, the draw of celebrity). Of course, there was no way to know if we saw him - they were going by so fast! All I saw was the dust from the road in a cloud surrounding the riders and the blur of color and spinning wheels as they flew by us on the sprint to the finish line. But it was awesome!


So we went to the finish line where we could see the riders as they came across the finish and slowed down. But, the course was a loop, so we decided to go over one block (7th and Woodworth) to where we could watch them as they sprinted by and then run back and watch them cross the finish line. We made a wise move! We may not have been able to see Lance, but we met some local celebrities - Kim and Kopi, the news anchors for Great Day (local morning news show). We love their show and they were very cool in person. I chatted with them both as we waited, and Kopi was wandering around with a video camera filming for their Great Day Faces segment (they film people at events smiling and waving and then show the footage throughout the morning show). We may be on the news :)

We had our Livestrong signs and chalk and we kept hearing reports about how far out the riders were. It was exciting, and we knew they were getting close when groups of highway patrol motorcycles kept going by. Finally, we saw the riders flying down the street two blocks overs, flashing through openings in the crowd. When they got to us, they were going so fast, and I could barely get my phone up in time to take a photo! I got a shot of the middle of the pack - I have no idea who is in the photo.


As soon as the group was past, we and all the other people in our area, ran back to the finish line to see who would win. We were behind the crowd that had already gathered there and behind the photogs catching their photo finishes. We could barely see, standing on our tiptoes and peering through gaps. But we saw Cavendish ride through, arms held high. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the finish, but here's a glimpse of the finish line...

It was fun to spend time with my kiddo. He rode his skateboard, I got out on a fantastic day for a 2.5 mile walk, we met people we see on TV... And the very best part of all - I got a picture of Christian SMILING!!!!!!!