Amgen Tour of California

Saturday after Drew got back from his Velocity ride, we hopped on the 5 and then the 110 towards Pasadena for Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. We got there with lots of time to spare, so we checked out all the booths and stuff going on. I was also forced to buy a long sleeved t-shirt as it is impossible to have enough. :)

A little later we met up with some guys from Velocity for their tailgate and then headed down to the finish line to secure a good watching spot. The riders went by five times in all and it was exciting to see the top three riders get in sprinting position toward the finish!

After it was over we headed to where all the team buses were parked and got to see Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, and several other Tour de France riders!

The whole day Drew and I kept high-fiving each other saying, "We win!" (this is just something we do when something good happens........like getting a clutch parking spot OR seeing Lance Armstrong)

On the way home we ended up in front of a race official and a team car all headed south to San Diego for tomorrow's stage, KLOS played "Nightmoves,"** and we got tacos from Taco Rico. Needless to say, there was more high-fiving...

In front of the current standings board.

We were positioned about 300 meters from the finish line.


Us at the race with our Texas flag (thanks Mom & Dad)!

We loved this!

That is definitely Lance Armstrong in the yellow helmet.

George Hincapie signing autographs. He was the nicest guy for letting this kid through and onto the bus to check it out!

Headed to the car and in front of the ASTANA bus.

**Does anyone NOT love Bob Seger's "Nightmoves"?

UCLA Road Race

We got up at 4:45 Saturday morning to drive to Pear Blossom/Palmdale, CA (about 1 hour north of LA) for the UCLA road race. Drew ended up coming in 37 out of 75 category 4 and 5 riders! The ride was at about 3,000 feet, it was 26 degrees and there was snow on the ground and ice on the roads. Thankfully, most of the ice had melted by the time Drew's group left. Before we headed home, we drove up the road a bit to see where the San Andreas ran through the area.

Driving up to the race.

Parking in the middle of nowhere (the race was in the middle of nowhere).

Snowball!

A little bit before the start.

Crossing the finish line.

Oh no! I'm standing ON the actual fault line...

(you can't really see, but it looked like a huge ditch that someone tried to dig)

Valentine's...Week

Us at Seal Beach a couple of weeks ago. It was 90.
The most amazing Valentine's Day cookies ever.

Drew's new team/club uniform for Velocity.

So far this week is going well...

1. Annual Valentine's Day cookies from Drew's Grandmother.

2. Drew is now an official member of Velocity Cycling Club and will ride in a road race on Saturday morning.

http://www.teamvelocity.org/

The only thing I might change is the weather. For the past several weeks it has been hovering in the 70's and 80's, so we got into spring mode. Now it is rainy and cold (this is relative I know....40's/50's) and can be quite chilly in our apartment.** Oh well, an excuse to bundle up under our quilt and watch "The Office"...

**Very few people in SoCal have central heat and air. Since it's almost always temperate and the buildings are built so well, we hardly need it.