Amgen Tour de CA 2008 Prologue

The Tour de CA ditched San Francisco this year and moved down the peninsula, much like uh, me. I fixed up my bike and got out with my roomies for my first ride since my ‘encounter’ with the reality of living and riding in suburbia 5 weeks ago.

The Prologue this year was in Palo Alto/Stanford: a 2 mile sprint from downtown, straight up Palm Drive and around the loop in the center of campus, then back a few hundred yards to a quick finish. The winning times (including the victorious World Time Trial Champion) hit just under 4 minutes – which, as you may realize if you too finished the 4th grade, is an average of a little over 30 mph. On a slight uphill. Damn.

I can’t say I prefer this setting for the Prologue compared to that of years past: watching Levi Leipheimer power like an f-ing blitzkrieg up the wall of a hill from the Ferry Building to the very top of Telegraph Hill, surrounded by fans packed in 5 deep shoulder to shoulder cheering him hoarse. I don’t think there’s that much adrenaline or testosterone in all of the Silicon Valley put together. But, you can’t just keep the tour static year-to-year… so this wasn’t a bad choice all things considered. But you know what I’d like to see? A straight shot 2 mile sprint across the Golden Gate. Now that, that would be hot. Imagine those photos! The Euro press would go paparazzi over that.

But, back to reality. Look out, here he comes….

Holy schnikes!

Gone already? I feel like we hardly even got a chance to get to know each other.

Maybe I can elbow my way up to the finish line… or maybe not.

I met some damn fancy bikes hanging out there… mass measured with 2 digits after the decimal point, value measured with 5 digits before. But for some reason, there was one special one that really just stood out of the crowd for me. Cause..

He’s racing and pacing and plotting the course,
He’s fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
He’s going the distance.
He’s going for speed.
He’s going the distance.