Interesting Discovery

Yesterday my search for a different lifestyle took me to Ventura, on the coast southwest of here. The weather was clear and sunny, though still a quite cool February afternoon. So once again I layered up and hopped on the Godlwing for an afternoon trip over the mountains.

When I left the 5 and turned west on the 126, a couple of CHP cars were sitting in the intersection blocking eastbound turns. I didn't think much about it as I was entering greater LA, where anything can happen. All of the eastboud lanes of 126 were closed, including all but one of the westbound.

Finally, it occurred to me that the Tour of California is in progress and could be the reason so much of the road is closed. I watched a little of it on OLN-TV this week, but only enough to know who was leading.

Traffic in the only open lane was moving quite slowly and I was passed several times by the same van marked "Marshall" driving down a center lane and stopping to pick up any debris that was still on the road. Soon I was also passed by a car with an "Amgen" sign on the side, and I was sure I was about to encounter the "Tour."

The Tour of Caleefornia is no Tour Day France. The number of people per mile who had found a spot along the road from which to watch the race could be counted on both hands. I considered stopping myself to become a spectator, but traffic was moving so slowly that stopping would've improved my view only slightly.

After about 10 more miles, and literally dozens of police cars and motorcycles (who pays for all that traffic control?), a convertible loaded up with cameras passed me eastbound, so I knew the cyclists weren't far behind. Another mile, just east of Piru, and the lead group of about a dozen riders appeared. Perhaps a couple of minutes behind them was the main peloton, with all the Discovery guys tightly grouped around Levi, who was still wearing the jersey on this Day 6. Behind the peloton were grouped most of the support vehicles, with a sole rider, perhaps a domestique, weaving his way through them. Then, right where the route made a right turn to join 126 to Santa Clarita, the stragglers went by. There were only 2 or 3, followed by a couple of tail-end support cars and motorcycles. All of the riders were fast, really fast.

And it was over. Just a couple of minutes. That's all of the race that anybody saw along the route. The line of cars blocked from continuing east on 126 was nearly a mile long. Most of the drivers had no idea why they were stuck there, and were probably fuming.

Last year I considered riding down to this area just to watch the race. I had picked a spot in the Santa Barbara area, where today's stage started out. I decided not to, thinking it would probably be crowded and I may not even be able to get near it. A ride wasted. Now I'm sure that wouldn't have been true. The crowd that was blocked on the highway was much much larger than the crowd interested in seeing the race, the Discovery team, or Levi.

I left Ventura later than I had planned, and rode home most of the way in the dark. The temperature dropped to the mid 30s at the top of the mountains, the same as my ride home from LAX in December. It seemed so much colder in the dark. I had hoped to catch the OLN-TV coverage of the race when I got home, but I was too late.

Truth be told, a bicycle race is much more interesting on TV unless you've got family in the contest. But if I'm still in Caleefornia this time next year, I'll probably make an effort to see a couple moments of the third tour.

It zoomed by in only a couple of minutes, but in a year with very little "to write home about," it was a good couple of minutes.