Just a little time off...

Nice to have a little time to step back during the week. After a red-eye back from the Tour of California, it is time to finally post some pics (yeah, sleep, too, but not quite yet). I put together a photo album full of the past six months, but that'll have to be completed before posting. Here are a few from California. Will attempt to say more with pics and less with words this time!

Yesterday was a day of visiting bike shops and seeing who I could find in the SoCal area. Shockingly enough, I met a lot more people than expected, considering the day started with me believing that all the good shops were closed on Mondays.

But before doing anything, it was necessary to take a stroll along the beach! Okay, so this shot was meant to be a play on the whole Bay Watch thing, me in my Ciclismo Classico shirt and all.

I'd previously been freaked out about driving around California. Turns out it's a whole lot easier than driving in Italy or Boston, so that was a very pleasant surprise, but trying to change over 7 lanes of traffic at a time can be quite intimidating. The drivers do seem to be a bit more relaxed, however, maybe it's out of necessity for health and personal welfare reasons.

Lunch was here (above), a bike-friendly craft brew pub in Santa Monica. The woman I was sitting next to (randomly) has a brother who lives really near here and works for a nearby bike shop. That was small world story #1. I found out all this about her when I overheard her talking about cyclocross racing. Of course, I had to interject at that point in her conversation and see if she's a racer.

After lunch, this lovely gentleman made an absolutely delicious & creamy smoothie...he'd be rich if he imported his business into this community. 

Then it was off to find all of the shops in LA. What a trip! Cool feeling to be making "sales" calls. Not that it was totally salesy, but close enough. Everyone was nice to talk and I have a lot of data points to consider. This was reminiscent of the work dad did for work, and there's a certain pride I felt in being able to try my hand at the same kind of thing.

Small world story #2: I was chatting with the guys in one Santa Monica bike shop when suddenly appeared a couple who I'd met a couple of days prior (they're clients) and they were there for a bike fitting. It's shocking in a place the size of L.A. to see familiar faces!

This is me with Nancy and Nate Loyal, bike fitting & coaching guru. She was so happy to feel the significant difference of a pro bike fit. (Note: If there's one thing that everyone should put $ into, it's doing a proper bike fitting...I say this as someone who cares about your knees, back & general well-being, it's super important!)

There were many other bike shop visits, but nothing in particular to report from those. Oh yeah, maybe one thing: have you ever heard of the Wonderful Pistachios Pro Team? Me neither before yesterday, but they race in Europe as well as the U.S. They have green/black kits. Their website will make you want to eat pistachios. One of the guys at an L.A. shop is affiliated with them. Just a random piece of trivia to share. I was chuckling at the mascot for the team: an over-sized pistachio.

Being at the Tour of Cali Sunday for the final stage of this HUGE U.S. Pro race was awesome, of course. Thousand Oaks was a very supportive town of the race & racers. I noticed quite a few people who were very unlikely cyclists but out there cheering like mad. That's a good sign, in my opinion, for the sport, in general.

Here are a few pics from the day:

Yes, I was close to Levi & all of the winning cyclists, got a lucky spot behind the podium during the final awards ceremony. I've been a fan of Chris Horner for a long time, so I enjoyed seeing him take the yellow jersey.

Chris Horner is in the midst of the crowd.

Sooo many people!

Now it's getting time to wrap this blog up. As you may or may not know, I use this more as a personal journal so I don't forget some of life's highlights (without the nitty-gritty personal stuff). If it happens to motivate you to travel, do something cool or have a good day, cool!

Here's the most beautiful image from last weekend's riding. This is Hidden Valley in SoCal. Home to lots of famous people & people who are really into very well-bred horses.

On Saturday, we rode with the Old Kranks, a group of people who are anything but old cranks!

Here's the group shot mid-ride:

What else to say about the weekend?

It was delicious and yet another wonderful set of experiences had thanks to bikes and the terrific people who are into them. [Note, this was written yesterday, a couple of extra pics added today.]