Random thoughts from Stage 1

I never really posted much yet about our Stage 1 experience in Sausalito, other than photos, as there's really been no time ... a few thoughts for the time being:
- amazing the amount of access the fans have to the pro riders, not like any other sport I can think of (though I'm sure it won't be like that at the Tour de France in July).
- amazing bike-handling skills the pros have, weaving through the crowds of fans in the teams area to get to the start and avoiding hitting each other or any fans.
- interesting the contrast between the teams, Discovery was nowhere to be found that we saw (we actually saw their team bus heading off in a different direction, maybe there was no room left in the main area or maybe they wanted more privacy), big crowds for certain teams (CSC) or riders (Bettini), not so big crowds for some (Predictor-Lotto riders were hanging out between 2-3 cars), and no crowds for others (Jelly Belly and several other Continental teams were all sitting in chairs lounging around in front of their team vehicles with no interruptions - got a good pic but haven't had a chance to upload yet). Oh, and we saw a few of the Priority-Health riders going for coffee across the street around 9:45 am - I imagine that the ProTour riders have someone to go for them or a coffee maker on their team bus...
- the Predictor-Lotto guys were going through their food bags, paper bags labeled "Davitamon-Lotto" so it would appear the team is thrifty enough to go through old supplies first ;-) .
- we saw Bettini being interviewed by a Velonews reporter, haven't checked their website yet to see if the interview is posted.

Not being at the finish in Santa Rosa, we missed the big crash - I was quite concerned that we'd jinxed Nick Gates as apparently he was the most seriously injured, initially a suspected broken hip but apparently only bruised in the end and he's still in the race. But he made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle sports page.


Now to bed early, going to try to drive the scenic highway through Big Sur to San Luis Obispo to see the finish of Stage 4 tomorrow - have to get on the highway before all the riders come through, or else take the less-exciting freeway inland, so we'll miss the start in Seaside (we figure we've already seen a start now).