Tour of California Individual Time Trial, Solvang

I'm not a journalist, or a sports writer, so don't expect some long ass race report documenting the overall outcome of todays race. What I am is a blogger with a smart ass attitude, a sizable vocabulary and a keen, observant eye who writes about all things cycling. So instead of a lengthy and boring synopsis of today's racing statistics I'll give you the low down on what I thought was important...

First of all Levi won, that is an important stat so I'll include it. He beat out Fabian Cancellara by more than a minute to solidify his dominance on this race yet again. In the process he beat out the World time trial champion, Britain's TT Champ and perennial winner of "Raddest guy in the peloton" and American TT champ Dave Zabriskie. How Levi does it I don't know, but I think it has something to do with him being built low to the ground for speed, and his ability to dig deep, real deep; past the pain and suffering, all the way to the bottom right corner where they pack the glory.



Other than that it was 105 dudes on funny looking bikes with hilarious helmets, shorts that fit too tight, Abel Skeivers and Wind Mills. There were however some highlights worth talking about over and over again. I drove up with my friend Scott who was the Yellow Jersey Presenter. I don't get to see Scott a lot because he's a busy guy and he lives kind of far away, so that's Highlight #1. Highlight #2 is pictured below.


That is Dominique Rollen's left foot, clad in nothing less than the most Ultra and Euro podium footwear ever. Rollen isn't even European, He's Canadian!

Highlight #3 was nothing short of the awesomest awesomeness ever. I have friends that have gone through some shit. Not like Scott though. Scott was Diagnosed with a particularly nasty type of Cancer (Hodgkin's Lymphoma) at a particularly nasty time (Stage 4) and it was found in a particularly nasty part of the body (the whole part pretty much). So Scott has been through the gamut. Through that, and not shortly after treatment he managed to get out of the hospital and get himself onto his heavy ass Bianchi 10 speed from 1983. He rode that thing with me for an entire season in the big ring, because he usually couldn't get it to shift down to the little one. When he got fed up with his shifting problem he fixed it by buying a new bike. Scott presented the Yellow Jersey. That was Highlight #3, but by far the best highlight. Oh wait, no... this was the best highlight.


Actually, the best highlight was Dominique Rollen. That guy is a monster. I don't know how he did it but he managed to hold it together today and be a reasonably pleasant guy despite the amount of suffering he endured yesterday. What makes me a fan is the fact that here was a guy who could easily accept his jerseys (that's right, most aggressive and points), roll back to the team bus and crash out and no one would give a crap since he rode the highlight reel ride of the tour yesterday. But he didn't roll out. After throwing his flowers into the crowd he hung out in the green area, gave an interveiw, talked with some other folks, posed for pictures, posed for more pictures, posed for pictures with children, and then posed for pictures with my friend Matt. The whole time he was all smiles, cordial and polite.


Well,
That's it folks. The weather was great, the rain stayed away (for the most part) and it was an exciting day at the races! See you all tomorrow after stage 6!