Wednesday, February 20, 2008

2008 Amgen Tour of California Stage 3 Start

One of the Sharon's customers sponsors a pro cycling team. As a result, she was able to get VIP passes to the finish of Stage 2 of the Tour of California and the start of Stage 3. Sharon, Jack and I went to the start of Stage 3 in downtown Modesto.

After getting a bite to eat in the hospitality tent, we wandered along the street behind the starting line. All of the team buses and cars were parked there. As the teams were getting organized, a few of the riders were outside the buses. Sharon and Jack were able to get Tyler Farrar's autograph. Farrar was the race leader wearing the yellow jersey at the start of Stage 3.

From there, we went back to the starting line. Jack spent some time along Autograph Alley. He had a jacket that he was having the riders autograph. Jack ended up getting about dozen autographs including Leipheimer and Cipollini. Jack really enjoyed this part of the day. Given how hard it is to get autographs of players in other sports like baseball, football or basketball, it is a nice touch that a large number of riders would spent time signing autographs.

We moved back to the hospitality suite and got a good spot along the fence near the starting line to watch the start of the race and riders go by. The race had a couple of laps around downtown before starting for San Jose.

Walking back to the truck, a news crew from FOX40 stopped us and asked us if they could interview us. They interviewed Jack and took pictures of his jacket with all of the autographs and then interviewed Sharon. It will be interesting to see if they use any of the footage.

Sharon has enjoyed the last couple of days so much that we are actually talking about following the race for several days next year.




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