Point Reyes Station brimmed with bike fans Monday
afternoon. They came with their kids, dogs, bikes, cowbells, and high
expectations from all over to watch the first sprint of the first ever
Tour of California. They lined Main St. waving placards, eating bag
lunches and jockeying for the right spot to take the perfect photo.
So after the race passed through in a one-minute blur of rainbow spandex
and wheels, many fans weren’t quite sure what to with themselves.
"I guess that’s it," said San Anselmo
mom Wendy Whitworth, who had been waiting for the race with neighbors
and family since 9 a.m. To Whitworth’s relief, her 10-year-old
son, Taylor, was not disappointed. For him, it was enough to know that
Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie — Tuesday’s race
leader and perhaps a future Lance Armstrong — was somewhere in
that mass.
"Let’s do it again!" Taylor said as
the last riders disappeared around the corner and up the hill.
Strategy
They barreled through redwood forests, over cow-covered
hills, and past undulating ocean views on their way from Sausalito to
Santa Rosa, but the cyclists didn’t see any of it, according to
trainer Craig Upton of Navigators Insurance Cycling Team. They’re
too busy strategizing and listening to the trainers’ instructions,
he said. Upton and the other coaches trail the athletes in team cars,
barking orders for when to break out and when to defend via two-way
radios. Each cyclist has his own credit card-sized radio, earphone and
microphone, and the riders are in constant communication with each other
and their coaches.
"We radioed instructions ahead all the way to
the finish," Upton said.
If they hurried, fans could have driven up to witness
the exhilarating three-loop finish near the Downtown Santa Rosa exit
of Highway 101 — an ideal viewing spot. The streets were jammed
with fans and peppered with "Go Levi" signs, supporting the
hometown hero of the Germany-based team, Gerolsteiner. Leipheimer placed
22nd in the Stage 1 race, but held on to his gold jersey, which indicates
the overall race leader.
Winners
"We came up the coast and it was just a great
view," Leipheimer said of the course that he’s been riding
all his life. Pedaling into his hometown in possession of the gold jersey
was a dream for Leipheimer, a top finisher in the Tour de France. Although
Gerolsteiner maintained a commanding presence throughout Stage 1, it
was Toyota-United Pro Team’s Juan Jose Haedo who broke out in the
last 300 meters for the win at 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 13 seconds.
The race was so close that it took more than ten minutes to determine
a winner.
Immediately following the race on the Third Street
stage, Haedo and the other category winners of the day accepted jerseys
and giant bouquets, waved like beauty queens, and chucked the flowers
into the crowd. Among those winners was "the green man" also
known as Jackson Stewart of Kodak Gallery.com/Sierra Nevada. He crossed
the sprint line in Point Reyes Station more than 20 seconds before any
other rider, and was going so fast that many fans could only discern
the color of his uniform.
"He told me, look man, you’re hitting the
sprint," Stewart said of his coach’s instructions just before
he sped out in front of the pack of riders, otherwise known as the peloton.
"I didn’t want to give any chance. To lose after your director
tells you to win it is bad news, so you just have to give it everything
you got."
Point Reyes businesses
The sprint might have gone past in a minute, but it
brought hundreds of people to Point Reyes Station. To fill all those
bellies, the Bovine Bakery shoveled out twice the usual amount of Armando
buns, pesto chicken croissants and everything else.
"When I got here at noon we had lines down the
street," said baker and soup maker Kristy Arroyo.
The Western hadn’t seen a crowd like this one
since Western Weekend, according to bartender Helen Skinner, who estimated
that the event drew more people than Prince Charles. She reluctantly
allowed cyclist after cyclist to fill up a water bottle at the tap,
and the lines for the bathroom snaked past the bar all afternoon.
Peacenicks
As Pt. Reyes cash registers chimed, some local non-profits
and community organizations took the chance to tout their causes. About
15 members of the Mainstreet Moms, an activist women’s group, stood
in the shade and held "Cycle for Peace" and "Bikes not
Bombs" posters.
"We usually do this the first Sunday of every
month," said a bonneted Nancy Sakeller, wielding a wheel-shaped
placard adorned with a neon-green peace dove. "But we decided this
was a really good opportunity."
Everyone had their reasons for coming out, but sideline
conversations all seemed to veer back to cycling. There is no lack of
interest in West Marin, where an estimated 130,000 fans came out from
the Sausalito to Santa Rosa. One of those fans, seven-year-old Noah
Merz, waved a giant "green sprinters hand" made of foam —
a present that his dad’s friend brought home from the Tour de France.
Sponsors Amgen and AEG hope that someday kids will be taking their Tour
of California merchandise to Paris.