"Who do you think you are? Pancho Villa?" It's one of my favorite lines from the movie The Milagro Beanfield War, but it seems like a good question today--we're both decked out in full length rain parkas and it's pouring rain out.
We started out today with a few winery tours. We went to Schug, B.R Cohn, Kunde, and Landmark. Joan did all the tasting and had some good Pinot Noirs and a Meritage that she really liked. She bought a Pinot from Schug.
B.R. Cohn is owned by the long time manager of The Doobie Brothers and the winery is decorated with a lot of photos and gold records and autographed guitars, etc. The Cohn winery also had a tasting room for their line of flavored olive oils and vinegars. They had a delicious 15 year old balsamic that was amazing. There was a really nice pear vinegar, too.
After the wineries we headed up through Sonoma to Santa Rosa, Levi Leipheimer's hometown and the end city for the first official stage of the AMGEN Tour of California. We found a parking garage not too far from the action, donned our ponchos, and headed off to see what we could see. We first stopped off at a really good Mexican restaurant called El Palomar. Really good food. Joan had spinach enchiladas and I had a spinach and mushroom chimichanga. There must have been a spinach theme today because I also had a spinach and mushroom omelette for breakfast.
After lunch we walked down to the health fair and scoped out the finish line. After evaluating the end circuit (the riders made three laps around town at the end of their nearly 108 mile ride in the rain and cold), we decided to go down to the last turn before the final straightaway. It was a good choice; with all of the rain, the riders had to slow way down to make the turn. Of course, slowing way down for these guys is still really fast.
Francisco Mancebo was the first rider to arrive and he had a pretty good lead. During the subsequent laps he had a couple of other riders to keep him company, but in the end he held on to his lead for the win. The lead chase group was led by team Astana and Lance Armstrong was right on the front of the pack. In the following laps he dropped back for a bit and then was right back at the front again. I don't care what anyone says--being the oldest guy in the peloton and three years of retirement behind him, this guy is smoking the youngsters. It's very impressive. And he looked completely unfazed and focused.
I wish we had access to Versus or some other complete race coverage. I haven't found good up-to-date information on the internet yet about today's stage. I'm not sure how the finish actually played out or what all happened along the field today. I suspect it was brutal out there and that a few riders may have dropped out. But I don't know. I know yesterday's winner, Fabian Cancellara, dropped out today, feverish and ill. Others may have simply been done in by the weather.
Tomorrow we head down to Santa Cruz. The riders get to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and I wish we could see that crossing--I'm sure it will be quite the sight. We'll be a bit ahead of them and waiting at the finish. Joan is ready to pull the plug on watching Tuesday's race, but I haven't given up on that one yet.
Side note: It turns out that Lance's and Popo's and two other Astana riders' TT bikes were stolen off the Astana truck from behind the hotel yesterday. Now, I just want to be clear that even though I was hanging out behind the hotel stalking...er, I mean, waiting for Lance's return to the hotel, I did not take those bikes. I don't mean that in the way Bill Clinton meant that he didn't have sexual relations with "That Woman." I literally mean that I did not take those bikes. Honest.
