Peloton

It was a fun but exhausting day. I'll tell it in pictures.

I drove SD to Justin Winery, where he was participating in the first, annual, Justin Tour of Paso Bike-a-thon. It was a 16 mile fun ride from the winery into downtown Paso, and a fund raiser for the North County Wellness Community.


Then I headed into town to check in for my volunteer assignment as Course Marshal. There I met my friend M.A., who would work at the same corner as me. But first, we headed to the finish line, so I could see SD come in. The finish line was at the park, which could be considered the Town Square, and the Lifestyle Festival was also there.


The ride started at 11 a.m., and I was supposed to be at my station by 1:30. It wasn't too far from the park, but I was getting nervous as the clock kept ticking. It wasn't a very large group, less than 50 riders, and they were waiting for the back of the pack to catch up so that they could all ride over the finish line as one big group. It didn't turn out that way. Here's SD crossing the finish. He had his hands up in the air but couldn't keep them up long enough for me to get a good shot.


This giant jersey was the place for everyone to have their picture taken. I tried to get SD to hold his bike up over his head, but he wouldn't do it. Sigh. It's so hard to get good people...


We got to our appointed corner, which was just past the 5K mark, and proceeded to wait. There weren't a lot of spectators, but as temporary race representatives it was our job to answer questions. Number one question? "When are the riders going to get here?" Um, anywhere between 2 and 4. We whiled away the time by drawing chalk messages in the middle of the street, which was especially challenging since the roads weren't yet closed to traffic.

Finally, here they come! Foolishly, I tried to take pictures of the racers. Consequently, I missed the race. It was like Thanksgiving dinner: hours of preparation and it's over before you know it. This is the only picture that turned out but it's not bad. I wish I knew who the rider was.


And here is the best shot. SD was waiting at the finish line and caught Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia Highroad as he sprinted in.


In my previous post, I told you that SD got to go to a reception where Lance was scheduled to make an appearance. It was for participants in the bike-a-thon. Well, M.A and I crashed the party and waited for Lance to arrive. He finally did around 6 p.m. He met privately with some cancer survivors, then came into the packed room and the cameras were snapping away! I was close enough to see him, and M.A. got two autographs and gave me one! The poor guy looked very tired and it was really nice of him to show up.


All in all, a very eventful day. Life is good!