Amgen Tour of California 2017 Ryer Island

#atoc tour of california break at Ryer Island.

A post shared by curtis corlew (@cccorlew) on May 14, 2017 at 12:46pm PDT

When Rich, and old friend, messaged his plan to ride out to Ryer Island in the California Delta to watch the Tour of California pass by not one, but three times, Tricia quickly replied "IN!"

On a beautiful California Day we met at Clarksburg and rode a leisurely 15 miles to the bridge he'd picked. We waited by the bridge until the cycling gods came past, ever so fast and ever so effortlessly. First the four-man break, than two minutes later, the peloton. Then another lap, then a turn to leave the island. What a blast.

Sure, standing by the roadside sounds boring, but with good company and bikes to drool on it's pretty cool. Really. I even managed to shoot video as they went by so many times.

Crossing the bridge onto Ryer Island

Leaving Ryer Island

Our leader, Rich, in the green jersey

A short clip of the second lap

Tricia shot this video of the peloton leaving the island

Amgen Tour of California 2015

I think I've hit almost every Tour of California. This year Tricia and I went to the opening day in Sacramento. It was a tough call; whether to try and catch the peloton crossing the Rio Vista bridge and hope for a great photo op, or go to the festivities in Sacramento and see the women's race too. Sacramento won.

 We took our bikes and met our friend Kellie a few miles away, then rode to the start. It turns out I didn't need 80 pounds of locks after all; there was free valet bike parking.

We also tried to ride through the finish line, which is kind of like throwing a football around on the field just before the Super Bowl. We were politely shooed away.

We had fun looking at all the stuff to buy. Tricia was bike jersey shopping for her son's one-year-old. 

Kellie fell in love with a Bianchi.

After the men left for their large loop and we finished watching the women race the city circuit we went to lunch. We rode back to downtown just as the men flew in. We were able to watch the race finish from a delightful beer bar where we could see the actual race go by and watch the TV finish at the same time. The only thing that was less than wonderful: I brought the wrong camera, so I don't have the cool photos I'd hoped to have.

Amgen Tour of California Stage 3 Mt. Diablo 2014

It was hot, it was uphill, it was hot (And it was also hot), and we carried a ton of  picnic goods and camera equipment just to make it harder. Still, it was totally worth riding up Mt. Diablo to just past the junction to see the ATOC cycling gods.

Tricia pointed out that we needed to make a day of it, and not just live for the quick passing of the peleton (and it was pretty quick indeed.) So we started up the mountain around 11, me on my heavy fenderized commuter bike with full panniers. Thank goodness for really low gears. I like riding uphill, but Tuesday I had to keep reminding myself to relax and take it easy. I did. I passed no one, but many passed me.

We ended up at Lookout Point, just past the junction, relaxing under a tree with some very cool Lithuanians transplants in nicely designed cycling jerseys. We chatted and watched the horizon for the helicopters that would signal the riders were approaching. Eventually we could see them arriving as small specks on a distant road.



They came by so amazingly fast. Where we were, the leader, several seconds from the main group was the Mexican National Champion. After that is was a blur for me. But it was a wonderful blur.

Riding back down after the event I was noticing the large number of women cyclists who looked, and rode, like they were serious about it. At one point I couldn't help but admire the athletic shape (if you know what I mean, and I think you do) of a young woman who kicked past me near the bottom on a slight uphill. Then, as my gaze rose higher I realized "Oh, that's Tricia."

Life is good.

That's me, not the racers, grunting my way up.

UPDATE: From the small world department, one of the cyclists from Lithuania, Vitas, found famed blogger Diablo Scott's cell phone on Diablo and returned it to him. Read about Diablo Scott's VIP experience at the summit of Diablo. And just because they are so wonderful, here's a photo of their jersey I like so much.