Tour of California: Stages 7 & 8

Absolutely incredible this past week has been. Definitely one I will never forget. I got to see so much of this amazing state, probably more than I would ever have seen without the race to follow.

I'll do a summary post in the next few days, but first here's what happened in the last two stages.

Stage 7

With only two days left, I made it a point to make it to the final mountain climbs. I figured with the weekend here, more people would show up. Was I ever in for a surprise.

Instead of taking photos of the riders today, I decided to get some movie action. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait until I get back home to upload the files...they are huge. It will be worth the wait though, I assure you :)

So I'll keep this stage report short, and let the pictures (and soon to be posted videos) do the talking. Enjoy!

Artists hard at work @ 5,000 ft elevation

Superfan!

Stage 8

This was by far the best and hardest day of the tour yet. The riders faced the highest point of the tour at 5,300 ft and the only beyond category climb.

So what did I decide to do? Test my limits as any good fan would do.

I have to climb that?

@ 4,000 ft elevation

View from the top

So I eventually made it to the top after many long miles. This was by far the hardest climb of my life. Even when I was back in cycling shape I never attempted anything like this. Really humbles you and makes you appreciate what these guys go through on a daily basis.

The good life. Surf in the morning. Cycle the afternoon. I have to give this guy credit as he rode it more than halfway up the climb. And I thought it was tough on my bike!

So again, I took videos of the main pack that will be uploaded later...sorry! Needless to say though, there were many riders that fell from the pack. Maybe about seven or eight separate groups that came up. The worst was the very last rider, who was 15 min. behind all by himself...talk about tough! I gotta give him credit for pushing even when hope for a good time was gone.

After all was said and done, I still had a loooong way back to my car. The descent back down Palomar was absolutely insane. There must have been 100+ cyclists strong dominating the road. As hard as the climb up was, going down at 40+ mph navigating hairpin turns made it all worthwhile.

After several more miles, when there was nothing left in the legs, I hit the final climb up Cole Grade Road. Ouch is all I have to say. Had there been any other option I would have taken it. Only thing more painful than climbing Palomar mountain is climbing Cole Grade Road after climbing Palomar! Luckily about halfway up, I pulled off here for a break where there was a big screen setup watching the finish in Escondido...sweet!

I finally got back to my car and nearly six hours after leaving it. Oh how I wish I had my own soigneur!