Amgen: The Prologue

About a year ago, I got a call from a chum who wanted to head downtown and check out this bike race that was going on. The 2008 Amgen Tour of California was set to finish in downtown Sacramento, and with the day off from work, I figured I might as well wander over and see what all the hubbub was about. It was certainly an interesting experience... we sat around drinking beers at a local restaurant for about an hour, then went out to the curb and watched the race go by. The cluster of bikes, which couldn't have been more than a few seconds apart from each other, whizzed by and provided about ten seconds of entertainment. We then returned to our beverage consumption.

Seeing as how I'd never experienced a bicycle race in person before, it was an interesting (and brief) endeavor. Now, one year later, the race has returned to town. Only there was one small difference about this time around...

Yes, recently returning from a 3 1/2 year hiatus, the mighty Lance Armstrong has decided to participate in this year's Tour of California. With that fact backing the race, the Amgen suddenly became quite a bigger deal than it was the last time around (at least as far as I could tell, and being the 'cycle enthusiast that I am (in that I understand the fact that people ride bikes for fun as well as competition), I was sure to grab myself a front row seat). (Actually, I had to go for work, but I wasn't about to complain.)

This year, Sacramento hosted the "prologue" to the race, which was basically a time trial to decide the order of starting positions for the first leg, beginning tomorrow in Davis. Every minute for the next 136 minutes, a cyclist would take off on the 4 minute 30 second (or so) course circling the State Capitol. After witnessing last year's brief pass-by, I have to say that this makes for a much more interesting event.

Of course, most of the thousands of spectators that came out were there to see one man in action. It's the same reason that VS. was broadcasting the event live, and sending it to over 90 countries. Yes, Lance Armstrong was back, and ready to compete.

At the end of a surprisingly dry day (it was supposed to be a torrential downpour, which was originally going to be our sidebar story), Lance placed in 10th. By all accounts (AKA people that actually know what they're talking about), that ain't bad. Tomorrow, we head to Davis for the first of eight stages, which eventually finishes in SoCal.

Once again, torrential downpours are in the forecast. I'll be out there rockin' the stills, and if Lady Luck shines down upon us like she did today, it'll be a beautiful day for a race. But I'm dustin' off the waders, just in case.