First, no posts due to poor time management, and also hotels that charge for internet access. I thought this shit was free. I'm hoping to blow through the stages I missed in the next few posts.
Rode in the lead van out of San Francisco, left the hotel and hot footed it across the entire city (think bay to breakers) to the start in Golden Gate park. The race cruised down Highway 1 with sprints in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. Here's a tip to all race planners: don't put a sprint line on a major highway, or four lane, much-used road. Its a pain in the ass and dangerous too. I don't care how many cones you put out, with three lanes of traffic coming blowing by, it could end very badly.
The rest of the stage was fairly uneventful...there were four KOM points on the route from the turn off from the first segment of Highway 1. Three were north of Santa Cruz county, in the hills that overlook Palo Alto and Mountain View (though we never saw either), the final one was on the run in to Santa Cruz. Bonny Doone Road is the turn-in to the climb, and that's a ridiculous street name.
The stage ended in a straight sprint finish. The 1K was marked by a house full of young professional SantaCruzians who were determined to help us have a good time. They graciously offered us use of their bathroom, fed us beer, and even informed us of the city's (very) liberal dope possession laws. Sadly, they never actually offered the dope. We definitely took full advantage of them and their beer!
After the stage wrapped, and we had sorted for the next day, we trekked over to former R&S man Alan's house for some pizza, beer, wine, and tour watching. It was really great to catch up with him, meet his wife, and envy his beautiful house. Alan seems to have figured something about life out, I'm hoping that it's not too hard for the rest of us to learn too...
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