Took the family down to SF on Sunday to watch the pros ride. We rode
BART in from Berkelely which was nice. No parking hassles, and it
dropped us off right at Embarcadero where the start / finish line was.
So we had to walk no more than 1 block to get to all the action. I
wanted to get up to Taylor St. and watch them suffer up the climb, but
it wasn't feasible with a stroller and a 2.5 year old. So we mostly
hung around the Embarcadero area which was great. Right near the Expo
with all of the vendors, booths etc. We could hear the announcer and
always knew the status of the race leaders. They also had a huge
screen where you could watch the live action on the course. It was
cool to see George Hincapie, Ivan Basso, Chris Horner and others. Near the end of the race the crowd was really pumped up, and Lex was cheering and yelling
each lap as the rides went flying by. I took a few pictures and
posted them here on TeamBaggy.com - the sorting order got kinda messed
up, but no biggie. I never did find out what happened to Basso, but
when he crossed the finish line he had on his backpack and a baseball
cap instead of his helmet. Somewhere along the way he abandonded the
race. I think I heard the announcer say they had a course rule that
if you fell more than 5% behind the time of the race leader they asked
you to abandon. So I think there were like 150 who started and only
about 75 or so who actually finished.
http://www.teambaggy.com/gallery2/v/2005GrandPrix/
