For Christmas, I bought my dad a dinner with the riders in the Amgen Tour of California. 2009 is Lance Armstrong's return year, and there was a lot of hype about him riding in a domestic race. My dad and I bike on the weekends (definitely nowhere near a TOC rider level) and he and my mom watch cycling on tv, so they were very excited about attending the race. In fact, I think my mom was almost more excited at seeing the announcers than the cyclists, which, as my dad said, was because you see more of them on tv than you do the cyclists!
We flew to Sacramento for the first race, the prologue time trial. It was cold, but luckily the rain held off until after the race. It was interesting to wander through all the booths and events before the race, and of course, during a time trial you are guaranteed to see every cyclist. I was surprised at the turnout; the news later said it was the best Sacramento had ever had for the tournament. I even got to see Kevin Johnson, KJ of the Phoenix Suns!!
At dinner we had our photos taken with a few of the more pleasant cyclists, even a few who didn't speak English! Thanks to team Saxobank and Ivan Basso for posing with me and my dad in photos!
