Redlands Stage 1: Beaumont Circuit Race

Pretend with me here that I actually had time to put up links to my VeloNews.com race articles each day that I was at Redlands....here's the report from Friday's Stage 1.

And here are a few snaps from that day. Remember that I was an "embedded reporter" at the host house of ValueAct Capital, as I'm working on a feature article that includes them, and this is Caroline, the daughter of our hosts. She is decked out in a VAC jersey because she worked the feed zone for the team today -- she's an expert at it, having learned the ropes last year. There's rumors circulating that other pro teams are trying to woo her over to their camp -- but she's a devoted VAC fan!

The start line in Beaumont, outside Redlands.
Some of the women who were called up at the start. From left, Cheerwine's Leigh Hobson, Webcor Builders' Christine Thorburn, Team High Road's Kim Anderson and teammate and race leader, Mara Abbott, and Aaron's Katharine Carroll.
I rode in the media car. This is an advantage not because you get to actually SEE the race up close -- as is obvious here -- but because there is a race radio in the car through which we can hear the officials along the course shout out what is happening. It's a bit chaotic as the reports aren't always timely and sometimes we miss important details, but our driver, Hoss, did a great job getting us through the course on each of the five circuits the best he could.
The women's stage 1 podium: Alex Wrubleski, a Canadian on Webcor Builders, took second; Kat Carroll took first, and another Canadian, Cheerwine's Leigh Hobson, took third.
This is Argentinean Sebastian Haedo, JJ Haedo's little brother, in the media tent waiting to step onto the men's podium. His team, Colavita-Sutter Home has taken a podium at EVERY SINGLE race they've entered this season. They're crazy-fast right now.
The men's stage 1 podium: Sebastian Haedo in second, Cuban Santiago Botero of Rock Racing in first, and Bissell's Burke Swindlehurst in third. Today was the first time I interviewed Burke, and he wins the "best interview" award -- a very prestigious award in my own mind, of course. He was incredibly gracious and fun to talk to. It's got to be very tough to talk to reporters after a long hard stage like this, and it's always refreshing when a rider makes you feel like you're not putting them out.
Botero is a former World Time Trial Champion and has won numerous stages at the big European Tours -- he's a rock star...pun intended, I suppose. This is his first race in the United States, and today's stage put him in the green sprinter's jersey...
...and the red climbing jersey...
...and the leader's yellow jersey. And he was wearing all of them at once, which I've never seen anyone do -- usually they take the previous one off as the next is put on! He was also a good interview, and was quite gracious.

The Baj

After spending a day with the Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast team earlier this week, I wrote a feature article on Andrew Bajadali that you can find here on cyclingnews.com

Had an exciting day out at the races here in Redlands again today -- actually in and around Beaumont, as the circuit race was there. Gotta get to transcribing notes now so as to write my reports...

Rare Ramblings from Redlands

The Redlands Cycling Classic started today here in Southern Cali, and I have a rare moment to do a quick blog entry. So, here goes...

I spent Tuesday with the men of Kelly Benefits Strategies - Medifast, the team of 2007 Redlands defending champ, Andy "The Baj" Bajadali. Rode with them on what was a 31-mile recovery ride for them. Thankfully, only one person ended up in the dirt temporarily, and it wasn't me...and wasn't because of me. Whew! This is super sprinter Alex Candelario, Brian Buccholz, and Dan Bowman chatting with Road magazine editor, Neal, after the ride.
I'm staying in host housing with the ValueAct Capital cycling team -- an incredible group of women who are being hosted by a terrific family headed by husband and wife who are both firefighters. This is Australian rider Hannah Banks (right) and the famous Martina Patella striking a pose with one of the team cars in the host house driveway.
Today was the Prologue, a 5km uphill time trial -- The Sun Time Trial -- in the streets of Redlands. This is the women's podium, left to right, Aaron's Katharine Carroll, and Team High Road's Mara Abbott and Kim Anderson. Mara scorched the course, finishing almost 30 seconds before anyone else.
And the men's podium, left to right, Toyota-United's Ben Day, Health Net-Maxxis' Rory Sutherland, and Ben's Canadian teammate, Dominique Rollin.
When a photographer asked the guys to all step on the top step of the podium for one last shot, New Zealander Day struck a more cozy pose than Sutherland had anticipated....Rory's exact words as shots were snapped: "This is just wrong."
And a puppy that I buddied up to for a few moments while waiting for race results. Awwww.....
Tomorrow is Stage 1, the Beaumont Circuit Race. It's gonna get crazy-hectic from here, so don't know that I'll be able to do any more posts until it's all over, but will get back to ya as soon as I can. Will at least try to post links to my daily reports on VeloNews.com, and here's today's.

And additionally, my latest article for USA Cycling's website was also posted today -- here.

Horton's Have a New Who!

Baby Horton has finally arrived -- meet Carter Gabriel Horton! His proud momma is friend and Bella teammate, Heidi, and proud daddy is Coby. The newest racer-baby to hit the Central Valley!
And Daddy Coby has already got the diaper changing thing down! You rock, Papa Coby!
Carter is in the hospital until next week because he's got a bit of pneumonia -- send some positive thoughts the Horton's way. They're doing great, but look forward to taking their new little biker-dude home soon.

An Excuse to Eat Chocolate in the Eastern Sierras

Spent Easter weekend in Bridgeport with Mom and Dad. Big brothers, their wives, and all the nieces were absent, some down south playing in the desert, and the others at their own home recovering from the flu -- bummer. But, that meant more chocolate for me...ya gotta find the silver lining.
I've said it here before, but I love Bridgeport. Pure and simple. It's small and real and high in the Eastern Sierras. An amazing place to have grown up, and an even cooler place to go back to over and over again. (And the population has boomed from the 500 it was when I was a kid.)
The west side of the valley is the east side of Yosemite -- locals call these the crags, but on a map, they're called the Sawtooth. They're above Twin Lakes, and though I grew up looking at them every day, they still take my breath away.
Close to the Nevada border, Bridgeport is cattle country and hosts a rodeo each July. The view above is the view from the rodeo grounds.
And what's a small town without a community Easter Egg Hunt? It's at a little park in the center of town each year, and different sections of the park are for children of different ages. The spot for the youngest kids always cracks me up (pun intended)...even I can spot these eggs.
And this year, they put the eggs for the smallest kids on the tennis courts so they wouldn't get plowed down by the older kids. There's a basketball net on the court, too, and though I didn't react quickly enough to catch it on film, one little tiny guy picked up his first egg, and promptly walked over to the basketball hoop, intent on throwing the egg in -- makes sense to me.
The oldest kids have a bit more of a challenge waiting for them, although a few of their eggs were right out in the open, too.
On Easter afternoon, Mom and I invited family friend, Sue, to drive up to Twin Lakes with us and walk along Upper Twin. It was fairly warm, and beautiful with all the snow and the partially frozen lake.
We had Sue snap a shot of us. I always have to twist Mom's arm, as she hates having her pic taken, but I'm glad I got her to agree.

And this is Bridgeport. Bridgeport Lake is behind it, and as kids, we swam there during the summer, and ice skated on it in the winter -- great fun, though a bit freaky when you could hear the ice cracking and water moving underneath the ice.
When you read that gas is going to get to $4.00 a gallon soon, well, let people know it already has. Costs a bit to truck gas all the way up here, you know, and the locals pay the price.
On the way back to Fresno, I passed my old high school, which is 35 miles away from Bridgeport, toward Nevada. Kids from three communities went here: Bridgeport, Walker, and Coleville. When I was there, there were only 100 kids in grades 9th through 12th -- I graduated with 15. Believe it or not, I think it's even smaller now.
Hammerbacher's is a store just down the road from the high school, and I have fond memories of walking down during lunch as well as after basketball and softball practice at the end of the day -- needed snacks for that long bus drive back to Bridgeport. It's a bit run down now, so I figured I better get a pic of the sign before it's gone altogether.
And I also passed this sign just past the high school. Jackie Giorgi was the Spanish teacher, our girls' basketball coach, and our athletic director. She was a great lady, and passed away a few years ago. I still remember how much she emphasized good sportsmanship. During one home basketball game, a kid in our audience boo-ed the other team. Mrs. Giorgi suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the floor in front of our bleachers, pointed up to that student, and made him leave the gym. She didn't put up with any crap -- the way it should be. She really did teach us that the way we played and the way we conducted ourselves were much more important than who won the game. Simple, but incredibly important lessons that don't always get taught.
A great place to grow up. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Even if there weren't chocolate....

A New Writing Gig

I mentioned quite a few posts ago that I recently signed a contract to begin writing for USA Cycling's newsletter and website. It's a really great opportunity, as I get the chance to interview elite American cyclists involved in a variety of USA Cycling programs. I feel pretty honored to get to know these athletes, and am already working on a variety of stories.

The first one has been posted on the website, and you can see it here.

I Got a "Call-Up" at Paris-Nice!

Ok, not really a call-up. And not really AT Paris-Nice...but during VeloNews.com's live web coverage of stage 7, they did encourage race fans to check out my Exeter Time Trial article. Pretty thrilling for a little 'ole freelancer like me. You can see my moment of glory for yourself right here.