As my five or six long-time readers already know, it has been a bit of a struggle to appreciate life in this tiny Central Valley, California, town we have been plopped into.
And, yes, I was gritting my teeth and smiling tensely the whole time I was typing that.
So when I spotted an article in the Fresno paper (I think our little town has a newspaper, but how much can you read about cows?) about the Tour of California, my interest was piqued.
And when I further read that the Tour of California was going through a town a scant 30 minutes from our house, I was positively giddy!
Our favorite Hubster of Happily-Ever-After-Land is quite the biker, you see. He has competed in a Half Iron-Man and several other triathlons and such. He used to go biking for hours at a time, but the terrain here is flatter than my chest in middle school. So the biking has not been happening as much as it used to.
The Tour of California is a professional biking competition, much like the Tour de France. And, guess what? It's got all those Tour de France people competing in it, too! Even Lance Armstrong! Yes, THE Lance Armstrong!!!
Here's a few shots of our adventure...
We had arrived at 8:30 a.m. The bikers were supposed to appear for autographs at 10:30 a.m. Which meant we got to stake out our spot. And wait....
And wait....
Finally, the bikers began to appear. Keep in mind, there's about a hundred bikers in this thing, but only a handful are recognizable. Well, recognizable to the Hubster, anyway. The only one I knew of was Lance!
Our first autograph! This is a Spanish rider named Mancebo. Hubs knows his Spanish, having lived in Spain twice as an exchange student. Mancebo (who had been winning the daily sprints, not that that'll mean much to most of you!) had actually walked well past us. Hubs shouted, "Mancebo!" But not the Mexican Spanish way. The Spainiard Spanish way. Which is to say, he pronounced the 'c' in the middle with a 'th' sound. "Man-the-bo," he had said. The dude whirled around so fast and looked so happy, I thought he was going to plant a kiss right on Hubs! He probably would have, too, if it wasn't for all those people in between them!
A few more autographs later, and finally - LANCE!!!
He had waited until the very last second to make his appearance.
He was right in front of us....
Then they announced his name on-stage right as he was about to sign...
There would be NO Lance Love for us. <sigh>
BUT...
we did get an autograph from this guy - Levi Leipheimer, the winner of the past two Tour of California races as well as this year's Tour.
So take THAT Lance. There's a NEW biker love in my life! I mean, other than Hubster, of course.
After the prancing around was over and done with, it was time to get this race started already!
Priss was such a trooper...
And away they went!
We may still be here for next year's Tour of California.
And next time, we are coming for YOU, Lance. Oh, yes, that signature is OURS!!!!
