Blow in Here Until Firm

The Tour of California finished at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, which was perfect for me. It's about 5 miles from my home, along roads I've ridden and run on many times. I knew all of the secret back streets to avoid road closures and get free parking right next to the Bowl. Sweet.

I met up with Tri Team Tammy and Tri Team Rene and mooched off of Tammy's Pasadena Tri Club connections to get a viewing spot under a tent 150 meters from the finish line. The riders did 6 loops, so we had plenty of chances to see everyone. Because it was a little crowded where we were, I found it was easier to sit on the pavement and poke my camera through the temporary barricades they set up. Which was perfectly fine, until the rain came. I'd like to thank the fine people at Zipp for giving me their beautiful new product catalog at the Expo, which I sat on to keep my butt dry.

You're going to think I'm crazy, but I swear it's true: the rain seemed to follow the bikers. They would whiz on by and it would start to pour. Then once the left, the rain would lighten up or stop completely. Then the rain would come back with the peloton. This happened for several laps. And immediately after the race, the sun came out and gave us a huge rainbow ovber teh ROse Bowl. I just think maybe God doesn't like bike riders.



At the expo, several companies were handing out "Rooters", those inflated noisemakers that you blow up and bang together. (The instructions read "Blow in Here Until Firm". We giggled a bit.) I couldn't seem to get mine to make any noise, but Tammy had to show me that you're supposed to keep the Rooters parallel to eachother when you bang them. So they kind of worked. The Rooters were free, and I became obsessed with them. After the race, I kept going back to the same booths again and again and grabbing more handfuls. I'm not sure why I wanted them. Maybe I can use them at other races, but I think I just liked the thrill of stealing.