Tour de California

You know about the Tour de France, right? We had the Tour of California speed through our little town. This was a professional race which included 18 teams, for a total of 144 riders. They rode 700 miles from San Francisco to Long Beach. It took about a week. My town was the 6th and final stop before the final day in Long Beach. It was also an occasion to raise funds for cancer research, care, educational awareness, and treatment.

First came the Lifestyle Festival with several booths manned by the sponsoring teams. They gave out lots of freebies like chapstick (waves to MM), sunscreen, bag holders, water, tape measures, compasses, olive oil (not Popeye's gf), pens, post it note pads, jelly beans (ugh, they had Vit B in them and tasted horrible), shirts, key chains, pill holders, and flashlights.

A family ride for local families came before the professional cyclists got into town around 2:30 pm. There was also a female-only race featuring elite women riders from all over the world. The racers passed the finish line 3 times as they ended their day with 3 circuits around town. The Discovery team won! We all cheered them on as they sped by. It was really exciting. Now we want to dig out our bikes, get them overhauled and start riding again.