thanks for the pics! I was bummed I could not make it to watch this year...Malibu tri and all...glad to see the mail boxes made another appearance!

-Trisha

We were there - great day! Could not believe how many people were there watching this. Really fantastic race.

Highlights were:

1) The police officer who stopped a Webcor rider who had been dropped and told him "if you're not racing, get off the course!"

2) The cowbells clanging for the police officer on the trek MTB climbing up the Broadway hill.

3) The impressive amount of coverage that Centerfolds and Showgirls got.

4) The fantastic coverage that the local ABC affiliate - KGO - gave to the race - recorded it on Tivo.

5) The 4 foot by 8 foot plasma TV mounted on the side of a panel truck at Broadway and Front. Excellent call!

And the lowlights:

1) Why did they have to put the bike corral in the middle of the expo? You could barely move through?

2) Stupid people crossing the road at the WRONG time - ignoring the police and almost getting slammed by either a) cyclists, b) motorcycles or c) team cars. They almost caused a pile up on Embarcadero at the beginning of the race.

All and all, it was a fantastic race, can't wait until next year.

Agree, it was a great day: sunny, but with a nice cool breeze (maybe a bit too cool?). The interesting points for me were:

1. At the beginning of the race everyone seemed to be going up Broadway in the big chainring (Broadway should be about 5%, right?). Towards the end almost everyone was downshifting to the small one.

2. Taylor (an 18% incline) was even more instructive: 39-25 for everyone it seemed, but as time went on some riders didn't have the strength to stand on the pedals all the way to the top, so they had to sit and ignominiously push like the rest of us mortals (not to mention the even weaker ones that had to zig-zag in order to climb the hill).

3. The surprising number of racers that abandoned: about 200 started and less than 50 finished?

4. Seeing Robin Williams ride by us on the Market street sidewalk after the race. No escorts, no flunkies, just him and his bike, riding just like everyone else (apart from the fact of course that everyone recognised him). How many celebrities have you seen doing something similar?

5. The difference between bike fans and football ones: I took the train, and on the way home after the race we picked up Raiders fans; the average one was about twice the size of the fans in San Francisco (and I'm not referring to height differences).

By the way, where could one find the cowbells that everyone seemed to have? Was someone giving them away? Selling them?

All in all, a fun day. Will be there next year too (and will bring a hat with me so my face doesn't turn into a painful red mess).

John

re: Cowbells

Saturn was giving them away in the Expo area.

Re: gearing

The telecast claimed that some were in a 38/27. Aldag must have had a 39/23 or something because he was suffering toward the end. All the zigging and zagging must have added an extra mile to his ride...

>>. Seeing Robin Williams ride by us on the Market street sidewalk after the race. No escorts, no flunkies, just him and his bike, riding just like everyone else (apart from the fact of course that everyone recognised him). How many celebrities have you seen doing something similar?<<

The whole story: He pulled in to the driveway at the Hyatt and put the bike on the back of the big Excursion parked there and hopped in the front seat and then they waited for Eki to get his award, bring his bike back to the truck and then Eki hopped in the Excursion and they were all off.

That said, Robin does ride all the time and has been known to bring his kids down to the finish of Escape from Alcatraz and walk around. And, if he's in town, he's always out in front of his house watching the Escape bike leg. Once he even ran in and got a pump and gave a little unauthorized assistance to a guy who flatted right in front of his house.

Gearing: I hear many of the women had mt. bike gearing for the hills.

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clm
Nashville, TN
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