As some folks may know, the entire Astana team is here in Santa Rosa for a pre Tour of California training camp. Since I live in the area I had to go check it out and know what hotel they are staying at. I went down to the Hiatt hotel this morning to see if I could luck out and see the Astana guys as they were heading out for a ride. All the bikes were sitting outside a conf room and the riders were inside. There were a gaggle of pro photographers and press so I just hung out like I belonged there with my new Nikon my wife gave me for Christmas. After a while some of the riders began to come out speaking all different kinds of languages. Then the press got all excited as Lance came into the room and he and Levi sat down for a chat. For fun he took out his cell phone and took a picture of the photographers taking a picture of him. I gots lots of good pictures of both along with Alberto Contador and their bikes.
When Lance came out he stopped and chatted with the press. I asked him if he was enjoying his visit to Sonoma County and he said yes. Somebody asked him if he was “scared” to be riding with Levi today (kind of wink/wink comment) and Lance said “we (Astana riders) should all be scared…this is his backyard”. He looked very fit and relaxed. I was standing maybe two feet away from him and got some close up shots in his Livestrong kit. It was so cool! Finally Levi yells back to Lance to get going as the group was waiting and just like that they were off.
There were two groups; one doing the King Ridge ride and the Levi/Lance/Alberto group doing the actual race route over Howell mnt and Calistoga road. All the photographers ran to their cars to follow the group along with a film team from Versus. I felt like one of those Nascar fans that have Dale Ernhardt stickers on all their cars but it was really cool….and I was back at work in less than one hour. I can post the pictures on Flicker or someplace once I get home tonight if anyone is interested.