STAGE TWO - Santa Rosa to Sacramento

The grey skies opened up with a downpour of cool rain just before the start (no doubt soaking the peleton and their supporters assembled at the historic Railroad Square.) My quest of meeting the climbers on Trinity Grade, the second KOM points for the tour, was necessarily slowed by family good-byes so that my "start" was at the same 10:00 AM. Fortunately my race down Highway 12 was considerably easier (and shorter) than the tour's and the rain let up as I approached the intersection at precisely the Tour-Log's predicted time of 10:33 AM. The soggy crowd was still facing across the intersection, so I began scampering up the lower legs of the awesome climb. It was encouraging to hear the cowbells and thundersticks of a the tifosi scattered along the shoulders that twists upward on the wooded route. Hearing a siren in the distance I pulled to the side and joined a small crowd of about a dozen at the edge of a nice sweeping corner.

The motorcycle parade of photographers and officials proceeded the Mavic neutral support car and the California Highway Patrol who courteously announced the imminent arrival of two breakaway riders, minutes ahead of the peleton! The little crowd unfurled a banner (so muddied it was illegible but enthusiastic) and the tension mounted, as each successive vehicle climbed past us slower than the previous. We could hear the clang of cowbells from the lower switchback and finally a solo rider appeared in the corner, pumping up the grade, oblivious to the clatter and shouts. It was Scott Nydam of BMC followed by his team car in a dramatic effort that he would sustain for another 90 miles! An eternity later, the following rider quietly sawed up the outer edge of the curve and soon disappeared up the hill ahead of a small parade vehicles.

An even longer wait was broken by the sirens and shouting and procession of motorized vehicles, and our small crowd squinted through the branches at the lower curve until the full peleton appeared, five abreast, shoulder to shoulder pounding their pedals in a measured "crawl" up the grade towards us. The entire mob stuck together, making a colorful blur salted with the white rain-jackets most still wore despite the drying conditions. Their combined speed was hardly slow, but more impressive was the order with which they navigated the twisting banked asphalt.

As quickly as the appeared into our corner, the peleton instantly vanished in a wall of slow moving team cars, wheels and frames which jockeyed back and forth filling the entire road. More motorcycles and finally the Bissell Broom Wagon and two ambulances. Anti-climatically the final follow vehicle was a plain grey pickup carrying several very real brooms and a small AMGEN white Tour Of California square stuck on the tailgate.

My roll down Trinity was short - not so for those in cars waiting in a long line at the stop sign at Highway 12. Tuesday traffic, grey road grit and cold didn't dampen my elation for having arrived in time to see the KOM beginning his conquest of Trinity.