Don’t you people know it’s raining?

Stage 1 (following the Prologue) was a wet, rough day for the riders. Solid downpours all day plagued the entire route, but the fans didn’t seem to bother to check the weather report. As buckets of rain fell from the sky, thousands of die hard cycling fans packed the route here at the Tour of California, clamoring to catch a glimpse of their cycling heroes. Ok, a good portion of them were there to see Lance, but it doesn’t make it any less romantic.

Today (stage 2) was much more of the same. Torrential downpours plagued much of the route as we took to the epic California Route 1, following the coastline from Sausulito to Santa Cruz. Just about ten minutes into the race, the course looked like this.
The Golden Gate Bridge offered an incredible view as we crossed with the bridge to ourselves, completely shut down to traffic. I was not able to catch a shot as we crossed, but Grahm Watson of VeloNews did a fine job of capturing the moment.

We stuck to the coast for the first quarter of the race. Route 1 never deviates from the water, so it is regarded as one of the most scenic roads in the country. Car enthusiasts dream of taking their machines out for a spin on this stretch. There we were, with a brand new, (and as we would come to find out, incredibly fast) Volvo XC60, with Route 1 shut down for 10 miles ahead of us, with no cars in sight. Once in a lifetime. The skies even cleared up for a bit as we headed into Santa Cruz.

That’s it from Stage 2 here at the Amgen Tour of California. Six more days of incredible racing await us. I might not come home from this trip. So long from San Jose!