Since I can be fairly anal retentive about my work area, I usually arrive at sporting events such as the Tour of California quite early. For me, it’s important to stake out a good spot in the press room, free from distractions, if possible. Last week, for example, I arrived in Sacramento about two hours before the prologue began. In a large banquet room at a Holiday Inn – the makeshift press room for the day – I found a… Read More »

The final stage is just getting started. The biggest news so far is that Belgian star Tom Boonen, the 2005 world champion, has abandoned the race. Boonen flew home after Stage 7 yesterday in Pasadena. A celebrated sprinter, Boonen isn’t injured, just not interested in a mountainous final stage that includes a grueling 5,123-foot climb up Palomar Mountain. – Eric Branch

Well, it’s the last day of the TOC and it’s also the hardest day.So far over 40 riders and counting have abanded this race.Today is going to be total carnage. It’s our last day to strike out to take the overall besting Levi. Dave Z is still within striking distance along with Tommy D.I’m excited to see what kind of form I have coming out of this race.Next up I do Paris Nice in early March so I hope to… Read More »

Today was one long flat day.The race started with a mellow rollout out of Visalia. The backdrop with the Serrias was scenic.A break quickly formed and rolled up the road. Astana gave the break around 7 minutes and then left it at that.As we made our way closer to the 101 the pace picked up. With about 30 kilometers to go, Trent and I were ordered to the front to help pull the break back for Tyler.With 5 k to… Read More »

Five stages into the Amgen Tour of California we posed some more questions to Petaluma rider Steven Cozza who is currently in 40th place overall: Q – When you have a mechanical,how hard is it to get back to the peloton with no help? SC: It all depends when you get the mechanical. If it’s near the beginning or the middle of the race then it’s not a problem getting back in the race drafting the cars in the caravan.… Read More »

Yesterday (Wednesday) I was smoked after the stage. We did over 11,000 feet of climbing over and all around the Sierra foothills. We even road through some snow. It was constantly up or down till about 50 kilometers to go. This stage was 195 kilometers. All day there were crashes. I think guys are just getting tired and not as focused because of it. VDV got taken out and crashed. He’s alright, just a bruised knee. Despite all the climbing… Read More »

I’m starting to feel like a scuba diver out there. The skies dropped more water on us today (Tuesday). I had a day of survival. My legs felt like cement today. I hear its clear skies tomorrow (Wednesday) so that will be a nice change of pace. Dave Z and Tommy D kept out of trouble today. I swear the Astana team was dizzy or something. About 70k into the race Chris Horner went down hard, then 20k later Levi… Read More »

Here are some questions we posed to Petaluma rider Steven Cozza after today’s Stage 2 of the TOC: Q – During the race can you communicate with the other members of your team? Like a QB in the NFL wearing a headset maybe? Hand signals? Hollering at them? Or no way? SC: Yes, we all have race radios even the directors in the car that follow the race. We get advice on the terrain ahead including warnings on dangerous sections.… Read More »

I’m close too being to tired to report so I’m going to make this short.Today was an epic day across the Golden Gate Bridge and a 115 miles down to Santa Cruz.It rained the whole day except for the last 5 miles of the race.A couple times I thought I was seriously drowning. It feels really great to be laying in my hotel bed right now.Today’s mission was to get Tom and myself inside the break and that’s exactly what… Read More »