Ding ding ding! Round Two

Because the last entry on this here website, which looked at the ten years of the Tour of California and my ten years at the Tour of California (with two absentee ballots casted) went so well, this entry is round two.As we discussed, 2006 was the first year of the ToCA and I did not take part in that bike race. Instead, our team had a team camp somewhere near the Merco stage race. We went to a nice rental house and rode in the hills daily and prepped for races like San Dimas and Redlands, which signal the beginning of the domestic race calendar. We didn't have heat for a few days, so here's a pic of my bro, Roberto, warming himself by the oven, while my then-teammate and now-friend Brent Bookwalter slept on the floor in the kitchen. Pro cycling, it's a glamorous life! 2007 saw my ToCA debut which occurred in the form of a prologue that went along the San Francisco Bay and finished atop Coit Tower. Or, I suppose it was the base of Coit Tower on Coit Hill. It was great because I had some college friends cheering me along and we won the KOM jersey with Brian Sheedy. (We means he went wicked fast during a short section of the course that was the categorized KOM.) Here I am blasting off the start line; please note how aero my right helmet ear strap is. Oh wow. This is special. 2008 featured the stage from Seaside down to San Luis Obispo entirely on Route 1. While the year prior, the same 218km stage was raced in around 5 hours, we had a righteous headwind, temperatures below 40F, and a headwind to end all headwinds, so we froze our tails off in over 7 hours. It was like racing into a hurricane, except slightly more miserable. One guy dropped directly from the breakaway into the ambulance with hypothermia. I literally took the jacket off the back of my team director to stay warm. I couldn't move my fingers and had to be hand fed from the car. Meanwhile riders from the peloton were dropping into the car caravan in order to get heat from the exhaust. It was a special day. Here I am in the breakaway. I can't find any more pictures from my 2009 Tour of California, however I did just find a blog entry that I penned up in what I believe is stage 2. Here she is. After a few rounds of bad weather, the organization moved the Tour of California to May in 2010. I raced the Giro d'Italia in 2010 which also takes place in May. Here's a funny picture that comes with a funny story, as long as you're not me! So there was a little pileup around 30km to go. I was uninjured, but I found myself on the ground with another dozen or so riders. I had an odd feeling around about my left butt region, which turned out to be a rider's brake lever which had pierced my shorts. Rather than lifting his bike delicately out of my butt area, he tore it violently and tore my shorts wide open. It wouldn't have been so bad except we had an additional 30km to race and the hole in my shorts continued to grow until my entire left buttox was exposed. It was funny... but only in hindsight. In more uplifting news, my buddy Rob from my native New Hampshire came across the Atlantic and played the Tour of Italy game taking in the sights and sounds and local flavor. He also brought this super patriotic flag which made my day every time I saw it. 2011 saw my move over to Cannondale under the Liquigas-Cannondale banner. Here's a computer screenshot someone sent me which shows a variety of things:1) look to the left and you'll see a ridiculously strong list of riders in the breakaway.2) Brother from another mother, Ben King's left arm.3) Me taking up chase. Actually Ben and I had been chasing for hours. L'Cannondale went on to win this stage resulting in a magnum of wine. After a successful Tour of California, my teammate and great friend Timmy Duggan and I ate tacos from a taco truck. This is dos tacos lenguas.This often unseen side, but entirely commonplace side of cycling made the rounds in 2012. That number 54 with a strong stream right in the middle? Yep, that's me. Then a few days later, we were yanking it again. Five riders back is Peter in yellow. That 2012 edition was the one we won 5 stages and nearly won 6. When the race concluded with another win on stage 8, I went to a LA Kings playoff hockey game that afternoon and that evening a Clippers playoff basketball game. Those days don't come around often. There was a Joao Correia-racing-on-bike-sighting at the 2013 edition. However, it was on a banner from the 2010 Tour of California located inside the VIP booth. Either way I got my picture taken with it... err, him rather. And onto last year, the 2014 Tour of California was the debut of maple syrup shots going viral. If you've never put maple syrup in your coffee, you're missing out on something magical. I don't even bother with sugar in my coffee, but it's an example of one plus one equals 3. Also of note, that bottle of maple syrup was delivered from a good friend in Ohio! Maple syrup from Ohio my friends; still #FromATree so I approve. (However, a single serving of UnTapped is an even better choice.) And just to ensure that we end on an emotionally upbeat note -- and even I'll admit it's tough to top talk of maple syrup -- here's how my Tour of California ended last year: with a hug from my brother at the finish line. It's sometimes tough for family to get to lots of races, so this was a pretty neat moment. Okidoke folks, time to go get kitted up for stage 4.