the toc

i went downtown sunday to catch the finish of this year's tour of california - stage 1 which ended at the capitol mall. this year the race started in beautiful nevada city along highway 49. this stage brought riders down past grass valley and auburn and then across to folsom. they then dropped down into sacramento and ended up on L street seen above for the finish. of course mark cavendish was the hero of the day taking the stage and the podium.
i didn't see any of yesterday's tv coverage, but the finish was pretty well packed out and it was great to see a growing support for this race. hopefully we can keep the tour after next year's sponsor amgen drops out. here in california we certainly have all of the ingredients to rival the grand tour races - beautiful scenery and wonderful roads, and climbs and vista that rival the best in italy and france. and of course a great bicycle culture. today the tour leaves san francisco's ocean beach headed for santa cruz. it should be another glorious day in california.