2007 Tour of California

Today was Stage 7, the final stage of the week-long Tour of California race. We got to Long Beach early to check out the teams prepping to race, and more importantly - find the hospitality tents. If the pro racers can be pampered with free food and comfy chairs, then so can I dammit.

We hung out at the Discovery Channel team bus for a while, catching glimpses of Tour leader Levi Leipheimer and new team mate Ivan Basso. For kicks I held my camera high over the crowd and shouted "Lance!! Lance, over here!!!!", causing a minor ripple of panic and chaos in the crowd. Unfortunately there was no Lance to be seen. My bad.

Ivan gets directions to the Porta-Potty.

Levi meets the Media.

Paolo "The Cricket" Bettini seconds away from starting the race, in his current World Champion jersey.

An impressive crowd turned up to watch

Team Discovery leads the peloton with 8 laps to go (Levi in 6th spot).

Close to the racing action-

Levi hangs in as the race leader and takes the yellow jersey for Team Discovery Channel.

I also ran into my old friend Floyd Landis. I realized that during this picture he tried to take my wallet. Either that or he was just feeling my ass, I'm not totally sure. Other than that, he's still a cool guy.