I don’t get to stand by the roadside for every Tour of California, but I definitely try! This year, May has been extremely busy with so many things going on that the Big Guy just didn’t have the energy to watch the race other than on television; so I decided I might as well try to go by myself. But I didn’t want to go too far from home, so I picked a spot in El Dorado Hills where the riders would be making a tight left turn from Serrano Parkway onto Bass Lake Road.

Warming up that cowbell!

The crowd was quite thin at the corner

I chose to stand behind this guy, with the long lens and official Moto vest!

Seven-man breakaway approaches

Rounding the corner

The main peloton was about 3 minutes behind the small leading group

Guy on the motorbike signals a left turn to the cyclists following

Current race leader Peter Sagan in yellow on the left

Finally, here’s a shot that I took as the main group flew past me on the corner; you can tell by the blurring how fast they were moving!