Working the Amgen Tour of California is always an honor and a treat. Especially when it starts in my hometown. OK, I live in Boston now, but I was born and raised in Sacramento. I’ve also been lucky to work all 14 editions of the Tour of California, so it really gets special.
This year, I was one of two mechanics for the USA National team, comprised exclusively of riders from domestic Continental teams. Rules state that riders from teams already participating in the race are not allowed to race for the national team, so that omits the Americans on the US Pro Conti teams and also Americans on World Tour teams that were participating in the race.
The team comprised of Travis McCabe and Keegan Swirbul (both Floyd’s Pro Cycling team), Sam Boardman (Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling), Miguel Byron (Hincapie/BMC/Arapahoe Pro cycling team), Alex Hoehn, Michael Hernandez, and Tyler Stites (from my Aevolo trade team). Seven riders and 4 different bikes and sets of equipment. All under one “roof” of USA National team.
Our race was a real success with riders wearing White, Green, Polka Dot and Blue. The yellow jersey was the only jersey we did not get to wear. Still, an amazing job by our riders.
Like many stage races of
this nature, there were some long nights. After Stage 2, we did not arrive at
the hotel until 7:45 pm and we did not finish bikes until 10:45 pm, WAY past
dinner. One of our directors, knowing this was going to happen, got staff
pizzas as we were working in the parking lot late into the night. Little things
like that make the late nights not so bad.
Driving down the coast on Highway 1 is always a visual treat. Especially since I get to sit in the back seat and look around. My typical MO is to nap in the back seat. This stage (Stage 4 – Weathertech Raceway/Laguna Seca to Morro Bay) was almost exclusively down the beautiful highway 1.
For me, one of the real special parts of this race was being a mechanic for the US National team. Wearing the Red White and Blue of team USA is (and will always be) special to me.
