Central Coastin’ – Day 2, Part 2

On the previous blog, we’d spent most of our morning on the Central Coast wine tasting, and we were finally about to see the riders from the Amgen Tour of California come screaming past our location. 

At this point in the race, there was a five man breakaway riding about 2 minutes ahead of the main peloton of bikes; they had as much as a 5 minute lead on the pack at one point in time, but since our spot was about 2/3 of the way through the course for the day, the peloton was starting to gradually reel them back in (although one breakaway would actually go on to win a stage, which is decently rare, it happened the following day). 

The official swag car stopped by our position, and we were happy to divest them of some of their Jelly Belly jelly beans, one of the official race sponsors.

Hooray, race swag!

Eventually, we saw the stage leaders come into sight (click on these to blow them up for easier spotting).

Here they come!

From left, your stage leaders (at this time):

Danny Pate (Rally Cycling - orange jersey),

Federico Zurlo (UAE - black, white, red),

David Lozano (Novo Nordisk - blue and white -
this team is really cool -

every athlete on the team is living with diabetes),

Sean Bennett (Jelly Belly - slightly hidden),

and Ben Wolfe (also Jelly Belly).

Bye, guys!  Good luck!

We cheered them on for the 30 seconds or so that they were near us, and then we settled in to wait just a few minutes more to see the rest of the peloton.

The team cars for the breakaway

and the neutral bike techs.

Neutral nutrition support

One of our fellow spectators

knew the lady operating the timing board.

Here comes the peloton!

In no time at all, they popped into view as well; since I took a ton of pictures of the peloton, I’ve tried to add a few arrows here to note some of the more famous riders and/or some of the folks that are my favorites:

The blue arrow is either Peter Sagan

or his brother, Juraj Sagan.

I think it's more likely it's Juraj,

given the bands on his sleeves.

The red arrow is the race leader (yellow jersey),

Rafal Majka.

Red arrow is Brent Bookwalter,

who only finished 45 seconds from

the eventual win.

Red arrow is Alexander Kristoff,

the sprinter for Katusha-Alpecin.

Lotsa arrows here.

Red is Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors),

who was wearing the green for Majka,

as Majka was in yellow.

He's one of my faves,

and routinely has some of the best hair on the circuit.

Blue arrow is random rider

who is thoroughly enjoying snack time.

Orange arrow is potentially

John Degenkolb of Trek-Segafredo.

When I ride, I ride a Trek, so they've always

got a spot in my heart, and Degenkolb's their sprinter.

He also seems to be one of the only folks

actually smiling at my camera, so that's a plus.

Random shots from the peloton:

Check out the Jelly Belly bikes

to the left of this shot
(you'll need to blow this up).

See all the jelly beans scattered

down the stems and forks of their bikes?

Cute, right?

The Cannondale (green team kit) rider

to the right of the shot

*might* be

Andrew Talansky.

After all that waiting, it took no time at all for the peloton to whizz on by us, and the sound was really cool to hear.  In addition to the riders, we got to see the race officials, the team cars, and bringing up the rear, the first responders including more officers and paramedics.  Truly, it was impressive that this many professional athletes (150 riders or so at this point) stormed by with their entire entourage (50-60 vehicles total) and the road was closed to normal traffic for something like 20 minutes maximum.  Although the marathons and tris I mentioned in last week’s blog are different animals entirely, the level of organization here was a wonder to behold.

Watching the riders go.

The parade of team cars.

First responders bringing up the rear.

We repacked what we’d taken out of the truck, stowed our souvenirs, and headed out along the route the riders had already done to see if we could find other freebies (someone was a bit more excited to pick up used water bottles from the pros than I was).  

A Dimension Data bottle.

Sadly, the top was crushed in.

We grabbed a few more with the tops ruined by the impact with the ground, but we tossed these in the bed of the truck, figuring we were at least helping pick up litter.  Eventually, we found a real prize – a lightly scuffed Jelly Belly bottle, which (after a thorough run through the dishwasher) now lives in our kitchen.  Huzzah.

We headed back to Avila via Arroyo Grande, where we grabbed some ice cream at Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab (verdict: good, but not as good as the Long Beach Creamery) and wandered through the downtown area, watching the chickens and posing with the several bridges that crossed the Arroyo Grande Creek. 

Posing with the pedestrian swinging bridge.

Why, thank you, Doc Burnstein.

I do plan to have an ice cream kind of day.

Double fisting.

Watch out - that rooster has his eye on you!

This pack featured a few chickens

with feathery feet.

You might be able to see them if you blow up the shot.

Once back in Avila, we headed downtown again, for a quick visit at a winery not on the original schedule: Peloton.  We’d heard about Peloton from the tasting guide in one of our other stops earlier that day, and we figured that given the name, plus the fact that it was so close to the hotel, we needed a visit.  The tasting room was totally adorable, and we ended up grabbing a bottle of cabernet sauvignon and one of pinot noir (our wine fridge was going to be well stocked when we made it home). 

I mean, right?  So cute.

Noms at Peloton.

It was time to head back to the hotel to relax and nap before we headed to our much anticipated dinner plans for the evening – to see our friends Megan and Kristen!  I first became friends with Megan when she joined our team at work a few years ago, and we discovered we were both runners.  She did the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay with us (and her parents welcomed us into their home along the route to let us shower and rest; they even fed us amazing soup!), and we’ve stayed in touch throughout her several moves in recent years.  When she and her lovely wife Kristen settled in Grover Beach and we planned our trip to Avila, we knew it was imperative that we visit and catch up, as well as see their new place.

For us, it was back down the 101 from Avila to Arroyo Grande, to the other side of the freeway this time, and we met the ladies at Figueroa Mountain Brewery, which also had outstanding food.  We chatted with each other and told stories, laughing and enjoying ourselves for quite some time, and eventually, we moved the party to their new house just a few miles up the road.  We enjoyed touring their new place (a brand new build – a three-floor townhouse with a cute little yard on the side) and meeting their puppy Ruthie (adorable and totally insane – so, a typical puppy).  We grabbed this selfie together before we headed out:

Chris and I with Kristen, Megan, and Ruthie!

It was so wonderful to see Megan and Kristen and catch up with them on our respective lives.  Now that we’re only a few hours away, I hope we’ll get the chance to do this more often!  After leaving them to head to bed (Kristen’s family had flown out earlier that morning, and she was heading on a business trip the next day - we were beyond beat, too, after our long day), we made it back to the Inn where we hopped in the hot tub for a few minutes before passing out in bed.  Another fun day on vacation!

Later!

Amy