Columbia-Highroad Schwag & World Class Women

Ahh, to be back again in the Bay Area. Sweet.

I drove up to the state's capitol from San Francisco yesterday to pick-up my press credential, meet some of the riders and soak in the excitement buzzing the day before the start of the fourth-annual Amgen Tour of California.

Team Columbia-Highroad was holding a breakfast meet-and-greet at the DoubleTree in Sacramento, featuring their riders and their home-brew coffee from San Louis Obispo. The company's PR guys made sure to point out that carrying their travel coffee mug on the course entitles you to free coffee on what is an often chilly and wet week of riding.

Lots of great "schwag" was distributed, but most important, I enjoyed a private audience with the women's team and staff.

You won't find much news about the women's criterium being held in conjunction with male-dominated Tour. The women were originally going to race three stages, from Sacramento to Santa Cruz, but that got turned into just one stage - a criterium race - to be held at the finish line of the men's race on Sunday in Santa Rosa.
Mara Abbott (American National Champion), Kim Anderson, Ina Tutenberg, Emilia Fahlin (Swedish National Champion) and Alex Wrubleski (Canadian National Champion) were great to interview, and I plan to follow-up with them and other women's teams in the coming days.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with the terms of bike racing, including schwag or criterium, check out the handy online glossary the Tour organizers have posted.