Time Trial Three-peat

Levi Leipheimer won the Solvang Time Trial for the third year in a row, beating out Dave Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream by just 8 seconds. Australia's champion, Michael Rogers, came in third, seventeen seconds back from Leipheimer.

Check my FLICKR page for more images of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California Time Trial.

The Wet and Green of CA Farmland

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California wound its way from San Jose to Modesto on Tuesday, 17 February.
The race started in relative sunshine, which broke into a sprinkle as the riders signed-in at the start line in front of Adobe in San Jose. By the time they hit the farmlands outside Modesto, it was a full-on downpour.

My favorite moment of the day? Catching the riders in a dry spell along Patterson Pass, image above.

Check out additional images on my FLICKR page.

Women Rock

Brooke Miller (USA) and Ina Tutenberg (GER) at the start line of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California Women's Criterium in Santa Rosa on Sunday, 15 February.


Miller, the current US Road Race Champion and Tutenberg were considered the race favorites. However, neither landed on the podium after the hour-long stage in a torrential downpour, but their teammates did. Columbia-Highroad's Emilia Fahlin, the Swiss National Champion won the race, and Lauren Tamayo (USA), on Miller's Team TIBCO placed second.

See the article I photographed and contributed to in the New York Times about the uber-educated and professional women cyclists racing today.

Tour of California Prologue

Lance Armstrong back on the bike and in California for the opening Prologue in Sacramento of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, Saturday, 14 February.

I will post more photos on my FLICKR page before the end of the Tour.

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.

Boston Indoor Games

Check out RunningTimes.com for my race recap and photos of the Reebok Boston Indoor Games held at the Reggie Lewis Track Center in Roxbury, MA on Saturday, 7 February 2009.
A few extra photos, below, and also on my FLICKR photo page:

Jenn Stuczynski sets a new American Record in the women's pole vault, 15 feet 9 inches.
She collected $25,000 for the record, as did Shalane Flanagan for trouncing Marla Runyan's 2001 record by 20 seconds in the women's 5,000-meters with a time of 14 minutes 47.62 seconds.
American Record Holder in the mile, Alan Webb, stumbled with 600 meters to go. The men's mile came down to the final 20 meters, with NZ Olympican Nick Willis pulling out a 3:53.54, followed by Mexican Olympian Pablo Solares in 3:54.52 and American Chris Lukezic holding for third in 3:56.04. Webb finished fourth, four seconds behind Willis.

Passing the Torch: Ireland to Kenya via NYC

An assignment on the Millrose Games that I covered (photo and writing) for Running Times is now available online. Here's an excerpt:

Perhaps he's a prophet or just an expert in the field, but the Irish running legend Eamonn Coghlan had predicted two-time world champion Bernard Lagat's win at the 102nd Millrose Games on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

He wasn't the only one, as Lagat himself had proposed as much last year. After winning the famous Wanamaker Mile for the sixth time in 2008, Lagat announced he would come back in 2009 to take a stab at Coghlan's meet-record seven wins.

Born in Kenya, the 34-year-old American fought a strategic race against New Zealand's Nick Willis to finish in 3:58.44 for his seventh win, tying the record of the earlier favored son of Millrose.

And some additional images of mine to what is posted online: