Amgen Tour of California Stage 3

I haven’t been following the Amgen Tour of California all too closely, but today they are riding from Stockton to San Jose in Stage 3. Since I’m pretty close to where they’re finishing in San Jose, I think I’ll head downtown for the conclusion of the race today.

Around 2:45 pm, I dusted off my bike, pumped up air in the tires, and took a ride for the first time in 2007. I rode the 4 miles to Santa Clara Street where the bike race was ending. I must not have ridden fast enough, since the leading pack just finished when I arrived. Still, I was able to catch the shattered remnants of the peloton finishing minutes later in front of City Hall. I was sad to see that there weren’t that many people attending the event. I had expected at least two or three deep along the railings, but there were plenty of open spots that could even fit my bike.

I had brought along my Digital Rebel XTi in my water hydration pack to shoot some photos. The camera is small and light, but the AF performance leaves much to be desired. Canon just announced the 1D Mark III, but I’m saddened to see that it’s still in the same big body format. I was hoping for a smaller 1D-series camera. There’s more announcements to come, so hopefully Canon will surprise me. There’s a 63-page white paper on the Mark III on RobGalbraith’s site. It’s an in-depth look at all of the new features of the camera over the previous Mark IIN version.

In thinking about the bike race, I should have went earlier to get freebies, hang out with the fans, and take more photos. Until next year, enjoy these photos!