If you are looking for the results at Stage 7 of the Tour of California race, go to ESPN. This blog post is about what you do NOT see on TV reports about this annual bike race that this year went from Sacramento to Thousand Oaks. (The competitors are on route to Thousand Oaks from Pasadena as I write this.)
Steve Madison, a Pasadena city councilman, sent an email a few days ago announcing that local bike riders would be allowed to ride around the race course before the actual race competitors arrived from out of the mountains that tower over the city.
So I thought I would go to City Hall where the event was to end and take photos of whatever there was to shoot, including local bicyclists. It turned out there was much more to see: it was a sprawling bike fair.
As someone who has participated in street fairs I also realized that this event had been moving from place to place for at least 8 days, but surprisingly looked still fresh and new. Maybe all those energy foods being given away were effective!
Many bike companies were there, and they were just the beginning. There were also booths for foods, healthy living, bike accessories, beer and, of course, a loud band.
Local bikers cruising through the finish line an hour before the actual Tour of California racers arrived from off the mountain route. The race was being shown live on what looks like a big pink screen in the middle of this photo.
