Miscellaneous PhotosSan Francisco Mini Holiday
9/10/04 - 9/13/04
| (1) | | View of the Bay Bridge from our condo. |
| (2) | | View down the wharfs from our condo. You can see Alcatraz out in the bay and the start/finish line of the race is also visible just a little past the clocktower. |
| (3) | | Julie on Fishermans' Wharf with Alcatraz behind. |
| (4) | | Julie checks out the noisy, smelly sea lions. |
| (5) | | A cool-looking WWII submarine-turned-museum tied up near Fishermans' Wharf. |
| (6) | | Sunset at Fishermans' Wharf. |
| (7) | | Me next to a Sailor statue at the north end of Golden Gate Bridge |
| (8) | | View of Angel Island from the north end of Golden Gate Bridge. |
| (9) | | The fog was thick around the north end of the bridge but began to burn off the farther south we got. |
| (10) | | A cool looking island near Golden Gate Bridge. |
| (11) | | Julie starts out across the bridge. |
| (12) | | We saw this cool affect while crossing Golden Gate Bridge. What you're seeing is the sun casting a shadow of the cable onto the fog. It took me a second to figure it out. |
| (13) | | Me on the south end of the bridge. |
| (14) | | In case you were considering jumping... |
| (15) | | One last shot of Gold Gate Bridge . . . well, until our boat ride later in the afternoon anyway. |
| (16) | | Julie and I with a model of the cable cross section. |
| (17) | | Then it was on to the chocolate festival at Ghirardelli Square. |
| (18) | | Ghirardelli Square is the home of the original Ghirardelli store. |
| (19) | | We got our fill of chocolate, and then some, at the festival before pushing on. |
| (20) | | A neat ship out in the harbor. |
| (21) | | After the chocolate festival we were interested in heading out to see Alcatraz, but all the tours were booked through Monday. Instead, we got on a little, old fishing boat and the captain took us and four other people for a ride around Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. |
| (22) | | We round Alcatraz and head toward the bridge. |
| (23) | | One of our companions on the boat ride, Albert, kept us quite entertained. |
| (24) | | We sailed around the southern tower/support, or whatever you call it. |
| (25) | | Julie on the boat. |
| (26) | | Me in the bow with downtown San Francisco behind me. |
| (27) | | Some pelicans. |
| (28) | | Julie with out boat behind her. |
| (29) | | Shot of Julie with one of the trolley cars that run up and down Embarcadero. |
| (30) | | We took a much-needed rest out on the condo balcony before heading off for dinner. |
| (31) | | We woke up early Sunday morning and wandered down to the race just in time to catch the women massing for the start of their race at 7:00am. |
| (32) | | And the women are off! |
| (33) | | After watching a couple of laps of the women's race we wandered around to see if we could catch any of the men warming up. All we could find was the USPS wrenches getting the team's bikes ready. |
| (34) | | Nicole Cooke, at just 21 years old, wins the race for the second year in a row! |
| (35) | | After the finish of the women's race the men massed for the start of their race. The more famous riders were introduced - here's Magnus Backstedt. |
| (36) | | Here's Levi Leipheimer. |
| (37) | | Here's Andrea Tafi. |
| (38) | | Here's Alex Zuelle. |
| (39) | | Here's Chris Horner, last year's winner. |
| (40) | | Shot of the world famous riders at the start line. |
| (41) | | Quite a few Domina Vacanza riders made it across the pond for the race. |
| (42) | | Julie watches the riders mass for the start. |
| (43) | | Lance Armstrong and the mayor of San Francisco were on hand for the start of the race. |
| (44) | | After the men got off to their first long lap the awards were presented to the women. Lyne Bessette won the queen of the mountains competition. |
| (45) | | The women's podium: Nicole Cooke won, Tina Mayolo-Pic got second, and Modesta Vzesniauskaite was third. |
| (46) | | A break formed early in the race and stayed away nearly the entire way. Pavel Padrnos of USPS was a notable member (3rd wheel). |
| (47) | | A small chase group led by Magnus Backstedt comes through next. |
| (48) | | The break away groups are followed by the main peloton (note George Hincapie at roughly 6th wheel). |
| (49) | | After watching a couple of laps near the start finish straight we headed over to the Taylor Street climb. |
| (50) | | It only took us about two laps to walk up to Taylor Street where the barriers were clogged with fans. Here the peloton ascends the hill. |
| (51) | | The breakway climb Taylor Street on the next lap. |
| (52) | | The breakaway makes its way to the top of the Taylor Street climb. |
| (53) | | Julie cheers the peloton up Taylor Street. |
| (54) | | After watching a couple of laps on Taylor Street we decided to head back to the start/finish line. This is somewhere inbetween. |
| (55) | | The peloton cruises through the start/finish straight seemingly un-interested in chasing. |
| (56) | | With only a few laps to go, and Jason McCartney out in front by 4:30, USPS and Webcor finally got there stuff together and began the chase in earnest. |
| (57) | | USPS and Webcor chased just hard enough to catch McCartney on the last ascent of Taylor Street and Chris Horner launched teammate Charles Dionne off the front for the win! |
| (58) | | It was a star-studded men's podium: Charles Dionne won, Fred Rodriguez got second, and George Hincapie was third. |
| (59) | | Fred didn't look too happy after the race. He'd had numerous crashes and equipment failures (note the shredded right shoulder of his jersey). However, Julie and I were very happy - we'd had an excellent weekend and really enjoyed the fantastic race! |
