Not all of them. I have a real weak spot in my heart for the domestiques. They are the hard worker bees that make sure the team leader is well protected. Team leaders, best riders in the world, but for me... bah, I'd rather cheer for the domestiques.
As I sit here and think about it, I wonder if it has anything to do with my chosen professional field. Is it possible that a domestique is like a lighting designer or lighting programmer? We are not the guys standing in the spotlight, but without us, there is no spotlight for the star and/or team leader. I will ponder this in the future.
For now, here are the highlights of the most amazing day standing on a slight hill watching my idols ride by.
Here's Manny and I with our cowbells, they were handing them out near the finish line so you could cheer and "ding-a-ling" when the riders went past.
Sean Patrick and I getting ready for the riders to come by. The finish at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena was a 4.7 mile circuit the peloton was going to circle 5 times. A good chunk of the circuit is my "backyard", or my home ride. When I want to go out for a bike ride, but don't feel like going anywhere, I do the 3 mile circuit that Manny mapped below:(Check out the elevation for the above map. It's not a very steep at 2% in some places, but it's what's called a "false flat" because it doesn't look like you're going uphill)In Europe, fans paint the names of their favorite teams or riders on the roads. Since we're in a residential neighborhood, people used chalk so it wasn't permanent.
Although, some police officer on a motorbike came by and told them to stop even though they were handing out chalk at the finish line so you could write in the streets. 
The new "Blue Train". Levi Leipheimer of the Astana Cycling Team has won this race for the last two years running. The Astana Cycling Team, today is basically the old USPS/Discovery Team (the original "Blue Train") that disbanded almost two years ago.
This is how you control a race. Put all your team riders at the front and go a certain speed. Either to catch the breakaway, or at least prevent them from gaining too much time. On this day, Astana was controlling the tempo, not letting the break get too far, but having no real interest in catching them. Rumour was, George Hincapie, a former teammate of many Astana riders, and a good friend of Lance Armstrong, was in the break, so Astana was giving him a chance to win this same stage that he won last year.
I wasn't sure if Nicole was having fun. She seemed to be enjoying it, but on the second circuit, right in front of Nicole, Robert Gesink, a rider for the Dutch Rabobank team, stopped and his team car flew up handed him a new bicycle. Here's a shot of the mechanic pushing Gesink back into the race (a legal move for those who didn't know). I looked back at Nicole and her eyes were like saucers. "That was cool!" she mouthed to me. She was getting more than I even bargained for. I was hoping she was having a good time watching the race.
Nicole and Sean Patrick were enjoying themselves without a doubt. Although I think Sean Patrick was more interested in the cowbell that Nicole was ringing when the riders went by, then in the riders themselves.
Breakaway! There was a breakaway of 10 riders ahead of the Astana controlled peloton, above is a picture of the eventual stage winner, Rinaldo Nocentini of the French AG2R team (I have that jersey!) attempting to breakaway from the breakaway. Behind him on the left of the picture is George Hincapie, attempting to bridge the gap to Nocentini. I wasn't paying attention, just snapping as many photos as I could when the motorcycle behind George nearly clipped me as it went by.
Lance Armstrong has many website dedicated to him. Even Levi Leipheimer has his fare share of the spotlight. These guys are great, but the guy leading the pack in the above photo, he is truly my idol. Jose Luis "Chechu" Rubiera has only one real website about him. But his fans are rabid. And for good reason. He is one of the big reasons Lance won 7 Tours de France. He is a Super Domestique. A real cyclist and all around classy guy. Nicole, this would have been the one guy I would have wanted my picture with. No matter, I got a picture of him doing what he does best.
This is a picture for the ages, Levi Leipheimer in yellow, followed by Lance Armstrong, one of the greatest cyclist ever. And just above Levi's head in the picture, my beautiful wife and son.
Another "Super Domestique" leads the peloton. Yaroslav Popovych has always showed a lot of promise. He was pegged as one of the men to take over leadership of the Discovery Team when Lance retired, but he didn't quite achieve the results. When Discovery disbanded, he was quickly snatched up by the Belgian team, Silence-Lotto to be a "Super Domestique" to their big Tour de France star, Cadel Evans. But in last years tour, he was very lack-luster. He didn't seems to have the strength needed to help Cadel. So this year, he's back in the fold of the "New Discovery" team, Astana. And he looks to be back on form.I will close by saying this. I get it now. I've been a huge cycling fan for many years now, and I never quite understood why those "nut job" fans would run along side the cyclists and cheer. It seems so stupid and very dangerous. But after today, I know why. The energy in the air when these super humans ride by is indescribable. I think if I didn't have my camera in hand, I would have been one of those "nut jobs" running right by Chechu and cheering. I did find myself yelling, "Allez! Allez!"* when they went by. I don't know why that was coming out of my mouth. It just felt like the right thing to say.
*Allez is French for "Go!" or "Faster!". It can be heard all over France in July.
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