The Devil Follows Lance, originally uploaded by Emlyn Stokes.
I got addicted to Lance late in his career, during his training for the 2004 Tour de France. There was a TV series documentary done, following his training throughout the year and I kind of fell in love. I watched every minute of the live broadcast that tour, cleared my schedule and ordered cable TV again the next summer to do it all again.
It never occurred to me that I might one day get to see Lance race in person. Even when he retired, it never occurred to me that I missed any chance I had to see him race ever.
But here he was, coming to Santa Cruz.
Arriving early, prepared with burritos for lunch and bottles of wine in the car, my friends and I setup camp on the Bonny Doon hill climb, parking on a side road, accessed by a private gated drive to avoid road closures and ensure quick movement during the race.
The rain was indecisive, blue sky appeared, but it began to pour just as the riders started the climb. It made photography tricky, my camera got plenty wet (weatherproofing testing successful), but I managed to get some shots shooting blindly from my hip under my raincoat. This was the last shot I took before I started screaming my head off, Lance passing inches away (the yellow helmet on the left in the picture).
We waited for all the riders to pass and then booked it 5 miles on back roads to meet the riders again on the decent, arriving just in time to see the breakaway riders rocket by. Lance followed shortly, in the top 3 of the next group.
It’s only after the fact that I can reflect and be thankful for how lucky I am to see him race, in my back yard no less.
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