SF Grand Prix photos and write-up.

[francois]

What a grand time!! I rode bart in with my 5-year old boy and his
7-year old cousin. We watched the start, got some freebies and talked
to friends at the Expo then headed up to the Taylor street climb.

Walking up to Taylor was so entertaining, with varying viewpoints
of the action. We stopped by a great pasta/pizza place on Columbus and
had a grand meal while taking a peak at the race. The kids then raced
up to Taylor street as the dads putted along. We watched about 4 laps
at the Taylor St. 'colosseum', saw more friends before heading back to
see the awards ceremony. Dang, no podium girls.

The race itself was amazing! The action did not stop from lap 2! Mike
Creed seized the day with a brilliant stunt. Everybody knew his name
by the end of the day. It seems like he had King of the Mountains in
the bag but alas... the guys lapped him at the end and he was DNF and
KOM was awarded to Jason McCartney.

The chase by Gerlosteiner was impressive!! On the last few laps, with
McCartney and Leiswyn about a minute ahead, you could see two
Gerlosteiner riders rocket up the Taylor climb. Moletta would shoot
straight up while Wegmann zigzagged up the hill with a good
cadence. The catch by Wegmann up Taylor and the final sprint makes
this the finest SFGP ever!

Great race, great day, great city. Here's a photo of my two cycling
fans


francois

p.s. On another note, congrats to my friend Glenn Fant who placed 32nd
in the SFGP. Glenn is the mtb singlespeed king and is on his first
year of serious road racing
(http://www.abbiorca.com/bike/road/ro...05_0197_n.html).


Michael Creed went out on a suicide stunt on Lap number two. He stayed out on the lead for an hour and half was the crowd favorite of the day. He's been sick all year and has been dropped by team Discovery. He went out today to prove he can still race and race he did. He would have won King of the Mountains if he didn't get lapped by the leaders at the end. Good show!



The day started out gray but the sun made an appearance at the end.



Very early on, the race got broken up into 4 distinct groups, with the peloton at the back. Anyone in the peloton was out of the race then.






Two time defending champ, Charles Dionne. He struggled and was never in contention.






News chopper means the leaders are coming.



Michael and Miguel enjoying the action.

[francois]

After a fine pizza lunch, Michael and Miguel raced up to Taylor St. and shoved their way to a good spot. Venga, venga they yelled!



























Velobellas Heather and Sabine



Jason McCartney, John Lieswyn dropping off a rider



The Colavita boys chased hard all day.

[merlin]

Great pic's Francis! Wish I could have made it. Infinion this weekend?

[gobike]

I wanted to go, but ended up watching it on TV. It was sweet watching Creed get off his bike at the end of the last climb, lift his bike over his head and salute the crowd. Very cool!

[Portola Vince]

Those are some of the best cycling pics I have seen. I guess it's easier when they are going relatively slow on that climb. Even Levi looks like he's working pretty hard.