I had planned to go see the San Francisco Grand Prix, but when I saw volunteers were needed, I stepped up, or rather signed up as a race marshall. The day before I was pretty psyched and went for a ride in the Santa Cruz Mountains (~50 miles) to burn off some energy so I could sleep. Alas, I finished my ride around 7 PM and still had laundry to do, followed by dinner. I hit the sack about 10 PM, with the alarm set for 4:30 AM, with what adrenaline was still running amok I think I finally nodded off about 1 AM, so I knew it was going to be a long day. I made a point to pack some Clif Ice bars, with caffeine.

Chris Spaeth was there and assigned those of us who brought bikes, the remote outposts on the circuit, which had its pros and cons (pro: unobstructed view of the race, con: didn't get to see start or finish), my location was along Stockton St., which was a great spot, just up from Washington Square. I took the opportunity to zip around the 5.5 mile course, although the weight of my backpack and a tricky knee, tired from the Saturday ride, conspired to make me walk halfway up the Taylor St. climb (memo to self: next year leave pack with someone THEN go around the course.) Sometime during the later laps a rider tossed an Extran water bottle my way and I propped it up on the curb. To my utter horror, on the final lap, the wind whisked it into the street and it rolled out under the cars preceding the race leaders. Fortunately it crossed the street without interferring with the riders. Next time, put litter somewhere where it can't be picked up by the wind.

The race was fun to watch, since 15 laps passed me, I was able to see who was gaining and who was fading as attrition thinned the field. After the last riders passed on the final lap I zipped down to the Start/Finish to catch a few pix of the winners.

Feel free to use any of these shots for computer wallpaper, click on [Bigger] for, of course, bigger images. Sorry I didn't get a better shot of George and his father, big crowd, y'know.

[Bigger]	First lap, a team car approaches and expectant group of watch from Greenwich and Stockton.
[Bigger]	An early attacker.
[Bigger]	A colorful group of riders. Light was low and my digital camera has too small an aperature to get a faster shot, but I rather like this blurring, as it shows motion.
[Bigger]	Postal leads the peleton.
[Bigger]	Four Posties lead the peloton on the next lap.
[Bigger]	A small group lead by some Saturn riders. The rider at the back seems to have a question?
[Bigger]	The peloton heads down Stockton towards the bay, the blurry blue (4) 3rd from left is Tyler Hamilton.
[Bigger]	Lance follows a US Postal teammate, Viatcheslav Ekimov.
[Bigger]	Glen Mitchell (Saturn) in action.
[Bigger]	George Hincapie (US Postal) bridged to leaders Chris Wherry (Mercury), Michael Barry, Trent Klasna (Saturn), Kirk O'Bee and Mark Walters (Navigators)
[Bigger]	The US Postal team car. (I'll take one in red, oh yes, with the bikes and wheels, too :)
[Bigger]	A group of riders.
[Bigger]	The peloton continues the chase.
[Bigger]	The peloton, again, on the next lap.
[Bigger]	The leaders thin out to George Hincapie (US Postal), Michael Barry, Trent Klasna (Saturn), Mark Walters (Navigators), in the red & white maple leaf jersey.
[Bigger]	Trio of Saturn riders, Eric Wohlberg, Tim Johnson and Harm Jansen.
[Bigger]	A Mercury rider leads a group.
[Bigger]	Four leaders, Trent Klasna (Saturn), George Hincapie (US Postal), Mark Walters (Navigators) and Michael Barry.
[Bigger]	Ekimov tucks after cresting the hill.
[Bigger]	Solo rider rider from the Corona team.
[Bigger]	Mark Walters (Navigators), George Hincapie (US Postal) pursue Trent Klasna and Michael Barry (Saturn)
[Bigger]	Viatcheslav Ekimov (US Posta), Mark McCormack (Saturn) and Kirk O'Bee (Navigators)
[Bigger]	A pair of riders head up the street.
[Bigger]	Another group of riders, led by Tim Larkin (Lombardi Sports) The rider at the back tossed his water bottle and I got a souvenir.
[Bigger]	Viatcheslav Ekimov (US Postal) digs hard at the head of a group.
[Bigger]	Eric Wohlberg, Harm Jansen and Tim Johnson (Saturn) working together.
[Bigger]	John Kelly, Thomas Frischnecht (Webcor/Alto Velo) and Luca Barla (Saeco)
[Bigger]	Yet another group of riders.
[Bigger]	Ekimov hanging in there.
[Bigger]	A group followed by the Jelly Belly team car head down the street.
[Bigger]	Thomas Frischnecht (Webcor/Alto Velo), Luca Barla (Saeco), John Kelly (Webcor/Alto Velo) and another rider on the last lap.
[Bigger]	King of the mountain, Trent Klasna (Saturn)
[Bigger]	George Hincapie (US Postal) holds aloft the trophy, Michael Barry and Trent Klasna (Saturn) look on.
	George Hincapie and his father.

lost readers who actually tried to find this page.