2017 Tour de California: Stage 07

Saturday May 20, 2017 | Pasadena

Did we have wool over our eyes? Yes. Did we put it there ourselves? Maybe. Did others have wooly eyes? Also yes.

2017 Tour de California: Stage 07

I II III

Race Stats

Start Location

Mountain High

Finish Location

Pasadena

Distance

125km

Number of Steps

N/A

Time of Filing

10:23 am

Accomodations

We’re at Moi’s house. Thanks Moi!

Today's Objectives

Setup the official MFS Step and Repeat banner/photo op at the finish by the Rose Bowl and shoot photos of various members of the crowd in front of it. Ooops. The race didn’t end at the Rose Bowl and we didn’t set up the MFS step and repeat. We will carry the shame of failure with us always.
Shoot a bunch of photos of the racers as they complete multiple laps of the finishing circuit that has been set up at the Rose Bowl. Again our reliance on tradition and expectation has failed us. As you know by now, the race did not finish at the Rose Bowl. So this made it physically impossible to put images of the riders on the finishing circuit of the Rose Bowl in the official MFS camera because the riders were never physically doing laps on a circuit at the Rose Bowl. While you might be thinking, “Guys, duh, get the net, get the info.” And we’d own that, but you have to know that there we talked to multiple people on the morning of the stage who were also discombobulated by the fact that the race was not ending at the Rose Bowl. Did we have wool over our eyes? Yes. Did we put it there ourselves? Maybe. Did others have wooly eyes? Also yes.

Top 3 Finishers

Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling, 2:37:28
David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky, s/t
Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits, s/t

WIFI Details

Right off the bat the wifi gets high marks, we wouldn’t even care if all Moi had was a cadre of mice trained to shuttle 0s and 1s to and from the nearest AT&T store. Ok it would matter a little, but we could deal, we’d figure it out. As it turns out, Moi is a full-fledged up-to-date 21st century first world human (which, if you know him is not as DUH as those of you who don’t might think). The point of all this is that his WIFI here, in this place, stands on its own

Weather

CALIFORNIA. Guys, I’m really really really thinking about re-locating back down to California. My S.A.D. is totally gone, and I’d like to attribute that to my relationship with the sun in the sky (with a 100% lack of cloud intermediaries). I’d rather not attribute it to the five-hour nightly sleep average I’ve been maintaining over the past week, although it would be hard to completely discount sleep-deprived disoriented euphoria as a possibly contributing factor to my current and unexpected bliss, because I am big fan of sleeping. Love sleeping. LOVE IT. Whatever the case I am feeling good!

Quote of the Day

"That’s why they call it none shall-Pasadena."

-Dude in a Spiderman-themed muscle tee explaining that Pasadena is totally screwed this weekend due to the Race, the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Open House, and a U2 concert at the Rose Bowl.

Course Description [OFFICIAL]

What would the Amgen Tour of California be without a quick tour of the Angeles National Forest? Often called Los Angeles’ “backyard,” this will be the race’s 13th visit to this iconic California gem! Starting at the Mountain High ski resort and finishing in Pasadena (second and fifth visits respectively), there will be a lot of downhill to this stage. Not to worry, the action will come on strong with two sprints and three KOMs with 6,400’ of climbing. The final stage will eventually descend into the City of La Cañada Flintridge and the outskirts of Pasadena. As in 2014, the winner will be crowned in the heart of downtown Pasadena on Green Street in front of Convention Center. The finish will feature a long straightaway that will allow the teams to launch their sprinters. It should make for an incredible finish to the 2017 Amgen Tour of California.

MFS Bible

Course Description [UNOFFICIAL]

I only can tell you what I know, that the racers rode down a corridor hemmed in by branded half walls that had been temporarily set up in Downtown Pasadena. I’ve been told by reputable sources that they started in a lightly-attended dirt lot at the base of Mountain High and that the route they followed throughout the stage was predominantly downhill. It’s all hearsay but I believe it to be true and it is my hope that we, MFS, have built up enough trust that you believe it too.

Today's Observation #1

There is an alarm going off on the P1 level of the parking lot at the Del Mar station. There is no discernible reason for it to have been triggered and no observable attempts to shut it off. Well, that’s not entirely true, Daniel did give it a half-assed roundhouse kick but there was no effect. I have to assume that it is still wailing. Can anyone confirm?

Today's Observation #2

There is no shame in going to Jamba Juice.

Today's Observation #3

If you make the teams huddle their Team Buses and RVs together on a dirt lot in the middle of a city, then you’ve insured that the Teams and the Riders will want to leave said dirt lot post haste. Which then means that journalists who might need to get an interview from an athlete, let’s say for example Ian Boswell, will only have a short window to do so and that means that said interview might suffer. So sorry for the short interview MFS fans, but that’s on the Amgen. Not us, that’s on you Amgen, that’s on YOU.

Today's Observation #4

When the last stage of a seven day stage finishes on a long flat straight, then the finish happens very quickly and the race, the six previous days, and all the work and sleep and not-sleep that went to it is over in an instant. This is made even more instantaneous when there is nothing on the line, because the GC has already been decided and the riders for the most part are just phoning it in.

Today's Observation #5

Turns out that the end of the race is not over as instantaneously as once hoped, because these little race bibles don’t write themselves, the photos don’t magically appear on the net, and the video isn’t just what’s in the camera. They all take a time. It seems that the race is never, ever truly over.

Meal & Food Report

Moi guided the squad to Carousel in Glendale. We fell in love.

Retractions/Corrections/Apologies

N/A

The Crew

Daniel Wakefield Pasley

Kyle Von Hoetzendorff

I Interviews with the Boz
Ian on Ian (and the TdC)

Dear MFS Readers: we are very sorry that we were unable to interview Ian about rodeos. If the Tour de California was still eight days long (and not seven days long) we totes would’ve gotten to it, but it isn’t and we didn’t. Thankfully, Steve made us this animation of Ian riding a bull anyway, and who are we to deprive you of this visual delight?