Here it is Sunday, August 9, 2009, the day following the time trials.  Yesterday was a long, but fun, day.

Dave’s start time was posted as 10:45:30 AM, so we were up at 4:30 AM in order to get ready and make the 2+ hour drive to Castroville.  This would give Dave almost two hours there before his actual start. 

Four-thirty in the morning sure comes early, especially for a day off!  We were both up no bother, me waking up, getting a light bite to eat and preparing to be the driver/support vehicle/photographer for the day.  Easy for me…Dave was the one preparing and downing pasta at such an early hour.  Oh my!

We made our goal of leaving the house by 6:30ish AM and made good time until San Antonio, where we ran into construction delays and narrowing of the freeway down to one lane from three.  One would think that early in the morning there would not be much traffic, but try getting three lanes into one….yeah, right.

Once past that, we were cruising down the highway again through the rest of San Antonio and then heading west on Highway 90 to Castroville.  Castroville is a nice, kinda sleepy, little town with shady parks, shops, B&Bs, cafes, and the like.  We had been down there last week on a recon mission for this day, driving and then Dave riding the course followed by a nice lunch at the Castroville Cafe.

On arriving, I was pleased to see that parking “Big Boy” would not be a problem.  I have to say, I had some reservations about the organization of the event this year; however, the entire event and day were well planned.  Plenty of easy parking was available.  We selected a spot and Dave set about to the task of readying his bike with last minute tweaking, etc.  Once ready and changed into race gear, he went off for a wee warm-up ride.  About 20 minutes later he was back and it was time to think about heading to the start area.  He took off on the bike and I followed in the truck after being told that there was indeed spectator parking allowed at the start area.

YAY!

After I had parked at the start, I enjoyed taking some photos and just soaking up the atmosphere of bikes, bikes, bikes everywhere!  This, of course, with keeping an eye on the time and an eye out for Dave.  The event had a for-real start house this year…way cool!…just like at the Tour de France.  Nice touch!  Very thoughtful to have canopies set up for the riders waiting in line so they would have some shade.  Having picked out a good vantage point, I was able to capture a video of Dave taking off on the course.

The videos I shot can be seen at http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=4741977346

Once he was out of sight, I trekked back to the truck and intended on sitting listening to music, chillin’ out.  Well, after about five minutes I knew there  had to be another way to kill the hour until he would be finishing.  It was too freakin’ hot to just be in the sun, etc.  So “Big Boy” and I went into town to one of the quiet shady parks on a square.  I spent some time wandering the quaint shops, took some photos, munched an oatmeal cookie and by that time it was time to head back to the race!

Timed it just right to get a better parking spot and get positioned at the finish to again capture some video of Dave crossing the line

::: Z  O  O  M :::: 

He was mega-hot, even with cooling down on the bike a bit, so I made sure he had water bottles at the ready and got him, the bike, and his gear into the truck and a/c as soon as we could.  Back at the parking area, some results were posted but his group would not be up for a while.  We made the decision to head back home.

Gotta tell you, I sure was sleepy on the drive home but toughed it out and got us back safe and sound.  Talk about wasted and hungry yesterday!  Whew!  Long, long day.

Dave did 1:03:33 – that’s one hour, three minutes and 33 seconds.  A very, very respectable time.  Especially considering the heat, humidity, wind and the fact that it was a different/tougher course than last year.  In fact, he shaved three seconds off his time from 2008 this year. 

After settling in back home, Dave was off to the market for some beer, the first since in training for the TT.  Whoohoo!  He certainly deserves it!

We enjoyed some snooker last evening and are taking it easy today and tomorrow before being back at work on Tuesday.

I’m so proud of you, honey, and honored to be your support team at races.  You are such a warrior, such a cyclist, such a husband and partner!  You sure do have a BraveHeart!

Peace, all!