Tour of Oman - Day One

Chillin' on the veranda after the trip to Muscat

First night sunset

Crowne Plaza on the hill

Looking down the beach from the Crowne Plaza

Token room pic

Me and my new buddy Tyler Farrar

Christian Vande Velde

Garmin Barracuda, post race

David Millar

Me stalking Andy Schleck

After a half day at the coal mine and a short one hour flight, Gail and I made it to the Crowne Plaza Muscat, which would be our home for the next four days.  We got there just in time for sundowners on the second story veranda, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we looked beyond the pool to the Oman coastline.

Muscat is much quieter than Abu Dhabi, and while it is large in a linear sense, it has a kinda village feel about it.  We went for a nice walk after sunset and found a store that had club soda.  We grabbed a few for the room and hunkered down for an early night.

We were up fairly early, maybe due to excitement for the upcoming bike race!  We geared up and went for a run down the sea road, which runs between the ocean and the mangroves.  Those of you that know me are probably surprised I went for a run, but the area is so perfect for it that I felt inspired.  Naturally Gail left me in the dust, but I felt good about getting some exercise just the same.  I felt so good that I stopped at Starbucks on the way back for tea and a croissant.

To say I was amped up is an understatement.  We were heading out for our first professional bike race and I wanted to ensure that we didn't miss any of the pageantry.

The Pageantry

As you can see from the pic, we were a bit early!  Other than the official timers, we were the only ones there.  The friendly cab driver offered to drive us to the KFC for some grindage, no charge!  The people are very friendly here.  The driver even stayed to watch the end of the race, and took us back to the hotel when we were done stalking the riders....but, I am jumping ahead.

After a VERY long wait we were able to crane our necks and watch the peloton fly through the roundabout at the end of the road we were waiting on.  We were positioned right on the finish and didn't want to give up our perch.  The riders did a big loop on a back road.  We were literally minutes from the end of our first race, and as we looked up the road that the riders were about to speed down to the finish, there is a truck a bus and a couple cars trying to figure out how to get out of the way!

The lead coordinator is going ballistic waving his arms and shouting instructions to his assistants.  Just as it looked like the end was going to be ruined, the misguided vehicles found their way to the side of the street and the riders came storming up the road.

The speed that they crossed the line is spooky.  It's amazing there are not more wrecks at the end of the race.  Tyler Farrar, AKA "Wenatchee Boy" finished third.  After the race we milled out checking out the bikes and the riders.  To be honest, I was so overwhelmed that I didn't know what to do!  I finally sauntered up to Tyler and asked if he would sign my magazine.  I wasn't sure how he was going to react, but to my delight, he looked at my hat and said "WWU!  My girlfriend lived in Bellingham!"  He was very cool, and asked if I wanted the rest of the team to sign the team photo in my mag.  So David Millar and Christian Vande Velde and a couple others came over and signed it and posed for pictures.

We returned to the hotel on a huge high, and had a yummy Italian dinner and hit the sheets early.

That was a top notch day!