Ready...Set...Cancelled! Or my attempt to spectate the 1st leg of the Amgen Tour of California

Snow in May? Tahoe, this is why we can't have nice things. South Lake Tahoe was the host of the overall start for the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. We were all so excited!

There were tons of local bike-related activities in the week leading up to the race.

Like community bike parades in the beautiful sunshine. The sunshine was not to last, though. Katie and I woke up, bright and early to a blanket of snow. The race was delayed and shortened, but we looked on the brightside - more time to sleep!

We woke up again and rode our bikes to Sprouts, which, in addition to coffee, magazines, and delicious food, was on the race route.

The snow was still falling on and off, and the wind whipped around the already fallen snow, and roads were clear and wet. Pretty soon volunteers started showing up to close down the roads, and my excitement was growing.

The nice employees at Sprouts even gave us pots and wooden spoons to bang as noise-makers.

I'm so stoked! And squinting.

The motorcade arrived! The race must be starting soon. Eager locals lined the streets, waiting to cheer on the racers.

But, alas. The race was cancelled at the start line. We had pots, but no reason to bang them.

So Katie and I headed towards the start line (at Stateline!) to see if there was any action happening.

We saw some SWAG First Responders, people whose job it was to pick up the things thrown down by the riders. I don't know what the TMDL for squeeze bottles is.

This guy was my favorite. At this point we heard about the after party/lifestyle festival happening at Northstar (the intended finish). We decided to head to where the party was. The appearance of team cars on our way cemented that decision.

Team Rabobank.

Team HTC -Highroad. Someone in that car waved to us. I like to imagine it was Mark Cavendish.

Men in spandex! Just what we were looking for. I think that this was Team Sky.

The sad, empty starting line. As I drove up towards Northstar, we spotted something exciting in the distance! A team of total bad asses, who said, "Screw the snow storm. We're biking to North Lake anyway."

We did the only reasonable thing. We pulled over to cheer them on.

Now I am totally rooting for Team Kelly Benefit Strategies - OptumHealth.

Not only did they ride through the snow storm, they called us awesome!

Team Jelly Belly/Kenda was pulled over on the side of the road. Probably eating Jelly Bellies. As we approached Northstar, we got excited for the glitzy and glamorous after party. This is what we actually found:

Maybe next year, Amgen. On the bright side, the Girls Gone Wild bus was in town.