While more than two hundred make their way through Italy, a smaller number of the big boys are back in the Golden State for our own annual week of pro cycling competition– of course the Amgen Tour of California.  From Santa Clarita through Ojai into Santa Barbara yesterday, it’s onward north today in this year’s first-time reverse of course direction.  For as much as I love watching these guys hammer through Europe, it’s all the more exciting to see them in my own backyard, on the very roads my own bike knows all too well!

Peter Sagan takes Stage 3 in Santa Clarita.

Tyler Farrar wins Stage 4 in Santa Barbara.