Listen to the road. Miraculously, however, in the early twentieth century, these stumps responded to the devastation around them by tenaciously sending up multiple fresh shoots, allowing young and mighty second-growth redwoods to spring up from their gnarled foundations.
In some ways, the year-old is well placed to spearhead the revival of American road racing. After all, he was there, front and centre, during the most recent, albeit ill-fated wave of evangelistic enthusiasm for cycling in the US. Now, we have separate starts.
We have police escorts. We have marshals on motorbikes. To cover that big cost, Leipheimer has partnered this year with Skipstone, a limited production estate winery in Alexander Valley, the largest and most fully planted wine region in Sonoma, itself the most prolific exponent of wine in California.
I think I was paying it back with entertainment value, but I wanted to pay it forward because I was lucky that all these people had supported me. And I used to think about that a lot.
And one way to reinvigorate US road racing, Leipheimer reckons, is to invoke the open spirit of arguably its biggest existential threat: gravel. Because I really believe in the road bike. I think we can set an example for other organisers on how to make an event that is sustainable and makes sense for everybody.
