The picture says it all. This year’s pilgrimage to the Amgen Tour of California was cold and wet. At least the part that I experienced was.

The Tour of California is a nine-day professional bike race. It covers about 750 miles from about midway in the state to around San Diego, all on public streets and highways.

This year 17 teams with eight riders each started the race. Eight of the teams were pro tour which means that they take part in races like the Tour de France. The others were professional but not at the pro tour level.

This was my fourth year at the race, and each year it has grown and improved.

Lance Armstrong came out of retirement this year and was racing on Team Astana. I don’t know how the race directors can improve on that.

Every year that I’ve attended has been an adventure. The stage routes change, the teams change and the weather changes. February weather in California, especially Northern California, is similar to Washington. It can be nice and it can be brutal. This year it was brutal.

It all began with the trip there in my RV. I drove in heavy rain that turned to snow as I neared the Siskiyou Mountains in Oregon. Thinking I might steer clear of most of the snow, I took highway 199 from Grants Pass to Crescent City on the coast.

Two and a half hours to cover 70 miles on a narrow, snow-covered road might indicate the wisdom of that decision. But I made it to the coast where I was met with gale force wind and more driving rain. Pestilence wasn’t included in the mix, so it wasn’t so bad.

When I reached Sonoma County my nephew Mike and I did what we always do there, we rode our bikes in wine country. The day we rode started out dry then got wetter as the day progressed.

We rode from Santa Rosa to north of Healdsburg along some of the best biking roads in the country. They meander through vineyards, over easy hills and past images that belong in water colors. Several professional bike riders live here to train on these roads.

Then pestilence struck.

When we reached the furthest point from the start, it started to both rain and sleet with the added luxury of a head wind. Mike put it best when he remarked, “Does it get any better than this?”

The only thing that improved the day was stopping for lunch at a Mexican fast food restaurant that serves menudo (Google that). We didn’t have menudo.

The following day it was off to Sacramento for the prologue. This is the stage that determines which rider will wear the yellow jersey on the first road stage. It’s only about two miles long and is ridden one rider at a time going as fast as he can which is around 35 mph or more. Try that on your Schwinn Collegiate.

This is also the day that’s best suited to mingling among riders and team crews. Each of the teams has a motor coach and other vehicles in their encampments. All are painted with team names and colors. And they’re accessible to the public.

Mike and I spent a lot of time at the Astana camp waiting for a Lance Armstrong sighting. We weren’t disappointed. He came out to sign autographs and talk to reporters before climbing onto his bike to warm up. He’s shorter than I imagined.

But Lance isn’t the only great on the Astana team. Levi Leipheimer, third-place finisher of the Tour de France, is team leader. He’s shorter than Lance.

There are six more world-class riders as well.

I didn’t get Lance’s autograph, but I did take part in an interview with Johan Bruyneel, director of the team and director of Lance during all seven of his Tour de France victories. I can hope that some of his influence rubbed off on me.

Once again, lunch was memorable. We went to a Subway where we saw a man wearing a Team Ouch soft cap. I asked him where I could buy a cap like it. He said that he was a part of the Team Ouch staff and that he would give me one if we followed him back to the team bus.

On the way back to the bus he said that he was the CEO of the company that sponsors Team Ouch. This is the team that gave Floyd Landis his chance at a comeback in the sport after a doping incident at the Tour de France. He could have been one of the team mechanics as humble as he was. But lunch at Subway? I like Subway, mind you. Yes, I did get Landis’ autograph. He, too, is pretty short.

Lance Armstrong described the next stage from Davis to Santa Rosa as the worst day he has spent on a bike. He was right.

Mike and I took refuge behind some hay bales on a sharp corner in Santa Rosa. We hoped for a little slowing on this corner and a chance at some good pictures.

As the riders came by in a blur and rooster tails of water flying off rear tires, I was again reminded why I hold professional bikers in high regard. They may not like the rain and cold, but they ride in these conditions hour after hour with all that they have. That’s part of what makes them the best athletes in the world.

The race continued to San Diego without me. I returned to sunny Seattle without mishap. My wife told me about the 50+ degree weather while I was gone. Oh, what we bicycling fans sacrifice for our sport.

Even while riding in gale force winds and sleet, ride safely.