La Vuelta a España stage 13

Part of the reason I get to a stage sign on so early is that I'm usually too excited to sleep in and today was no exception. I woke up half an hour before my alarm and forced myself to stay in bed. Torture! And I was still early enough that the sign on podium was nowhere near being all set up. In fact, I had time to wander back to my hotel to say hi to my new buddies, the Saxo mechanics, who were very happy to see me. I spotted Nick Roche walking around and both times I was just a little too polite and a little too far away to ask for a photo, but he smiled at me which counts for something.

I walked just past the podium area to where there was a booth selling shirts with Xavi Tondo's logo. He was a rider with Movistar originally from Valls, the town hosting the day's start. As he and a teammate prepare to go out for a training ride in May of 2011, Tondo died in a freak and tragic accident when he was stuck between the garage door and a car and was crushed to death. Horrific. It was nice to see so many people keeping his memory alive.

The sign on stage was just about ready. All that remained was to erect the team flags.

It looked great when it was said and done.

I got to talking with one of the guys from the set up crew and he gave me a Vuelta shirt, which was not only thoughtful but also lucky for me. I didn't have anything in particular for the riders to sign so the shirt would be a perfect canvas.

Shortly before the riders were due to start arriving, the emcees went to work to entertain the audience. I like how they seem to be using a modified sheet music stand, as if the local high school jazz band was coming to perform their Benny Goodman montage. I was introduced to the crowd as the Canadian who'd been there since 8am.

A stunt cyclist came out to preform tricks. Two people held the tape at hip height and the cyclist started to hop on the back wheel, no more than 6 inches from the end of the stage.

After a couple of small, controlled hops, he suddenly jumped the tape! Super impressive.

I've come to expect that the cyclists will keep the fans waiting and show up only when they're good and ready. Not so today! Cédric Pineau officially signed on a few minutes early and then he kindly signed my shirt.

In no particular order, here's how the sign on went!

I told Alex Howes that I'm a big fan of Garmin and he said, “Oh, me, too!”

Caleb Fairly.

Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Simon Clarke of Orica GreenEdge laughed as he aigned my shirt when i told him that he's one of the riders on my fantasy cycling team but not to feel any added pressure.

When Mitch Docker signed for me, I asked him to let Christian Meier, the only Canadian in the Vuelta after Cannondale's Guillaume Boivin crashed out, know that there was a Canadian hoping to meet him. He seemed excited and said he'd pass the message on.

I saw Winner Anacona riding in from a mile away and cheered for him as he walked up the steps to sign on. I love supporting guys like Winner who don't seem to have a big fan base. He looked around a bit to see who was yelling his name and spotted me. He came over to ign my shirt and when I started to explain, “Soy la canadiense…”, he cut me off and said remembered me after I'd wished him a happy birthday at Eneco Tour last month and supported him the whole week! I asked him how his legs were feeling, something I tend to ask of a lot of the guys, and he gave a long pause and said they're improving, so we had a quick chat before he rode back to his bus. I was really impressed that he (1) remembered me immediately; (2) gave me such a thoughtful answer about his legs which led to a proper conversation; and (3) wrote his race number underneath his signature. I always write the rider's number so that I can remember who's autograph it is later on and it just seems to be a very considerate gesture coming from a rider.

Cameron Wurf was one of the cyclists on my radar for today. I discovered his blog during the Giro and have been following it ever since. It's not necessarily great prose that he's writing, but it's a great peak at what it's like to be a domestique. He also came to cycling in a roundabout way. He was a rower on the Australian Olympic team, took up cycling to stay in shape after a rowing injury, and now rides for Cannondale.

I met Juan Antonio Flecha a couple of times at the Tour de France and I always had a great time talking with him. He was a huge crowd favorite here and gave an interview after he'd signed on but he still came right to me and we had a great talk. It still stuns me when riders remember me!

By now, I had thoroughly impressed everyone around me. A Canadian? A woman? Speaks Spanish? Knows the riders' names? And the riders all know her?

One of the riders I was most looking forward to seeing this morning was Tyler Farrar. It happened to be a quiet moment when he appeared, which I ruined by cheering, “Yeah, Tyler! Go, Tyler! Wahoo, Tyler!” It never fails, I make him laugh every time which is all the encouragement I need to continue. After he'd signed on, he came over to me and said that I seem to pop up at all the races. Indeed!

I got autographs from Dutch speakers Nick Nuyens, Lieuwe Westra, and Dennis Vanendert and I was pleased with myself that I thought to say, “Success!” as you do in Dutch.

It was getting really busy with much if the peloton deciding to sign in at the same moment, but Christian Meier came right over to me. Mitch must have delivered my message! Of course, my giant Canadian flag probably didn't hurt. I was really excited to meet him and he seemed excited to meet a fellow New Brunswicker at the Vuelta. We talked for about 5 minutes which is a long time to talk to a stranger simply because you hold the same passport when you've got to finish preparing for a 169 kilometer race.

Chris Horner ended up right in front of me while the riders bottlenecked the area. I asked him if he'd sign for me on his way back and he signed right then and there. I said I've been enjoying watching him give interviews in Spanish and he groaned and said, “Oh, god, my Spanish is terrible!” He posed for a photo with a new friend of mine, an American and fellow cycling fan who was at my hotel the previous night. Horner was super approachable and came across as your next door neighbor or a family friend.

I didn't think I had a hope in hell of getting an autograph from race leader Vincenzo Nibali but I'm delighted he proved me wrong. I told him that I was also at the Giro d'Italia this year, which we went on to win, so I must be good luck for him. He laughed and thanked me for coming.

Defending champion Alejandro Valverde was in good spirits as he signed autographs this morning. I gave him my marker and we started to look for a place where he could sign but the shirt was getting awfully full by this point, so I chastised him in Spanish, saying that if he'd gotten here earlier, he could have signed anywhere he wanted, which he found pretty funny.

Purito Rodriguez.

I had just enough time to run up to the Saxo team car to wish the mechanics good luck before catching the start.

I made sure to again thank the crew guy whose name escapes me at the moment for giving me the shirt. I showed him all the autographs I'd collected and he said he'd gotten a kick from watching all the riders coming over to me.

Today's 28 signatures came from: #1 Alejandro Valverde, #31 Vincenzo Nibali, #33 Jakob Fuglsang, #43 Graeme Brown, #79 Cameron Wurf, #92 Igor Anton, #95 Egoi Martinez, #97 Juan Jose Oroz, #106 Cédric Pineau, #112 Caleb Fairly, #113 Tyler Farrar, #115 Alex Howes, #117 Nick Nuyens, #121 Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez, #132 Winner Anacona, #137 Max Richeze, #149 Dennis Vanendert, #151 Leopold Köning, #173 Simon Clarke, #175 Mitch Docker, #177 Christian Meier, #178 Michael Matthews, #184 Chris Horner, #187 Yaroslav Popovych, #192 Edvald Boasson Hagen, #195 Christian Knees, #214 Juan Antonio Flecha, and #219 Lieuwe Westra.