The Traveling Marshal: Stage 8... My final day as a traveling Marshal

Stage 8, Santa Clarita to Thousand Oaks. Stage 8 was a one drop day for us and we decided to drive the entire course to get to our post. We would be posted after the Balcom Canyon climb and just before the Norwegian Grade. Both climbs were rated category 4 due to how short they were.

My drop of the day was a large intersection with about 8 lanes coming from all directions. As the race approached I was having difficulty controlling all of the traffic. usually California Hwy Patrol comes in about 20 minutes before the race arrives and helps me shut down the road. Today was a little different. They didn't show up until maybe 10 minutes before. The CHP officer said to me that they didn't know how traffic was getting on course. I'll tell you how, any time I stopped traffic in one direction someone from another would try and sneak through. I'm no cop and these people weren't about to listen to me. Another issue I had was that the riders would be heading down hill towards my intersection. As they approached they were given the option of going left or right of the median into a left hand turn at the bottom of the hill. Since I was the only flagman at the bottom my job was made even more difficult. Do I flag the right or left line as they approach? What if they split and half take the right and half take the left? Luckily the chief marshal recognized that this was a problem. He went down the road and picked up another teammate who was then placed at the top of the hill/median. That marshal was abel to direct them towards the left and towards me. After all was said and done no one missed the turn!

After that I was picked up and we followed the peloton into Thousand Oaks. The course in Thousand Oaks was packed. We deviated from course and parked. At this time we were asked to assist in crowd control. I was placed on slight uphill near the finish. More specifically, as the peloton crossed the finish line they would take a quick right. It was just after that right that I was placed on a median. If you watched the coverage on Versus you could see me on the last lap of 5. I was wearing a blue shirt and red cap. I also had a camera obscuring my face. to the untrained eye you may have thought I wasn't doing my job. But if you listen closely to the broadcast I was blowing my whistle!

What a great week! being able to get behind the scene of the tour was great. I hope I can continue to do this because it was an excellent experience. Over the next couple of days I'll try and post a few more odds and ends.

Take care and thanks for reading.