Saturday - Cyclefest Outdoor Cinema

Well, I got home and was glad I didn't ride any more miles on Bainbridge Island as my legs felt like jello. I cleaned up and then made my way out to Magnuson Park but needed something to eat first.

I continued my quest for Vegetarian Restaraunts in the Seattle area. Now by the time I began making my way out to Magnuson Park, I was already late to the outdoor cinema and happen to come across Natual Foods in the Uinversity District. Inspired the classic Tom Criuse Quote from 'Risky Business' I decided to say "...What the Fuck." and turned towards Natural Foods. I fugured I could get something Vegetarian there and my body desparately needed food to replenish the already burned up calories from today. However, just before the final turn towards 'Natual Foods' I discovered a sign that said 'Sunshine Cafe - Vegetarian'. Bingo, it's dinner time!

I pulled in and was pleasantly suprised with the variety of food they had to offer. They had the ususal 'Rabbit-Food' and Processed shit disks that is marketed as Vegetarian Burgers. However, they had some great selections of pasta and different dishes. I settled on a small Steamed Vegetables Brown Rice in a Garlic-Ginger Sauce. The service was prompt and I was pleasantly suprised with how it tasted. Once I finished (no time for dessert!) I made my way out to the Cyclefest Outdoor Cinema.

Now when I planned this event, I had no idea what to expect as they didn't advertise what was going to be shown as the movie. In Seattle, there are numerous oudoor Cinema's during the summer that usually play Classic or really popular movies. I'm talking movies like 'Ferris Buler's Day off', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Spider-Man 1/2'...you get the idea. Well, then I got at far corner of the park I noticed that this event was billed (on the Signs leading to the event) as 'The Biggest Tour De France Pary on the West coast'.

Sweet! I love the Tour de France!!!

I've been a Tour fan since Miguel Indurain won his final Tour Title and have been following the tour over the years the best I could. At the time the Indurain won his final title, coverage was usually limited to a 30 minute summary of the current Stage of the tour. Over the years, as the Tour has gotten more and more popular, coverage has evolved to the point to where, if you wanted, you could see the event live. That's 4AM Pacific time....I'll pass on that. Furthermore, the cable package that comes with my rent doesn't have OLN (the US Cable channel that has US Broadcast Rights to the Tour de France) so I've been checking online or on sports news channels as to the progress of the tour.

Anyways, there were approx 500-800 people attending (possibly more) all of whom were gathered around this huge inflatable video screen. After 10 minutes I found a seat and the 'movie' began. Everyone was treated to most of the Stage 14 coverage as it happend Saturday. This may be boring to some of you but this gives people a chance not only how the Tour works but I got to see, once again, how amazing Lance Armstrong is on the tour. He was challenged on probably one of the most difficult stages of the tour throughout the duration of the stage (the last part of which was a set of hills that were practically straight up (an 8 or 9% grade hill if memory serves).

Check out the map of the stage:



I was there until 11:00 PM or so and then headed towards home and still was rearing to do more with my evening. However, Seattle is really lame in the sense that there is little or nothing for singles to do around town. I drove around for a bit and headed home. Then, the whole day caught up with me and I was asleep before too long.