Wheatland rallies around bike race

No one will mistake quiet Wheatland for a biking hub. But for a couple hours today, the town, and especially its high school students, at least played the part of gracious — and noisy — hosts for the biggest bike race in the U.S.

"It's a one-time thing, so why not go all out?" said Arianna Neuenkirk, a Wheatland High School junior, explaining why she and classmates used chalk, cowbells and some old-fashioned school spirit to greet riders in the Amgen Tour of California as it passed through Monday afternoon.

A few dozen adults lined the race route, but a well-timed release from class boosted by hundreds the cheering section for the race's first stage, which ends in Sacramento later this afternoon.

Before the racers' arrival, Yuba City bike store co-owner Nick Vanevenhoven chatted with a few visitors to his booth in Wheatland High's lot, facing the stage route.

"They told us, 'This is the first year, so we don't know what to expect,'" said Vanevenhoven of Vans Bicycles. "I think the weather really put a damper on spectators too.

"It's cool they're bringing it through here, though."

The race began today in Nevada City after unseasonably cold weather sank the planned first stage in Lake Tahoe on Sunday. A breakaway pack of four riders, followed by the main pack, or peloton, arrived in Wheatland at about 1:40 p.m.

But both local organizers and Wheatland High students got ready long before then. In fluorescent colors, students drew greetings in chalk on the road most of the morning, and four groups, including the bike shop, set up tents nearby.

The racers then crossed over to Sutter County and headed south on Pleasant Grove Road in south Sutter County before ending at the state Capitol.