Race Finish in Long Beach!

What an exciting finish in Long Beach after this incredibly scenic 77.5 mile circuit race. The action was fast and furious with lots of great energy from the thousands of fans. With views of the Pacific, the racers tore around this course and lit up Long Beach - and Levi Leipheimer reigned victorious!

We had a great time with our friends from TWC-WLA and Redondo Beach and were so pleased to have Harriet Benjamin join us on stage to celebrate the end of the race and the success of the Breakaway From Cancer campaign!

The Wellness Community staff at the Lifestyle Festival

Ellen Silver, Patrick Dempsey and Harriet Benjamin

Judith Opdahl and Patrick

Patrick, Kim and George Hincapie

Patrick at the Finish Line with Cynthia Shwalm from Amgen, Kim, Harriet, and Michael Bergin from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

(L-R) Third place winner, Jason McCartney; first place winner, Levi Leipheimer; and second place winner, Jens Voight

Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita

This 105.4 mile route today included heavy climbs and sprints in Ojai and in Santa Paula among fragrant orange groves. The final climb was at the incomparable Balcom Canyon. JJ Haedo won the stage today and, amazing Levi held onto the yellow jersey!

Thanks to all of our friends from Valley Ventura for partnering with National to staff the booth and reach out to the residents of Santa Clarita!!

(L-R) George Hincapie, Thor Hushovd, Ivan Basso and Levi Leipheimer

Solvang Individual Time Trial

Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California consisted of an exciting 14.5 mile individual time trial in Solvang with the start and finish just 2 blocks apart. The route featured some great highlights of Central California and wound through quaint towns, local vineyards and sprawling farms.

Levi Leipheimer held onto the yellow jersey and retains the overall race lead. It was an exciting finish by Levi, followed by a check presentation to TWC from Pedal Fest - a fantastic fundraider organized by Amgen, AEG and Union Bank.

Levi digging deep to win the Time Trial

Our booth was busy again today as Mitch, Shannon and Suzanne greeted residents of Solvang and surrounding communities and talked about TWC. Another banner day at the Amgen Tour of California!

Mitch and Suzanne at the Lifestyle Festival

Seaside to San Luis Obispo

Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California started out this morning with pounding rain in Seaside as our very own Jim Bouquin shot the starting gun!

Jim firing the starting gun

As teams crossed the start line and began racing 132.6 miles down to San Luis Obispo, they eventually pedaled their way out of the rain into brilliant sunshine. While it was also cloudy and raining in San Luis Obispo, the sun followed the cyclists all the way from Big Sur to San Simeon and eventually greeted the crowds at the Lifestyle Festival in downtown SLO. Festival attendees lined the streets and welcomed Paolo Bettini, as he crossed the finish line, victorious! And Levi held onto the yellow leader jersey - a distinction he has held since Stage 1 of the race!

The Finish Line in SLO

We also got to visit today with Wellness Community friends Robin O'Leary and Justin Baldwin as Robin and her family and friends rode in the Breakawy Mile and Justin presented the leader jersey to Levi. Thank you Robin and Justin for being with us today!

The O'Leary's with Kim

Justin Baldwin presenting the leader jersey to Levi Leipheimer

Stay tuned for more exciting news as the Tour continues with a Time Trial in Solvang tomorrow!

Stockton to San Jose

Today's stage of the Amgen Tour of California began in Stockton with enthusiastic crowds cheering the cycling teams on to a great start. It was a beautiful day as teams made their way down the Pacific cost, riding 94.6 miles to the finish line in San Jose. Levi Leipheimer won today's stage and held onto the yellow leader jersey. He was met by tens of thousands of cheering fans at the Finish in San Jose. It was another terrific day in California!

Enthusiastic School Children at the Start Line in Stockton

Santa Rosa to Sacramento

The Amgen Tour of California made its way from Santa Rosa today to the beautiful capitol city of Sacramento. The riders wound through Sonoma County and Napa facing some significant climbs on this amazingly scenic 115.8 mile route.

Team CSC's JJ Haedo won the stage today, while Levi Leipheimer held onto the yellow jersey for the third day in a row!

Amgen organized another fantastic Breakaway Mile today featuring two cancer survivors and their amazing support teams. Our friend Dina Howard, a breast cancer survivor from Sacramento, rode the mile with her husband and close friends, while her two adorable kids, Noah and Maya, cheered mom on from the sidelines.

In addition, one of our participants from our Wellness Community in Walnut Creek, Laurie Frank, had a chance to ride in the race motorcade and experience an exciting up close view of the race. Laurie told us riding in the motorcade was like a crash course in cycling (no pun intended!). She's an expert now!!

Tune in tomorrow as we travel from Stockton to San Jose

Levi on the Hwy 128 Climb

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Sausalito to Santa Rosa

It was an exciting race day today as the cyclists wound their way 97.2 miles from Sausalito to a packed finish in Santa Rosa. Unfortunately, we witnessed a pretty bad crash near the finish line which put one contender out of the competition, but Levi held onto the yellow jersey for the second day in row.

Perhaps more exciting for The Wellness Community was the launch of the Breakaway Mile. During this mile-long stretch down the actual race course finish line, cancer survivors, their loved ones, doctors, nurses, scientists from Amgen and other supporters biked as a team to demonstrate that it takes a team to fight cancer and that no one has to face cancer alone.

Take a look at these great photos of the day taken by my friend Andy Tao.

The Peleton enters the Santa Rosa Finishing Straight

Jane Luper, Kim Thiboldeaux and Mary Klem

Participants from the Breakaway Mile with George Morrow of Amgen

The Amgen Tour of California launches TODAY in San Francisco

It was a beautiful sunny day today in San Francisco for the launch of the Amgen Tour of California! The race consisted of individual time trials through the hilly streets of this city by the bay. Levi Leipheimer of the Discovery Team won today's trial with a time of 4:49:050 - an exciting finish and a great start to this week long-event.

The Wellness Community-National and our center in Walnut Creek teamed up to host a great booth for the thousands of visitors to the race. We handed out literature and lots of treats and had the chance to talk to many cancer survivors from the SF area and from around the country.

TWC booth at Lifestyle Event

We also had a chance to visit with Patrick Dempsey today and talk about the Breakaway From Cancer campaign. Please visit http://www.breakawayfromcancer.com/ to learn more about this exciting initiative and take a look at our great photos with Patrick. We are incredibly grateful to Patrick for his generous support of the Breakaway campaign and his strong commitment to the mission of The Wellness Community.

Kim, Patrick and Stacia

Michelle and Patrick

Vicki, Patrick, and Megan

Patrick and Ali

At the race finish today, TWC was honored to receive a $50,000 check from Union Bank to support our outreach to cancer patients in the state of California - thank you Union Bank!

$50,000 check from Union Bank

And finally, we ended the evening with legendary American cyclist, Greg LeMond and famed announcer, Phil Liggett at a fantastic event at the Cowell Theater in Fort Mason featuring a documentary of Greg's 1989 Tour de France victory with live commentary from Greg and Phil. The proceeds from all of the evening's ticket sales are benefiting TWC and NCCS. Thank you to Greg and Phil for a memorable and lively evening!

The Amgen Tour of California launches on Sunday, February 18!

Welcome to The Total Cancer Wellness Blog - a new Wellness Community blog designed to provide you with regular updates, commentary and opinions on our own activities and on developments in the cancer and health care worlds. Today at The Wellness Community we are gearing up for the launch of The Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, February 18 in San Francisco. The Tour, a professional cycling race, will travel through 12 host cities in California before concluding in Long Beach on Sunday, February 25, 2007. We are excited to be teaming up with all of our Wellness Communties in California and with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship as we travel down the state.

Perhaps one of the most exciting developments for the 2007 Breakaway from Cancer initiative is the addition of campaign spokesperson and Grey's Anatomy star, Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy!), who is helping to raise awareness and funds for cancer patients and their caregivers. The Breakaway initiative, sponsored by Amgen, will generously benefit all 21 of our of our Wellness Communities across the US, and our five centers in development. Come back and visit our blog soon - we will be posting updates from the road in California starting Sunday, February 18!