Stage 1 - USA Pro-Cycling Challenge (Aspen/Snowmass)

I was a bit shocked to find out that from my hotel to the start/finish line was going to be over 2 hours. Enjoyed a beautiful drive as directed by the GPS until I got to what I believe is "Independence Pass" (which the riders would do on Stage 2). I was having crazy vertigo and trying to not have a panic attack. No wonder it was going to take so long going that route. Anyhoo, as I got into Aspen, the GPS was continuing with commands, but I could see the roadblocks ahead so (on the good side) I knew I was in the right place (on the not-so-good side) but how to park etc. Just like that, I see a parking garage and Tour signs indicating media etc to park there. Perfect! (I'd gone early so there was still room).

I then walked around and took in the first experience of the atmosphere around a pro-Tour. Things were still being set up and I couldn't believe that I could go anywhere and had my pick of places to set up. I went and got some food/drinks to prepare (in case I didn't get to move around later) and went back to the car to get a collapsible chair. I set up and things got more exciting as the start got closer. Oh, and a very nice younger woman (older girl? youth?) gave me a cowbell (Strava sponsor) out of the blue, which was very nice. Next thing I know, I'm looking at a Cannondale rider literally like, a foot, from me (over the barricade) thinking 'that looks like Peter Sagan' and then realizing, holy crap, it is! Me - me - *I'm* standing beside Peter freakin' Sagan! Then I see, Chris Froome is close too. THE WINNER OF THIS YEARS TOUR DE FRANCE IS THAT CLOSE, WTF?!!!!! So I end up standing pretty much at the start line and the peloton does 2 (or was it 3?) neutral laps so I get to see them not at full speed.

Then the "real" laps start, I go down to about 300m to go (near a corner cause, you know, could be action) and watch 2 laps there.  The "free swag people" (yes, that's an official term, ha) gave me some bam-bams and a sheet with all the racers and their numbers and such. I then moved to about 50m to go and set up for the third and final lap. Wow, how cool.

AND THEN... some of the riders looped back after the finish - and could it be, yes, it was, Jens Voigt (beloved by all, myself included) and he was giving side high fives to a section along the barriers - just as he got to me one of the hydration people got in the way a bit, so I got a partial - but my fingers touched Jens Voigt's fingers. I couldn't believe it. I mean honestly, if I went to a Bronco's game, would I ever get close to Peyton Manning?? Touch his hand?? I don't think so. What other sporting event could the average fan be THAT CLOSE to the action and FOR FREE. Pro-cycling is AWESOME.

Anyway, I recognized a couple of other riders and just gawked, basically. I mean what am I going to do, yell, Andy, Andy Schleck!? Or "oh my goodness, Richie Porte!" (They know who they are, they don't need me to tell them). I went over to the stage after for the presentations but I decided to leave - I was so excited I wondered if someone in my state should be driving ;) I decided there was no way I was doing Independence Pass again so I took a longer route which also meant getting stuck in traffic because a lot of roads were still closed. I got ridiculously stoked at one point though, as I was in between the Jamis-Hagens Berman team car and the Novo Nordisk team car so I felt like I was part of the race convoy :)

I may have forgotten some parts, everything's blurring together. Which stage? What day was that? But WOW, what an intro to being LIVE at a pro-cycling event. And how cool that it was a circuit. O-V-E-R-T-H-E-M-O-O-N

Long Time T.V. Viewer, First Time Live Viewer

So after a few times of planning to go in person to watch a procycling stage race and cancelling or not going, I finally did it. I went to Colorado to attend the 2013 USA Pro-Cycling Challenge. I was a bit uneasy, having only watched on t.v. and not knowing Colorado and having to deal with road closures and parking yada yada yada. But after my first taste I was more than sold, so glad I did it. It's been a few days now and I figured maybe I should blog about it so I have a record somewhere.

TdF - Stage 7

Started with learning Garmin-Sharp ended up losing 3 including Ryder. Argh.

Ahhh, first mountain stage...

Gutsy effort by Cancellara if you ask me. Felt a bit emotional watching him cross the finish line.

I remember Chris Froome from some previous racing - that was something! And I didn't realize until he was on the podium that he'd also get the Polka Dot Jersey.

Cadel/Wiggins, nicely matched. I have to say that in my Prologue post, I didn't give Wiggins a vote for GC winner, but I hadn't seen him race this year - he is looking impressive - and sounds like he's having quite the year.

TdF - Stage 6

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Ryder down!!

That was some chaos.

My roadtrip is off. Still some travel - T.O./NYC.

Gotta post sooner - forget about the stage if I don't do it right away.

TdF - Stage 5

Have to say, I was somewhat distracted watching this stage. Leaving shortly for a road trip, Chicago/New York.

Thought we might get to it w/o a crash.

That was quiet a finish! I thought it was over, Urtasun (sp?) had it, then, wham! they went by him like he was pedalling a stationary bike (kind of like standing still, but for cycling ;)

J'aime le tour. Not sure that's the correct use of French. Seriously, other than all this doping crap, it's all amazing - the scenery, the strategy, the combo of team/individual goals, the commentators!, the old buildings, the crowds (sometimes), the lion you get for having the yellow jersey (I want one!!)

TdF - Stage 3

Holy Crashes!!

Think I had a small protein/fruit smoothie pre-race. Bike 35 mins.

TdF - Stage 2

Had company to watch the stage so no riding.

Nice sprint!

TdF - Stage 1

That was an exciting last 20k or so! Kudos to Spartacus for going for it.

I sat on the couch for most of the stage. I know I can't do the length, they're on the bike half the day, I'd still be there. I ended up riding just as they were about to catch the breakaway and cooled down as they did results. Ended up only about 20 minutes. Pretty lame. Pre-race meal - similar - 2 pieces of Squirrely (apparently it's a TM) toast with cream cheese and organic peanut butter, half a can of "natural" rootbeer. No water til after.

Glad to see Hesjedal come in close to the winner. Saw him riding at the back at one point, worried who got caught in those crashes.

I should really have put more thought into this and planned appropriate foods. Could've done Belgian waffles for the Prologue and Stage 1.

Tour De France 2012 - Prologue

Are you serious??? I haven't posted in 2012?? Wow. Anyway, on to the tour...

Got a few chills watching the intro package to the Tour. I was sad awhile back when I heard Andy Schleck wouldn't be riding. I just finished watching this year's Giro, very exciting to see Canadian Ryder Hesjedal stand on top of the podium! A historic moment for Canadian cycling.

My pre-prologue meal: Water. Two pieces of squirrely bread with organic peanut butter and cream cheese. Followed by a very small float of high quality vanilla ice cream and "natural" root beer. Rode the 6.4k distance on the stationary bike. My timing system isn't quite to the level of the pros, but 13:30 or so (according to the readout, looked like I was going in the 30-31km/h range most of the time - nearly the 55km/h record eh ;). I won't be able to continue to ride the same distance as the riders, obviously. Plus, I have to go away (business, some pleasure) during the Tour.

Glad to see Fabian Cancellara take the win. Yay Spartacus!

When the 3plus hours of t.v. coverage concluded, I wondered how I could wait for the next stage. Very exciting. A few notes - how about the slimmed down Cavendish? Cadel's warmup makes me feel like a workout loser. Holy timetrials! Congrats George Hincapie on a record start. Liege - beautiful! Nice to see Alejandro Valverde (see previous blogs) - too bad you can't hear how I say his name when you read the words - he was one of the first names I recall when I originally got into watching the pros, fond memories. Don't know who I'd pick to win it all - love to see Ryder do it but not sure if this is his year - can't wait to see him win one though - whether this year or another. If I had to choose between the G.C. favorites that come to mind, I figure Cadel might be able to do it (again). Seems like a nightmare with Radioshack Nissan Trek but I wonder... Too bad no Johan Bruyneel.

Must also say that I continue to love Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen (and Bob Roll and Liam McHugh are good too) - I really liked Bob when he was the guest co-commentator on a Giro stage). 40 years for Phil!!! So grateful to the person who introduced me to watching the Pro riders. So grateful! Even got to see most of the Tour of California this year too. And so much more in HD now, awesome!

Vive Le Tour!!!

Tour de France - Prologue

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you may recall an earlier series of posts around Le Tour. Last year I didn't watch, and this year I had planned to, then heard about Lance Armstrong returning, then got really busy and promptly practically forgot most of that until right as the Tour was starting. So I turn on my DVR today to watch the broadcast of the start of the race. Don't mock me (or go ahead, I don't care anymore) but even watching the beginning of the broadcast with the voice over laying out the scene got me super pumped. And finding out that Lance Armstrong is back again after a huge layoff (by finding out I mean seeing him actually there, ready to start, as just because he announced he would however many months ago wouldn't mean he would, any number of injuries or whatever could've changed that) adds some more intrigue. It was cool to also see a lot of familiar names (I only cycling event I watch is Le Tour and even then it's a recent thing although I did watch DVD's of many of the late 90's/earlier 2000's races). I didn't mean to watch the whole stage in one sitting, but I did, although I managed not to watch the next broadcast right afterwards. P.S. DVR's rock!

DVD Delight

You would never know it from this blog, but I'm a hockey fan. Today I found myself pommerdoodling (see http://interchangeableparts.wordpress.com/ for a definition of this word - or just go there because IPB fucking rocks) over an interview with Trevor Linden. A little background...I once really dug Trevor Linden. Not that I really stopped, but you know how these things go. But this interview was so awesome. First of all, he's very well-spoken. Second of all, he made jokes about Le Tour, doping, cycling, and spandex (apparently Trevor rode in the Alps and did some mountain bike race in Europe in the off-season). Awesome. I think I was going to list some more reasons, but whatever.

Moving away from hockey...and back to Tour related business....today when I got to work I found that the two DVD sets (1999 and 2000 Tours) that I'd ordered had arrived. I've only just started disc 1 of the first set, but felt compelled to write about the little I've seen so far. It begins with that dude (what is his name, that commentator - ah! Phil Liggett - no idea on the spelling, sorry dude - I think Paul Sherwen - same caveat - is also featured) talking about Lance Armstrong (spelled that right, woohoo!) being on top of the world and then it crumbling as he finds out he has cancer in an advanced stage, tumours as big as golf balls in his lungs, and is told by his docs that he has a 20-50% chance to live. Phil goes on to say that actually his doctors didn't think he would live. Then there's a short interview with Lance and then the intro to the prologue starts. It shows some scenery, crowds, etc. and the credits are coming up over top. What made me chortle is that they show a little girl in a stroller in this intro, and she is totally picking her nose. It could be that it's late, I'm tired, I haven't eaten enough...but that just cracked me up. Hello???? Editors???? Proof 'watchers'???

P.S. For those of you who saw the title and thought something along the lines of, "sweet! finally the porn stuff is starting" - ha ha, fooled you again, suckers! (Just kidding...you know...)

Vive Le Tour! Part 1

So I read some of Lance Armstrong's books and he made the Tour de France sound pretty exciting (even though his books don't even focus much on that). So last year (?) (& 2 years ago?) I watched some and was a bit disappointed that it didn't come across quite the same as Lance's descriptions. But there was something there that seemed to have potential so I had thought I'd have to tune in the next year and *really* follow it. So when I saw the ad for the upcoming Tour, I made a note and have been PVRing the broadcasts. There are moments I find rather dull, but I've also kind of fallen for it. Here's a few reasons why...


1. The beauty of the peloton. Especially the aerial shots. Rainbow of colours.


2. How difficult a sporting event it is. I think this year it's about 2,200 miles, including riding over MOUNTAINS.


3. The multinational aspects. For example, teams consists of riders from various countries rather than other sports where particular countries compete against one another. Today I learned that the prizes are in euros (due to the European Union) but the fines are in Swiss Francs (because the governing body is in Switzerland which apparently uses it's own currency still). I just find that funny/cool/interesting. (You know, this post was a lot funnier/cooler/more interesting in my head).


4. The speed involved. On bikes going 40+k/25+mph. Wow. It makes me think of when you watch world class marthoners. They are holding a pace that is the equivalent to my sprint pace, but over 26.2 miles! WTF!?! That's messed up.


Well that's the prologue complete. Look for more stages to follow... (that's some TdF humour)