USA Pro Cycling Challenge

A little over a month ago Eric and I were drowning our sorrows over the completion of the Tour de France in a root beer float when we started discussing the upcoming USA Pro Cycling Challenge to be held in Colorado. As we were talking about it we kept finding more reasons to go than to not go. First, we could see my sister's new home in Lee's Summit. Second, the boys could spend some quality time with my parents. Third, Eric could request an interview at the Academy. Fourth, we know people who live in Colorado Springs who we also conveniently like well enough to ask for free lodging. Fifth, Molly is the easiest baby in the history of babies, so traveling with her would not be an issue. If only our favorite cyclist (Andy Schleck) would agree to compete. . .

Once Schleck signed on the only negative was a lot of miles logged in the old Traverse, but that really wasn't an issue as it isn't old and why have a vehicle if you don't intend to use it? So last Monday we set out on our odyssey. Our plan was to stay with my sister and her family for a day, drop the boys off at Nana's Boot Camp, head to Colorado Springs for Eric's presentation, then watch two stages of the race and be back in Lawrence by Sunday afternoon. Everything went extremely smoothly. Almost too smoothly, but I attributed that to our having made several long distance road trips. What we didn't realize was that in the rush to plan for the trip and for Eric to put together a presentation, we had not closely looked at the dates for the race. On Wednesday night we realized we were off a day. This meant we could only watch one stage of the race. Though this was a set back, we were still really excited to watch the race.


Our adapted plan was to watch a king of the mountain section of the stage that ended in Breckenridge. We figured this would be the best way to see the cyclists as they would be going slower due to the incline of the mountain. We determined that we could drive to Breckenridge and walk around a bit before heading to the mountain. Though we checked the road closings, it turned out the race officials closed the road a few hours earlier than originally posted. As a result we hiked a little way up the mountain and waited for the bikers to come to us. The upside was we only had to wait 2 hours (as opposed to the 4 we would have waited had we arrived in time to drive to the summit). The downside was we were on the other side of the mountain so when the bikers came down, they were coming down at 55 mph. Not the ideal viewing situation. But, there was still a great deal of excitement in the thin air. We made some friends AND Eric got some fantastic pictures:

This is my BFF Andy Schleck. When he heard we had such a lousy viewing situation, he considerately got into the lead so that we would be sure to see him. What a pal.

Two things I learned from this race was to
1. Not ever attempt to take video as I can't take good video and I end up missing the race.
2. Stand on the other side of the guard rail. The bikers weren't so much an issue, but one motorcycle came pretty close to me and Molly.



This is big George Hincapie. He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong's until his first retirement. One of the most popular American cyclists. I think he might have said hi to me, but it got lost in the cheers and bells.




There are those who would question the logic in driving over 2000 miles round trip to watch approximately 5 minutes of a bike race. But, we didn't just watch a bike race. We got to see family and friends and spend quality time together as a couple. Molly got to experience having us all to herself (I think she prefers the boys) and Colorado is a beautiful state. I don't regret at all that we went. I've come to view trips as an entire package. A lot of the fun is in the travel, not just getting to the destination. Though, should we get to go again next year, we will definitely double and triple check dates and plan on seeing at least three stages!!