The USA Pro Cycling Challenge (USPCC) is making its way through my home state of Colorado and as avid cycling fans, we were determined to catch some of it. We grabbed the kids and made our way up to Vail to catch the time trial.
We decided to hang out at the finish end of the time trial and I was hopeful that due to its hilltop finish, it would be less packed. And it was, for a little while.
But as the start time approached the hillside where we were started to fill up and next thing we knew we were elbow to elbow on the fence awaiting our favorite riders with our new best friends. We brought our flag with us to cheer on our home team of Garmin/Cervelo.
Before the race began, there were a few riders who took a run up the hill. We saw George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, and Frank Schleck. The kids were thrilled that they caught glimpses of their favorite riders before it got too crazy.
My daughter said she refused to go home until she got Andy Schleck’s autograph. Once the race started, it was fun to anticipate the arrival of the riders one at a time.
On the rail, it was hard to know who was coming, even harder to get a picture as they zipped past-they were going much faster than I expected.
The end of the race brought a ton of excitement, David Zabriske broke the long-standing record on that route. Then Zabriske’s time was beat by Rafael Infantino Abreu. Of course, the excitement peaked after Christian Vande Velde finished with the top time and Levi Leipheimer was still out on the course.
Levi won by fractions of a second and it was definitely a thrill to be there as the competition took place.
Heading back down, we got to pretend we were riding with the pros by going down the route the riders took up. Claudia didn’t get Andy Schleck’s autograph, but she did get to cheer for him and ride down the same trail he rode up.
The next day, we left the hotel and felt like our own team, as we were parked amongst the team cars at the hotel. It was great fun and I can’t wait to go again next year. Colorado was definitely the big winner of this event.
*Photo and words by Sara Lacey
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