So finally, it’s time for the race itself. The riders will do a couple a couple of laps
of downtown Aspen before heading down the Roaring Fork (cool name, huh?) Valley
for a bit before hanging a left and up into the ski resort of Snowmass. Back down, up around and through Aspen once
more. 3 times. For 64 miles.
We parked ourselves on a patch of sidewalk opposite the historic Jerome
Hotel and let our dogs perform their party piece of being conversation
starters. Just about everybody in Aspen
today has an Australian Shepherd, or knows someone who has an Australian
Shepherd or will look into getting an Australian Shepherd now they know what
Australian Shepherds are. Yay Aussies.
This passed the time nicely until the racers arrived. We knew they were coming because the team
vehicles started pouring through several minutes ahead. The cop cars chirruped their sirens, the
support cars blew their horns, spectators clanged their cowbells incessantly
and such was the party atmosphere, it was something of a surprise when the
bikes finally came round the corner. And
then they were gone. Seriously, it was
that fast. I couldn’t go that quickly on
a bike if you dropped me over a cliff.
Even the slow guys were fast. And
this was on a corner so we can only imagine the speed they go once they have a
head of steam.
Fortunately, because they do this three times, about 45
minutes apart, we had another two opportunities to snag some photos. Although that didn’t really help because the
buggers weren’t going any slower the other times. We did manage to get several shots of empty
road after the cyclists had gone by so I anticipate a call from Sports
Illustrated any time now. Peter Sagan
won apparently. Maybe we’ll get a proper
look at him tomorrow when he’s going uphill.
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