I couldn't make it to the Tour of Utah this year, but I did get the chance to check out Stage 6 of the USA Pro Challenge from Golden, CO to Boulder, CO. This was probably the most anticipated stage of all with the finish at Sunrise Amphitheater on Flagstaff Mountain.
I started the day as I usually do at a race, by hanging out in the team bus area before the start.
Welcome to Golden
One of the first things I saw was Phil Liggett's favorite, the Clean Bottle.
Clean Bottle
Most teams don't have the huge team buses like we're used to seeing at the big races in Europe. Most teams make do with what appear to be rented RVs.
The Champion System team "bus".
Even a big team like Omega Pharma-Quickstep has to do without their normal team bus in North America. Here is Levi Leipheimer outside his "bus," ready for his interview with Bob Roll.
Leipheimer
Speaking of Bob Roll, he is always very popular with the US fans. He gets a ton of requests for photos and/or autographs, and he is always generous with his time. Today he was especially nice to the younger fans, telling one set of kids that they made is day and telling another kid that if he told his teacher he was friends with Bob Roll, he'd get straight A's. I tend to follow Roll around for a while because he gets all the big interviews and it's an easy way to see some of the big names without spending a lot of time waiting in front of the buses hoping someone will come out.
Bob Roll making the fans smile.
The team bus area is a good place to see both riders and equipment. As for the riders, along with Leipheimer above, here are a few I saw along the way.
Fast Freddie Rodriguez
Ivan Basso
Craig Lewis
A blurry Dave Zabriskie
Joe Dombrowski
Race leader TeeJay Van Garderen
There are also some other familiar faces.
Vaughters, doing an interview in French
Jim Ochowicz with a few sacks of Jimmy John's
Some of the gear:
Alexander Mironov's BMC
Astana's team bikes
BMC team car
Lightweights casually sitting by the curb
Tom Danielson provided one of the most memorable moments of the day. He came out of the Garmin team bus wearing a cowboy hat and high-fiving the fans.
Danielson
Danielson
Danielson
Danielson wanted to do his interview with Bob Roll with his cowboy hat on, but his handlers made sure he traded it out for the standard team hat. They have to keep the sponsors happy.
With about 15 minutes before the start of the stage I headed towards the start line and the sign-in area. I caught interviews with Timmy Duggan, Levi Leipheimer, Taylor Phinney, Tom Daneilson, and George Hincapie. This was Hincapie's final race before retirement, and the fans were there to thank him for the memories.
US Champion Tim Duggan
Danielson continued to be fired up for the day, expressing how happy he was to be riding such a big race in Colorado and vowing to "kick ass" on the day. Unfortunately, he finished the day in 26th place, 1:56 down on stage winner Rory Sutherland. The good news is that his teammate, Christian Vande Velde, finished well on the day and ended up winning the race with a strong time trial on the following day in Denver.
Golden was packed with fans and I didn't leave the sign-in area until the last minute, but luckily I was able to find a good spot along the road to watch the opening two laps through town.
Team cars lined up at the start
After the start I made my way through Boulder (packed) towards the final KOM at Lee Hill Rd. I got to watch the riders descend on a pretty tricky corner on the Lee Hill Rd descent. That final KOM must have done some damage, because there were quite a few different groups on the way down.
It was a great day out there and we are lucky to have such high-level racing in America with the Tour of California, the Tour of Utah, and the USA Pro Challenge. I hope the fans continue to support these races and that they are able to survive for the long term.
I'll leave you with a picture of a Mario Cipollini wannabe.
I'm a little late with the Olympic theme, but here is Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
Ride Report
I did a simple ride out to Squaw Valley and back. It was a nice day and there were a lot of people out tubing in the river. I consider myself lucky to live here and to be able to do such scenic and challenging rides on a weekly basis.
Looking south on 395 at the 395/431 Junction. Carson City is straight ahead, Virginia City (via Geiger Grade) is to the left, and Mt. Rose is to the right. The new I-580 (http://www.freewayextension.com) will be opening later this month, which means that there should be less traffic on 395 through Washoe Valley. Was the project worth the money and did they put the new freeway in the best spot? No, but a quieter ride through Washoe Valley would be nice.
Ride Report
Last week's bad ride was quickly forgotten as I went on a trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks with my wife. I didn't take my bike along, but I couldn't help but notice that Grand Teton National Park is probably the most road bike-friendly National Park I've been to so far (out of 14). There was a separated bike path that ran from Jackson Hole, WY throughout most of Teton. The scenery is fantastic and I definitely added it to my long list of places where I want to ride in the future.
Since I had a bad ride last week and I spent 4 days completely off the bike for the Yellowstone trip, I decided to take it easy with this ride and not do any climbing. As you can see, my time was pretty slow for a flatter ride, so it looks like I made the right call.
Geiger, Kingsbury, and Gold Hill. I didn't map the detour through Virginia City, which is why the mileage isn't exactly correct.
Weather
Picture
Virginia City
Ride Report
There was a break in the road work on Geiger Grade, so I took advantage and headed towards Virginia City. I've been avoiding Geiger all summer thanks to the road work. It hasn't been too big of a deal since the weather is still nice and I just ride Mt. Rose instead, but I have missed the occasional trip up Geiger Grade and I rode a fast pace (fast for a long ride, at least) because I was excited to see it again. My usual route through Virginia City was closed off for Hot August Nights, but it was early and they were only setting up, so I didn't get to see too much action going on.
I did the usual descent down the truck route and made my way towards Kingsbury Grade. I didn't feel great going up Kingsbury, which I attributed mostly to the wind. I did the descent down 50, which isn't the best (storm drains in the shoulder), but I still ride it from time to time.
I decided to go straight through Gold Hill to get to Virginia City because I heard that they started mining there again recently (http://www.rgj.com/article/20120808/NEWS/308090009/Local-company-begins-gold-silver-mining-Comstock) and I wanted to check it out for myself. Sure enough, I saw a couple big dump trucks along the way, which is bad news for cyclists. I never liked descending through Gold Hill (it's too fast for me and the truck route has better scenery and less traffic), but the ascent is always a good test with its steep sections. It's going to be dangerous through there now with the dump trucks, and if cars decide to start using the truck route instead, that's going to ruin one of my favorite stretches of road. I know there are a lot of people in the area who are against the mine, and you can add me to that list.
Meanwhile, the ride itself turned into a disaster. My quads started cramping just as I hit the steep sections and eventually my right leg completely locked up and I had to stop. Once I could move it again, I unclipped my right foot and the leg locked up again. I've never actually had cramps in my quads like that- only in my calves a few times and that has only been after the ride is over. I took a short break and got back on again, but the cramps returned after only a minute or two. I took a longer break, massaged my legs a little, and then returned to riding as easily as I could. Unfortunately, I was on the steepest part of the climb, so there wasn't time to soft pedal and ease into things. Luckily, the cramps didn't return and after another short climb there was a 7-mile descent coming my way, so I was able to slowly but surely make my way home.
What caused the cramps? I don't have a history of cramping. It was hot, but I'm usually good in the heat and I didn't feel uncomfortable. I had plenty of water along the way and I was good on my calorie intake. I usually take Endurolytes on extra hot days or on double centuries, but today I didn't have any. Honestly, I was wondering whether they actually made a difference or not. Even if they're only acting as a placebo, you can be sure I'll bring some along on the next ride. However, I get the feeling that I just didn't have the legs today. I did 3 centuries last week and I wasn't feeling strong on Kingsbury Grade earlier in the ride. I'm probably just out of gas and the legs finally gave in. We'll see what happens next week.
Ride Report
This is the same route I did on Week 27. My time was a little faster this time, but it looks like that was mostly due to the wind. Overall this was my 7th century in July, so I've been enjoying the summer.
