Road Cycling - Going to Hamilton!

Hey guys, I'm going to Hamilton tomorrow (or rather I should say in a few hours) to catch the Elite Men's race.

I'll be riding through the course once with my friend in the early morning. Unfortunately, MY Cdale roadie was left in my university residence so I'll have to make do with my friend's Specialized. Ah well :P

I'm excited about this...I just glanced over the names of the men that should be taking part and it's a field of strong riders - many of the guys one sees at the grand tours.

Hope to get some good digi pics (Graham Watson style :D ). Will post them when I get back.

Edit: here's the list of the riders
http://www.hamilton2003.com/Hamilton2003/startlist_oct12_elitemen.html

No Ullrich or Cippolini...but that's probably because the course isn't around an OVAL track!! Lots of solid Posties are going to be in this (Hincapie!) and just waay too many good riders to list. Should be fun, especially since we're going to have a roadside view of the race.

It's not fair, I want to live near the World Championships. Well, just you wait 'til 2006, I'll be watching the first three days of the TdF so :p

The race was amazing!

Watching the World Cycling championships in Hamilton was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity! We arrived early, around 7:30AM, unloaded our road bikes (too bad I didn't have my bike and had to make do with a lousy one), and actually rode the entire course that the pros would do later that day. It was a VERY tough course. The first climb is quiet steep, albeit somewhat "short" while the second climb, the "Clairemont" (SP?) Access road is a brutal climb that's very long and never seems to want to end. There are also some difficult technical parts including a hairpin turn as well as some sharp turns right at the base the descents.

We spent a lot of time watching at the first climb as the peloton generally whizzed by in a few seconds, not to be seen for another 15-20 minutes. We also watched from the other hill and in the grandstand for the finish.

The most fun was at the very end. My friend and I were on a mission to find Laurent Jalabert (with no luck), but we went to where most of the team cars were parked.

We first found Erik Zabel and my friend got him to sign his magazine (w. Zabel on the cover) while I took a picture. We ended up just walking around to different team cars asking for photographs. I got Oscar Freire Gomez to sign my poster of him, as well as getting pictures with Sylvan Chavanel and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano. I never expected to be taking pictures with European cycling pros...in Hamilton!! I also have to say that these guys were very nice and were very willing to talk with us, take pictures, and sign autographs. Wow.

Once I can get the digi pics off my camera, I'll make sure to post some up. What a blast.

Wow! That's sounds great. I expect to see the pics up soon, just so you know.

Hi Kenneth,

Did you take any pictures?

I have already found a good photo gallery of the Elite Men Road ( www.sportfotok.hu ), but I am wondering if you have some photos, too?

Anyone know other websites for World Race photos? :)

http://kenneth.litespeed.ca/archives/Ken_Brendan_onbikes-thumb.jpg
us after riding the course in the morning :D I'm riding a lousy borrowed bike as well as my poseur Festina jacket :)


http://kenneth.litespeed.ca/archives/Cyclists_upClose-thumb.jpg

http://kenneth.litespeed.ca/archives/Grandstand_Cyclists-thumb.jpg

http://kenneth.litespeed.ca/archives/Cyclists-thumb.jpg

All of these were resized but not touched up. I have a lot more on my hdd but I haven't found the time to resize them yet.

Nice pics Kenneth. Thanks!

All of these were resized but not touched up. I have a lot more on my hdd but I haven't found the time to resize them yet.

You need a batch conversion tool (maybe InfranView (free) or Paint Shop Pro (cheap) have such a thing)... I use Photoshop and resize a whole folder of images with a few mouse clicks :D

Great pictures :beer: If you've got any of Leipheimer or Michael Barry post 'em up!

Great pics Kenneth! Looks like you moved around a bit even though you had great seats in the grandstand!