groovestew

Christian Vandevelde


David Millar


Peter Sagan


Cadel Evans


Ryder Hesjedal

and about 110 other professional cyclists. The inaugural Tour of Alberta held its prologue event in my city last night, and it so happened that the final 3 km of the 7.3 km ITT course was the same as the final 3 km of my commute to work. I found a spot along the King of the Mountain timed portion to watch the race and snap a few blurry pics. Not all of the racers were in the same category as these guys, and indeed, some were struggling up this hill more than I would have expected from pro cyclists. Don't get me wrong - the slowest of the bunch was still faster than my sorry posterior by far - but it was kind of validating to see pros grimacing on the same bleeding hill that I've struggled up every time I've ridden to work in the past 5 years. On the other hand, guys like Sagan didn't seem to notice there was even a hill there.

And on the topic of commuting, apparently Cadel Evans commented on the implorable conditions of some of our roads, something that every commuting cyclist in this city knows intimately, but hopefully a public shaming by a pro athlete will impel our city council to do something about it. One can always hope, right?

I also had a brief chat with a nice young lady with a bamboo fixed gear that I think she made herself.

Sorry I didn't get more of the bike in the shot, but it was tight quarters and my camera had a fixed lens.

After watching the race, my legs found a few extra watts for the ride home.

ill.clyde

Very cool!

anthonybkny

ive seen a few of those bamboo bikes around here

PennyTheDog

Too bad JoeyBike wasn't there to geek hunt!

neo_pop_71

That's awesome, I'd love to see an ITT race, especially if I was familiar with the ride like you!

More and more bamboo bikes popping up around here too but none have the refinements of the bamboo bike master!



If I ever make one (and I have seriously considered it as I have some aged bamboo), I'm pinching Calfee's design with the integrated rear rack... I love it!!!

ill.clyde

+1

groovestew

I think this is one case where even Joey would have had his @$$ handed to him - the fastest guys were averaging over 50 km/h (31mph)!

acidfast7

Joey Bike isn't interested as there are no red lights to run.

JamesR650

Pshaw! Sagan's a sprinter. Everyone knows sprinters can't climb.



Very cool to have the course set up on your normal commute, though.

groovestew

Well, okay, while Sagan won the prologue by a handy margin, he didn't win the KOM; that went to Tom Jelte Slagter. I wonder if Slagter was specifically competing for the KOM title - he was one of the few riders on an ordinary road bike instead of a TT bike.

JamesR650

I was just using an old joke. Truth is any of those 'sprinters' can outclimb just about any rider. I saw Sagan in a finish sprint this year in person at the Tour of California. That kid's a beast.

Interesting strategy to use a road bike to get the KOM points.

bigbenaugust 

I like this design... too bad it says calfee on it and will cost a zillion dollars.

jeffpoulin

Nice photos! Having watched quite a few pro races, I know how difficult it is to get shots like these. Well done!

groovestew

Thanks Jeff, you're too kind. In retrospect, I probably should have spent less time behind the camera and more time just watching the racers because when I reviewed my photos, most were crap. It is tough to capture a moving target...partly it's my inexperience, and partly it's my equipment. Anyway, I got a couple more decent shots of Evans and Hesjedal (hard to miss that guy) from the warm-up:

baron von trail 

Wow, notice how high they jack-up the seats and how low they drop the handlebars. My back hurts just thinking about riding in that position.