Today's original plan was to ride out of Aspen around 7:30 ahead of the peleton and climb Independence Pass AGAIN, but in the opposite direction from yesterday's ride. This would have entailed a 20 mile climb beginning essentially at the hotel. However, the weather gods didn't cooperate and a cold, steady drizzle in Aspen convinced all but the hardiest riders to give up the challenge. Eventually, everyone gave in, so we postponed our departure for a few hours, which gave us time to walk over to the team setup area to look at the bikes, team cars, trucks and other equipment. This was more or less old hat for me, but most of the group hadn't ever experienced the fun of getting to see all the equipment at such close quarters, and everyone was pretty much awed by the technology. We managed to gather quite a few water bottles from various staff members - there were few people around so the team staff members were not under too much pressure & were pretty friendly. I was able to point out some of the details that were easily missed, like the riders' names painted on their bikes and the different pedal systems that each rider chose. The weather gods laughed at our decision to stay in Aspen by brushing away the rain and cloud to let the sunshine in. But we learned later that the weather at the top of Independence Pass was dreadful, so in the end we were all OK with the change in plans.
 |
| Tom Danielson's Cervelo |
 |
| A few of the team support vehicles before the stage start in Aspen |
 |
| Liquigas Cannondale's big truck |
 |
| Team SpiderTech travels in Cadillac style |
The alternate plan devised was to drive from Aspen to Eagle, then to take a very short ride of only about 20 miles up a two-lane road that paralleled I-70, to Beaver Creek, which was today's stage finish town. The
Garmin ride data shows a pretty easy recovery ride, which was appreciated by all after yesterday's epic.
 |
| Pre-Ride Buffet: Sunscreen and Energy |
The entire group, including some of the Lizard Head staff, rode in one large double-paceline all the way to meet the vans, which had gone ahead and were waiting for us with lunch all set up.
 |
| On the road to Beaver Creek |
 |
| This may be my favorite photo of the whole trip |
We enjoyed a brief lunch at the edge of a big parking lot where a lot of the support vehicles had parked, about 2 miles from the finishing line in Beaver Creek. That last two miles was a challenging uphill ride, though.
 |
| Lizard Head lunch about 2 miles from Beaver Creek finish |
 |
| The Lizard Head Bike Rack |
 |
| Californians Mike and Richard |
 |
| Riding up to the finish line in Beaver Creek |
 |
Todd, Terri (with Jens Voigt's feedbag)
and The Lizard (aka Chuck) |
After leaving our bikes in the bike valet area, we walked to the Expo Village, which was pretty similar to the one in Mt. Crested Butte earlier in the week. We wandered around for a while looking at merchandise and ogling bikes, dodging some rain that threatened to spoil the finish. The rain finally stopped, and with Jens Voigt just 5 miles away, we started to try to find a spot along the barricades, but it was a solid mass of people already, so we sat on a plaza alongside the street and watched the action on one of the huge TV screens. After the initial finishers passed, we started walking down from the finish line to where the crowd started to thin out, so at least we got to see some of the riders coming up. By then, some riders were also starting to ride DOWN the street towards the oncoming finishers. . .some of them were high-fiving the spectators, and Louise managed to get a slap from Cadel Evans. Farther down the last climb, one of our group managed one of the best tour souvenirs of all - Jens Voigt, on his way to the stage win, dropped his feed bag as he passed, so she got the musette plus some uneaten sandwiches (turkey & goat cheese) and a pastry as quite a unique remembrance of the day!
 |
| The Expo in Beaver Creek |
 |
| No rider is too small for lycra; includes rear pockets for pacifier and tissues |
 |
| Almost finished at Beaver Creek! |
 |
| A few more late finishers |
Finally, we rode back down to the vans and spent some time looking at the team bikes arriving and getting cleaned up after the day's ride on wet, dirty roads. Only a few riders were in evidence, but we picked up some t-shirts from the Radio Shack bus, and watched the United Healthcare riders demolish some post-race burritos while their mechanic tried to sort out the team car that wouldn't start.
 |
John & Ann model t-shirts that we got
from the Nissan Trek team |
 |
| United Health having post-race car troubles |
 |
| The Lizard Head Cycling Guides Armada in Breckenridge |
Eventually, we piled back into the vans for an hour's drive to Breckenridge, where we will stay for TWO nights. That means a glorious evening of NOT packing for another departure in the morning, getting to sleep late in the morning, and LAUNDRY in the unit! Four of us are in a 4-bedroom condominium, so we each have our own room and bathroom, plus a large living room and kitchen. The trucks are parked outside our balcony, giving an interesting perspective on how we've traveled - about 25 strong, for the last 6 days.
Tomorrow is our rest day. We have no activities scheduled other than to watch the stage start just a few blocks from the hotel. I'm hoping that we'll get to see the riders (today we left Aspen before they ventured out) getting ready for the stage, and maybe get some good photos of and with them. Then we'll figure out a ride (weather permitting) or see what's what in Breckenridge.
No comments:
Post a Comment