Day 6 - We rest in Breckenridge

With no ride planned for today, we got to sleep late for the first time.   Around 9:30 we walked down Main St. and found a spot for breakfast as the crowds gathered for the 10:50 am start.  After eating, we arrived back at the starting line just as the riders were signing in, so we got to see that (from a distance) and watched some of them being interviewed briefly.  Tejay and Jens were talkative and enjoyable to see and hear.

Stage Start in Breckenridge

Jens Voigt, winner of yesterday's stage, being interviewed at the sign-in

More riders signing in before the start

The crowd right at the start was jammed, so we walked south back towards the hotel hoping to find a spot where there were few people.  At one side street, riders were coming from the setup area to the sign-in, and we saw Cadel Evans, who must have been one of the last riders to arrive at the start.

Cadel Evans riding to the line, just minutes before the start

The peleton storming down Main St.

There was a neutral start consisting of two loops around the downtown part of Breckenridge, and here's a video of the whole bunch coming by on the second loop:

After the second pass, they headed out of town towards Hoosier Pass, about 10 miles out.  We saw the whole peleton come storming down the main street, a breakaway of 4 riders already out in front by the time they passed our hotel, followed quickly by the whole bunch and the usual armada of team cars, motos, officials and, bringing up the rear as always, the Broomwagon.

After two circuits around the main part of Breckenridge,
the peleton heads south towards Hoosier Pass

Donald, Rodney, Terry & David;
Louise, doing her best not to be photographed

After watching the racers leave town, we went back to the condo for about an hour before leaving on a short ride out of town up to the Hoosier Pass.  It was a short ride, turning right out of the hotel and just going straight up the highway with no turns.  Here's a link to the Garmin map & data of the ride, showing one straight up and down.  Easy to see on the speed graph how slow the climb was, followed by a few minutes at the summit for photos and to put on cold weather gear (there is a lot of layering and unlayering on these rides), then the fast descent and a long stretch for lunch (forgot to turn off the GPS!).  

The climb was short but challenging, probably with the steepest grades of any climb so far, 10% on some of the switchbacks.  At the pass, there really were no views to speak of, but there were some nice vistas on the way up.

This was my third ride over the Continental Divide on this trip, so a photo of me and my new bike was in order at the summit.

Rodney and I rode the descent together, then continued into town and found a lunch spot where we had some excellent sandwiches and hot coffee, sitting on a balcony outside the cafe overlooking the whole spread of the Breckenridge ski slopes across the rooftops of the town.

Back to the condo, the New Orleans gang hung out for a while before going across the street to a bar where we had beer and listened to some music with the rest of the group, followed by dinner.

Tomorrow is our last day of riding, so there was a lot of packing to do in preparation for breakfast at 6:00 am and a departure for Grand Lake.  Fortunately, it's gotten pretty routine now to put aside what needs to go in the day bags (which are accessible during the day) and what will go in our rear jersey pockets.  The ride will be just shy of 100 miles, through Estes Park and ending in Boulder, for our last night.