Pro Cycling Challenge comes to Golden

Anyone that's ever been to Colorado, passed through our great state, or had the good fortune to call this place home, can attest to the fact that cycling is big in these parts.  Colorado is one of the fittest states in the nation (possibly the fittest), due partly in fact to the high rate of bike ownership.  Actually, I just made that up, total supposition on my part.  But c'mon, everyone here rides a bike, that must have something to do with it, right?  Right.

Anyway, when it was announced that the powers that be (read: Lance Armstrong) was resurrecting the thought-to-be-extinct Coors Classic under the revamped name, "Pro Cycling Challenge" there was, needless to say, a bit of excitement here in the Centennial state. As luck would have it, the start of the final stage just so happened to be taking place in our humble little 'burg.  All of the big guns came out for this race: this year's Tour winner Cadel Evans was here, the Schleck brothers (younger brother Andy has been a bridesmaid at the Tour the past two years, losing a heart breaker to Alberto Contador last year), semi-local honch Tom Danielson, and the list goes on.  So this wasn't some half-ass collegiate race, this was the real deal.  Replete with all of the team cars, sponsorship barrage and pomp and circumstance one would expect from an event of this magnitude. 

The seizure-like camera work, courtesy of yours truly, is testament to just how freakin' excited I was.  We had the opportunity to catch the peloton not once, not twice, but thrice on this fine day as they lapped some of Golden's finest cycling locales.   The first part of this video is about a mile from the start (and about a quarter mile from our abode) so the pace has yet to really pick up (my jitters were in full force though).  The second part is deceiving as this is actually the base of a long climb--the climb itself is not all that steep but this bottom part is.  I'm saying they were going 20 m.p.h. plus at this point, the peloton starting to get a bit twitchy, separating the men from the boys.

In light of the heinous camera work, I tee'd up some Allman Brothers to at least make it somewhat bearable.  Photos courtesy of my substantially more talented and camera-savvy wife...