I was happy to see Cadel win the tour this year, but I was rooting for Andy Schleck - coming in third three times in a row kind of makes him the Susan Lucci of cycling and like Phil Mickelson before he won a major - it made you want to root for him just to see him win something. Obviously this race was not to be that time, but maybe next year.
There's not a perfect spot to see 7 seconds of a cycling race - they are travelling so fast and while being at the finish I guess would be the best spot - it tends to get really crowded there so we didn't really want to be in that mess. There was a turn right before the finish and initially we thought we'd park ourselves there, but it was obvious a few thousand other people thought the same thing so we worked our way down even further before the turn. We hung out there and then heard that Andy was in the front so I was really excited to try and see and get a picture of him and anyone else that rode by. When they speed by you that fast its hard to pick out anyone, and we ended up not even catching Levi in yellow because they were going so fast. You get the luxury of all the motorcycles and the lead vehicles coming in so you know what's happening and the build up is just incredible - again for about 7 seconds of viewing. You know they are right around the corner when the helicopter is above you so you just have to stand there with your camera and try and get a shot. This is mine - I'm pretty sure it's Andy:
And then this might be him from the back:
The breakaway always gets overtaken by the peleton and this was no exception - I think I saw he came in 45th or something - even this close to the finish. Our intent was to try and go to Golden to see them again, but in the end we stayed home and watched it on television - it really is the best way to see the majority of the race, but it was great to experience the electricity of being there. My sister has gone to see parts of the Tour of California and she said we had way more fans come out then California did so I really do hope they continue the race going forward.
E and Hoyt and I also went out for a ten mile run on Saturday - the elevation is about 9500 feet and I need all that training I can get - I ended up averaging about a 9:30 pace so I was happy with that - I just ran even though I kept thinking I should slow myself down a bit for whatever reason. This weekend we go back to Breck for the holiday weekend and so I can run the Breck Crest 'Marathon'. I put it in quotes because it's not really a marathon - its only 23 miles, but they refer to it as a marathon. It's a trail run and you basically go over 12,500 feet to the Ten Mile Range and then back down into town so I'm thinking if I can finish it in 6-7 hours that'll be good. I'm already a little freaked out about it being that I ran the first portion of the course and it's not even a run - its more like a hike. I think it will feel a bit different out there knowing others are doing the same thing.
It's still hot as all get out, and it's almost September and I'm just begging for a break in the heat, but I don't see one any time soon. It has too cool down by October 1, doesn't it?
In other news I thought I'd post some pictures of the cutest kid ever - since I haven't in awhile. Here he is oohing and ahhing at the cyclists going by:
And here he is with his own bicycle helmet:
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