Tour of Philadelphia Recap

Woke up early Sunday morning and headed to Philadelphia for the pro bike race.

There was a lot of this. Allez Allez! Whoosh whoosh!

and this! (Notice the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the background?) The two old ladies standing next to us were just as die hard- standing 6 hours to catch the whole race (albeit checking their phone for updates on Roland Garros scores..but ringing their cowbells just as vigorously as the rest of us!)

The main peloton sweeping by.

The racers would do laps (a circuit around Philadelphia) and sweep by us every 30 mins. or so. There were a lot of dorky creepy guys around, including the one on the left whose face I had to mask out so it wouldn't haunt your dreams as it does mine... We could follow the race live on the huge screen above the racers here when they were  on other parts of the course- all streamed live via a camera on the back of a motorcycle.

The winner! Danish rider Alex Rasmussen of HTC Highroad, last year we watched his team mate Matt Goss win. He was swarmed with creepy guys post podium ceremony who wanted their speedos and bald heads signed. Rasmussen was indulgent but really wanted to get the F out of there, he should have kept sprinting!

Post race exodus.

All in all a good race, comparing our images from last years race Can't believe a year has gone by!

Did you see us on tv??

Caught the 2010 Tour of Philadelphia yesterday live and in person, I have the sunburn to prove it!! Incredible to see a Pro race for the first time (for me) in person! And it was broadcast live on Versus, so if you spotted a girl in a white shirt, bright red hat and matching bright red skin ringing a cowbell like mad and screaming at the top of her lungs, that would probably be me! We arrived just after the pro race started and caught the beginning of the women's race (seen above). Many free Lara Bars and "swag bags" later (and pumped full of one too many free chocolate soymilks) we staked out our viewing position near the finish/start line where the riders rode by almost every 30 minutes in their multiple loops around the course (which included a killer hill called the Manayunk wall). Our view to the right as the riders rode by:

and to the left, minus riders, but a great view of downtown Philadelphia, a fountain the riders looped around and came back by from, and a giant screen projecting the parts of the race we couldn't see:

Coming back from around the 'fountain loop' (below):

Also loved watching all the motorcycles, mini coopers, and brightly colored cars go by, including the Mavic neutral service car (which also got cowbell rings from Tom and I- woot woot!):

Was amazed at how human the riders were, after watching pro cycling on tv for so long where they're built up to be gods of superhuman proportion, I couldn't believe how small they were nor how close and how much time you had to interact with hem as they went by, you could say or do anything and they could see/hear you! What a revelation! They're people too! WhoA!

The Winner: from team HTC Columbia Matt Goss
After standing in the sun for 6 hours straight, blisters on my fingers from ringing cowbells and a sunburn as bright as a lobster I felt like I had rode (and won) a race too.