Pro Bike Tour

I (Brent) am obviously a huge bike racing fan, and it's been great to see both boys get excited about riding their bikes so much.  Each summer we all get to watch the big bike races on TV like the Tour de France, and they also get to see me race most weekends.  Rarely, though, do we get to watch one of the big races with real pros up close.  The Tour of Colorado (actually the Pro Team Challenge...because the guy who owns the name Tour of Colorado won't give it up for some strange reason) started last year, and almost all the biggest names in the world of cycling came to race.  This year was no different, and one of the stages came through Boulder and finished up Flagstaff.  It's awesome to see the pros ride the same roads I train on all year.  So, I decided to take Gavin up to Flagstaff for the experience.  We were joined by 25,000 of our closest and rowdiest bike racing friends up there.  We had to hike in about an hour early and scope out a spot.  We found a nice bit of real estate right in front of the Flagstaff House.  Here is Gavin, above, getting ready as people walk up the road like salmon swimming up a stream. 

Finally, after an hour or so of waiting, the race was finally here.  In the above picture is Rory Sutherland who ended up winning the stage with a huge solo attack from just down the mountainside.  He is an Aussie but lives in Boulder most of the year to train.  I had a ton of great other pictures (in theory) of the chase group which included TJ Van Garderenn, Levi Leipheimer, Jens Voigt, Taylor Phinney and tons of other big names...but after reviewing the shots you can only really see pieces of arms and legs with several guys flanking the riders on all sides as they passed us.  Overall, it was a long wait and a hot day, but I am glad I got to take Gavin to go experience the madness with me.