Professional bike racing has finally returned to Colorado in the format of a seven stage race through very tough Colorado mountain passes, historic mining towns, world class ski resorts and breathtaking scenery. Named the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge (many simply call it the Tour de Colorado), it’s most demanding stage Wednesday August 24th led riders over two 12,000 foot passes; Cottonwood Pass and Independence Pass, en route to the finish line in Aspen, Colorado.
My friend Ted Crawford (an avid cyclist himself) and I took a two hour early morning drive from Denver to park on the slopes of Independence Pass and wait for the riders to speed through. This was as close to experiencing Le Tour de France’s epic Alpe d’Huez as one could ever imagine! The story of my amazing day follows:
9:00am - Getting Settled. Ted and I drove to within 1km of the 12,095’ summit (that’s the height above sea level) and unloaded our bikes for a ride around the growing number of spectators and vehicles. Local newspapers estimated the crowd at over 10,000 people with 5,000 cars parked on the slopes of the mountain. A bluegrass band set up and played music, alcohol flowed and we began our six hour wait for the riders to arrive!
11:00am- Exploring the Pass. Every spectator with a bike was riding up and down both sides of the pass, greeting others along the route. Cars were squeezed into every available flat space along with a colorful variety of shade tents, coolers, folding chairs and costumed individuals. As I rode up the steep hill, the thin air made it rather difficult to breath. I couldn’t imagine how the pro racer’s lungs could survive this high altitude punishment!
1:00pm - Final Preparations. Spectators climbed into their costumes and others lined the road edge to begin the “long look”, trying to spot the racers coming up the valley. Favorite racer's names were freshly painted onto the road surface and the atmosphere was charged with excitement (amplified by many from heavy beer consumption). A lone race official drove up the pass announcing that the riders had turned onto the pass road and were slightly more than an hour from arriving.
2:30pm - The Leader is Spotted. Cheers could be heard from spectators on the mountain top who first spotted the riders coming up the valley. We took last minute photos of each other and anxiously awaited our first glimpse of a lone Columbian breakout rider 45 seconds ahead of the first chase group. He eventually got caught up by the peleton and passed by the stronger riders. The mountain was unforgiving.
3:00pm - Chaos and Mayhem. I always imagined what it would be like to experience standing right next to fast moving motorcycles, horn honking team cars, screaming spectators and especially world famous cyclists. The moment we had been preparing for was upon us and for the next 30 minutes, we witnessed wave after wave of bikers charging up the pass. I spotted all of the famous celebrity riders and in a split second, they were long gone!
3:15pm - Last Riders. Following the slower cyclists was a long line of team cars, each with numerous replacement bikes on roof racks. Every wave of racers was greeted with enthusiasm and cheers as they made their way over the mountain pass and onto the finish line in Aspen. In the long traffic jam on the way home that afternoon we recalled all of our crazy experiences and started planning our next year’s trip to the big mountain races of Colorado. What a fun day!
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