Day of pro cycling

Today the Pro Cycling Challenge was coming through Gunnison (Day 2) on the way to the finish in Mt. Crested Butte.  After lunch, we headed downtown to check out the action.  There was a small vendor area with a Jumbotron set up for viewing the race.  We picked ourselves up some swag (freebies):

The canvas bag can be used for shopping but the ThunderStix will probably be recycled. The ThunderStix are used for noise making when the riders come through.  Our hands were to busy taking pictures so they didn't get used.

As the riders got closer to town, the fire truck raised the largest American Flag we have ever seen.  The breeze was blowing nicely so that the flag was waving for all to see.  A big round of cheers and applause rose from the crowd as the flag was raised.

We were very pleasantly pleased to see the large turnout for the race downtown.  These photos were taken at the intersection of Main Street and Tomichi/Hwy 50.

Long before the riders came by, we saw the team buses heading up to Mt. Crested Butte. The best financed teams had their own Class A Motor Homes with their team name and logo on it.  The lesser financed teams had rented Class A/Class C Motor Homes.

As the riders approached city limits, a Pro Cycling Challenge vehicle pulled up to advise that the leaders were two minutes away while the rest of the peloton was three minutes behind the leaders.  We were asked to say swoosh as that was how long it was going to take the riders to ride past.  Boy, was he correct!

Here come the two who where leading the race at the time.  They took the lead shortly after leaving Salida this morning.  At this point, they had been on the road over 3 1/2 hours.

Here comes the peloton.

Much to my surprise, I actually got a picture of two riders that we recognize:   Americans Levi Leipheimer (today's stage winner) and George Hincapie (both are labeled in the picture).  

Here is a picture of yesterday's Prologue winner (Yellow Jersey - Patrick  Gretsch) as he swooshed by.

There goes the peloton around a tight turn.  Swoosh and they were gone!

All that was left to come where the support vehicles.  They, too, got cheered by the crowd.

All that anticipation and waiting - almost two hours - and they were gone with a swoosh.  What fun it was to see the action go by.  I told John that the peloton reminded me of a bunch of bees swarming out of a beehive.  He agreed that is what it looked like.

After getting some cold drinks, we walked back over to where the Jumbotron was set up to watch the action.  The picture wasn't so good as we were too close to it.  So we agreed that we could go home and watch the action comfortably thanks to an app I downloaded that allowed us to watch the race on our phones. Technology is amazing!  Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte also had large crowds turn out to watch the action. Congratulations to Levi Leipheimer for winning the stage - it was an exciting finish.

Tomorrow the race starts from Gunnison and is called the Queen's Stage as the riders will be riding over two 12,000+ mountain tops on their way to Aspen.  These mountains are higher in elevation than any the riders go over during any of the European races and some riders are nervous we've heard.

We will be there tomorrow morning at the start line . . . we can hardly wait.