OK...for today's post I thought I'd put up the pics Janann has emailed me...so, without further adieu and for your viewing enjoyment from our Reporter in the field...
Cadel at the Prologue
"Uhm, ahem...excuse me miss...can I get thru here?"
Yeah, right BUDDY! GOOD LUCK! Can't you see I'm waiting to get a picture of Christian here?
(this brings a smile to my face every time I think of it! GREAT Pic!!!!)
CVV at the Prologue
Frank on the podium Stage 1 (with some unknown guy to his right)
Frankie at the prolouge (Simmer down Susie!)
George after winning Stage 2 (you are THE MAN!)
Jens at Stage 2 (you are ALSO the MAN!)
The Jerseys from Stage 1
Some unknown rider gets interviewed after winning Stage 1 (and YOU are ALSO da' MAN!)
Ooh...nice. That Unknown guy gets the points jersey after Stage 1.
I guess there really is a payoff for killing yourself all day on a bike!
Go LEVI!
OK...that's all the pics I got, thanks Janann for sending them! I'm very excited for you to have been THERE for this entire race! And looking at the podium shots, holy-mackerel! You somehow got DEAD CENTER! All the races I go to, I can't get anywhere NEAR the poduim! You ladies can pull this stuff off...good for you! Now if only the 'podium kisses' shot was YOU up there giving Levi a kiss.... (any chance you can pull that off?) I'm sure hubby would understand...I know if Jeannie had a chance to give, oh, lets say Brad Pitt a kiss, I'd have to give her a pass on that.
OK..that's all I have for now. I'm sending my best positive thoughts to you over on the east coast....in fact, I think I'll take a little nappy and focus my thought-power in your direction (I a bit tired....just got back from a ride a bit ago...did a measly 50 mile road ride...would have done more but by 11am it was already 96 deg at the top of the canyon....had I gone down the other side it would have been over 100 for sure...so I cut off 10 miles and called it a day).
Later gaters....GAME ON!
Wow what GREAT pics!
ReplyDeleteRae
Stay safe everyone out East! I've been watching the news and thinking of you....
ReplyDeleteAwesome race today - I really thought that Andy was going to pull that one off!
Well, it was sad to have to leave CO today and face the LONG drive back. In the middle of Nebraska right now (BTW - did I mention how much I HATE Nebraska??? ;) About 11 more hours to drive tomorrow - ugh. It was worth it though!
Glad you got the pics Matt! Each race I attend I learn a little bit more about where to try to position myself at different times, though much of it is luck. I had a great spot after stage 1 - actually directly behind Cathy in the press section! I haven't looked through the rest of the pics yet to see if there are other good ones.
I just read that they have the money for next year's race! Start working on your schedule now, Matt :)
-Janann
Hey JD, glad you were able to make it to the race to report for us, but so sad you had to leave...and before the finale even...(and then the Looonnnnngggg drive home...pure agony!)
ReplyDeleteIt's cool you finally got to met Cathy...it's crazy... I only live 75 miles north of her and STILL haven't met her...yet you are prob 1500 to 2000 miles away and can now claim that...funny how life works.
I don't recall when I drove thru Nebraska, most likely it was back in 81 or 82 (that would be the only time)...but I vividly recall driving across Kansas (also only once)...seems the sun was constantly in my side window JUST below the sun visor, and the speed limit was 55, and there were cops sitting in the interstate median EVERYWHERE! I was with a large group of cars almost the entire way, and when we finally turned north and then drove into Colorado it was like a party!
And you can bet your bottom dollar that I WILL find a way to schedule a trip to Colo Springs around next years race. As soon as the dates are final for the race I'll start putting bugs in the right peoples ears. AND I'll make sure I have a few days vacation on the books (I'm all tapped out just now on vacation AND money, or I would have found a way to get up there on my own for a few days).
And life goes on. I see by the news that Irene wasn't nearly as bad as was feared...dodged a bullet. Talked last night to friends in Norfolk/Va Beach...they had only lost power from around 10am to 2pm...it was turned back on during the worst of the storm and she said it wasn't really that bad. Of course there will be low lying areas that got hammered by the storm surge/high tide combo...so today will be when the damage is really seen. Hope you and your house stayed safe and dry up there in Maryland Susie! Report in when you can.
Hi all - thanks for the good thoughts, Irene was much less "eventful" than we feared! Lots of rain and wind (that "tail" whipping around is givng us some wild wind today in Phila), a few tornado warnings. My power only went off for a minute or two last night, but I was walking around the house with a flashlight in my pocket all night. I did hunker down in the basement with a good book for a half hour during the tornado warning at 11 last night. The storm moved out faster tahn we expected and today has been just wind. We drove down to check out one of our favorite bike trails and it has (temporarily) become part of the creek it follows. Our big quandry will now be where we can ride - what's underwater, what's covered in mud, and on the roads, what's covered with sticks, branches, gravel/rocks or even fallen trees.
ReplyDeleteLoving the "tour of Colorado" - except that our local NBC station was doing "all Irene, all the time" and didn't show the final stage today, so I will have to wait till tomorrow to see the 1-hour recap on VS that will air after my bedtime tonight.
Barbara
Hey Barbara...glad to hear you made it out unscathed (other than the loss of ride habitat...that is always sad).
ReplyDeleteI was excited as NBC aired the final stage today at 11am! It was a total VS style airing with P&P! Liam was in New York in the NBC Studio doing bits for the other sports, and then he would send us back to the bike race...liked it! And even Bobke was there at the end, doing a quick interview w/ Levi. I was wondering if he was 'invited' to play...he SHOULD be, considering he LIVES in Colo! I can only hope that NBC will put some of next years races on NBC for those without VS. Maybe this was a sign of times to come??
ANYWAY....SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!!
The final stage went about as you'd expect, though not without TJ giving it a go. I had thought maybe CVV might (being as there was a 10 second bonus for the winner, and he was only 11 seconds behind Levi)...but I guess he's too much of a seasoned pro for that. Also I doubt he'd of had the firepower to stay away from the sprinters teams AND Levi's guys had he got even a whiff of a gap. Though Levi was pretty lonely in the final kilometers...his guys had worn themselves out all week...but they did their jobs and he was there at the end. AWESOME race!! It could only have been better had I BEEN there! The crowds up in Colo were quite spectacular...looked even bigger than most of the stages out here in Cali...good for them!
Ahh...but it's all in the history books now....with the final podium unchanged from the last few days (since the ITT). Dang...not a lot of racing left now...at least stuff that is big enough for my radar. The Vuelta has what, about 11 or 12 days of racing left...but as always, with no coverage for me it's really hard to get 'into'. I did enjoy the sprint finish today in Denver...thought it was VERY cool of Viviani (who WON the last 2 stages) that he didn't pass his leadout man Danial OSS and let him have the victory. That was a really nice payback for all his work the last few days...and one that will be with him the rest of his life. He (Oss) was SO stoked on the podium...not sure I've ever seen ANYBODY as animated! I like to think we'll be seeing more of this young'un in the future.
OK...another weekend is pretty much in the history books. I'll peek in at the news here and there but it sounds like most everybody in Irene's path got a way with 'least' case damage...which is surely good news for MANY MANY MILLIONS of people. Even so I heard a cost 'estimate' for damages around 20 BILLION or so...yikes! Can you imagine what it COULD have been? Imagine a Cat 4 doing that same route?
I was stationed down in Norfolk when Hurricane Hugo went thru and creamed Charleston...remember driving down that way about a year or 2 later, and when you got to the 'storm path' there was no doubt...the evergreen pine forest's looked like a bunch of kindling wood...about 2 out of every 3 giant pine trees were literally broken in half, with the top still attached but lying there. Never seen anything like that before or since. It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off or something...but it just kept going and going and going. And out on the side highways and roads there were still piles of rubble and debris pretty much everywhere from people cleaning up what was left of their property.
I've been down to Florida after some big ones, but never seen that kind of devastation before. So I figure we all dodged a bullet...cuz it's not exactly like we have a few trillion $$ lying around to help out all the millions of people that were in it's path.
OK. Happy Sunday evening wherever you are. That is all.
Levi and Tony Martin to Quickstep-Pharma?
ReplyDeleteRadioShack merging with Leopard-Trek?
Oy!
Rae