A pack of greyhounds on wheels. That’s what they were today at the US Pro Cycling Challenge, with Cadel Evans, the Schleck brothers, Levi Leipheimer flying past Bryce and me and thousands of other cycling fans at the top of Lookout Mountain.
One guy had a bike change right in front of us and when he stood off the bike, he really did look like a greyhound standing on his hind legs. These are truly the baddest cycling beasts in the world.
There were three things I noticed today that is different from watching them on TV:
1. They go impossibly fast. Even going uphill, they go well over 20 miles an hour.
2. Since they go impossibly fast, you can’t see their faces. You have to look for colors. Cadel was in his familiar red and white, the Schlecks were in beautiful orange and blue – I only new it was them because there were two of them, Levi was in yellow, protected by his team, hunched over smack dab in the middle of the peleton, greyhound-like, nursing his eleven second lead, completely at the mercy of being pulled and protected by his domestiques.
3. All those things people write on the road? Impossible for the racers to see them. Anymore than an F16 could see a message written to it in a cornfield below.
Bryce and I then went from Golden into Denver where we got to see the finish. Those guys are beasts, that’s all I have to say. We got a few conversations about contrastive grammar and circling today, but really, the day belonged to cycling.
Those cycling fans who read the blog, Ben Lev and y’all, you were the only thing missing to make this a fantastic day.
Oh, and anyone who watches on Versus on cable tonite when they air the race, look for two guys toward the very top of Lookout Mountain in yellow, orange and black tops and black cycling pants. Then, when they get into Denver, when the peleton goes under the Speer Blvd. sign, look for us there too.
We are the ones holding up the big TPRS sign. Just kidding.