Sunday, March 18, 2012

Old Pueblo Grand Prix Criterium

Yesterday was the Old Pueblo Grand Prix Criterium. It was a shorter course than last year, lap times were very short. When we got there, this group was racing, they were men's something. They could have been Cat 3 or 2, but that's of no matter. What is significant, is that these guys are in the process of lapping the main field.

This is the main group. So, at what I think should have been the end of the race for the leading group, the announcer says the guys who lapped the field have to do another lap with the main field. He was suggesting that the time they put on the main field was negated. We never did hear what the officials decided. If I had been in the lead group I would have been very annoyed.



There was an event called "street sprints." Contestants lined up and clipped in while having their bikes held. Then they sprinted for the line.



Then there was the pro women's race. A woman from Manitoba won it, she's on the far right in the red & white jersey and the black helmet.


Interactive cycling dot com was out filming on all four corners. If you subscribed, you could watch the race live on your smart phone, all while being at the race.



A scarlet macaw. The bird's owner had provided a good perch for him on her back. He looked pretty happy.


Interesting looking dog.


The pro men started at 5:30. They finished in the near dark. There was a fair amount of cloud cover towards the end. It was a big field.

These guys are riding close to 40 mph, and they can turn around and look behind them. See the guy on the far left.

There were two tight corners on the course. Much skill is required to make it through unscathed.

Kenda-5 Hour Energy ran a smart race. They put one guy off the front early on, and the rest of the team sat on the front, preventing anyone else from a successful chase. They eventually won the race. They're in the red jerseys.


This is coming out of the second bad corner. The road narrowed between the two bad corners, so they would exit strung out in a line.



I could not get a shot of the final sprint, it was too dark by then. This is St. Augustine, it's a beautiful cathedral.



Today has been a very different day in terms of the climate. We've had wind, hail, rain and more wind. We're ready for our day of winter to be over now, thank you!

1 comment:

  1. love to watch the pro crits!

    wind, rain, hail Sounds like our weather! plus we have 80 all week this week. Crazy for March

    ReplyDelete