Super Week: Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Grand Prix of Cycling
Saturday, 28. July 2007, 03:02:00
Last Sunday afternoon, Jodi and I took Gabs & Caleb to watch a criterium race (http://www.enhgrandprix.com/) in downtown Evanston. This race was part of Super Week, which, as I learned, is the longest series of cycling races in the world -- 19 consecutive days of racing. In this particular race, a lot of famous cyclists have ridden in it in the past: Lance Armstrong, Greg Lemond and many other world-class riders. The group from Bicycle Heaven was racing (Rob Kelly, Ara Oggoian & Ken Delo). That was really cool to watch. This criterium was 70 laps on a .9 mile loop. They were going down the home stretch around 30-34 miles an hour as there was a bit of a head wind there.
There were teams from Germany, Hong Kong and other international locals as well as various US based teams. I think there were somewhere around 120 riders. Several of the riders were world-ranked (Olympic champions, World Champions, etc.). So it was a high-caliber competition. Here are some pictures I took with my smartphone. I took a small movie but basically, since it's just my meager 1.3 megapixel phone, it was a series of blurred shots in quick sequence as the riders were _flying_ by.
Most of the race consisted of a breakaway group (anywhere between 2-10 riders) getting as much as 45+ second lead on the pack and then the pack pretty much just chasing them. They reeled in the breakaway packs a couple of times, but near the end of the race with just a few laps to go, there was a crash on turn 1 and that took half of the pack out of contention or any hope of catching the breakaway group. Still cool to see the strategy out there. Essentially, human chess moving at 35 miles an hour.
Fun stuff though.
C.
There were teams from Germany, Hong Kong and other international locals as well as various US based teams. I think there were somewhere around 120 riders. Several of the riders were world-ranked (Olympic champions, World Champions, etc.). So it was a high-caliber competition. Here are some pictures I took with my smartphone. I took a small movie but basically, since it's just my meager 1.3 megapixel phone, it was a series of blurred shots in quick sequence as the riders were _flying_ by.
Most of the race consisted of a breakaway group (anywhere between 2-10 riders) getting as much as 45+ second lead on the pack and then the pack pretty much just chasing them. They reeled in the breakaway packs a couple of times, but near the end of the race with just a few laps to go, there was a crash on turn 1 and that took half of the pack out of contention or any hope of catching the breakaway group. Still cool to see the strategy out there. Essentially, human chess moving at 35 miles an hour.
Fun stuff though.
C.
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