Testosterone Intoxication in Steamboat Springs

After breakfast The Race Within The Race heads out for a local-favorite 50 mile route outside Steamboat. Various other cyclists join up with them and Erik, who has been doing all the driving so far, gets a chance to ride. Todd goes for the day's Option C - which includes anything other than sitting on a bike. He meets up with an old friend from Breckenridge, Jeff Powell, while John and I tool around town and the nearby roads. While staking out a spot to watch the race from a few miles from town, we run into a convoy of Cadillac SUV official race vehicles checking out the road conditions. It turns out to be the race director, who we introduce ourselves to and chat with for a few minutes congratulating him on a job well done - super nice guy, btw, and he's outrageously excited by the abundance of welcoming fans at the inaugural event.

We also met another volunteer race marshall named Sue Lee, from Florida, in town with a friend who's experiencing the the beauty of divorce (may it be one of the best things that's ever happened to her). We had a blast chatting about men, life, bikes (she just bought a new Trek Madone), and Lizard Head Cycling. We decided that we're both moving to Colorado and will be in touch at some future date.

My new friend, Sue Lee, from Florida. Until we meet again.

John and I watch the race from a neat little spot near the river with some curves, a railroad track, a bridge, a flag, and not a ton of people (John saw us on the night's race footage, but I'll have to take his word for it - I never found me).

New friends, toobin' down the Yampa while we waited for the riders to come through. They thought I was a photographer for ESPN and I didn't have the heart to correct them.

Coming into Steamboat Levi has a nice spot behind the stage leaders.

All the support cars, zipping along right behind their riders.

After the riders go by we head back to the hotel alongside the BMC team doing their cooldown and watch the procession of cyclists heading towards the hotel immediately after the finish. We ride up the elevators with countless cyclists and team members. One guy is carrying a large crate of energy and protein bars and I ask 'Hmm. So, that's what makes them so fast?'. 'Non', he replies, in some accent that I choose to believe was Italian, and firmly smacks the side of his leg saying 'Is deese'. I laugh and he smiles and hands John and I one of the bars out of the crate. When we get to our rooms we see that we're sharing our hallway with the Bissell race team, who are presently figuring out the night's schedule. 'He doesn't want her right now, do you want her now or at 7?' (one's imagination could wander, but I'm pretty sure he was referring to the team masseuse).  I hear as one of the doors across the hall open, look up, and spy a nicely built (aren't they all?) cyclist wearing shorts and not much else looking at me sleepily as I fumble my keycard. If there were such a thing as a testosterone meter, it would be reading well off the charts at this point.

The sun setting at Steamboat on our way back to the hotel after the finish. The Jelly Belly bus is in a lot with a bunch of other team buses.

One of the Radio Shack buses at the hotel.

I meet John in the lobby and we pedal over to his cousin's house (who just happens to live in Steamboat, and just happens to be the ex-mayor), with me riding like there's a jet engine on my back wheel (testosterone clearly has its advantages, and apparently is readily communicated through the air). John and I heard stories galore from the ex-mayor, none of which will be repeated here. We also learned that the haybale structure in the shape of a steamboat (which appeared on TV) was actually their doing. Elise (the news reporter, who was, of course, still following the race) would end up picking up some pictures of their creation to see if she could put it into a story. She was busy working on another piece for Radio France International, including an interview with a "big name" cyclist - check out her story here to find out who it was: Pro Cyclists Battle it out in new US Bike Race

John's cousin, the ex-mayor's, hay bale steamboat.

We met up with the rest of the Lizard Head Race Team at a patio restaurant on the Yampa river, at the base of an Olympic Ski Jumping training facility. Most of the gang heads back to the hotel after dinner but a few of us hang out a bit longer and as luck would have it, have front row spots for the fireworks being set off from the training facility across the river. It was a short display, but none-the-less an unexpected little treat to end the day. 

Sada and Todd, who had gone back to the hotel, lucked upon Tommy Danielson (cyclist for Garmin-Cervelo) in the lobby. Sada humbly asked for a picture and Tommy is uber-gracious, gets up and not only poses for the picture, but also chats with them for a while. Interestingly, this is the only picture Sada took the entire trip, and he says, the only one he needed.

Sada and Tommy Danielson

John Martin made quick friends with a blonde from one of the other cycling teams in the bar (shocking), while Todd overheard some of the Garmin-Cervelo crew talking about how the Schleck brothers are not working too hard in this event as cyclists only have so much in their tanks per year for the big races and this is their time to be on vacation. They just can't go all out on every race, but they do have to be there to fulfill their Trek sponsorship. Oh, the things that happen in hotel bars.
  
The Lizard didn't make TV footage today, but was sighted on a large round hay bale waving the Colorado flag as the peleton flew by. Witnesses say watching the Lizard getting to the top of the hay bale was both treacherous and comical. Other reports say he was later spotted near a great little swimming hole, sunning himself on a rock after a hard day's work.

Tomorrow we ride through Rocky Mountain National Park, the closing stage of The Race Within The Race, and our final day of riding on this tour.