Bike Race

The Pro Cycling Tour comes through Philly every year. It's a three stage race that hits some other towns in the area, but this is the big one. It's 156 miles throughout the city and Manayunk, where they face "The Wall" - a very steep, brutal climb. I haven't done it myself, but maybe one of these days...

Anyway, a lot of people think that watching a cycling race is about as exciting as driving backwards across Utah at 5 mph. I happen to think it's very fun to watch, but then again - cycling is my favorite event in the triathlon.

Here are some pics. Not the best quality, as it's tough to get motion shots (these guys are going around 30 mph...I can maybe do that in a sprint for about a mile).

The Start:

The Peloton Passing at the start, and about to start the "main" portion of the course:

Peloton and Race Leaders starting the final lap! Also, the actual finish. Because getting up to the finish line would have been a nightmare, I had to take this on the jumbotron they had on the course. I could have gotten to the finish line bleachers early, but I did not want to have to sit around a bunch of other sweaty people for a few hours...

Finally, I stopped to get this shot of Rodin's The Thinker as I was walking home. There is a Rodin museum here, and there is a copy of the original sculpture outside. I sometimes wonder if Rodin is laughing at us from beyond because he made this famous sculpture about something else entirely, yet everyone reveres it and it's called the The Thinker. Look closely...what else does it look like he's doing? Probably wouldn't have been as renowned if he'd named it for that.....