Jennie and I got up early this morning and headed to Colorado Springs. Neither of us have ever seen the Velodrome, let alone watched racing on that track, so we were off to watch some collegiate races!
We also loaded up the bikes and gear so we could go for a ride at some point. So, with coffee in hand, we were driving toward the Springs. It was an absolutely beautiful day - definite contrast to yesterday's weather - a little cool, but completely sunny! I think the drive is about an hour (maybe a touch less?) to the Springs. We arrived at the Velodrome to lots of racers, but not a ton of spectators by any means. What an interesting set up - for those who don't know (or didn't get to watch it on the Olympics)a velodrome is an oval track with steep banks.
You don't really realize just how steep the banks are, that is, until you stand on one end or the other and watch racers pass by. Jennie and I had a blast watching - and trying to figure out - the various events. It didn't hurt that the mountains were backdrop to the velodrome. Aaaahhhh....at one point, we ran up to a gas station and coffee shop and picked up some waters and iced coffees...girls need their sustinance to cheer for these racers, ya know.
These are just a few more shots of the racing we watched. Very cool!
Here's a video clipof the Men's points race...if you listen closely, you'll hear Jennie taunting, "who wants it...who waaaaannts it?!" There were points on the line this lap - it was fun to watch! (I guess this will have to come later, 'cause for some reason I cannot find my video clip) Late afternoon, there was a break in the action, and as the athletes were packing up, we decided to head out as well. Get this - we walked back to the car (remember, we ran to get beverages and such at one point...probably had been away from the car for over an hour!) and as I'm walking towards it, I think...uh-oh, this is the wrong car...the back gate was open. No, not the wrong car at all - the back gate to my car was standing WIDE open - with BOTH of our bikes in the back! Are you kidding me?! Did I walk off and leave that open??? Boy, maybe this mountain air isn't good for me after all. :-) So, after a few very uncomfortable minutes, I was able to laugh about it - not really terribly funny considering all the money that could've disappeared out of the back of my car. OUCH!
We drove to Garden of the Gods. That place is absolutely gorgeous! We drove to the visitor center and put on our bike gear. We couldn't ride from the visitor's center, 'cause the parking lot closed in an hour - we were afraid we wouldn't get back in time and the car would be locked in for the night. We drove back into the park and parked at Balancing Rock. There was a huge tour bus (I'll let you guess who was loading up on that!) parked there, and with it being a weekend, the place was hopping with visitors. We got all the bike gear together and headed out. Again, the place was busy, so we spent a lot of time dodging cars (and some people!) that were parked in the bike lane. Fun! I forgot how Garden of the Gods is either uphill or downhill...not really anything in between. So, Jenn would smoke me going up hill - as I wheezed behind her - and then I would fly past on the downs. It is a gorgeous place to ride, I just wished my lungs would've had a heads up on the ride. The legs felt good, so that's ok.
We snapped a couple pics, and really tried to perfect the "self" portrait. You'll see here that we were quite good at it! ha ha After the ride, we packed it up and left the park. I drove Jenn up to Seven Falls and Cheyenne Canyon - that's a ride we'll have to do next time...all climbing, baby! We also drove through Manitou Springs, which was extremely crowded! What a cute little town though. We were starving by this point(and Jennie was feeling a bit sick), so we tried to find a place to eat. We landed at a Mexican place en route back to Denver and chowed down there. It was good! That was about it for today - a full, fun day in Colorado Springs!
No comments:
Post a Comment