On the road to Breckenridge....

We got on the road and decided we would make a stop for the night in Steamboat Springs, CO, because we had never been there.  And our trip is to see places we've never been or go back to places we always enjoy.  So, we were excited to get to Steamboat.  We made it to Steamboat about 3:20 p.m. and were surprised to see a detour around the town and traffic all over the place.  We could see down the side streets to the Main street and there were people EVERYWHERE!!!  They were on rooftops and all along the street and were VERY excited, screaming, jumping up and down!  As soon as we found a parking spot we headed toward the excitement.

We found out that we got into town just about the time the US Pro Cyclists were coming across the finish line in Steamboat for their 4th day of racing through the Rocky Mountains.  There was such a  festive mood all over the town.  We decided to hang around downtown and enjoy the excitement of it all - even though we knew nothing about it!  Sometimes being clueless is a good thing because we probably would have gone right by Steamboat if we had known all of this was going on.   We tend to avoid crowds and places where we know it could be hard to find a room.  But Gerry got on his ipad and found us a room.  Now we could relax and enjoy dinner downtown.  After a wonderful dinner we headed out to find our hotel for the night.  We just happened to find a room where many of the cyclists were staying.  These guys are just amazing.  I can't even imagine riding up a mountain.  I can barely make it up a gentle slope!  We found out they were heading to Breckenridge at 11:30 the next morning.  So we decided we would get on the road early and be in Breckenridge to experience all of the excitement of the race there.

We headed out the next morning on the same road the cyclists would be taking.  My, oh my, how do they do it???  It took us 2 hours to drive the drive that they would take them 4 hours.  Can you imagine???  We couldn't even imagine how grueling that would be - and this was day 5 for them!  It gave us a whole new appreciation for pro cyclists and how tough this sport is.  They have to be the most fit people in sports.  We found out that there were at least 4 cyclists who had raced in the Tour de France.  They all have teams.  It's a sport we know nothing about, but it sure got us wishing we did know more!

We made it to Breckenridge and went to our timeshare where we would be spending the week.  Love Valdoro Lodge!  Great place with a great location where we could just park and walk into beautiful downtown Breckenridge.  So we parked the car and headed into town to experience day 5 of the first US Pro Cycling in the Rocky Mountains.  By the way, it was Lance Armstrong who was responsible for getting this here and they are thinking of making it even more difficult next year by extending it to 8 or 9 days.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  Five days up and down the Rocky Mountains is not difficult enough??? 

The finish line in Steamboat Springs

A couple of the cyclists who stuck around for autographs

Someone was nice enough to ask if we wanted our picture taken together

This is the bike I want!

Beautiful creek in Steamboat.  It was a warm day and we would like to have been tubing down it!

These are all team cars.  Next morning they were out there loading the bicycles on the cars.

Some of the Steamboat slopes

People were already setting up their place along the race route.  This was 3 hours before they would pass through.

Stopped along the way for a yummy breakfast!

Coming into Breckenridge

Valdoro Lodge - our home for 8 days

Great place!  Our condo overlooked downtown Breckenridge

People started putting their chairs out hours before the cyclists would be here.

Breckenridge did it up right!

It was fun watching where they were along the course that we had just driven

Up, up and away!

They had set up 2 of these big screens so that people could watch the whole race.

The beautiful creek in downtown Breckenridge

That is their theatre behind Gerry.  This is where they had the free concert that night.

I was just amazed at all the beautiful flowers still thriving the end of August!

Our condo with a full sized kitchen.  Nice to be able to eat in for a change!

View from our balcony

Some people REALLY got into it!

By the time the cyclists came through we had no view!  Had to hold the camera way over our heads.

Tried to get the leaders, but they were so fast they were gone before the camera clicked.

Should have just watched it on the big screen!   :-)

The winner!

It's just so amazing how close they race!

It's been so nice waking up to this view every morning!

Notice the lower level have their own hot tubs