Steamboat & the USA Pro Cycling Challenge!
Birthplace of my bike (frame).
Don't ever visit Steamboat Springs. You'll hate it. I promise. It's only one of the best places in United States in my opinion. But that's just my opinion...
Read about getting to Steamboat here!
That first afternoon after I arrived and finally caught up with Corey, he made plans to have dinner at one of his favorite places downtown, a good beer spot called Carl's Tavern. Jason, one of the other sales guys joined us and we feasted. Really I feasted and they just ate normally. Both of them had to get back to Moots for a meeting for a bike race Corey was organizing. Since I didn't have much else to do, I sat in on it and played with his dog after his dog and wife showed up. The most memorable line from that meeting was, "400 Dilly bars??" Later that night, I vegged hard-core and watched TV for the first time since I left home. It was so nice! This would wind up being my default routine for the following two evenings as well. Ahhh, civilization.
The next morning, I got up around 9 and wandered downstairs because Corey said there would be donuts, but not just any donuts, donuts from Milk Run Donut Cafe on Lincoln Ave. Alas, there were no donuts I think because Corey was late. So I grabbed my computer and blogged for a while until lunch, thankful to have a good wi-fi connection again. Just down the road, there is a Taco place, attached to a gas station and that's where Corey and I rode our bikes. The hand-made tortillas were killer and if you ever go back, I highly recommend them, even though the burritos looked good too. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon working on my bike. After the 2,000+ miles to get to that point, it needed a good cleaning as well as a tire rotation and a new chain. That night there was a small outdoor screen set up and the people in charge were showing a bunch of awesome youtube videos of various action sports for a while until they showed their feature film. Free popcorn too!
Wednesday morning I woke up and headed downstairs to say hello and blog some more. And this time there were donuts! Hah, everyone seemed to be pushing them on me and by the time I couldn't eat any more, I had about 7. Mind you, they weren't the 90% air variety from Krispe Kreme. Nope, refer back to my Portland post and the VooDoo donuts. They were that style but a whole different crop. Needless to say, I didn't eat again that day until it was dark. But that was ok because I had stuff to do!
That first afternoon after I arrived and finally caught up with Corey, he made plans to have dinner at one of his favorite places downtown, a good beer spot called Carl's Tavern. Jason, one of the other sales guys joined us and we feasted. Really I feasted and they just ate normally. Both of them had to get back to Moots for a meeting for a bike race Corey was organizing. Since I didn't have much else to do, I sat in on it and played with his dog after his dog and wife showed up. The most memorable line from that meeting was, "400 Dilly bars??" Later that night, I vegged hard-core and watched TV for the first time since I left home. It was so nice! This would wind up being my default routine for the following two evenings as well. Ahhh, civilization.
The next morning, I got up around 9 and wandered downstairs because Corey said there would be donuts, but not just any donuts, donuts from Milk Run Donut Cafe on Lincoln Ave. Alas, there were no donuts I think because Corey was late. So I grabbed my computer and blogged for a while until lunch, thankful to have a good wi-fi connection again. Just down the road, there is a Taco place, attached to a gas station and that's where Corey and I rode our bikes. The hand-made tortillas were killer and if you ever go back, I highly recommend them, even though the burritos looked good too. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon working on my bike. After the 2,000+ miles to get to that point, it needed a good cleaning as well as a tire rotation and a new chain. That night there was a small outdoor screen set up and the people in charge were showing a bunch of awesome youtube videos of various action sports for a while until they showed their feature film. Free popcorn too!
Wednesday morning I woke up and headed downstairs to say hello and blog some more. And this time there were donuts! Hah, everyone seemed to be pushing them on me and by the time I couldn't eat any more, I had about 7. Mind you, they weren't the 90% air variety from Krispe Kreme. Nope, refer back to my Portland post and the VooDoo donuts. They were that style but a whole different crop. Needless to say, I didn't eat again that day until it was dark. But that was ok because I had stuff to do!
A few mins after the main group went through. That afternoon, the US Pro Cycling Challenge was finishing in downtown Steamboat and I definitely couldn't miss it. What is the Pro Challenge you ask? Well, it's a professional cyclist stage race that takes place over seven days wherein the riders climb some of the highest peaks in Colorado. Some claim it's the world's hardest race due to the elevation. The Pro Challenge averages 5,000 feet elevation higher than pretty much anything those riders are used to over in Europe. Independence Pass anyone? But because it was such a huge deal, there was of course an expo. The main thoroughfare of Steamboat was shut down to all automotive traffic for the race and everything that surrounded it, including said expo. This is where all the race sponsors and big names in the bicycle industry have tents set up to display their newest crop of bikes and gear. If you're even remotely into bikes, it's a spectacle. There was also a bagillion people wandering around looking at it all. It was a neat atmosphere for sure.
Around 4p the race plowed through downtown. I managed to get a spot along the barricades to watch the sprint finish to the line. A few miles from the finish though there was a big crash and lot of riders ended up limping across the line, bleeding and with torn clothes. Never fun to see... or experience. I perused the expo tents some more afterwords and then made my way over to the oddity that is Orange Peel Bikes. Moots was more or less spawned in there and was hosting a mini post-race party. I had never seen so many Moots together in one corral. It was pretty amazing, ha. I ended up getting pizza after as another Moots employee, Bryce, joined me. Very entertaining guy. I finally rode back to HQ and packed up most of my stuff since I was leaving the next day.
What I didn't mention before though was this: Moots had been following the race since it started earlier in the week in the big company Sprinter Van with the express goal of trying to get as much free TV time as possible. They were changing drivers once the race got to Steamboat for the second half of the race as it made its way to Denver. Jason was going to be Driving part two and once he learned that I was ultimately headed to Denver too, he invited me to ride with him and Ned for the next four days in the van. As much crap as I knew Thad and others would give me for taking yet another vehicle ride, I couldn't pass it up. So I said, absolutely! We shipped out early on Thursday morning to get ahead of the race while the roads were still open.
Around 4p the race plowed through downtown. I managed to get a spot along the barricades to watch the sprint finish to the line. A few miles from the finish though there was a big crash and lot of riders ended up limping across the line, bleeding and with torn clothes. Never fun to see... or experience. I perused the expo tents some more afterwords and then made my way over to the oddity that is Orange Peel Bikes. Moots was more or less spawned in there and was hosting a mini post-race party. I had never seen so many Moots together in one corral. It was pretty amazing, ha. I ended up getting pizza after as another Moots employee, Bryce, joined me. Very entertaining guy. I finally rode back to HQ and packed up most of my stuff since I was leaving the next day.
What I didn't mention before though was this: Moots had been following the race since it started earlier in the week in the big company Sprinter Van with the express goal of trying to get as much free TV time as possible. They were changing drivers once the race got to Steamboat for the second half of the race as it made its way to Denver. Jason was going to be Driving part two and once he learned that I was ultimately headed to Denver too, he invited me to ride with him and Ned for the next four days in the van. As much crap as I knew Thad and others would give me for taking yet another vehicle ride, I couldn't pass it up. So I said, absolutely! We shipped out early on Thursday morning to get ahead of the race while the roads were still open.
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