Tour of Alberta - Edmonton time trial race

Well, I have taken in my first ever pro cycling event and even managed to get my picture in Cycling News!

 

It was a really great evening, with perfect weather and a friendly crowd of enthusiastic fans, many of them with their own bikes and sporting their cycling gear. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood.

 

A bunch of us including my coworkers, Jim and Sean, found a spot to watch the race on the hill below the Legislature grounds and just east of the High Level Bridge. So we got to see the riders work their way up the hill, which many of them seemed to do with very little effort.

The riders made several practice laps around the 7.3 km course before the individual time trial officially got underway at 6:15 pm

 

A sheriff on a motorcycle preceded each rider to ensure that the course was clear and that no fans were getting too close to the track

 

Then came the cyclist followed by his support vehicle carrying spare bikes and wheels as well as coaches and mechanics

The riders rode down River Valley Road just below us before making the turn up the hill in front of us

 

This is my very blurry picture of Canada's Ryder Hesjedal who was definitely a crowd favourite. Hesjedal finished 30 seconds behind Peter Sagan who won the time trial in 8.28 minutes.

I'm afraid my camera equipment wasn't quite as sophisticated as this guy's!

 

And when the race was over, the fans got back on their bikes and headed home. I don't think I've ever seen so many cyclists in Edmonton at one time. Meanwhile the racers will continue their Tour of Alberta throughout the rest of this week, ending in Calgary on Sunday.

 

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Tour of Alberta

There's a big event in town this week that has cycling enthusiasts very excited. It's the Tour of Alberta, the highest profile bike race in Canada, bringing the top cyclists in the world to our little province!  The event kicked off this weekend with a family ride in downtown Edmonton on Monday.  The  Edmonton stage of the race, called the Prologue, begins this evening at 6:15 at Churchill Square. The race will continue throughout the week winding 900 km through the province before finishing Sept. 8 in Calgary.

I heard that race organizers were looking for volunteers so I decided to sign up. I spent several hours on Saturday and Sunday getting immersed in the logistics of the event, putting decals on vehicles and picking up event participants at the airport.

 

 

 

 

 Here I am with my fellow volunteer, Don, applying the "eyebrow" decal to one of the event vehicles. It's one of those times when having long arms comes in handy.

 

Don modelling the volunteer t-shirt as we wait to pick up people at the airport. The guys in the background are with the Jelly Belly Cycling Team. Who knew that the Jelly Belly candy company sponsored pro cycling!

 

One of the mechanics with the Australian team Orica Greenedge

 

The US BMC team includes Australian Cadel Evans, the 2011 Tour de France winner

 

BMC mechanics working on bikes while a cameraman films the action

 

 

The US Garmin-Sharp team includes Canadian Ryder Hesjedal who won the 2012 Giro d'Italia

 

If you're interested in finding out more about the ins and outs of the race, check out the Tour of Alberta website.  There are also some great articles on the Edmonton Journal website, including this one: Green means fast, yellow is the best.

 

I'm planning to watch the Edmonton race with a couple of my coworkers this evening starting at 6:15 pm.  Stay tuned for more ...

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September long weekend

We couldn't have asked for better weather this past long weekend. The garden is still putting out beautiful blooms this late in the season.

Stargazer lilies

Morden Belle rose and Russian sage

Someone else was enjoying the beautiful weather as much as I was

I also spent some time over the weekend volunteering with the Tour of Alberta. What an interesting (and complicated) event! Canada's Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro d’Italia in 2012 riding with the US team Garmin-Sharp. What!? A Canadian cyclist riding on a US team? Yup, that's one of the first things I learned -- the teams are not country specific. Check out the Tour of Alberta website for all kinds of fascinating info! And check back here later for more photos of the event.

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Edmonton marathon

 The Edmonton marathon was on this past Sunday and for the second year in a row, my church mission team and I organized a cheering station along Ada Boulevard, just down the street from the church.  We handed out wet sponges and orange wedges which were very much appreciated by the runners.

Unfortunately as I was downloading my pictures, I inadvertently deleted half of them!  So I've included some pictures here from last year's event.

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Motorcycle visitors

I had two Harley riders drop by my house this week. My sister, Sharon, and brother-in-law, Rick, took a motorcycle holiday, driving from their home in Manitoba through the northern states including the Going-To-The-Sun-Road in Montana and then back up into Canada to Cranbrook, BC. On their way back, they took in Banff and Jasper and then stopped in Edmonton for three days.

 

If you had told me ten years ago that my big sister would end up a motorcycle rider, I would have laughed. But never say never!

 

I still remember the day several years ago when I asked Sharon what she'd got for her birthday from Rick and she said, a motorcycle helmet! I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know Rick was getting back into motorcycles, but suddenly the two of them turned into Harley riders.

 

For the first year, Sharon rode as a passenger with Rick driving. But a female friend of her's got her motorcycle driver's licence and before you knew it, Sharon had decided she would do the same. Now she and Rick each ride their own bikes and are loving it!

 

The funny thing is, if you look up my address on Google Street View, you'll see Sharon & Rick's bikes parked in front of my house. The Google folks must have taken my street photo last summer when Sharon & Rick were here.

We took a ride out to Elk Island Park one evening hoping to see some wildlife, but someone must have told the animals we were coming and they went into hiding. We only saw three bison, a coyote and a beaver on the side of the road who disappeared as we approached. Oh yes, there was also a rabbit and a squirrel!

 

Sharon & Rick lucked out the following evening and saw two moose on their way home from Gord & Laura's acreage south east of Edmonton. We're a family that considers wildlife sightings an integral part of any drive.

 

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