A quick recap of the philly bike race. I ended up going it alone this year. First of all it was hot as hell. It ended up being the slowest time in race history... hot,hot, hot. After almost 10 years of spectating, I have a pretty good game plan for the race. First, a mtn bike is essential. Whether or not you head to Manyunk or not it makes the course totally accessible.
I went right to boathouse row to wait for the riders to head out of town. Great spot for "bits & pieces" Early in the race I scored a High Road musette. I then road around to Lemon Hill & the feed zone at the Art Museum. I met up with Ian & some folks to catch the last few laps. Ian & I were on a mission, with any Rock Racing schwag a great score. I'm sure Julie is happy, I only got 1or 2 bottles. My day was quite good, several musettes & then it happened. The peleton was rolling out of the feed zone. Then Tyler Hamilton drifted to the left & tossed. I caught a full RR musette...winner. I gave Ian the team bottle, which we immediately drank. I did eat the contents of 2 musettes. Good friggin stuff. Might be worth taking up racing :).
Thanks to the tight security, Ian & I sat on the curb at the end of the feed zone for the last several laps. The accessibility was awesome after the race. Hanging around the Rock Racing & Slipstream tents. We both got pics & autographs with Tyler. Ian will vouch for the musette's authenticity too!!
I was hoping to see big Maggie again...after our Flanders photo op. I found out the race hotel was the Sheraton, so I set off to find more racers. As I left the hotel I saw some teams trucks, so I walked over to Slipstream & who but Magnus was sitting on the curb. He was awesome. Very gracious, gave me a autograph & talked about the race & his season. He signed our "Flanders" pic and said he remembered it. I'll be a big fan of Maggie's for some time to come.
