Race Day 2 - live from Crested Butte

Greetings from the finish area in CB. The riders are on their way - large breakaway group is already through Almont and the peleton is north of Gunnison, so not a lot of time to post this!

Early morning today. Tent breakfast (Cadel calling the coffee 'dirty water'), and load the bikes onto the cars and into the RV for the shuttle to the Montrose start. I took the team from Telluride to Montrose - it was great to have Levi riding shotgun. At first he wasn't very talkative, but he perked up when I pointed out a few sights like Mt. Wilson, then he really came alive when I showed him Ralph Lauren's 17,000 acre ranch on the way down to Ridgeway. He even had me slow down so he could take a picture of the teepees for his wife who had told him about them.

Montrose was a zoo, and very hot after the chilly start we had in Telluride. All went as planned. I had a chance to chat with the one and only Bob Roll - it's amazing how talkative he can be when he is working and you are wearing crew gear! We were laughing about the crowd that he gathered for his spot on Lizard Head Pass yesterday.

Once the riders cleared out of the RV, it was off to Crested Butte. We drove all the buses and RVs down the closed course through town, honking at the crowds who were going wild. Fun!

I had Chicchi along for the ride today. He was a lot of fun, and his English was good enough to carry on a conversation or two. He was dying for a cappuccino (I am not making this up), so we asked a cop if we could stop on the course in front of The Bean in Gunnison, and he ran in and got us a couple.

CB is beautiful today - light clouds and not too hot. The finish is up at the bottom of the ski hill, which is quite an uphill finish (3KM). Another great crowd!

That's all for now. Gotta go catch the finish.