Another Vuelta came to an exciting conclusion last night. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. It takes a lot of hard work to pull an event like this off and I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude to Suhail Medina, Myrna Rosado and the rest of the Vuelta staff, the road captains, the drivers, the medics, the police officers, the town officials, the volunteers, the photographers, the videographers, the writers and everyone else who put in the time and effort into making this year’s Vuelta such a success.
Most of all, to our great community of cyclists, THANK YOU! It was a pleasure riding with you. We hope to see you again next year.
The last few miles of La Vuelta were extremely exciting to watch. I can only imagine of what it must have felt like to be in the middle of the peleton as you sped through the city. Although most of you riders made this whole event look easy, I know it probably wasn’t, so congratulations on what you’ve just accomplished.
Being in one of the cars with the Vuelta staff, I heard lots of stories about people who had difficulties last year and came back this year to conquer. I love those stories. I know that another rider, Bill Gifford from Bicycling Magazine, only found out he was coming to this event a few weeks ago. With very little time to train, Bill wasn’t expecting to finish the whole tour, but finish he did. Nice job, Bill!
Thanks to all of you for the inspiration. I can’t wait to get back to Oregon and start training for my own cycling season. If I’m going to be able to ride with you next year, I’ve got a lot of work to do.
It is sad that tensions between motorists and cyclists in the United States have been growing over the past few years. Apparently Puerto Rican drivers haven’t gotten the memo because they showed La Vuelta riders a lot of courtesy on the road this week. And, while it might not have been obvious to the riders, some of those cars were stopped and sitting for several minutes waiting for the peloton to pass.
It was extremely satisfying to look at drivers stopped in the middle of the first day’s climb. Most of them had big smiles and genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves. Instead of getting upset at the disruption, they seemed to delight in the fact that, for a moment, they were able to be a part of this great event.
Since nearly half of the riders in this event live in Puerto Rico, it got me thinking: is the reason motorists treat cyclists with respect because there are so many strong riders here, or are there so many strong riders here because motorists treat cyclists with respect? Is it because cycling is more accepted as a spectator sport? Or does living in paradise just make it easier for people to stop and smell the roses?
Every year I watch every minute of the Tour de France. In fact, during the month of July, I let most every other commitment I have slide. Often I wonder what it might be like to ride along in a team car. Sadly, I know this will never happen. However, today, YOU made this dream close enough to being a reality that I'm truly happy. The (sort of) closed roads, the cars driving in the wrong lane, the motorcycles with photographers on the back zipping from place to place and people shouting in languages I do not understand set the backdrop.
But it was the sight of your beautiful peloton -- the way you moved, the bikes you rode and the uniforms you wore -- that made it totally convincing. And, when you hit the climb, I saw those things Bob and Phil talk about year after year. I saw you reach into your suitcases of courage. I saw you dance on the pedals. I saw you fly. It was amazing. To those who may have been struggling today, I say "congratulations" because you wouldn't have known it by looking at you. To all of you a hearty thanks for helping me live my dream -- if only in my mind.
Today more than 30 riders kicked off the 2010 festivities with an early morning breakfast at the Caficultura cafe in Old San Juan. The coffee was flowing, the breakfast delicious and the excitement palpable. At 7:05 the sun was up and the ride got underway. The peloton worked its way through the capitol city with purpose. Riders were treated to the beautiful cobblestone streets of the old city, the campus of the University of Puerto Rico, the financial district of Hato Rey and the pristine beaches of Ocean Park.
Tomorrow this group will join with the other 420 riders for the official start of La Vuelta. The 148 mile ride from Old San Juan to Ponce is the most challenging day of the tour, but, if today is any indication, the riders are more than ready.
