Stage 5 of the USA Pro Challenge

Last Friday, my hometown of Breckenridge, Colorado, hosted the finish of Stage 5 of the USA Pro Challenge bicycle race that included internationally-known racers that have competed in the Tour de France and other well-known multi-day/week races. By hosting a start or finish, a town or city turns it into an all-day event, with vendor booths and side competitions or demonstrations. So, along with watching the racers come through town, we shopped the vendor booths and entered their contests and observed the pond crossing contest and a stunt bike performance. We also listened to the free Big Head Todd and the Monsters concert at the Riverwalk Center that evening for awhile before walking home. Below are a few photos from the fun day.

The first three photos from the pond crossing contest are from Sharon Trombore. Hubby and I are in the last photo. Competitors tried to bike across a six inch wide wooden plank bridge to get to the other side of the Dredge Pond without falling in the very cold water. As can be seen in the middle photo, one young man even tried it on a unicycle. The winners primarily were local midde-school aged kids.

The next two photos show racers screaming around corners in town, prior to tackling the steep climb up (over 10% grade) Moonstone Road before zooming down Boreas Pass Road back into town and the finish line.

Stage winner Laurent Didier from Luxembourg crossing the finish line.