Viva the Tour of Alberta

Cycling is one of my closet passions. Initially, I got into the sport as I needed something to keep me company on the television as I plodded through my disseration at university. I love the scenery and the commentary that accompanies the Tour de France and over the years, I have found myself extending into watching some of the other events. I have seen marvelous vistas of Spain and Italy, all the while plotting my next vacations. The more I watched and listened to, the more I began to recognize the players in the sport. When Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro D'Italia, that cemented my interest as to have a Canadian GC contender (General Classification) was pretty awesome at that caliber of race.

Now, to be honest, the whole drug and doping thing had me pondering my interest in the sport. In fact, I was reaching a point where I was watching for the scenery along and the commentary of Phil Ligget. I was so disgusted with all the scandal that I nearly stopped watching. Then Cadel Evans won the Tour and Ryder Hesjedal won and well....I started to hope that the sport was indeed turning out clean winners. Watching Chris Froome this year and well, I really hope....

Then, it happened. I saw the advertisement during the Tour de France that mentioned the Tour of Alberta. What? Really? When? September 3 - 8th? I need to find a way to be involved somehow. I was thrilled with the announcement and began to plot my birthday shennigans around the event. Edmonton was the closest I could find to a venue so I decided to go there to the race start. Imagine my disgust when I realized that the actual race didn't start until the Tuesday that the children had to be back in school; 4.5 hours of driving away.

I still went to the Tour of Alberta Festival on the Monday. Sir Winston Churchill Square had live music, and offered people the chance to bike the Prologue. Next year, maybe I will do that. Instead this year, I loaded up with Tour of Alberta gear, visited all the booths, entered to win a bike (I guess I lost) and went to the press conference. That was really fun as the media interviewed some of the main contenders. Cadel Evans was teasing about the Alberta pot holes, while Peter Sagan when asked if he could outpedal a Grizzly bear looked blankly at the reporter before stating with a shrug "Maybe, I think so, yes!"

After the long ride home, I have contented myself with attempting to watch the race on Television. I have been proud of the tourism plugs that really show off this province I call home. I have loved watching Peter Sagan salute the crowd on his wins, including the rodeo salute today. Irritation struck as the whole race on Sports Net picked up the prologue but nothing else, until you realized that they were calling every stage the prologue and had their times wrong. So, I missed Cadel Evans in a break. However, in watching and seeing the impact of the crosswinds and the surprises in a race that was supposed to be straightforward with the lack of a true mountain stage, I have to say that I have been enthralled with this race. I hope that next year, it will be easier to see some of it in person.

To the cyclists: thank you for coming.
To the race organizers: I want to participate. Find some mountains - we have the Rockies!!
To the world: check out Alberta. This province is really stunning!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThFCg0tBDck

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