Canada: Part Deux

The picture machine has been restored! On to more adventures, several weeks after they happened.

I think this cement truck was full of cement. It may also have been full of asparagus .

Closer inspection revealed it may just be cement. I was hoping for at least carrots.

Most mornings in Canada started with coffee and the Tour de France. It's always good to learn about the news of the world before hopping on your bike for the day.

Because after that it's straight to the office.

Warming up for the Gastown crit.

Right next to the course.

There are a lot of people at Gastown. With $15000 for the winner and a downtown course packed with fans, you can see why so many riders want to take part.

The race is also really fast. So fast that they used Maseratis for lead and follow cars.

Like a blur.

However these battles are not fought without casualties. Winger got some bloody elbow and a torn pair of shorts during his effort.

His mood improved upon finding this really small road bike. Alan's mood apparently was also high as he photobombed this shot talking to some ladies on the streets of Vancouver.

We also found, or rather were found by, this very drunk, one armed Australian gentleman. We learned he is a fan of the sport, does not appreciate inner team violence, used to work for Liquigas-Cannondale in Europe, and thinks that road bikes are the bastard cousin of mountain bikes. I wish I knew how to follow him on Twitter.

The Optum team won the race and most of the money so we assume they went out to celebrate. This is exactly how much bike stuff you can stuff into your team car.

Caught Orange headed.

A couple of days later we were back on the waterfront for the start of Tour of White Rock. That's the US in the distance.

Jon and Staz warmed up looking towards the homeland. The man talking to them had a lot of opinions to share about bike racing strategy, conditioning, sponsorship, and the ubiquity of doping in cycling. I only wish I'd had a notepad to help recall this great wisdom.

I was more excited about having a camera to take a picture of this puppy.

Staz ready to rock for the uphill TT.

The next day there was a crit. It looked like this.

I was much more excited about the prepared craziness of my straw. Canadians don't mess around with crazy straws.

Next stop Bend. Well after a couple of boxes of Shredies.