The tunnels frame the views nicely as you pass through a rock outcropping, from one side to the other. I prefer the "low" road headed east because you are closer to the river and the other half of the highway is usually out of sight.
It reminds me of the show Top Gear and the episode where the hosts drove super-cars through the scenic passes in Europe, picking the Stelvio as their favorite.
Glenwood Canyon is not as winding and there aren't any severe drop offs, but you get the idea. Substitute a 2002 Passat for the vehicle and there you have it . . . We actually stayed in New Castle, about 10 miles past Glenwood Springs. Thanks to Kevin's in-laws, we had some great host housing, much better than trying to cram into a hotel. The town of New Castle is a bedroom community with most of the residents working either in Glenwood Springs or out on the Western Slope where natural gas deposits have created a plethora of new jobs. Here's a view of the main drag in New Castle, but the majority of new housing is on the south side of the ridge where there are a couple of new neighborhoods, a new golf course, and a couple of schools.
Walking down Main St. was pretty amusing as the town has a lot of diversity. Brian's friend Harry is a 10 year resident and has plenty of stories to tell from his time in town. Unfortunately I didn't catch a picture of it, but the VW Cabriolet on an old Bronco chassis summed things up pretty well.
Racing went reasonably well and again, it was nice having some new scenery with a course that none of us had seen before. The course was rolling with only one significant climb just before the turn around. It followed the river which probably kept it from being absurdly hot out there and made for some nice views when you had the chance to look around. Once we got done with the neutral roll out, the attacks came fast and furious. The early break got off just before the first turn around at Gypsum and the three biggest team were represented with a VC, Rio, and Legacy Energy rider in the mix. That meant there were a lot of guys sitting around with no reason to work to keep the break in check. I didn't really want to put in the effort knowing there was a 10% hill somewhere out there and a lot of miles still to be covered, but sometimes it has to be done. I spent a good portion of the first half of the race on or near the front keeping tempo so the break wouldn't get too far up the road.
We actually caught them just before the climb where the race started to come apart. Some gaps opened on the climb, but thanks to some cows roaming in free range territory on the course, the turn around was shortly after the climb. I was in a group with a few riders trying to claw our way back to the front after the turn around and thanks to gravity caught back on midway down the hill we had just come up. Nobody was very interested in keeping the pace high and despite a few attacks here and there, within about 10k or so just about everybody was back together. At that point Kevin and a few others separated themselves from the group and again most of the larger teams were represented with Vitamin Cottage being the exception. They got to the front and started rotating, but didn't have much success at pulling the break back. For the rest of the race, Tim and I took turns covering anybody who tried to scoot up the road, trying to take advantage of the fact that we had a teammate in the break and had zero obligation to do any work. Having been on the wrong side of the mix in the past with VC, it was somewhat satisfying watching them try to get others to pull through with no real luck. Kevin took 3rd on the day, I was 16th and Tim was 24th. I was satisfied with my result and the amount of work I was able to put in early on in the race to keep it under control and enable one of us to get up the road when it mattered.
The crit was a different story and it is back to the drawing board yet again for me. I need to work on my riding in the more technical crits so I don't just ride myself off the back by being overly tentative in the corners. Tim put in some big efforts to try and pull the break back about midway through the race, but as the numbers got smaller and smaller, the race shattered and it got hard to keep track of who was where. Kevin got clear of the remains of the race and spent the majority of his day towing around a Legacy Energy rider who had two teammates up the road. Results have not been posted yet, but we had a pretty good showing for the weekend.
The trip back was uneventful, traffic minimal, and the house was still standing when I got back . . . can't ask for much more.
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