I have biking on the brain… and not just with the recent Tour de France and all of the Floyd Landis doping brouhaha brewing in the news media. No, after a recent mishap on the Booty Loop* I decided to finally trade in my 19-yr old trusted but rusty Trek 360 10-speed for a new ride. I really liked the ride of the Trek Madone, but went with the Specialized Roubaix which features a sloping top bar for a more comfortable geometry. With my back problems I figure I'll get more mileage out of it in the long run – plus it's $900 less than the Trek. Wow, for that money I could buy myself a new jersey… maybe even TWO! I special ordered it yesterday and am hoping it will arrive in time to take it with me to Penland in the North Carolina Blueridge mountains at the end of this month.

*The Booty Loop, for you non-Charlotteans, is a 2.4 mile circuit in the Myers Park neighborhood, very popular with cyclists and joggers. At any hour of any day you are sure to spot any number of lycra-clad riders on the Loop, but it is especially crowded during the evening rush hour, from about 5 to 7 pm when the cyclists all but close down the right lanes of Queens Road, Queens Road West and Selwyn Avenue to vehicle traffic. I personally think this is the main reason for all the vitriolic anti-bicycling letters to the editor that appear every week in the Charlotte Observer. The Loop is a mere 2 blocks from our house, and it's usually where I ride in the evenings after work. Weekends I explore other routes. Last weekend was the annual 24 Hours of Booty, a ride to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.


So after returning from the bike shop yesterday, Jim and I headed uptown to watch the Bank of America Invitational Criterium, a 50-mile pro urban bike race through the streets of Uptown Charlotte (the women's race is 25 miles). There was a great turnout - the course was lined with cheering fans and onlookers. We snagged a great spot at the first corner turn, but ended up traversing the entire length of the 1.2 mile course for additional photo-ops. All the photos shown here are from the Nikon DX digital SLR camera I borrowed from work – I shot everything using the pre-set action mode. Most of the shots ended up way too blurry, but I got some cool effects.

Soon after the men's race began, dark storm clouds started to roll in. The wind picked up and lightning flashed – we wondered if they would call the race but they kept on going. There was at least one pile-up we know of on the backstretch, but after I filled the camera's Flash card to capacity and the rain started coming down, we made our way to Brixx Pizza for some frosty beers and dinner. Good thing too 'cuz it wasn't long before there was a throng gathered out front waiting to get in. Shawn Milne was the winner of the men's race.

Charlotte Criterium Story