La Vuelta!

This past Sunday was an awesome yet very long day. The night before the parents had a fiesta for Andres’ birthday and we were all up very late. I managed to get up early to prepare and head to Madrid so I would get a good spot for the last stage of La Vuelta. The reason I left early was because I was unaware of the actual time the cyclists would come through and I was worried I would miss it. I have had this event on my calendar since I knew I would be going to Madrid, so there was no way I was going to miss it. The day before, I had even scoped out where I would go and knew what roads would be blocked off and things. Yes I know somewhat geeky to prepare like this in advance but as I mentioned before there was no way I was going to miss this. The awards stage!

Once I had arrived to the correct location (11ish) there were many people already around and setting up around the barricades to watch the cyclists. All these spectators had come early to watch the younger cyclists do a race prior to the real thing. I was actually glad I got to see this, as it was very different than the races I have seen in Alberta, mainly by the mere numbers of cyclists both boys and girls. They must have all been under 18 and all had super nice bikes and sponsored teams, with their team trucks and vans, pretty impressive really. After the girls race the road cleared a little, I wandered (not knowing I wasn’t allowed) on the road and took some photos of the awards stage. It was nice being so early because there were only huge cyclist fans and tourists who were more interested in the statue and fountain in the middle of the street and weren’t quite sure why the road was all closed down. It was really interesting seeing these tourists trying to figure out what all the hype was, especially because at this point all that was going on were young cyclists, and really no media had come yet. Another thing I found interesting was that during the juniors races the advertisement were different than that for La Vuelta, immediately (I really mean immediately, this was a speedy process) after the youngins race was over billboards and more adds went up and replaced the ones from the jr races. At this point I had found out that I had at least 4 hours before la vuelta, so I walked down the street to get some lunch and just roam the area. The final stage finished with 5 laps around the busiest streets in Madrid. I am very surprised they could actually close the streets but luckily it was a Sunday because otherwise I don’t think it would have been allowed. The street has the huge museum Del Prado, the national library (seems boring but it is really quite nice) and faces towards the Metropolis building up on Gran Via. (which is why all the tourists would be in this area because there would be lots for them to do). Yay for free stuff!

After lunch (2pm) I set up along the barricades to get ready for the cyclists. More people had started coming so I got a spot along the railing but a bit further from the finish line than I had hoped (I would have managed to get so much more free stuff from all the different team girls as they would always stop only a few meters away from me). Waited at this spot for a good 3 hours until the cyclists actually came by (5:30pm). My legs were so tired of standing but there was no way I was giving up my prime spot. The race was awesome, I have never seen such speed and the sprint to the finish was intense. It was hard trying to get photos because I wanted to watch more than take photos, but luckily we saw them more than once so I had enough opportunity to do so. I don’t really know how to explain the race and the final laps so I will describe it in 6 words: speed, cheering, spandex, expensive bikes, and did I already say speed!
You could tell that this race was a grueling 21 days because most of the guys looked pretty skinny, I mean after that much cycling pretty sure anyone would be skinny but still.

After the race I went to see all the team buses and things, it was pretty cool to see all the bikes stacked on the cars and gear everywhere. I felt like I was in wonderland with everything around me. It was a very exciting feeling.

A link with more of my photos here