This morning we dropped off the RV at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center and drove the truck to a location near the start of stage four of the USA Pro Challenge, one of only two top-level professional cycling tours in the US.

The race features some of the biggest names in professional cycling, including the 2011 Tour de France 3rd place finisher Frank Shleck and two time Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso.

Racing here for the last time in his career is Jens Voigt, perhaps the best rouleur in modern times and, at 42 years old, the oldest rider in this year’s Tour de France.  I don’t religiously follow bike racing, but to the extent that I have a favorite rider, Jens is it.  So legendary is his ability to attack and shatter the peleton that there is a website dedicated solely to describing his (somewhat exaggerated) near-infinite physical prowess.

The lead media motorcycles and police cars drive in front of the peleton:

Suddenly, the peleton came around the corner.  This race features 16 teams with 8 riders per team.  This portion of the course is a kind of rolling start, so the riders are being held back by the pace vehicles:

Trailing the peleton are the team cars, each equipped with spare bikes to hand off to a rider with mechanical difficulties:

The peleton came around a second time:

The highlight of stage 4 is the climb up Category 4 Ridge Road, with a maximum grade of 17%.  Since this stage is a circuit race, the riders would ride the climb four times before the stage finish.  We drove from the start to park near the climb.  We could see from the team busses in front of us that we were going the right way:

We parked our truck and walked over to the base of the climb:

We didn’t go far because I was pretty sure the riders would soon arrive for their second climb of the hill.  We waited at the 1KM mark from the top of the climb:

Jens is definitely a favorite of the crowd, with many holding signs printed with his most famous saying, “shut up legs”:

The lead motorcycle zoomed past, indicating that the riders were right around the corner:

Around the corner came a breakaway of 12 riders, including, of course, Jens Voigt:

Jens is seen here third from the right:

About 2 minutes later, the rest of the peleton rode by:

We walked up towards the summit while waiting for the third time the riders would come by:

The summit arch, where KOM points are awarded:

Here come the riders.  But wait, two riders have dropped the breakaway!  Jens has set a pace that only Ben Jacques-Maynes could match on the climb:

Jens (right) and Ben (left) summit the climb:

A bit later, the rest of the breakaway shows up:

And two minutes after that, the peleton rides through:

We walked back down the hill to watch the final climb of the race:

And when the chase cars showed up for the last time, it was Jens Voigt out in front, having dropped everyone else.  In the last race of his career, even at 42 years old, Jens can still attack the peleton and drop them all:

Go Jens, go!

Here’s a view from the cameraman behind Jens from the live broadcast:

I was in tears, and the crowd was going crazy, with some fans running along side Jens encouraging him on:

Over two minutes later, the peleton, having reeled in the rest of the breakaway, rode past:

Race leader and 2013 USA Pro Tour winner Tejay van Garderen, seen here in the yellow checkered jersey, was in the peleton:

Waving to the support vehicles:

Everyone loves Jens:

We walked back to the park where we had parked the car to watch the end of the race on my phone:

Unfortunately, even Jens couldn’t hold off the combined might of the peleton, and was caught by the peleton less than a mile from the finish line.  He did win the “Most Combative” jersey of the stage, and based on the response of the crowd when the crossed the finish line, the fact that he didn’t win didn’t matter.  His tenacity and fighting spirit were nothing short of inspiring.

After the race, we drove back to the Olympic Training Center to hitch up the RV and look through the visitor center:

These weights are a bit lighter than they appear:

Looking up through the Olympic torch on the roof:

The torch on the roof:

After wrapping up our visit, we drove West to overnight at the Walmart of Woodland Park.  Despite what they told us on the phone before we arrived, the lot is signed as “no overnight parking”, so we continued on to a dispersed camping location in the Pike National Forest.  It was getting dark as we drove up the narrow, winding fire road.  Even though it was only three miles long, I was ready for bed by the time we arrived.  See the trip map for driving details.