Tour of Alberta ... the Prologue

Tuesday evening. We parked at the Callingwood parking lot and rode our bikes, via Rio Terrace,  Laurier, the River Valley, Groat and Stony Plain Road, downtown to Winston Churchill Square. We were early and arrived as the final barriers for the no-car zone were bring shoved into place. It was slightly chaotic, as motorists, cyclists, police officers and pedestrians tried to figure out when and where to go. But we made it safely.

There was quite a crowd. Who knew so many Edmontonians were interested in pro cycling?

I normally would be interested only to the extent of reading about it and looking at the results online. But when I saw that the Prologue Individual Time Trial riders were going to climb the Fortway Road and 107 Street hills, which I ride up every day on my way to work, I knew I had to see it in person. On the Tour website, this section of the course is described thus: "... a testy 1 km climb up Fortway Drive with sections steeper than 7 percent." (And to think I ride that every workday!)

At the Square we saw the pros warming up and milling around in preparation for the race. We also saw lots of wannabe pros milling around. It turned out many of the amateurs were also going to ride the time trial course before the pros started. That was kind of interesting to see -- riders of all shapes and sizes. I have to say I sort of envied them the chance to ride on the downtown streets and up those hills unencumbered by red lights and traffic.

After watching some of the amateurs start, we decided we'd walk to Fortway Road, following the route down Grierson Hill and through the River Valley. It was hot -- about 29 degrees -- and a bit of a long walk, but it was fun to see the crowds and to watch the racers all along the way.

Finally we arrived at Fortway Road, only to discover that we were not the only people who wanted to see how the riders tackled this climb. We had to squeeze in between two groups of people and didn't have a really good view, but I was happy to see that some of those riders looked like they were working hard to climb the hill. And they have 15-pound bikes, no loaded panniers and of course no traffic hounding them. Seeing them give it their all to get to the top of this steep slope made me feel even better about my daily workout.

the watching crowd

cresting the hill -- photo from another web site

After watching for a while, we decided to walk back to the Square, where we had left our bikes at the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters bike parking corral. We wanted to be sure we made it back to Callingwood before sunset.

We took 142 Street, with its little-used service roads, back to Laurier. This pink bridge is becoming one of my favourite things. Riding through Rio Terrace, with its lovely homes and old growth trees, is so much nicer than riding along 87 Avenue. I still need to figure out whether this is a good route to take to work; I'll try it on my return trip and see how long it takes.

When we got back to our car, we were hot and thirsty, but I at least was happy. And Hubby was happy that I was happy, so all was good.