A Day At The Races

It was a beautiful day in Mankato today- sunny, not a cloud in the sky- and a perfect day for a race. One of the final stages for the Nature Valley Grand Prix was run in Mankato today and a lot of the riders were using it as a prep for the Beijing Olympics in August- the race was 86 miles around Mankato (in the rural areas of Blue Earth County) and then four laps in Mankato itself, including four, crazy-ass steep climbs up Main Street Hill (the nearly vertical hill in town!) Allison, Sophie and I went to check it out.



Here's a view of the Main Street hill. They have to climb this thing four times. I think I'd have trouble walking up it four times, let alone riding a bike up it.



Who are these two hot people in love? (Ali and I! Whooooo!)



And here's Sophie, who had quite the busy and exciting day!



This is the first climb up Main Street Hill with the first wave, the big group and then the rest of the pack following behind. This hill is a big-ass hill and it shook things in the race up pretty quickly.