RVA Events: UCI World Championship

annestuartteter
Oct 10, 2015
3 min read

I don’t know if y’all remember that little bike race we had a few weeks ago, but I never got to say my piece on it...so here it is...IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!

I only attended the last day, Sunday, (wish I had gone to more) and it was immediately evident that despite all the bitching and moaning this was one of the coolest things I (and RVA) will see in my lifetime!

I chose to watch from Libby Hill and I could not have picked a better spot to witness history. Not only is the place itself beautiful, but the atmosphere was unlike anything I have ever been apart of, or will in the near future.

They had blocked off from 25th street on, so Poe’s Pub was right in the action. We grabbed a beer and started our journey up the hill. We got there right as one lap was going by and I could literally have reached out and touched the riders. I happened to be standing next to a very well informed North Carolinian who told me they were on lap 8 with another 8 to go and were coming by about every 24 minutes (seriously so helpful, made timing out beer runs much easier).

Scene of the crowd on Libby Hill

The whole hill was a party that day. Open container? What’s that? Dudes dressed as hotdogs? Normal. Every step you took, you heard about five different languages being spoken. And despite not understanding everyone in the crowd, one thing was for sure, people were having an awesome time. Everyone smiled. Everyone was polite. Where were the rude Europeans I was promised? (They must have been waiting at the finish to throw eggs at the bikers or something.) I can tell you, I have never been in a crowd where I felt more comfortable. No one pushed, I was able to see everything. I could have knocked the bikers off their bikes if I wanted to, (I didn’t, I promise) that’s how close I was able to get to the action.

The Pelaton

They had brought in an announcer and big screen so you could see what was happening during the rest of the race. (Again, Libby Hill was the perfect place to be.) The commentator brought out someone who’s name I should remember, who is very well known in the biking community. The crowd went wild (I won’t lie, I did too, I was caught up in the fever!) I also think the First Lady of Virginia said a few words, but that was during the allotted time for beer run...priorities.

Around the corner

Eventually we made our way to the top of the hill. We got a spot near a turn, so we had a great view of the riders coming up. Also bonus: found the food trucks! Let me just say right now I cannot recommend Croaker’s Spot more! It was phenomenal. We got the fish fry baskets with fried fish (duh), cornbread (how are you not sold yet) and fries all for $10. That’s a deal y’all! I’d never been to their storefront before, but goddamn if they make food like that from a truck, I can’t imagine what they can do with a real kitchen.

Pelaton coming around the corner

Sipping on some beer, chowing down on fried fish and cornbread and watching the world’s fastest bikers go by as by all means the best day!

Close ups

Sidenote - I feel like I could write a whole other blog on the separate “race” that was happening with the pace cars. If someone wants to explain their top speeds to me that would be fantastic.