A Fam Visit & Competitive Bicycling

The last week of July and first week of August turned out to be a great time, but there are no pictures to prove the revelry unfortunately.

First we had the pleasure of welcoming Melissa and Jason to Charlotte for a few days of vacation. It was great to see family and enjoy a relaxing weekend --- we toured Charlotte, grilled out and tossed some bags (cornhole, aka bean bag toss). The weekend flew by far too fast, but was a blast none the less.

The next weekend, Megan and I volunteered to help out with the Bank of America Criterium --- known as the richest cycling event in the national criterium series ($25K to the winner). Besides hanging banners and answering a few questions, we enjoyed two outstanding races near the start finish line in the heart of Uptown Charlotte (known as downtown in most any other city) . The women's race demonstrated perfect teamwork, with the favorite passing the leader with a few yards left.
The men's race had it all: a break-away that lasted 25 miles and withstood by a few feet at the line; an ominous thunderstorm that sheeted rain for the last 10 miles and wrecks worthy of the tour taking out 20+ racers. Good times.