Let’s review:
Balloon Glow on Friday evening. Cardinals game early Saturday afternoon, balloon race late Saturday afternoon.
Now it is Sunday, and going online I remember that there have been signs everywhere warning of delays due to the Tour of Missouri coming through St. Louis. I check out the route, and it turns out that it runs right down Lindell (my street). So I clean up, dress up, pack up, and head out the door. No sooner than I arrive on the street the lead cars and motorcycles go racing past. Followed by the professional cyclists - including the bikers of the Discovery Channel Team, on their last US race before disbanding. ZOOM! they go. And 20 seconds after they arrived, it was over.
EXCEPT: the St. Louis stage is a circuit race, and the riders do 7 laps of a 10 mile circuit. And the front side of the race runs down Forest Park Parkway, 3 blocks away. So I pick up, pack up, and take off. I arrive just in time for the leaders to go through, a 4-man break that was soon followed by the peloton, or the main body of racers. ZOOM! they go. And 20 seconds later, it was over. So I pick up, pack up, and take off. ZOOM! Pick up, pack up, and take off. There goes the Tour de France winner, ZOOM! Pick up, pack up, and take off. Levi Leipheimer, 3rd at the Tour de France, ZOOM! And so on, and so on. No fences, no gates, no security cops. Just me standing on the curb with the other race observers, while these world-class athletes ZOOM! 5 feet, 3 feet, inches away.
I’m no fan of professional cycling in general, but a circuit race like this one was very much worth the effort to see. Instead of one fleeting glimpse, there are many. Oh, and in what other sport can a participant be involved in a serious crash with an armadillo?
