Philly, Baby!

After an overnight train from Iminhell through Killmenow, I finally arrived in Philly around lunchtime on Friday.  Having gotten no sleep on the train (not an exaggeration in the least), I played the “stay awake” game that I know well from trips overseas.  Since I wasn’t there just to see the Philadelphia International Championships, I had a list of things that I insisted on seeing and doing so the rest of Friday and all of Saturday was filled with touristy things.

One of the things I noticed Friday evening was that I had chosen a pretty good hotel.  Not good as in nice (it was a dump!), but good in the sense that it was located in awesome proximity to the race route.  Enough so that four teams, Bissell, Jelly Belly, Team Type 1, and Pure Black Racing, were also staying in the same hotel.  In fact, I was hallmates with Bissell and rather horrified when they kept me up all night vacuuming every surface possible.

Saturday night, I finally got to meet Hélène, a tweep visiting from Canada for the race and covering it for a Canadian cycling website.  We go way back to my early days on Twitter and it was exciting finally to get to meet her.  We had a nice dinner at an Italian place (I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!) and met up briefly at the race the following day.

The Philadelphia International Championships is a race unlike any I’ve ever been to before.  Because of the set up, unless you’re a VIP, you’ll never have a good view of the riders signing in (or of the finish for that matter).  I was okay with that and headed over to Logan Square (which is actually a roundabout and not a square at all) to shoot the first laps of the race. 

Juraj Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home), and Eric Young (Bissell)

It was there that I met Scott, another tweep that I’ve acquired in the last couple of weeks (or months?).  Scott was also photographing the race so we hung out and he showed me some great places to get shots.

One such place was the feedzone where we ended up being given access to an area that was off limits to spectators.  While I’d love to think we looked official, especially since I was wearing Ted King’s socks, I think this was simply an oversight by race security, so I’m not going to complain.  While in the feedzone, we received the unfortunate news that Ted, sporting lucky #13 that day, had crashed out.  Stupid storm grate!  Boo!

My feedzone view for part of the race, sporting Ted King's socks!

United Healthcare, HTC-Highroad, and Liquigas-Cannondale speed through the feedzone

We eventually made our way up to Lemon Hill (no Manuyunk since it was too far to walk) and I was shocked to find a party.  There were vendors, people having picnics, and just a lot of fun.  As the racers approached, everyone would get up, move to the barriers, cheer their hearts out, and then return to their blankets spread out on the grassy hill after the last of the peloton raced by.

Francisco Mancebo (Realcyclist.com) chases Frank Pipp (Bissell) up Lemon Hill while the crowd cheers

As the last of the large laps ended, I headed back down to the finish line hoping to catch some action.  I wasn’t lucky in the photo department, but I did find a location from which I could actually see the sprint finish.  The guys flew by in those last laps at a speed so great that you could feel it. 

I was fairly lucky to get a good spot for the podium presentations, although Peter Sagan was a little uncooperative by holding his Liberty Bell trophy right in front of his crotch. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Peter didn't throw me his flowers this time around, but that doesn't mean I didn't try to get his attention.  Where has all of the love gone, Peter?!

Not the best position for that bell, dear Peter!

Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Columbia) was all smiles after taking the win

I would like to thank the Bissell crew member who gifted me with a couple of water bottles upon my return to the hotel.  Yes, apparently I am that awesome of a hallmate after all.  Or maybe he was trying to thank me for not complaining to hotel staff about all of the noise the team made while demonstrating the prowess of the Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum in the hotel hallway in the middle of the night.

Overall, it was a great race to experience.  And no, I haven't forgotten all about the Liberty Classic... that's a blog post for another day!

Huge thanks to Scott for showing me around the course and advising me on where to find my Mennonite soft pretzels (although Beiler’s Bakery was closed!).  Much like Saul spoiling me for life in the coffee department, the fine folks at Miller’s Twist in Reading Terminal Market have spoiled me in regards to pretzels.  Aside from pretzels, if you ever find yourself in Philly, you may want to check out The Belgian Cafe (a few blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art) and enjoy a sandwich Merckx style.  No joke!  Unfortunately, they didn't have waffles and spekuloos on their dinner menu.

Writer's note: I'm totally lying about Bissell being loud.  They were perfectly polite hallmates.