GamblerGORD53

The triathlon circus comes here and also the Canadian national cycling championships was here last Sept.
The course goes right by my doorstep so I can't not see them. They also have an amateur fondo, but that got rained on. LOL.
So they had junior and senior races for both genders. I "raced" all 4 in 2 spots on the course. A medium hill just a block west of me and a 1.5 mile flat part. Both have a close path I can try pace them, on the hill I'm right beside them. I was on my fastest bike, with SA XL-RD5w. LOL. I did both 3 times with all 4 classes.
The 3 slower classes I could keep up for 100 yards or 2, with favorable tail wind, 23.5 to 24.5 mph. Yah I know they would be at 50% effort, but I don't have a peloton either.

So on the downhill with the men, I tried to time my start when they were 100 feet away. The 2nd pass I went too soon an spoiled it.
The last time I got it perfect and got going 33.5 mph. They were taking it easy at 37 or so. So they went by about 8 feet per second. One rider finally gave me a thumbs up. LOL. That pass I actually felt some slipstream and the hum of the CF wheels, only about 6 feet from them. Starting in 2020 the city poled off that traffic lane for the summer.

The race was a brutal course of 20 laps, 120 miles I think. Flat with corners for a mile then this hill by me, then another twisty mile up and back down. Then a flat 1.5 miles to a steep hill with medium steep another 1/4 mile to the finish line. Over 100 of the 180 riders bonked out. It was a pretty hot day as well. I talked to one of them while awaiting the finish.
The next day they had a criterium on a 2x2 block square course. Races were up to 45 min. plus 3 laps. I went to watch and looking for a spot I said to people on a curve that it's dangerous there. Sure enough, right there, half way in the men's race one guy got off tracked and braked but still rammed a lady. She went down like a tree and her head smacked the sidewalk. She didn't pass out somehow.
The park that's part of the tri course is being refurbed the next 3 years, so no race. Gets fewer spectators every year anyway.
I actually had more difficulty pacing those girls, but their race is barely 90 minutes. LOL.

>> And back in 2014/15 the Tour d' Alberta attracted about 20 of the best guys, including young Peter Sagan who won I think. There was a city course, time trial and 4 days on the highways, I saw some of both. One of those days I rode my new Rohloff tour bike farther than they did, 108 miles. LOL.