Tour de Broward

Last week I was on a business trip to Atlanta and was lucky enough to hop over to Miami to meet our friend (and on of VC Senlis founding fathers ;) Fred for the weekend. And meeting with Fred in Miami cannot be complete without a decent bike ride I told him in advance. Fred promised me a good ride... and sure as hell he kept that promise! Sunday we woke up very early to join the a charity ride called the Tour de Broward to raise money for a children's hospital. Fred promised me a couple of things:

1) He promised that there would be a lot of bikers. He was not lying: there must have been at least a thousand riders in different speed groups and distances (50 and 100 km)
2) He promised me that I would see nice bikes. He was not lying: I'm sure that I have never seen so many beautifull toys in one place. All the new stuff was there and everybody was on the high rim carbon wheels, with the newest frames of all the hot brands!
3) He promised me that the organisation would be good. He was not lying: it was perfect from the police stopping traffic at all lights to the technical support (just call and they're there - I had a flat) to the excellent lunch and exhibition park after the finish.
4) He promised me that the asphalt would be smooth. He was not lying: we took a few long straights where it was like rolling on a billiard table.
4) and finally he promissed me that they would ride fast. He was not definitely not bull shitting! We took of in the second group, after a super fast first group had already left (and we never saw again). Unfortunately we lost touch with a nice break away in the front of our group, but we still did 85 km (up to I had the flat) with an average of over 36 km/hour! It was incredible.

Those guys are very serious about their biking! It was a big adrenalin rush to be in such a big peloton of fast bikers.

The only tiny little problem was that I decided to bring some European weather so it rained at that start and it was not very warm (only 18 degr and that is like freezing for those poor Miami people ;-). But it also meant we did not took a lot of pictures, but here is one of us at the finish with one of Fred's friends Sergio.


I think I found the perfect place for next year's VC Senlis Winter Training Camp!!