2008 CSC Invitational

Once a year, a big time cycling race shows up at my doorstep called the CSC Invitational. Its a pro/am race that features some of the top mens and womens teams in the world, along with supporting the local community by having races for kids. The pro course is a 100 laps of a twisty 1k loop around the Clarendon neighborhood in Arlington. Its pretty impressive to see these people moving so fast, with so many hard corners and turns.




Last year (also with some good shots and a video), Rebecca and I were able to watch the men's race, but due to a chaotic Sunday schedule (including Rebecca's first tri of the season), we watched the womens race and the kids race, before taking off. It was just as cool as always to see these people flying by.

As always, spectators can walk around the center area of the course, where all the teams have their gear trucks set up. Here are a few pictures from some of the big teams that were there. Strangely enough, CSC wasn't in attendance this year.

The best part though was something we witnessed as we were leaving. At this point, the little kids race was going on, which ranges from kids on small road bikes to little ones on tricycles. This little girl had made it to the last corner before the final straightaway, when her chain seemed to drop from her tricycle. At this point, she didn't know what to do. Amazingly, one of the pros who was warming up stopped to help her out and put her chain back on. Unfortunately, super dad decided to show up at the same time, grabbed the bike, and started turning the pedals before the pro was done fixing the chain, which caused the chain to snap. Leave it to super dad to intervene while a pro fixes his little girl's bike. What a jackass. For future reference, if a pro stops to fix your bike, stand back and let them. I'm just guessing that they probably know more about it than you.