The New West Grand Prix is a professional cycling race that's part of the British Columbia Superweek race series ran earlier this week and it was literally in front of my building. One of the most fun parts of living downtown in an urban area are the events that are hosted and I'm right in the midst of it. Our city hosts a lot of great street events that involve full road closures and tons of people coming out to see things but the Gran Prix brought a lot more than a fun festive event, this was a world class race.
There was a race for the men and one for the women and both genders are world class athletes. Many of them have been to the Olympics and teams were there from as far away as New Zealand.
There were booths and interesting places to check out in the area surrounding the event and there was so much gear. I had no idea the pro cycling circuit was so big. There's obviously a ton of capital supporting these athletes.
After watching this race I understood why cycling racing commands the attention it does. These guys are absolutely incredible to watch. New West is the oldest city in the lower mainland of the Greater Vancouver area. It was built here back in the 1800's because of it's huge visibility and it is on some of the steepest hills anywhere. The circuit for the race took 45-55 loops around an incredibly steep climb and then flew down another steep hill.
It's absolutely stunning to watch these great athletes fly up and down the hills in a tight pack. There's definitely no room for error here. This video shows a couple of the laps from the race and gives you the feel of just how fast they are moving!
The winner ended up being a local cyclist so that was nice to see... Definitely felt like everyone was a winner here though. After watching this race the only word that comes to mind is Respect.
The guy at the right is the winner of the race.
It was really cool to see a team here from New Zealand! If you have a chance to get out and see (or if you're really brave) to participate in an event like this do it. It was really fun to watch and really get the feel of just how great these athletes are!