2013 Tour of Elk Grove - Starting at Cypress Lane

(click on any photo to enlarge)

The photo above is the 2013 Prologis Pro Men Road Race cyclists at the main curve on Cypress Lane across from the parks. I rode my bike to the TOEG this year and rode to a few different race locations this year to see the race and for photos.

The Tour of Elk Grove has multiple races on different race routes. I can see how it could take years to check out the best locations to see the race and for photos. This is only my second year photographing this even but in the process I have met other photographers that have been to the race for years and have given me hints for good locations and photos.

The photo above is also from Elk Grove Blvd but this one is a little west of the all the action at the start, finish line. I wanted to get a photo of the pack of cyclists from the side, and without the divider fence that you have at the start finish line. It is difficult to get a side view from the residential streets but I was able to get a good side view photo here.

This wide-angle photo shows most of the peloton of riders, packed pretty close together, as they fly down Elk Grove Blvd towards Arlington Heights Road (this race actually has a stretch on Arlington Heights Road, more on that below).

After checking out the route for this race on the map, I decided to place myself at the sharpest turn on this particular route, which is at the north end of Ridge Road where it curves around and connects to Charing Cross Road.

The photo above shows two of the lead riders coming around this curve. There was actually a couple of other riders that broke away from the peloton and were actually in the lead at this time.

This photo shows cyclists in the main peloton as they into this sharp curve. One of the photographers that I was talking to at this location was telling me about a few of the crashes that they had here last year. I backed off from the road a little for these photos :-).

Here are a few of the lead riders out on Arlington Heights Road. If you are not familiar with this area Arlington Heights Road is a very busy 4 lane divided highway at this point and they shut down the northbound lanes for this race and detour all traffic to the southbound lanes. This gives you an idea of how committed Elk Grove is to this event.

 

...and finally the main peloton of cyclists roll around the intersection of Arlington Heights Road and Landmeir (yes, you could say "this is how they roll!" :-) ).

This is not actually the end of the race, but as I mentioned at the beginning of this photo tour, I rode my bike to the race this year, needed to ride home at this point and the Busse Woods Trail (which was part of my route to get here) is just across Arlington Heights Road (to the right). So that's it for the TOEG for me this year! I'll be back next year.