The 2012 Tour of Elk Grove - Photos 4 Womens Races

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OK, back to the grown up races at the Tour of Elk Grove (the previous photo on the last photo page of this set was at the Big Wheel races).

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Here's one of the young women's teams taking a little bit of a break in a slightly shaded area.

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And the more serious women cyclists getting ready for the next race.

Some of the lead riders taking the corner on Tonne Road in the Pro Women's Circuit Race on Sunday. This photo was taken as the riders turned from the northbound lane of Tonne Road on the the southbound lane so this is actually a full 180 turn to the opposite direction.

The women's peloton taking the corner at Tonne Road and Elk Grove Blvd. This is a sharp turn too but it is just a 90 degree turn not a complete u-turn as in the previous photo. I was going for a little lower angle view of the peloton at this point.

One thing that made these races a lot of fun for me is that I rode my bike to the race. This was a great way to get around to different locations fairly quickly rather than watching everything from the same location. There were a lot of people at the race so I had to ride slow or even walk my bike through the most congested area but once I was between locations it was a fast way to get around. And, of course, the spectators always mistook me for one of the racers. :-) (I'm really just kidding on that last part).

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I believe that this is the same race a few laps later and near the finish line. Sorry that I can't put names to the racers. I spent a lot of my time checking out different locations along the race routes to see the races and get photos so I was not always near the start/finish line where the announcers were mentioning the racers names, positions and stats.

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There were actually more cyclists in this race than I originally thought there were since they go by so fast when your watching the race.

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Some of these stages are actually very long and require endurance and concentration.