My town is better than your town.

My town is better than your town.

What's my town? Doylestown, PA.

Why's my town better than your town? Is it because it's just a really cool place to live, and we can walk to all these great restaurants, and I can walk to the SEPTA train station to ride into the city? Well, that helps, but no, that's not why my town is better than your town.

My town is better than your town because we had one of the best pro bike races I've seen in a while. For the past two years, the second part of the Univest Grand Prix has been happening in Doylestown, but it was a low-key affair, with a simple, small rectangular course on side streets where it wouldn't bother too many people. This year, however, was different. This year, it was a REAL bike race, and there was TV coverage and everything. The course was expanded to cover more of Doylestown, had some really interesting corners, and actually encompassed the Arts and Crafts festival going on during the weekend.

The weather was beautiful, there was an incredible turnout for the race, and the race itself was pretty amazing. When there were only a couple of laps to go, we found a spot right on the rail and with each passing lap, the excitement level rose and rose. When the final sprint happened, everyone was going crazy and yelling and clapping and banging on the boards on the side of the course. I was surprised to see a McDonald's logo rolling across the line first - I can bet that nobody on that team actually eats the junk - but it was a solid victory and to a great race!

I brought my big camera to the event, and in the earlier laps, we walked around the course, with me stopping to take pictures whenever the racers went by. I'm definitely one to subscribe to the "shotgun" approach to photography, figuring if I shoot more, I'm likely to hit a good shot now and then, and Sunday was no different. I shot nearly 800 pictures, which I later narrowed down to around 500. I then weeded that down to my 21 favorites, which you can see in my gallery from the race. (or click any of the pix on this post)

It was just so awesome to see real professional cycling happening just a block from my house... and I hope that Univest keeps coming back!