I'm at the North Shore cycling Grand Prix ( http://www.northshoregrandprix.com/ ) which is taking place through Downtown Evanston. The event goes all day, but this race is the Mens masters - some if the best cyclists in the world (including several from Australia). Many people in the Tour De France right now have raced in this series, including Lance.
 
This is the longest cycling series in the US, at 17 days.
 
It's incredibly exciting, and the sound of all these bikes going by is just incredible (much like a swarm of locust). It's a 62 mike race, which is over 70 laps of this circuit. This is the third year they've had the race here in Evanston, and it's quickly become one of my favorite summer events. Last year Australians took 1st and 2nd.
 
Every now and then they have a "sprint lap", where the first three people to cross the line will win an instant amount of cash, regardless who who wins the whole race. These sprint laps are so exciting and the guys crank seriously hard, average speed is like 35MPH.
 
Looking up to the start/finish line.

Approaching turn 5:

Heading down the home straight, approaching the start/finish line:

Turn 4 is one of the more tricky turns since it's slighty greater then 90-degrees, and the road narrows from 3 to 2 lanes:

The northern end of the home straight, I love how close you can get:

Turn 5 is definitely the most tricky, being very narrow. There are often accidents around this turn on some of the earlier (less hardcore) races:

This is where I stood for most of the race, turn 4. What's great about he layout is that the start/finish line is just behind me so we keep jogging back and forward.

Had I not been so wrapped up in the action, then I would have spent more time taking photos: