By Chris Hurt
April 24th - Stage 2: Macon-Columbus
10:30 AM: We’re en route to our first post of the morning. Sounds like
a party in the van, we now have ten people on our team. Someone mentions
they spoke to Jonathon Vaughters and asked how he felt after his prologue crash:
“You have to go fast to win, sometimes it doesn’t work," he mused.
Postal's Antonio Cruz autographs a fan before the start of Stage
2.
Photo by Michael Pugh.
Today we may find ourselves in the rain so I’ll get to use my official Tour
de Georgia poncho, also known as a bright orange trashbag. As we ride the
course it’s clear it won’t be an easy day for the riders. The course is
not flat as it has been described, instead it is a constant series of rolling
hills.
We just got picked up from our 1st drop of the day, Garret and I were at a
quiet highway junction accompanied by four rural sheriffs who told us a bit
about chicken farming. Apparently, chicken feet are a big export to Japan,
where they are considered a delicacy. We didn’t have to wait long for the
peloton to come ripping by. As they came by strung out in a line I could
make out Floyd Landis about fourth wheel not appearing to be laboring.
(Quick side note: it is very hard to pick out various riders in the peloton so I
settle for picking out teams that are easy to locate, Postal being one for me).
Soon after they passed me a three man break went away with Sierra-Nevada and
Saturn represented. We postulated that they were winding up for the sprint
in Thomaston. As for us, we’re hauling ass to our next drop.
As we speed to the last drop we get behind the caravan again and ride there
for an hour or so. We then turn off to get around them going upwards of 80
miles per hour (128 kph) on country roads, but the police don’t bother us.
In fact sometimes they pull over to let us by. At this point I should note
that our driver Joel has been amazing; he fearlessly drives us from point to
point in the most unflappable manner. It doesn’t hurt that we are pretty
much given free rein and we have orange flags that we improvise with when we
need to get around a sticky spot in traffic.
Next up, I get dropped off with George at the top of a tough climb that is
apparently higher than the KOM that immediately preceeded it. When the
race goes by someone from the Dutch national is going off the front, but they
don’t get far. There are a dozen or two folks that have come just to watch
the race at this spot and some others who are stuck in traffic, but are very
interested when we tell them about the race and cycling in general. People
are always interested in the speed and the distance. We also meet Bill and Judy
Seitz from Birmingham, Alabama; they come up to us wearing matching KOM jerseys
from the 2000 Tour de France. They are very enthusiastic about the race
and spend half an hour or so talking with us about the race and our experiences.
An hour or so after the race goes by we get picked up for the run into
Columbus, we miss the end of the race, but not the mediocre food that waits
there, or the rain. Now we’re in our hotel getting ready to celebrate
John’s birthday with most of the rest of the team.
(Personal note, too much to drink at a variety of bars last night leaves many
of us feeling a little rough around the edges at 6:30 the next morning when we
meet).
April 25th - Stage 3: Callaway Gardens-Rome
Up way too early this morning after last night's partying, there is a
constant rain which we have feared. We eat a too-fast breakfast at the hotel
before piling into the sprinter. We’re off to Callaway Gardens where we’ll
be at the start this morning. We get there to see all the team cars and
riders milling about. Thankfully the rain abates soon after and we can
walk amongst and learn to recognize a few more of the riders. Because of
the rain the 2nd and 3rd neutral laps around the course are cancelled. So
we’ll be a short time here. My post is a golf cart path that sees only one
cart while I’m there, so I’m able to watch the peloton as they go by.
Photo by Michael Pugh.
I’m staged a ½ mile from the start of the stage and already three riders stop
for “naturals" - must be a nice spot.
Next stop is La Grange where I get a spot at the sprint point. It’s in
the middle of town and there is a nice crowd. The sprint is won by Lionel
Syne, a Belgian from WebCor. A solo pursuer (Matt Dubberley from
Sierra-Nevada) comes by ten minutes or so later. The peloton, which
doesn’t contest the sprint, has been held up by George - apparently there was no
way to change the train's speed, so George stopped the peloton for a couple of
minutes while the train went past.
Photo by Michael Pugh.
I’ve now moved on to “Upper Caldwell,” out on the top of a hill in the middle
of the boonies. Just now Syne passed by me again looking okay, I hear the
sirens indicating the approach of the peloton.
Six minutes back from Lionel, Jonathan Vaughters has joined Mike Dubberley.
I yelled out the gap as they go by. The peloton is looking itchy as they
go by, snaking from side to side on the road.
Photo by Michael Pugh.
They trail off and we hit the road shortly thereafter. What follows is
what we believe has been unanimously voted to be the most exciting moment on the
tour so far. It comes about because we’ve made a wrong turn somewhere in
Alabama. After the bad turn we find ourselves behind the caravan again
with another two drops to make in rain and sketchy weather. The stress
level has gone up in the van because there doesn’t appear to be a way we can get
around the peloton without actually going through it. So Ryan, captain
that he is, initiates the communications necessary to do so. Eventually we
get permission and start forward. Along the way all the commissars move
over and wave us by. After a few rounds of this we find ourselves directly
behind the peloton on a series of rollers. One of the race motos starts
beeping his horn and moving up the left side of the road. The peloton
slowly starts to move aside, and I’m reminded of some jeep riding through a herd
of gazelles in Africa.
This whole scene was awesome on several levels, first being the fact that we
are performing a dangerous maneuver with all of the racers. Secondly the
interaction with riders was cool, we were hanging out of the windows talking to
them. A Formaggi Pinzolo rider, Matteo Cappe, playfully grabbed on to the
window and hung on for a second. Also noticeable in the peloton with a
nice posed smile was Saul Raisin, currently wearing the jersey for best young
rider.
Anyway, the moment rocked and everyone got a chance to snap a picture of us
mixing in with the thundering herd.
After this we are getting severely dumped on rainwise. We weren’t in sight of
the peloton at this point, but I can only imagine it really sucked for them.
Photo by Michael Pugh.
The end of the day found us missing our finally drop, even in the presence of
several severe driving infractions. We did get to the finish line and get
a chance to watch the three trips around the finishing circuit. Along the
way the rain came along and we finally got to see Fred Rodrigez rip it into high
gear and pull out a stage ahead of Clinger and Cruz.
Freddy takes it. Photo by Michael Pugh.
Fast Freddy Rodriguez -Vini Calderola-Sidermec. Photo by Michael
Pugh.
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