Story and photos by Chris Hurt

April 26th: Stage 4 Dalton-Gainesville

This was to be the big stage of the race. Within our group we had argued back and forth whether the stage was challenging enough, but it was what it was. Our group was staged at the starting circuit in Gainesville.  Unfortunately, we were staged there an hour or so earlier than we needed to be, so it was another short night of sleep and we were a bit more bitchy as a group. This became evident a bit later in the morning when one of the other teams told the high strung organizer of the volunteers that their van wouldn’t start. 

He got into a bit of a panic thinking someone had put regular gas into the diesel vehicle, this went on for a little while before they all fessed up that it was a joke and the van was fine.  We all had a good laugh over it, even Jeff, who was the victim.

One cool aspect of the circuit was that Saul Raisin, who is from Dalton, received the key to the city and got to do a couple of laps out front of the peloton while the race was neutral.  He appeared to be having a great time.

Saul Raisin, Ofoto Lombardi, Best Young Rider at the
Tour de Georgia, with his Daily Peloton t-shirt.

The rest of the race was a bit of a fiasco for us.  I got lost for a few minutes going back to the van after the race left town.  We then went up over the mountains to meet the race after it went over Fort Mountain and through Elijay.  The good part is that we now had race radio and as long as we were close enough we could hear snippets of the race, but we also missed all of the climbing which I would have liked to see.

George and I were first out of the van on a high speed corner and got to see a glimpse of Floyd and the rest of his group as they shot by a few minutes ahead of the peloton.  And then it was over for a while.  The van got lost at the end of its route and we were stuck out in the sun for what seemed an eternity, but in reality was perhaps an hour and a half or so.  But by then we were doomed to missing the end of the race which was a bit of a bummer.  A bit of a consolation was we got to hear it and we did get in the caravan with the main group as it went through Gainesville, but the excitement of the constant attacking at the end was missed by us.

April 27th: Stage 5 Atlanta Circuit

The end of the race and our group’s time together.  It was a bit anti-climactic as we all knew that the course wasn’t difficult enough to let anyone get away from Saturn.  It was nice to see the peloton go by so many times.  I was really rooting for the break with Erker and Knudsen to stay away, but I don’t think their gap was ever over a minute.  After the stage we all just wanted to get home which is exactly what we did.

Saturn chasing down the Schreoder et. al. break, 6th or 7th lap, Freddy right behind Horner, and Sidermec just back as well. In the background is the Hilton where we and the teams stayed.

There are some interesting ironies to being inside the race.  The biggest one being that we never knew much about results.  Other than the jerseys I couldn’t have told you about who was in 2nd, 3rd or 4th.  Not to mention what the time gaps were.  That was all disappointing because all the folks who had volunteered were race avid fans.  I asked one of the riders on Saturday if he knew what was up on GC and he was just as in the dark.

Jonathan Vaughters (Prime Alliance) loosening up the group for Clinger.

I want to take a second to thank George Crawford for graciously letting me use his computer on the road; without him this would not have been possible.  I also want to say to all the folks on the team (John (Classic), George, Tom, Joel, Ryan, Donna, Ann, New John and Garrett) that I had a great time and hope to see them around.  Thanks also to the Site Goddess Janna.

Later!

And now, more photos and little known facts from the Tour de Georgia Traveling Marshal.

Just outside Augusta, a produce stand. Maters, taters, unyons. That's tomatoes, potatoes and onions.

An integral part of this traveling marshal team was "Hawk Girl," seen here strapped
 to the front of the van. Donna got it in a kid's meal at a Burger King. The wings move, too.

Chris' Traveling Marshal Team.

The team with Larry, a very cool guy from Threshold Sports.

Chris Horner in Macon, Formaggi rider in right background.

In Macon: Horner, Saul Raisin on the left, Henk Vogels in Navigator blue, a Formaggi and a Schroeder Iron rider.

Shot taken while the van was working its way through the peloton on Stage 3 (read account here).

Moving through the peloton.

Passing Michael Barry.