Georgia, Stage 1
James Brown fired the starting gun of today's race. No kidding. Just before firing the gun, he said, "uh, I feel good." I wonder if he ever gets tired of saying that? Regardless, I can't think of any better way to get a stage race started.
Also of note: about 80 miles into the stage, I was riding near the front when one of the Saunier Duval riders was handed a paper bag by one of his team staff members at the side of the road. The race wasn't going too fast at the time, but it was hot. That's important to know. So, the Saunier Duval rider sat up, started digging through the bag, and pulled out a box of orange popsicles. He then proceeded to share them with everyone around. Floyd Landis took a popsicle, so I figured it was alright to do the same. It was good. Thank you Saunier Duval rider!
Other than that, it was a pretty standard day of racing. It was really, really hard at times, and not quite so hard other times. The GPS ride file is online. Here's a direct link: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=631922
Notice the overall elevation change and keep in mind that this was considered a flat stage. They only get harder over the next week.
Fellow Oregonian Aaron Olsen, who rides for the aforementioned popsicle-sharing Spanish team, got away midway through the stage with a few others and built a lead of up to 10 minutes at one point. Discovery, Lotto, Phonak, and Toyota did the work to bring everything back together, but Aaron managed to hold on until the finishing circuits. The finishing circuits, I should mention, were very tough. The climb, which we did four times, was on a rough brick road. I hung in until the last lap, but ended up in a small second group a few seconds behind the leaders. My teammate Karl Menzies, whose name I seem to mention quite often, came across in 4th place. Not bad, but he's pretty disappointed to come so close and not get the win.
And Sam, I'm doing my best to get on TV. I rode in the elevator with Phil Ligget on the way to dinner tonight and slipped him $50 to say something good about me. Let's hope for the best.
Also of note: about 80 miles into the stage, I was riding near the front when one of the Saunier Duval riders was handed a paper bag by one of his team staff members at the side of the road. The race wasn't going too fast at the time, but it was hot. That's important to know. So, the Saunier Duval rider sat up, started digging through the bag, and pulled out a box of orange popsicles. He then proceeded to share them with everyone around. Floyd Landis took a popsicle, so I figured it was alright to do the same. It was good. Thank you Saunier Duval rider!
Other than that, it was a pretty standard day of racing. It was really, really hard at times, and not quite so hard other times. The GPS ride file is online. Here's a direct link: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=631922
Notice the overall elevation change and keep in mind that this was considered a flat stage. They only get harder over the next week.
Fellow Oregonian Aaron Olsen, who rides for the aforementioned popsicle-sharing Spanish team, got away midway through the stage with a few others and built a lead of up to 10 minutes at one point. Discovery, Lotto, Phonak, and Toyota did the work to bring everything back together, but Aaron managed to hold on until the finishing circuits. The finishing circuits, I should mention, were very tough. The climb, which we did four times, was on a rough brick road. I hung in until the last lap, but ended up in a small second group a few seconds behind the leaders. My teammate Karl Menzies, whose name I seem to mention quite often, came across in 4th place. Not bad, but he's pretty disappointed to come so close and not get the win.
And Sam, I'm doing my best to get on TV. I rode in the elevator with Phil Ligget on the way to dinner tonight and slipped him $50 to say something good about me. Let's hope for the best.
3 Comments:
Good luck, Doug. We're watching for you on TV. If you see Bobke- tell him Mike from Cleveland says hi. I got to hang out with him a few weeks ago. We couldn't make it all the way to Georgia- but we'll try to make it to see you in Altoona. Kick some beaver grr ass!!!
Color me cynical, but was Saunier trying to 'cool down' the chase of Aaron a bit with the orange popsicles?!? Doug, I'm thinking you should arrange to hire a Good Humor truck and then go in a break. The peleton would never see you again as they noodled along enjoying their delicious ice cream sandwiches!! Just a thought...
mmmm popsicles . . .
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