Tour de Georgia Stages 5 and 6

Group from Florida at Hogpen Gap. More later when I pick up the film cd's tomorrow.

Tour de Georgia and Other Happenings

This is a catch up posting. There have been a lot of rides and now, the Tour de Georgia has come to town. Today was Team Time Trials at Road Atlanta near Braselton. 15 teams, 2 at a time, starting about 2 minutes apart (if I remember correctly) did 4 laps or 10 miles. Best time was slightly under 20 minutes.

This young princess is a Tour de Georgia fan and chooses to go to Tour events for her birthday which was Tuesday. She states that it is her birthday month, not just one week or one day anymore. Last year, Tyler Hamilton seranaded her with Happy Birthday and so do we this year wish her a Happy Birthday. She wants to start a bicycle team at her high school and is searching for a college with a bicycle team.

Not sure which team this is but they are on the steep climb at Road Atlanta. The time trial route is reversed from the auto racing so they got to go up the hill, not swoop down and then have to make a fairly hard right turn.

My favorite car on the Tour.

Jelly Belly riders warming up before their time trial.

View from up on top of the hill looking southeast.

That was about it for the Tour pictures for 04/24. More tomorrow and possibly Saturday if the rain does not scare me away. The scene above is a nice view of a lake up on Skitts Mountain Road from my ride last weekend.

This is from West Georgia State University. The drummer is my son Wes and the band he is in was playing for an Earth Day event. Debbie went there to set up a booth to promote recycling and green living and was given the opportunity to display and discuss Shaklee's Get Clean product line of non-toxic cleaners.

Saturday afternoon of last week, I did the Tour de Gainesville - at least, that is my name for the ride. I did about 17 miles in the northern part of the city - interesting climbs on some of those side streets and hit 18% in one spot. The Big City Cafe has my favorite hamburger and is open for lunch during the week.

Downtown Gainesville square. Old Joe is in the middle and is facing north to warn us of approaching Yankees or so the legend goes.

No ride in Gainesville would be complete without a ride to THE ROCK. The rock is a Gainesville High School billboard so to speak and was saved from destruction several years ago when the Corps of Engineers wanted to make some changes in the area. My thought - You can mess with my bicycle but don't mess with THE ROCK.!

Spring Has Sprung In Gainesville, GA - or - Nice Riding Weather is Here Again (mostly)

Rode 3 times this week after work for about 52 miles total. Did not think this weekend was going to be decent by the 10 AM ride time but it appears that we will now be able to ride.

Did not do a lot of ride pictures although did get a decent shot of a Marine or Army chopper crossing over Highway 52 east of Quillian's Corner.

Spring has sprung here in north Gainesville and the remaining pictures are from yard with the exception of the last one which is another official after ride drink for Team Poke-A-Long. It will need no further explanation.

Like I said, this one needs no explanation for being the official after ride beverage for Team Poke-A-Long.

Maxxis Georgia Cup - Gainesville, GA 2008 Sunday

Random shots of the afternoon and evening Maxxis Georgia Cup Criterium in downtown Gainesville, GA. Thanks to Sweet Magnolias for remaining open for the entire afternoon and providing lots of food for all the spectators and participants. I highly recommend them and for those that know me, they know that I ride to eat.

And they are off! One of 9 races if I remember correctly. Lots of circles of downtown Gainesville.

Hey, watch your self on the turn. You about hit my rear tire! Brody from Habersham Bicyles is sitting on the planter across the street.

Reflections on a race!

This could have been a nasty wreck! This guy gets 10 points for his gymnastic flips after he was taken out at the finish line. Elbow looked worse than his shoulder. If he had not had his helmet on, it would have been much worse. The course was reversed from previous years and I think that helped to eliminate a lot of the crashes we have seen in the past.

This is my speed coming up with the 5 and unders. They pedaled about 100 yards and had to be chased down to get them to quit. I think they wanted to do a full lap. What was amazing was watching some of the 3 and 4 year olds riding with no training wheels. This is some of the next generation of Maxxis Georgia Cup riders and there may even be a pro or two in the group.

Above is a video of a lap of the Pro-Am showing how far the break away group of 4 riders was ahead of the peloton. The eventually caught the peloton with some 10 to 12 laps to go. Wish I could go that fast up a 1 to 2% grade.

Maxxis Georgia Cup - Gainesville, GA 2008 Saturday

Saturday, April 5th, dawned wet and rainy. While it deterred me and my Saturday morning Leisure Ride, it did not deter the Maxxis Georgia Cup time trial and road race in Pendergrass. I got there about 10:30 and the time trial was just ending. The event was held at North Jackson Elementary School just north of Pendergrass.
Link is to the race course. http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ga/pendergrass/863073259

You can tell by the sky that it was not a nice day for racing but ... Rain or shine, the race goes on.

Alvin, the Corgi from Chattanooga (if I remember correctly) was living it up with a nice travel trailer to stay in. I am sure some of the riders would have traded places with him just for a chance to get warm. Almost made me want another dog.

Some of the members of the United Community Bank racing team. Thanks to Jimmy Tallent and the bank for sponsoring this group. They are a great bunch. Would someone please give Matthew a patch for his left knee. Too many crashes have worn out those Levi racing pants.

Matthew getting ready to ride. We will see him again coming up Mabery Hill (9% grade or so). Will also see him in the Crit tomorrow.

Some of the ladies that were racing. I met one who had come here from Boca Raton, FL. She said something about no hills in FL where she lives.

Just before the start. Looks like there were a couple of hundred riders although I did not get an official number. Everything from Pros to Juniors. Based on what I saw out of some of the Juniors, I would still be trying to figure out where they went. The Pros do 3 laps of the course and others do 2 laps or 1 lap depending upon their category. What I don't know about bicycle racing could fill a small book.

Climbing Mabery Hill - not sure which group this is but from the start to here took them about an hour and the hill is about 20 miles in. I will link to the ride map later but wanted to get the pictures up. Based on my average speed, the Pros would have lapped me before I got here.

The ladies attack Mabery. I must mention that the person you can see way in the back was not one of the ladies. I was instructed not to yell "Way to go Ladies" as he got closer.

April Fools Ride - 2008

Today started off foggy and miserable which was nature's April Food trick on me. By 4:30, the sign at the Georgia Mountains Center just down the street was showing 73 F. That put me in the leave work promptly at 5:00 PM, rush home (all within the speed limit), load the bike and head out to Clermont. Was riding just before 6 PM. The title will link you to the ride. Sorry for lack of pictures for this one.

Last weekend was a wash out on the ride for Saturday. Weather was a bit rainy in the Gainesville area but 20 miles away where the ride was to start at 10 AM, found severe thunderstorms and much cloud to ground lightning. Fortunately, I had already called off the ride.