Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Clarksville to Shelby Final Stage

Well I told the boyz to be safe and I motored over to put in some $4.96 premium before meeting David, Joe and Nita. We were meeting at the Cracker to enjoy an egg and catch up on the last...oh...30 years! David and I were childhood friends from first grade until sixth or seventh grade when he and his family moved away. We had talked only a few times since then and I had been prompted to get in touch.

After a few emails and realizing the proximity of my traveling through the area where David and his mom and dad live...we arranged to meet this morning to catch up and see one another. Wow what a great visit! We lingered over breakfast and hit the high spots for nearly two hours. It sure was good to see them and share some stories and a few laughs. We made a pact not to go 30 more years, but to try and catch up again soon.

I got on the road around 10am and cut a path through Nashville and into Knoxville. The GS was still showing a fuel range of 100 miles, but my butt's range was much less! I whipped in to visit old Shelby buddy shoe store Dave and get gas. He was at his other store at the Gatlinburg exit on the way home another 30 miles. So I got gas there and stopped in for a quick visit. He is lathering up to get a new GS and my showing up after a 2600 mile week decked out with road grime only did more to perpetuate the yearning.

After a quick phone call to wifey, I asked if she would be interested in meeting me in downtown Hendersonville for dinner. She was ready to get out of the house and agreed. We enjoyed a nice outing at Square 1 Bistro and then headed for home arriving about 7:15.

Well, this blog is in the books...I hope you have enjoyed traveling with me this go round. This is a first time deal and I have really enjoyed it. My apologies to Dono for having to fall asleep every night to the sound of my keyboard. Many thanks to Jonathan Devich for a great week of photography, as well as Alex's contributions from the photo world.

Stay tuned for the next foto moto week....have a great rest of the year!

Chris

Stage 7 St. Lewey


Ok, we wake up, look outside and the Mavic tent has been blown away and it is raining sideways! This is what we were expecting...hurry, flip on the radar and see where this bad boy is! Whoa, just about gone and it is only 8 am! We didn't have to pull out until 11...just in time for the clouds to break, whoo-hoo!

After a 30 mile ride into St. Louis, we parked the bikes and figured we had time to hit the Hard Rock at Union Station for a quick burger. Chuck decided to clip off the "park loop" because at 7 am it was pretty much under water. The circuit went from a 14 mile loop to a 10 mile loop, 5 times around.

I remember last year the Star Spangled Banner was played with electric guitar...I remember because it didn't sound so great. Apparently I am the only one who thought that because guess what...they did it again.

The circuit was wide and plenty of room for passes. We hung out in the field shooting off the side and front for a while then we started looking for parking decks and places of interest. We worked back alleys cutting through and criss crossed streets to shoot the break and main field until the last lap. Jono sez....finish line James...Tour of Missouri is in the books.

After dropping him off at the line for the last time of the week we said our goodbyes and I started looking for Walt. We had to return the Buell on loan from Gateway HD. Dropped that at their display tent...motored over through caravan deviation and dropped off radios and vest then on to the hotel to retreive luggage and start heading toward Nashville.

This is always a bitter sweet moment because you don't know when you will see all the folks you have been with again. It is sweet knowing you have flirted with danger all week and managed to stay safe and keep your rider safe. The emotions for me run pretty high I must say. These guys are all just great folks and you hate to see everybody go, but you must return to reality. I have been on the road 9 days to this point, and I miss my wifey. It is time to go.

We got out around 5:15pm....Stevo, Deano, Dono, and myself. Frank's wife came up with a trailer to ferry him back home...he has to be at work Monday morning.
The ride to Clarksville, TN was gorgeous....full moon very little wind and very little traffic! We jibbered on the radio's and enjoyed some long periods of silence occasionally reminding ourselves how beautiful the evening was. We rolled into the Hampton about 10pm, had a night cap and a few laughs in the parking lot before hitting the hay....great day!

Stage 6 Hermann to St. Charles

My headlight went out on the way to Hermann...nothing the local parts store couldn't handle! I walked in to buy a bulb and those guys were so happy to see me....kinda reminded me of the Darlin's on the Andy Griffith show. The weather was nice, little breeze and quite a few folks stirring around early on, and the crowds increased by show time. The countryside was more of the same and this was our last day on the road...tomorrow is lapping St. Louis. Jono's creativity was being challenged as the race was pretty much decided. We took advantage of several scenic's that you can see if you check out www.cyclingnews.com all in all the day went by without too much drama.
This photo shows Eric Wolberg of Symmetrics out in front of the peleton....Eric rode in the Shelby Crit that happened for several years. Monroe Tire helped with some lap money and gave away a few sets of tires over the years...Eric won the last event and took away a set of tires! Funny story...after he won and we talked...he said, Chris, I really don't need tires now, can I cash in later? So this year just before Tour of California...some 4 years later we got Eric hooked up! We had a chance to talk after today's stage and I think he is 41 now and riding like a bull! The dude is strong and always in the mix!

Well, Ike is bringing wind and rain, but the night was clear enough to walk into the cobblestone streets of downtown St. Charles for a little pub action. Dinner was ok, but the conversation about the week and being on the road was better. I think we are all anticipating the last day and the ride home...but more importantly, is Ike hanging out or moving on?

Friday, September 12, 2008

Stage 5 St. James to Jefferson City...HOT!

Ok so we thought we were going to get rained on all week...not so grasshoppa! But Ike is pushing up some humidity that has warmed up ole Missouri just let me tell ya!

A 2pm start today threw us out of the routine so I offered a tour through the country over to the start. I spoke with the Super 8 concierge this morning and he advised me on a route that offered up some curves and would take us about 10 miles out of the way over to St. James. Thinking that only a few would be up for the little excursion, everyone was bored hanging out at the hotel...we had about 20 motors in tow. I took the guys word that the loop was nice and he was right....it had some very nice twisties and the scenery was beautiful.

The race got underway and we had the opportunity to put some very nice scenics behind us early on. The peloton was very cooperative today and gave us plenty of road to work with...unlike yesterday as they were all over the place.

Even with the breeze off the moto, the humidity felt like 200%....the riding suit usually does a great job with ventilation, but today...it didn't have a chance. All you can do is drink lots of water and eat a snack when you can. Between Sara in the broom wagon, Jamey driving VIP, and our technical director, Chuck....we have been able to keep a bottle of water pretty much all the time. Jamey handed off a baggie of trail mix yesterday and that was like getting a filet!

The town of Taos, population 290 something....of all the towns we have rolled through...this town was jacked up and ready to see some bike racing today! The folks had pots and pans, pans filled with rocks, kazoo's....you name it they were making noise....and everybody looked extremely happy! I gotta tell you, the folks here in Missouri are some of the nicest people you will ever meet...they sure have made us feel welcome in many respects.

We rolled into the state capitol, Jefferson City around 5:30 tonight. As usual, we hung just off the front of the race down to the wire. The Capitol building was directly in front of us coming into town, and off to the left Jono spotted a parking garage. I flipped up the next side street and we soon found our way to the top of the deck in time for the group to come by. What a neat perspective that I am sure you will see soon.

Boy van Poppel of Rabobank pulled off the win after a day of hard racing and the fine folks of Jeff City were in numbers to bring the show to town!















Thursday, September 11, 2008

Stage 4 Lebanon to Rolla WFO!

A quick 50 miler this morning to Lebanon via 44 east from Springfield got us to the start with time to spare. The usual morning moto ritual was concluded with a presentation of Moto Support t-shirts that Walt (our Aussie), Alex (Virginia boy), Don (resident Shelby homey) and myself designed for distribution among the ranks. I hope you can read the shirt ok....but it contains the top ten most asked moto questions that we get no matter what town or state. It is funny how folks always have the same questions! But it is a joy to talk with and explain what we are doing and a little about what's going on.

Funny story about Walt Conte....our Australian motofoto. This week he is carrying the race photographer John Pierce who is from England. They are out in front of the race package Tuesday looking for a scenic. Nothing at the moment was really inspiring so John suggested Walt move ahead a bit and stop at the next store for a quick snack. Moving along at 50mph or so, John said that there position was pretty good to move out, but Walt thought he said speed up to move out! So Walt was like... alright dude, thinking you want to go fast....so he wacked the throttle open and put the Buell Ulysses up to some multiple of the speed limit! By this time John's camera's had begun levitating and his helmet started to pull off his head as the wind velocity increased!
John very quickly found a new scenic and suggested they pull off. After some discussion of what just happened, they both got a good laugh as did we all after hearing the story!

The race today started after a 4.2 mile neutral start....when the flagged dropped it was on....the average speed for the first 50k....31 mph! Jono and I were out front a couple miles in the beginning scanning the countryside for a scenic. The race radio was full of chatter documenting the action...the attacks were coming right and left. Jonathan found a neat spot off the road out in a field. By the time he got back to the bike we were out the envelope and had to work the GS pretty good to get back in the caravan(I hate it when that happens...having to speed and all). As we approached the field of riders we were second in line to go through. After getting permission from the Comm, we started in but the group was shoulder to shoulder! We were behind Greg Peart with his video guy and followed them in. Both sides of the road had zero shoulder and it was roughly 50-60 feet straight down..no guard rails! The riders were all around us and we were rolling pretty fast....Greg got an opening and took off and I followed only to be shut down as a large group moved back over to enjoy the vacuum draft the moto can create in the right moment. We started up a slight hill and the guys really started bunching up and we were right there in the middle of the heat. After what seemed like camping in there for 3 days I finally got a break and accelerated out. Alot of attacks were happening throughout the day, check out one of Jono's shots while we were in the group of Marco Pinotti-Team Columbia as he issues an attack.
During the next 15 minutes we entered the military base of Ft Leonard just south of Gospel Missouri. Just about the whole base stood roadside to greet us in uniform...man what a sight! We took a hard right up behind them through the grass up to an Abrams tank display...Jono shot the race going by framing it up with the tank and all the service men....cool. As we pulled out we stopped in the road and took a great picture you will probably see in cycling news of the guys smilin' for the camera!
Rolling back up to get through the group, Alex and Casey as well as TV were stuck behind the group...again! Finally we got through but it took some time...some days are like that.
The day was fast, the peleton tight, the attacks continuous....a great day of racing....I'm hungry!

All the moto's were invited to a barbecue and chair massage upon arrival in Rolla. The fine folks at Stahlman Powersports, Fairground Chevrolet and Rolla ToMO LOC all collaborated to cook up hotdogs, hamburgers and all the fixin's for us! What a great time as we all enjoyed food and drink right there at the finish! And to top it off....how about a massage! Yep, three therapist showed up with their chairs and gave us all a nice rub down! I will never forget Rolla and the hospitality for the moto's!
Man I'm full!






Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Stage 3 Time Trialing on Missouri's Autobahn

I know you have been worried if I got the laundry done....well yes and no. Yes it's done, but I didn't do it. Found this cool little laundry place and the nice lady had it finished in a little over an hour....think I can make it home with a few to spare!

Time trials days during a stage race are sometimes welcomed in that we usually have a shorter day and not so many things are happening at once. For most of the motor marshals, the day is spent providing visibility out front of the rider about a football field away. For the photo guys, we are picking spots and shooting stationary. Today was really no different as we finished up around 2pm. The course layout here in Branson utilizes what seems to be a relatively new stretch of 4 lane interstate highway that is wide, smooth and steep! Which means when the boys are rolling down these hills, they are tapping into 60 plus mph....the Ozark mountain setting really is beautiful....and according to the riders...one of the hardest time trial courses out there.

My day started with thinking of breakfast! In continuing with finding the mom and pop establishments, I headed out a little earlier this morning into Historic Branson near the start to find The Shack Cafe...tried out the French toast and it hit the spot. The lady that waited my table had worked there 30 years. I asked her if the summer had been busy and she said so-so, but starting next week the "blue hairs" started coming in! Now I thought that was funny considering this lady was covering up some "blue" herself. She told me they come from mid-September to the end of November. Branson apparently started it's transformation in the 70's and turned up the wick in the 90's.

Don't know if you have ever heard of Lambert's Cafe...but http://www.throwedrolls.com/ check this place out if you ever get out to the Ozarks. Just got back from dinner....little fried chicken....slaw....greens....big ole fat yeast roll with butter and sorghum (molasses) professionally drizzled in the middle! Most all the motors gathered around the table there early this evening and enjoyed the chow. The talk was minimal....everybody was too busy stuffing their faces! But when the conversation got going, it was about the impending weather....looks like we are going to have a California repeat....wet for the next four to five days....we will see.

From the the sound of this writing, my focus has turned to food rather than bike racing and motofoto....but you know...a man's gotta eat right? In the a.m. we head to Lebanon for the start of a 100 miler to Rolla. We will be rolling through Swedeborg, Gospel, Devils Elbow, and Doolittle on the way. I will find something of interest in one of these towns to tell you about tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in....






Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Stage 2 TOM and other ramblings.....

Day number 2 of the race and day number 4 being on the road....the socks and underwear are just about out! Looks like our stay Wednesday night in Springfield will yield a laundry visit....lovely, just lovely.
The race today took us 125 miles through more farmland and rolling hills from Clinton down to Springfield. The day was quite a contrast to yesterday's rain and cold...today we enjoyed mid 70's and full on sun.

The day started this morning with a 95 mile jaunt from Kansas City to Clinton....got there a little early and enjoyed some local breakfast fare....I just dig the local stuff...not too big on the chains. On the court square in downtown Clinton population 10,000, I found by... local recommendation Huey's. With a name like that...gotta try it....glad I did!

After our morning drivers meeting I was diddling around the bike sorting out all my stuff and Jono came over for a visit and I could tell 20 yards away something was not right. He didn't have his usual "let's get it on" race face, but more of the I ain't feeling so good Ralph face. After some discussion he decided to try and tough it out on the bike...maybe the air would feel good?

Jonathan left to go prepare for the day and a young man came up to me and ask for my autograph...Jeremy was his name. As we begin to talk, he shared with me his passion for collecting basketballs and footballs. His collection is just over 700 and he searches on Ebay for most of the vintage balls. He told me he could replace and repair the components of a ball...even re-lace one! I really enjoyed listening to the passion this young man had for his hobby and some of his goals....you know....you just never know what each day might bring...and Jeremy brought some sunshine into mine!

You just never know when you say something, how it will be received. Last weekend working the US PRO race in Greenville, I told Jono that for all the work we do and as many pictures as he takes during a race....why is it we only see just a few. He thought about that question apparently quite a bit if you have read his blog! To summarize, yesterday he took just over 900 photos in a 75 mile stage race and roughly 4% made the cut because of different things. We spent some time Sunday evening looking at last weeks race talking about where I was putting the moto and where I could put the moto for optimum shots. It was a learning experience and we are communicating at a different level this week. That question initiated a call for him to help me understand a photographer's world a little better and what it is that he is filtering for an artistic result.

The crowds in Springfield were fantastic and lined both sides of the streets. There was a 3 lap finish with Cavendish taking the win. Post race we headed south to Branson for Stage 3 and the time trial tomorrow.

Driving into Branson is quite the experience....everybody has a show theatre! We are staying tonight at the Days Inn and for dinner enjoyed some Mexican fare just in front of the hotel. I gotta tell ya....never have I been to a Mexican restaurant with an 8 year old Elvis impersonator singing at the mike.....but after tonight...welcome to Branson baby!

Ok it has been a long day, our bellies are full, we've had a margarita...even heard Jailhouse Rock and Blue Suede Shoes....let's go Go-Kart racing! Yep, there is a track right across the street and the trash talking started soon after we had eatin' our first chip! There were two guys running the track from another country....let's say...Pakistan?....and the most used phrase for the 46 times we rode was..."you bump to much" (in accent of course)! After a while, they just gave up and let us race....and some Earnhardtn' went on let me tell ya but a great time had by all!

TT in the am....forcast is good and it's almost midnight by my watch...I'm outta here!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Stage 1 TOM 2008 St. Joseph to Kansas City

I think it was 4 am.....when I heard the first crack of thunder. Then I heard rain on the roof of the hotel. It rained like a cow peeing on a flat rock until our designated time to head out to St. Joe around 10am. We took off headed north with 59 degrees, a stiff cross wind and skies that looked like they were going to dump another load of water just any minute.

When we arrived in town we did the usual....lined the bikes up, change batteries in the radios, grab our supplied lunch boxes, and have our drivers briefing. The first day of a stage race is gel time....when all the things you have been talking about for two days starts to take shape. While we had a few bugs in the caravan, for the most part the day was pretty smooth.

As we rolled out of town, the group cruised 3.4 miles to the zero k mark where the race actually gets the green flag. Jono and I were about a mile up the road exploring a potential scenic when we heard fireworks! Never before have I seen fireworks at the race zero k...and today was no different...but we heard'em!

It didn't take long before we were introduced to beautiful rolling hills with lush green fields of the Midwest. We rolled along with it dropping back to shoot the group several times and jumping ahead to get some pass by's. The temp dropped into the mid 50's and stayed for the remainder of the day. Unbelievable weather...last weekend we about died with heat exhaustion and this week we are freezing our arses off!

Rain started with about 20 miles to go then eased off for our entrance into Kansas City. We hung out in the gap down to about 10 seconds and got some great shots of Columbia working off the front to close it down. In the process of shooting this scene, we managed to go saddlebag to saddlebag with TV and live up to the "if you ain't rubbin' you ain't racin' motto! Alex and Casey were just off the side of the road and at one instant we were all three trying to get a shot of the chase....nobody touched, but man we were all on top of each other....it was great!

Into the city, I think our arrival might have been a bit earlier than anticipated....folks were trying to move out of every side street it seemed, but the course marshals and the local law enforcement did a great job of bringing things to a halt. As we entered the circuit of 3 laps, the 1k to go inflatable arch lost air and covered the race course as the riders went under it stopping the caravan in the middle of the road! It was quickly pulled to the side and everybody pursued the group to catch up.

The crowds downtown were really good...especially considering the damp weather. Columbia's Cavendish turned it up and stroked the finish line for the win.

We hung out for just a bit then decided to hit Starbucks for a little warm-up. There were about 6 or 7 of us who sat around talking about what happened in everyone's day...winding down. Deano was fiddling with his crackberry and announced that Lance was coming out of retirement as reported by VeloNews....holy smokes!

Back to the hotel we hit the Cracker Barrel tonight for some simple hot food. We are heading out early in the am as we have a 95 mile transfer over to Clinton for the 11am start. Only gonna be 44 degrees in the morning with a high of 70, but no rain tomorrow! As for the rest of the week....I guess we will see what Ike will do.
Stay tuned as tomorrow should be an exciting day for everybody down to Springfield.














Sunday, September 7, 2008

Organization Day Tour of Missouri

The day before a major tour, the organization brings all volunteers and staff together for multiple meetings to insure we are all on the same page and working together.

This event has 650 folks supporting the efforts of Tour of Missouri and all put together and organized by Medalist Sports http://www.medalistsports.com/ . These guys do a fantastic job at making sure this race goes down the road safe, while at the same time helping local towns and cities create excitement about cycling, health and wellness.

Our day started by going through "In processing" which we sign releases, pick up radios, get housing information and all the technical guides to make sure we are were we need to be each day. After getting that taken care of ....we had a mass moto washing in the back of the hotel.
Moto drivers come from California, Arizona, Utah, Iowa, Philidelphia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia....needless to say we all arrive with road grime that....well ...just doesn't look so good in the show!

The meetings started at noon and ran through 3pm. One of my duties is to photograph all moto's with their drivers for insurance purposes. I got most of that taken care of in between meetings. Alex wanted to have a photo driver meeting at 4 here at the hotel...so we could discuss who was on bikes for the week from what press source. I will be carrying Jono all week....be sure to log onto http://www.cyclingnews.com/ for the latest. Alex has Casey Gibson, check out http://www.velonews.com/ for his stuff. Don will be carrying Alan Crawford from Road magazine...and we will also be mixing it up with NBC as they are doing a special on Garmin apparently trying to get some "action" for the first couple of days. We also have Bicyling Magazine in the group, but I am not sure who they are riding with....it will change about 20 times over the week! So, with 2 TV bikes...NBC...5 photo bikes...the boyz in the group are gettin' some press coverage this week! I think I may need to install a cow bar on the front of the GS just to get through the press bikes and peleton!

So anywho...all that out of the way...we are off to St. Joseph for a 12:30pm start in the morning. Jono tells me that the start line is 6 blocks away from where the Pony Express originated...http://www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/history/ponyexpress.cfm cool huh?!

Till tomorrow....good night!

Kansas City Missouri...Toto


Stevo rolled into the Citgo there in Shelby about 6:30 am...from Charlotte. Don and I had topped off the tanks ready to roll. Pulled out ten minutes later en route to our next gas stop...Knoxville. There we met up with Deano who came over from Boone.....biscuit and sweet tea from Bojangles for Steve, Don and myself. Deano had been in Knoxville long enough to run down a Waffle House for his usual. You see, Dean has this insatiable appetite for the WH as well as an internal radar that will find one of these unique eating establishments most anywhere in the country....he has proven that many times!

The day was fantastic for a ride....I think the temp might have hit 80, but for most of the day it hovered in the low 70's...as did our average speed. Franko joined us about 60 miles west of K-town as he lives in Crossville TN. Our total number...now 5...immediately resume our journey down 40 west as if we had been riding together for weeks. HoJo was unable to join us at the last minute....got a call from him Friday night with a family emergency and unfortunately he had to bow out at the last minute.....hate you couldn't make it my friend.

We travel with radios which allow us to communicate bike to bike....the jibber went on for most of the day breaking in on my XM feed of the 70's, Sinatra, and a little Country as we cruised through Music City.

As we continued into Kentucky and on into Illinois, the weather remained overcast...the traffic mild. About 20 miles east of St. Louis we pulled in for a burrito at a local shop. I don't know if I was that hungry or the food was that good....but whatever the combination...it worked!
Checking the GPS for remaining mileage....we were looking at 279 miles to the Drury Inn, Kansas City. At 150 miles out....the temp's started falling and the last remnants of Gustav welcomed our 5-some to the Midwest. So, we stopped in to top off fuel and put on rain gear to finish off the day.

Just a little before 10 pm CST, we were welcomed by some of the moto crew in front of the hotel! I gotta tell ya....that was both a surprise and a nice feeling to see old friends after traveling 16 hours!

Sunday we have organizational meetings beginning around noon and run throughout the afternoon.

Well, I have rambled on enough....stay tuned as Stage 1 is only a day away!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hanna Banna Bo Banna....

Okay....just about game time. Getting the moto packed up and the GPS files of all the stages for Tour of Missouri loaded.



We are set to depart Shelby 74 West around 6:15am Saturday morning. Stephen J is headed over from Charlotte to meet Don and I...gas and meet HoJo at the 74/I-26 intersection in Columbus and intersect Deano just as we get on 40 west. On to Knoxville for fuel and a biscuit...call Frank and head toward Nashville. Frank lives about an hour and a half west of Knoxville....so by 11am EST...all six of us should be making our way to our next gas stop...Music City. From Nashville, up through Kentucky, Illinois then due west to St. Louis and then cross Missouri with our final destination Kansas City.....about 920 from Shelby. It will be my longest day in the saddle if we don't run out of Saturday. There was discussion of signing up for the Iron Butt....but that really isn't the focus of the week. Maybe another trip.



Alright..this is the plan....this was the plan last year but Don's fuel line quick disconnect decided to start leaking at 4:30 am the morning of departure....we were looking for O-rings at Wal-Mart sometime around 5:30....and finally found what we needed at Lowes...7:45am Sunday morning!

Got out of Shelby about 8:30 and caught up with everybody just west of St Louis around 7:30pm....our planned destination. We were only 100 miles behind the rest of the group the whole day.....made some really good time with minimum stops.



Soooo....we will see what Saturday morning brings I guess. Hanna looks to be dawdling around and not going to be as big of an issue as first thought earlier in the week.....and Gustav is dropping in on the Canadian border now.



Stay tuned for how the ride turns out....will we go the distance?

Monday, September 1, 2008

US Pro Championship Greenville SC

Hot...that is all I'm sayin'....what a weekend!



This Labor Day weekend started like the past couple of years....up early, hitting the road to Greenville from Shelby,NC. Only a little over an hour ride on Saturday morning. I met up with HoJo...fellow moto Howard Johnson in Spartanburg SC at the RaceWay gas station for the ride down.

The US Pro Championship time trials (http://www.usacyclingchampionships.com/) were scheduled for an 11:00am start and the support motos are usually requested one hour and a half prior to start times for an organizational driver's meeting. As usual....we all show up an hour early for that....typical anal retentive behavior that is one of the common threads of our collective make-up.

The location this year was inside a new business park just off I-85 in Greenville which made for a "secure" venue. Our function as moto marshals are many, but primarily to help keep cyclist safe as they do their thing on the open road.

As we arrived a little after 8 am, and found our staging location...all the familiar faces that work behind the scenes started showing up and moving around. It really is like a traveling circus...one big extended family! We all get together about 4 or 5 times a year to work these races, and you get to know folks all over the US and other parts of the world.

For me, the day was pretty predictable and mild. Of the "Velo" photographers, I am usually paired up with Mr. Jonathan Devich (http://adventuresofjono.typepad.com/) of http://www.cyclingnews.com/ . We have ridden more miles together over the past few years in races than my wife and I! Jono as he is commonly referred to has a very artistic style and likes getting high....I mean he likes getting on top of things to shoot....bridges, trains, buildings, parking garages...you name it.
For Saturday, he found a nice little spot that he liked and so did I. I ended up in this ladies front yard under a shade tree talking with her about her home place. She was in her late 70's and one of 12 children...never married and looking at all the construction going on around her house....it was definitely caught in the past...just the way she liked it. It was really a highlight of my weekend to chat with her at a distance as we talked about her recent hosting of a family reunion. I felt like I had slid back to the 50's while looking across the street at a huge retirement village under construction! Oh...yeah and a pro time trial was going on too!
As the time trial continued...my fellow moto's were all passing by my relaxed spot under the shade tree....grinning, laughing and shaking their heads with approval!

We waited for the last rider and winner David Zabriskie to go by....and shortcutted the course to find ourselves rolling beside him opposite a divided median with 1k to go....Jono was a happy boy as we had it all to ourselves. I think we actually could have moved over and got a little closer to Zabriskie and the median....but the Commissaries were very close in numbers....I didn't want to create discussion for being to close to the rider....so we laid low.

Alex Dudley and I decided to break the heat post race by visiting the local Arby's for a Jamocha shake...he had not had one in 24 hours. Then back to the hotel...but wait...wanna check out Touring Sport BMW/Aprillia/Ducati? Why not...so a quick detour to the moto store to scour over the inventory and kick tires. Dean Lyons, a fellow moto and time board driver showed up shortly after we got there....we are so predictable!

My wife came down for dinner and a night on the town in Greenville Saturday night....we had a dinner reservation at a recommended place on the river. Didn't realize that a Gun's n' Roses/Motley Crue type band would be playing about 3 feet from our outside table! The band was great, food was most excellent....and our waiter could have sold bird poo wrapped in pita bread....what a great guy!

Race day Sunday....did I mention it was hot? Holy smokes man...by noon we were all soaking wet! Our pre-race meeting took place at 12 and shortly after the national anthem. The crowds were fantastic as the 115 riders took the stage. Three laps around G'ville and then out to do 4 laps over Paris Mountain...then back to do 3 finishing circuits in town. This course was not a moto-photo course! It was very tight and technical with very few places to pass. We did a lot of shooting off the front and roadside. We had split medians in a few places that allowed us to get in with the group but it was limited. Paris mountain had great crowds as well....they had a competition for best roadside party....and the competition looked stiff! As the day wore on and the alcohol kicked in...it started looking and sounding more like the European crazies! These folks were having big fun! On the last pass over the mountain I saw 3 home boys that always make the trip up...Mike Keeley, Mike Ribydynera, and Roger Ivester roadside yelling and hooping it up!

As we came into town and across start finish to drop off Jono for the finish and surprise winning pictures of Rock Racing's Tyler Hamilton....man the crowds were fantastic! The cowbells and cheering.....they were even cheering us on! Another great day albeit hot on the moto workin the peleton!

Next stop....Kansas City Missouri for the Tour of Missouri! We will be heading out Saturday September 6 for a 920 mile jaunt to begin the 2nd annual tour out there.
I hope to give you an update on our adventures on a daily basis while out there....stay tuned!

Many thanks to Mr. Alex Dudley for the great photo's that we will share in the coming posts...but for now just to get you goin'...check out