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!