Too Vanilla For You

Here is my report for the Tour of Georgia this past week:

Tuesday, day 1: The first day was a flat day, good for the sprinters. I was feeling frisky so I went ballistic at PIR. I attacked as much as possible, but it seemed like every time I went it was a sprint lap which made it hard to stay away. Nevertheless, I was there to blow out my legs so I used the giv'er stick quite a bit. Lars Michaelsen from CSC won. I ended up 4th or 5th or something like that.

Wednesday, day 2: Another flat day. I was tired from last night's shenanigans, so I took it easy. I did the tour de coffee shops today with the Hopper...Belmont Stumptown, over to Tabor, over to Wholesome Blends, then to work. While I was diddling around in the city, some domestic rider was sticking it to all the Protour big guns, off on a solo break for 100 miles or so. Too bad he was brought back. The next Discovery rock star/American idol, Yaroslav Popovych, slipped off the front in the last kilometer to steal it from the sprinters.

Thursday, day 3: Ahh, the time trial. I avoid time trials almost as much as I avoid stage races, so this was a good day to rest. But for those of you who have ever taken a rest day during a stage race, you know that if you don't work the legs at all you'll get a bit blocked up for the next day. So I went out for a couple hours in the morning before work. Meanwhile, Landis smoked the 40k TT in 54 something, even with a bunch of climbing! Surprisingly, Danielson was right behind. He'll be good after a bit more experience. Maybe even good enough to not crash Leonard out at Cascade.

Friday, day four: The first "hilly" day although they've all been sort of hilly. This one, I guess, was a bit more mountainous, but a couple sprinters still made it to the finish. Fred Rodriguez finally took a win, while I took a day off to get ready for the next day...

Saturday, day five: Brasstown Bald, the queen stage. This is a monster of a climb, after a bunch of already hard stages. Also some pretty crappy weather to start with. I rode into work, and after a slow start, things started really bumping. Jason McCartney was the stud of the day again, and I must have worn out the reload button trying to keep up with the action going on towards the end of the day. We all thought Popovych was going to take it with 300 meters left, but both Danielson and Landis slipped by! Since my job was the early shift, I was worn out early, so while everyone else was still at work my wife came to get me and we rode home slow together.

Sunday, day six: Last day. Stage racing is really hard, and I've pretty much been tired since Tuesday. I thought about going mountain biking out at Syncline with Pongs and the Hopper, but I decided that enough of the week had been devoted to cycling, and I could take an easier route and be done earlier in the day. So I rode a few hours in the morning, it was beautiful weather, so I went just a bit past my three hour limit. I thought the last day of stage races were supposed to be easy. Not here, I drilled it a few times up some climbs, but there was only one King of the Mountain sprint. Then a couple finishing circuits in town, and I was done. That's all until next year. I'm tired.