Tour de Georgia

The Tour de Georgia was back this week and finally I was in town and able to catch some of the action. On Thursday I actually spent the day up in Chattanooga, doing some stuff for work then enjoying the finish of stage 3, the individual time trial. The cyclists started in Chickamauga, GA and ended in downtown Chatty, about 40km. Then on Saturday Shelley and I drove up to Brasstown Bald, meeting Ken & John for the finish of stage 5. We parked on the back side of Jack's Gap about a mile or so from the base of BB. Then we began the 5k, 2000' climb to the top. A nice lil workout, but we were rewarded with passes to the VIP/Hospitality area that Shelley hooked us up with. Inside, we were treated to complimentary wine & beer, and a huge assortment of food, including chocolate covered strawberries, cheeses, shrimp, kabobs right off the grill, etc. Greg LeMond was also there (3-time Tour de France winner), signing posters. As the racers got closer (video feeds were set up everywhere), we found prime spots about 25m from the finish to see the action. And it was fabulous! Danielson and Landis flew by and I wasn't quite ready with my camera. It was amazing to see them look so strong after that climb up. (I seriously think I'd go backwards if I tried it!)

After the awards, things were all downhill for me. Besides the hike all the way down, I started feeling sick. I hardly made it to my car before I was doubled over. The car ride was less than enjoyable too - damn curvy mtn roads. Ken was behind the wheel now and had to pull over several times for me. (John & Shelley followed, documenting the whole thing. I'll elect to not post those photos here). The night was a long one and now 2 days later I'm still not right. I thought it was food poisoning, but 2 people over at WebMD have it too, so it must be a virus going around. Meanwhile I am quite miserable while I wait for it to go away. Anyways, more tour pics to come later, but here are a few: