2005 Tour de Georgia Stage 4

Ride Report

Prelude: Cary and I left Starkville about 2:PM yesterday for a weekend of riding and watching the 2005 Tour de Georgia with a mostly local continengent from Starkville. Robert, who coordinated our stay in Blue Ridge, and John met us at the cabin with Ric, who had driven in from Michigan. Ric and Robert worked up a hearty pasta dinner, while John uncorked a vast array of vintages, and briefed us on the results of today's time trial in Rome. Robert and Cary said Landis would win the Tour De Georgia, after noting that he had won the time trial and posted more than a minute ahead of Armstrong. My bets were still with Lance, thinking there were plenty of opportunities over the next three days, especially in the mountains. Ric quietly chose Leipheimmer and John threw away anothern cork as Robert cranked up the sauna: fat digs!

Wolfpen and Woody Gap. My first foray into the mountains with a road bike. Around the table this morning we finalized our plans for the day, drinking Jittery Joe's coffee, but not anticipating a very strong cold front that would blow through in the afternoon. The plan was to ride some of the stage 4 route in the morning, then find a good spot to watch the riders come through. Stage 4 was from Dalton to Dahlonega and the start was around 10:AM, about the same time we left the cabin. The riders were expected to be in Suches around 1:PM, go over the Category 3 climb at Woody Gap for the first King of the Mountain points, continue on to Neel's Gap, the backside of Wolfpen Gap, and then return to Woody Gap again before descending down to the finish in Dahlonega. The drive from Blue Ridge to Suches was along a very curvy, hilly road with small ranches, clear-running streams, and vacation homes tucked along the edges. Northern Georgia in a beautiful place, and absolutely excellent for hill climbers and Appalachain Trail hikers.. As we approached Suches, we started seeing lots of cyclists. A mile or so south of town we parked the car, and got ready to ride. Robert, Cary, Ric and John led the way into Suches, then turned to the north where the rolling road hints at what's ahead: the Cat. 2 climb to the top of Wolfpen Gap. There were lots of riders - some going up, some flying down. The trees were mostly leafed out, and the road wound around some farms and streams, the the climbing began. I'd never done anything like this; the road was good, and traffic was minimal and well behaved, and then the grade increased, and increased again before getting steeper yet. I was wondering when the climbing would end, and as my legs protested unamicably, Rabid Chihuahua flew past me down the mountain, and double-backed just as easily. "Just a few more kilometers - you're almost there!", I remember him saying. He matched my painful ascent for a few meters before zipping up into the stratosphere again. A few minutes later I I made it to the top of Wolfpen Gap, and without stopping, where the guys, looking calm and relaxed, had been waiting for who knows how long. There were also other riders, and race officials, policemen and barricades, in preparation for Tour de Georgia, which was due through in an hour or so. One surprise was seeing another rider for John Deere, Brady, who Robert said was on his team. A few minutes later we flew down Wolfpen Gap the way we came and returned to our cars. The guys wanted to get in a few more miles from there, and continued on, while I waited, then rain. Then heavier rain. The guys returned soaked, and we spent 45 minutes or so in our cars as the first bit of weather blew through. We learned later that the weather had "gone from bad to worse out on the course." (Scrymgeour, cyclingnews.com):
The rain is really bad now and riders can hardly see in front of them. All media cars and unneccesary cars have been sent up the road out of the way. There is more lightening now and the wind is really blowing and there is even hail coming down now. Seventy miles into the race now and the break is still away and have a gap of 1'35". Back in the peloton Phonak are still setting a steady pace and there looks to be about 60 riders left in this main group. It won't be long now before the race reaches Woody Gap for the first time. Today though, it won't be the climb that is the worry so much, but the descent which has some nasty turns and will be dangerous in the rain.

There was a race marshal standing outside in the rain, and we thought she had a car and just wanted to stand under trees for protection; she seemed content. Soon enough the first cars of the motorcade drove through, then three riders, with Rubiera (Discovery) in the lead! Behind Rubiera was the young rider for CSC, Andy Schleck, followed by Sven Krauss for Gerolsteiner. About 20-30 seconds later the peloton blew through on their way to Woody Gap. The Discovery team, with Armstrong in third position, was at the front behind a group of Phonak riders who were setting the pace. We continued to watch riders come through for another 10 minutes - the stragglers seemed mostly relaxed, but probably knew they were too far behind at this point of the stage to work too hard, coming through ahead of the sweeper wagon at maybe 20-24 mph.

After the riders went through, the weather seemed more stable, and we decided to ride up to Woody Gap behind the riders, where the riders would yet again come through. The climb to Woody Gap, in comparison to Wolfpen, was much easier, yet required a good sustained effort to make it to the top. This was a festive atmosphere, with lots of race officials, loud music, grills and beer, mobile homes, cyclists everywhere, and plenty of folks who walked up from Suches, most of them lining the road to the top. Even Elvis was there, popping wheelies on his bike, and posing with fans for snapshots. About an hour later the motorcade preceded the breakaway group, and just 20-30 seconds behind was the peolton with Discovery setting the pace. Later the stragglers, looking exhausted, but still maintaining an incredible pace with professional legs, yet the pain shows through in their faces. Afterwards we stuck around to hear race radio piped through a loudspeaker and unofficial results that Team CSC's Brian Vandborg had won the stage. Rubiera had won all five KOMs, while Landis (Phonak) retained the yellow jersey. Danielson (Discovery), who would be tomorrow's star, was 5th in the general classification (GC), one minute behind Landis. We returned to the car very hungry, and drove back to the cabin, cleaned up bikes, tooks showers, and I prepared some chicken and roasted vegetables and we all snacked on cheese, wine, chips and guacamole until Peter arrived.