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4/21/2007 - TOUR DE GEORGIA STAGE 6: Lake Lanier Islands

Two hours of southward driving would take us from Brasstown Bald to Lake Lanier Islands. Ryan and I made some oatmeal and bagels for breakfast which allowed us to clean up and pack up the van in short order. We left Trackrock Campground by about 9:00am.

The first hour of driving did not produce much distance because the roads were winding and curving as we snaked through the mountains. We saw a handful of cyclists enjoying the scenery and climbing through the curves on US 129. Further south we hooked up with I-985 and covered the miles more quickly. While on the interstate we were passed by several Health Net team vehicles, so we grabbed a wheel to be led to the start of the stage.

Lake Lanier Islands is a country club kind of place with attended gates at its entrance and perfect grass everywhere. After docking the van in a large parking lot with a modest crowd of vehicles we walked a short distance to another large parking lot. This second area was filled with colorful team vehicles, the stage and starting line, and the 108 remaining riders preparing for a day of racing.

There are no barricades or means of crowd control to separate cycling fans from the team vehicles and the riders themselves. As we first walked into the starting area I almost bumped into Cesar Grajales as he was milling about the Jittery Joes team area. Someone asked how he was feeling, referring to the separated shoulder he had been riding with for the entire race, and he replied in his Columbian accent "oh, it hurts but of course I am going to ride today."

In a different area of the parking lot Health Net's huge tour bus was on display and Ryder Hesjedal was sporting his King of the Mountain jersey. A fan could walk right up to him and say "nice climbing" or something else goofy that fans say. The larger teams such as Discovery Channel and CSC are not as accessible. The more well known riders on these teams tend to stay in their team buses until it is time sign in at the starting line stage and line up for the start. Tom Danielson must have slipped out the back door of the bus, however, because as we were standing near the barricades near the start line I turned around and saw him standing there talking to a staff member. For a split second I thought about walking over and saying "nice climbing" but decided to just take a picture.

Just before we took up our position along the start I noticed a woman pushing a baby stroller. Alongside the two was a golden retriever wearing a Health Net jersey. I asked her if I could take a picture of her dog and she said "sure, do you want to walk over to the team bus and take the picture there?" It didn't really matter to me if the cycling dog was in front of the team bus for the picture or not but I obliged and headed towards the team bus with her. The woman introduced herself as Nathan O'Neill's wife, which explained why the canine was wearing a green and black cycling jersey. At the bus she handed the dog off to Nathan and I shot a few pictures.

After the singing of the nation anthem, the stage started. Five minutes later the riders, the team cars, and the race escort vehicles were gone. The team buses were packed up and pulling away before the crowd could block their path. It was kind of like someone pulled the plug out of the bathtub and all the water went rushing out. We joined the herd moving back to our vehicles and took part in the traffic jam leaving Lake Lanier Islands. That was the end of chasing around the 2007 Tour de Georgia for us. I remember saying to Ryan "our schedule just got more relaxed."

For more coverage of the time trial stage, here is the Cyclingnews report: Tour de Georgia Stage 6.

About three hours after the riders left Lake Lanier Islands we arrived at Fletcher, North Carolina. Months before leaving on this trip I had found the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club web site and was impressed by the cue sheets web page they had put together. From looking at all the cycling routes listed on this page I figured staying near Fletcher would give us options.

But the first order of business was to find a place to park the van for the night. A random parking lot was certainly an option but we had enjoyed staying in the campground the past two nights. We figured a local bike shop may have some information about camping so we stopped at a gas station and flipped through the phone book yellow pages. As it turned out there were no bike shops listed in Fletcher but half a dozen or more in Asheville, which is just north of Fletcher. Thanks to the inclusion of a map with their advertisement, we headed towards Liberty Bikes.

A ten minute drive north, we found Liberty Bikes near the intersection of US 25 and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a well equipped shop and the employee we talked to was very helpful. He told us about Lake Powhatan campground and also told us about a nice ride we could do from the campground that would climb up to Mt. Pisgah. On the way out the door he even gave us a free cycling map of the area that color coded the roads according to how safe for cycling they were.

Lake Powhatan campground was very quiet and we found a prime campsite with good access to a shower house. There were large RVs, small RVs, and our rented cargo van… priceless. After making chicken quesadillas for dinner we propped my laptop up between the front seats and watched the Hard Road DVD.

Before turning in for the night we decided that tomorrow we would climb the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Mt. Pisgah. We looked forward to perfect weather and an excellent ride.