What a weekend! We took off with a group of friends to Dalanaga Georgia to watch the Tour De Georgia for 3 days as well as some group riding. We started off at the Road Atlanta Speedway by riding in a Charitiy ride for N2Ride. Nathan Oneil (5 time Austrailian Time Trial Champion) led off the group ride. Nathan mingled thru out the riders and chit chatted along the way.

Late that day the big guns came to the track. We watched 18 teams ride team time trials which is not their norm. The Astana team ended first with the High Road team coming in a close second.

Day two started out with a 55 mile group ride like I’ve never seen before. Cyclist were everywhere riding up and down the mountains of Georgia. Our group went out on a cat 3, a cat 2 and finished with a cat 3 back into Dalanaga. We were just in time to rest and watch the pro riders stroll into town.

Day three was all about Brasstown Bald. By far, this was the steepest thing I have ever tried riding my bike up. Needless to say, I had to do some riding, some pushing, riding, pushing and riding until I got to the top. Once on the top we were able to relax and grab some food. I noticed Nathan Oniel riding up and working the crowd. I must say Nathan was a very cool guy. He allowed us to grab a few photos and even spent about 30 minutes talking to us about his reasons for not riding the tour this year. Hopefully Nathan will get back out there really soon. The sport needs good personalities and riders alike.

After resting for a while it was time for the Pros to make their way up tot he top of Brasstown Bald. All I can say is that these guys are freaking monsters! The grade hit 25% and they had no choice but to finish. Some of the riders very close to falling over.
The crowd pitched in and gave most of the riders a helpful push. Heck, one rider even shouted out “PUSH” as I was taking his picture.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under cycling news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.