Secret Training

My training this past weekend for the 2009 Tour de Cullman consisted of traveling to Nashville to attend the 30th Anniversary Reunion show for The White Animals.

Anyone who attended a college or university in the South during the 80's remembers the band. To me their music captures the feeling of those old daze. During most of the show I had flashbacks of Lee's Tomb and them playing to a packed house with a line outside waiting two blocks long.

I love the Don Henley lyric, something about a "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac". There was a lot of grey hair in the crowd and nobody pounded those long neck beers quite like they did 20 years ago. The show was a way to go back in time for a night and relive a few thoughts. Several people brought their teenagers, including myself. Pretty cool to share something across a generation.

Course Primer

Most of this video has been previously released. Added new music and production. If you have done the Tour de Cullman you will recognize most of the footage and if not it will be a introduction to the course.

Savouring The Tour: 15 Years of Glory

Like any good Italian red, the flavours of The Tour de Cullman linger long after the glass is sipped. It's not just a super day of bike racing, its role as the finale demands a savoured experience. As the sun sets on another season of bike racing...

We can reflect with a few photos of the very first Tours, as we head into number fifteen. Its always been a clash of the titans for the King of the Mountain, from the very first it was epic.

Richard Prewitt was the King for the early Tours, his first victory was in '94. He came back and won it again. The above photo shows a battle between former champions of Alabama bicycle racing. Arthur Patrick raced with the best at nationals in the day, shown sprinting up the final 200m of the climb up Skyball. James Hall can be seen unsuccessfully trying to stay attached to the surge of "Big Daddy Big Gears" and "Smokey the Beast".

After the climb as every year the ride is replayed. Richard Prewitt won the tour several years then disappeared.

Shane Emplaincourt drops the hammer! He is shown above in one of the most dramatic Tours, playing the field like a master. Sucked in behind all the egos, he waited until it all fell into place and easily dropped the contenders on the final step of Skyball. Jacques Emplaincourt told me that this was one of Shane's greatest career victories. Shane went on to win many Tour de Cullmans with his streak only to be broken by none other than "Country Al" Mittlesdorf.