Trans World Rowerami

Cullman had some very special guests pass through town. Anna and Christopher Rowerami are cycling around the world and decided to spend the night in Cullman.

They are originally from Poland but are currently calling London home.  Very experienced in bicycle touring this is their first trans world tour, having done many bike tours thru Europe and the UK.  They were really decked out in with state of the art bikes and equipment.  Laptops, GPS, cell phones and etc.  Still roughing it and camping for the most part.  Anna and Christopher are members of an organization called "warm showers" which networks travelers around the world to homes where they can stay and of course take warm showers.  It was great to meet them and hear some of their story and agenda, I have to admit bike touring to me is something you do slow and relaxed with not much agenda.  They were serious and maybe a little over the top for my idea of touring.

I must be showing some age because I struggle with the use of technology.  I love high tech stuff, but its kinda like in the Tour de France and the use of radios.  In some ways its great for safety etc., but then you think back to the day when it wasnt available and the racers did just fine.  In touring whats wrong with pulling out a Michelin map of France that showed every back road never knowing whether it was paved or really there untill you rode down it.  Somehow on a map you always underestimate things.  Technology helps us get there quicker and more efficiently but I guess thats not what you always want. 

One of my favorite books is "Miles from Nowhere" a book about a couple who cycles around the world.  Back in the day before modern technology they took two years off from life and began an incredible journey.  Its a great book and inspired me to do a couple of tours, one across Europe and another in southern France.  A bicycle is the best way to travel.

Toone de Cullman 2009

. The results are in:

1. Brian Toone
2. Omar Fraser
3. Scott Kuppersmith
4. Sammy Flores
5. Jacob Brewer
6. Darryl Seelhorst
7. Kevin White
8. Greg McCreless
9. Wes Douglas
10. Robert Vachon

Women:

...1. Amy Gravlee
...2. Katherine Herring
...3. Katie Curtis

A beautiful day for a bike ride, the peleton cruising through Cullman County.

The 15th Tour de Cullman lived up to all its epic fun. Sixty riders headed out at high noon on Sunday. In a nice envelope Brett and Brady Barker lead the riders on Moto 1 and Moto 2 and bringing up the broom wagon was the Branham MotorSports team van. The pace was monitored for the first 20 miles by the motos until the nature break just before the Chamblees Mill bridge. The riders were lead out and the pace soon picked up with a definite selection being made at the top of the first climb. The above photo shows Toone, Fraser, Kuppersmith, Flores, Brewer, Seelhorst and White cresting the first climb. The hammer went down leaving the peleton shattered all over Skyball Mountain.

On the descent off the first climb the riders rode down to Joy road which is known as the "Meat Grinder" for its hand full of short steep climbs. Leading on to the final climb of four miles, Toone, Fraser and Kuppersmith separated themselves and it became evident that this was The Selection.

Brian Toone educated us all on cycling and dropped the very strong riders on the climb up for the KOM. He crossed the summit with Omar Fraser 1:00 back and Kuppersmith at 1:15. The Tria/Donohoo team pulled off the hat trick, they have ridden so strong over the past three years and capped it off with this epic victory.

Rehashing the race on the top of Skyball Mountain.

2009 Tour de Cullman King of the Mountain, Brian Toone.

Amy Gravlee dominated the women's division, proving why she is so successful in racing around the Southeast. Amy was in control from the first climb and rode solo up Skyball Mountain to another trophy as the women's KOM. She was followed by two newcomers to the ride Katherine Herring and Katie Curtis.

The Masters trophy went to Sammy Flores who finished fourth overall in the GC.

Most Aggressive went to the SmithLock Team who made a valiant effort and put Omar on the Podium. The team is lead by Alabama cycling icon James Hall.

Bill St. John took the Cullman trophy in a sprint up the final 200 meters of the climb.

Arthur Patrick won a trophy for being one of the original riders of the Tour de Cullman. Arthur raced around the Southeast and competed in The National Road Race in the 1980's. He also was winner of the Race Across Alabama and had a cult classic race with James Hall.

The 2009 Tour de Cullman was very successful and was composed of probably the best collection of riders in its history. I say collection and not fastest (it was) because its success is bringing all cyclists together for a day and riding together promoting cycling. The beauty is the diversity of having a very elite racer riding with an 18 year old exchange student from Germany.

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.

SmithLock Confirms for the Tour

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Team SmithLock lead by Alabama cycling legend James Hall, has confirmed for the 15th Tour de Cullman, Sunday November 1st 2009. A much anticipated show down between the SL team and the Tria-Donohoo team who is attempting a Tour Hat Trick.

A 60 mile bike course traveling through Cullman and Blount Counties includes the 4 mile accent of the infamous Skyball Mountain. The mountain known not only for the Tour de Cullman's King of the Mountain Trophy but also the folklore of Bigfoot sightings.

Nizza!

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Nice or Nizza as they say in Italian is the hub of the Riviera. This is the second part of the previous post which is mostly a travel blog. I am a little off base but its hard to get to the preparations part without talking about getting there.

Finally on the plane my chartered flight headed out across the ocean. It was a non-stop from JFK to Charles de Gaulle in Paris. I booked it well in advance and in the day was the cheapest way to fly to Europe. I studied the Let’s Go travel books put out by Harvard Press. The books were designed for the student traveler who had no money. One of their books was how to travel to Europe on 25 dollars a day.

I was already a couple of days late on my original itinerary but if it all went well I could still make it to southern France with a day to spare before the race. I can remember people telling me that when traveling to Europe you wanted to depart from the USA so that you arrived abroad in the morning. This was to help with the jet lag and your own internal clock. Of course we didn’t leave like we were suppose to and would be arriving in Paris at midnight.

As we approached Paris the captain broadcast to look to our left and we would see the City of Lights then to our right Charles de Gaulle Airport. The next comment was we would not be landing at Charles de Gaulle because they would not let planes land after midnight therefore we would be landing at Orly. I really didn’t know anything about international travel and airports; I just wanted to be on the ground after eight hours. Everyone on the flight seemed a little upset about the news so I asked the guy next to me why the fuss and he said it was because Orly was now mainly a freight airport and at this hour there would be no buses or rail into the city.

I would never take a charter again after this experience, the flight was so inexpensive compared to the major airlines but you were really at their mercy with the delays and then not even flying into your destination. I had originally planned to be in Nice by now but instead I wasn’t even on the ground yet.

We landed safely and the fun was just beginning. We did the outside deplaning which took me by surprise, and ended up not that bad but the 200 yard walk across the runway to the terminal, that was a little strange. Once inside the airport it was a very cool terminal almost like something out of an old science fiction movie, the terminal was definitely dated. Everything inside was closed so no coffee food or anything. Customs was a breeze. Walking through a deserted ancient airport was my welcome to France and Europe.

Just like I had been informed on the plane there no buses and the gate to the city by metro was locked. The only way into the city was by taxi. Someone put a call in and the taxis started trickling in one by one. Most of the passengers from the flight were on a tour and their buses had rerouted and picked them up. The remaining 50 or so of us couldn’t get on those nice big luxurious buses so we just waited our turn to grab a taxi. My next dilemma was that most taxis would take no more luggage than what would fit into their trunks. I of course had my bike packed in a box which no way would fit into a European taxis trunk. Thru my terrible French language skills I negotiated with one for a ride into the city for an extra charge. We strapped the box on the trunk and he charged me for an extra person. What a deal.

I never had an attitude toward the French and what was supposed to be their attitude towards Americans. It did seem that all this was way too complicated. I had just landed in Europe and my budget of $25 for the first day was blown in 10mins.

The taxi ride into the city was longer than expected I kept wondering if we were taking the long way. I kept asking and the driver acted like he didn’t understand, something about he kept smiling made me nervous. I tried to explain my desire to find an inexpensive hotel, I was really nervous about staying in Paris. Like New York hotels can be very pricey. My original plan was to fly into Paris arriving in the morning and leave the same day by train to the Riviera. Hotel and the word inexpensive do not go together in Paris or New York. All my plans were a thing of the past, my objective was to make it to Southern France for the race.

The taxis finally stopped and he helped me unload all my gear which was a backpack and a bicycle packed in a box. I was amazed at how active the streets were around where we were for 200am, the hotel was pretty run down and I had no idea what part of Paris I was in. I went inside and got a room which of course was on the fifth floor and no elevator. There was a fairly attractive woman sitting in the lobby which surprised me at this hour. She spoke to me which I had no idea what she said but I thought was very nice. Later I learned that I was actually in the red light district and the woman was a prostitute that worked for the hotel.

I did not sleep well that night I kept thinking about how to get to the train station and making all the connections I needed to. I will never forget early in the morning lying in bed listening to the French garbage men shouting at each other. It all got me at that moment, all the sudden I felt like I was on another planet. I was in a place where people were speaking another language and how was I to communicate. Just one of those feelings where you feel lost and a little scared for a moment.

I got up early to get my bearings so I headed down to a café. Somehow the taxi driver did me right I was close to a train station and most importantly the Gare de Lyon. This was where I needed to be to head south to Nice. The train ride to the Riviera was a long one. Thirteen hours so my plan was to book a couchet so I could sleep on the train. The train left at eight pm so I would arrive in Nice around eleven am. The train went thru Lyon hence the name of the station; it made stops in Marseille and Toulouse.

Having to be out of my room by ten presented a problem. Traveling with a bicycle is hard to describe especially when it’s packed in a box. I couldn’t unpack anything because I was not at my destination and I had gear and equipment strategically placed in the box. It’s very awkward to carry around and taxis don’t want to deal with them. I walked thru busy Paris streets for what seemed like a mile or two with my backpack on carrying the bike box. I spent most of the day in the train station, waiting for my departure time of eight pm. The fantasy all day was just to get on that train to the Riviera, I felt like once on the train I could relax somewhat and hopefully get some sleep.

When it became time to depart I learned that I had to check my bike box in the baggage car. I tried to bring it into my cabin but at the point of being thrown off the train, I checked it. One of the warnings that I had read was when traveling in Europe always try to carry everything on with you and do not let them check your baggage. On trains that have many passengers or heavily traveled routes, the baggage is transported on a separate baggage train. Which means your baggage notoriously doesn’t arrive when you do.

I made it to my cabin which was shared with a French family. I got the top bunk and got under the blanket and closed the curtains. That was the best night sleep I had in days. When the train stopped in Marseille it woke me up and I looked out the window. It was so beautiful I had never seen anything quite like what I was seeing. The train was perched on a hillside overlooking Mediterranean the blue green waters were incredible. On the other side of the train were the Maritime Alps. The sun was out, now this was more like it.

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I will post more later from travel and racing, below are photos and notes.

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I always tell people if I had to imagine what Heaven is like it has to be like the French Riviera. Its absolutely breathtaking, something about the mountains, the Bay of Angels, the blue green ever so clear mediterraian, fruit trees, weather,architecture and of course the smell.

Nice is the hub of the Riviera and The Negresco is the center of the whole thing. It is one of the most famous hotels in the world and is know for its pink dome. I took the picture above with my twin reflex. I scanned it from a glossy copy so it has some distortion. The Promenade des Anglais runs in front of the Negresco, you can sit on a bench or in a cafe and watch the people while sipping campari or an espresso with a lemon peel.

I originally stayed at Les Cigales, which is a nice hotel two blocks off from the beach. On the Riviera prices are so steep along the promenade, you go in a few blocks inland and stay for $35 a night. Cigales was one of those and very convient to the race start and le plage.

In my later races I stayed at La Bagatelle, which is on Cap Ferat. It is about 10 miles from central Nice but is just incredible. The hotel is half way between Nice and Monte Carlo and inexpensive. It is owned by a German woman who has some interesting rules. One is a daily manditory cocktail hour for all guests. She likes for all guests to visit and it was fun. You have to attend if you stay at the hotel and she serves her homemade madarin orange wine. It was more like a liquer so it burnson the way down but is so good. The trees that she makes the wine from are on the property. I definitely got softer the last few years I did the race.

The view from my room at Bagatelle. A couple of miles down the road is Eze, the ancient mountain top village where the Paris-Nice time trial finishes. Also the Madone is close where Lance did his preparations every year for the Tour.

Who is this guy? I know every crack in the road on the Promenade des Anglais. A 20+ mile run in Heaven! The City shuts down for sporting events, citizens of Nice lined the road for the whole course.

Is that a pink De Rosa? On the descent from Gillette. The bike course has a 10 mile descent back thru a valley into Nice. It was spectacular but painful.

This has been some rambling filler for the blog now its time to start focusing on the Tour de Cullman 2009.