In The Last Days

http://TheGrandVia.blogspot.com

The Final Days

Its time for an update to the Cullman Cycling Blog, I have consolitated this blog into a new one http://thegrandvia.blogspot.com. No reason to not leave this one here for a while but there will not be an updates (I dont think).

Kashmir

How about some music to get the blog going as cycling season approaches. This should be labeled "Live from Bennetts House" after one of my favorite websites. We have been learning about recording music and how with the right set up there is no need for renting a recording studio. You can get some cool effects in an old house.

So much time has been traveling around the Southeast to swim meets lately, but well worth it. Those upcoming cycling training races thank goodness conflict with some pretty big swimming events during the month of February.

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.