Tour of Missouri news and pictures!

[Reesha]

Today is the start of the Tour of Missouri in St. Louis with a ~75 mile circuit race. I spend most of the midday baking in the sun waiting around the buses to meet some of the racers and meet them I did. I figured Columbia HTC would give me the most 'bang for my buck' in terms of seeing my cycling heroes, so I spent a lot of time hanging around their trailer. There was a mob of people who descended upon each racer as they arrived from the hotel but once they went into the trailer most people left. I stuck around and as the guys came out to get saddled up, I was able to greet George Hincapie, Mark Cavendish and Bernie Eisel. They also let me hold Thor Hushovd's bike (the same bike he rode in the TDF when he wasn't on the green bike).

Everyone around was really approachable-- the mechanics, the racers, the coaches. The Astana mechanic told me that each biker gets at least 5 different bikes per season. Lance had 8 different bike for the TDF alone

Me holding Thor's bike! (all 6.2 kg of it!)


The Cav!


George! (the best picture I could manage)


The race was exciting, but I'm not going to lie. It was more exciting to shake the hands of these guys!

Additionally, I got a sweet Columbia Omni-Shade hat for ten bucks and a warm up fleece for $30 too 8') They're selling last year's stuff apparently.

[mudmucker]

Wow. You like, got to put your hand on Thor's saddle!

[PinkBike]

ohmygosh! how cool is that picture of Cav??!!

ohsojealous

[Reesha]

Some more pics



Mick Rogers kept giving the fans the slip...


but he looked great on the road:


The turn out was awesome! I parked myself in a quieter spot to take better pictures, but it was nutso around the finish. People have come from all over the country to watch! Here's the view toward the finish:

[uforgot]

I'm working at it tomorrow when they finish in Rolla. I'm doing the Economic Surveys. Pyannyplayer...you gonna be there? Maybe I'll get some great pics also!

[Reesha]

Make sure to go hang out by the buses/trailers! 8') I've been thinking about driving to St. Joe's for the start of the final stage, but it's a long drive out and a long drive home.

[uforgot]

No pics today. That survey took all three hours. The finish was something else, though. No breakaways today. Couldn't even tell (until they announced it) who had even won. An exciting finish and they were at almost 40mph! Tomorrow they ride through our little town and everyone is gearing up, going after that spirit award! What a great event for Missouri!

[Pyannyplayer]

The finish today WAS EXCITING! We didn't get pictures, although DH did get some video with his camera. Those guys went zipping past on our side and I didn't want to have ANYTHING happen to one of them with our camera. I thought it was great that the crowd waited for the very last guy to come in.

DH rode a portion of this stage (Cherryville to Rolla) and said it was TOUGH; there really isn't ONE flat area...at all...ever. They made it look easy.

Uforgot, are you going to St. James at all? I have to teach (couldn't today since they used my classroom for interviews and such!!), but I think DH is going to go to get George's autograph for me. I have several students that asked to skip class to go....yeah, I let them...as long as they bring pictures back. They're all in the cycling club and are on the human powered vehicle team as well, so.... Besides, I think it's important for them to go since they have the chance and it's so close.

Lorie

[uforgot]

You know, I heard someone telling the people in the Hincapie tent that their classroom was right over there, and point to Castleman. Was that you? Are we destined to just pass forever? I'm not going to St. James. It's coming through Belle, probably about 45 min after they leave St. James, so I'm going to be here. We are getting out of school early, though, so the buses don't get trapped by the road closure. The town is trying once again to capture the spirit award. Then I'm heading up to Jeff City to watch them finish there. I've been to Viburnum a lot, through Cherryville, and I HATE that trip, in a car no less. So hilly and curvy. I couldn't believe they rode that. But the scenery is stunning! Cherryville to Rolla had to be a rough bike ride!

[arielmoon]

Oh nice pics and recap!

[Pyannyplayer]

Uforgot:

Yup, that was me! Geez, we really do just "almost" meet!

DH bought a pair of Hincapie bib shorts - $60 instead of $140!! I stayed away...I have Hincapie long bib tights coming in the mail - maybe today! We are going to ride until there is snow and ice on the road AND start riding earlier in the spring.

Are you riding in the Bike MO Foliage tour? We may get quite the group from Rolla this year; most everyone we rode with all summer is going.

Lorie

[uforgot]

Yes, I'll probably do that ride again, but I don't think I'll work it, because then when I rode I felt rushed. Maybe we can pass within 50 feet of each other once again!

Hey, did you see Cavendish after the race yesterday? He was NOT happy about the finish, and he's out today with an "infection". I heard from a couple of people that were over there that he was throwing one heck of a fit behind the podium!

Oh, and guess what? Belle won the Tour of Missouri spirit award today. Several residents got out and put up balloons and flags. There were tons more people there this year and EVERYONE was yelling. The first van stopped several times to talk to the crowd, and you would have thought they were at the state finals in basketball. Took them a year, but they finally turned it on. Color me SURPRISED!

No pictures. I decided that I wanted to actually see the race through my own eyes and not a camera lens.

See you at the Fall Foliage Ride.

[jobob]

I've been catching up on the coverage on Versus.

I squealed like a little schoolgirl when they showed Jens during Tuedsay's telecast, and then I got positively giddy when they interviewed him at the end of the show.

So if any of you in MO happen to see My Man Jens, tell him jobob says hi.

[Jo-n-NY]

I am only finding repeat videos on Versus. Online coverage says 4:00, it is now 4:50 est and I still cannot find it. Are they talking central time?

At least Levi posted a video of his TT which I guess was from today.

~ JoAnn

[Possegal]

The time trial was yesterday. And the times listed are likely central since that is the local time, at least that is what I thought happened when I watched the time trial yesterday. But now that I type this, I realize I watched it through a Tour of Missouri site that Levi listed on his twitter page. Let me edit after finding that link.

Here it is for tomorrow, guess a little late for this tour.
http://www.tourofmissouritracker.com/