Floyd's bad day

Brasstown Bald, with its grades of up to 24%, proved to be too much for our man Floyd yesterday. He came in fourth, conceding 1:09 to Tom Danielson--the other guy poised to succeed Armstrong as the poster boy of American cycling after Lance's retirement following this year's TdF. Floyd hung in there until the end, but with almost no team support, had to do too much work on his own over the last few climbs. So Floyd now sits in third place, 9 seconds back. Today's change is pretty straightforward, so that's not likely to change. At the very least, he is all but assured of a podium finish.

OLN promises to show highlights from the Tour de Georgia on its weekly cycling show at 6pm today. I'm sure yesterday's decisive climb will receive plenty of attention. They will also feature coverage of today's Belgian classic Liege Bastogne Liege.

Now that the school year is over, it's time to start putting in some miles. If anyone's up for a few longer road rides this week, probably later afternoons, let me know.

minutes april 19, 2005

present: quite a few, including Bergen, Unger, Dr. Hubie, VicP, President, Secretary, Jonny, Hal (I feel I may have missed someone.)

Of significance:

1. Dogfest Date: May 3 @ Juan Eppstein's... Meet at Juan's between 9:00 and 9:30... bring your favourite dogs, buns, beers... if you're driving, bring a couple of chairs.
2. Spring Ride: June 17-19
1. We have a solid list of those committed to attending the spring ride:
1. Juan, Jonny S, Lonnie P-L, President, Unger, Jonny G, Vic P, Secretary
2. The bigger issue is the maybe list which is sizeable as well and puts us in an awkward spot for reserving sites:
1. Luke, James, Bergen, Dr. Hubie, Hal, Duke, James D
3. The only confirmed non-attenders are: Steve E (who has made it to 0 events thus far), and Jeff R (honeymoon, as if that's a decent excuse)
   
4. General consensus was that Juan Eppstein did a fine reserving job last year, and it would be swell if he'd consider doing it again... trying for West Hawk first as per the first year, and then checking Caddy.
5. While it will be helpful to have some sort of cut-off date, we agreed that it wouldn't hurt to have an extra site...
3. Bergen picked up a newish bike. There was genuine disappointment that the red CCM would not be at the spring ride... of course, the disappointment was not so deep that anyone asked whether they might ride it...

Floyd in first

Honorary FGBC member Floyd Landis took the time trial yesterday at the Tour de Georgia, and now has the overall lead by 19 seconds. Lance was well back, at 1:49, giving rise to the usual speculation that this might be the year his TdF reign comes to an end. There are still some tough stages to come, including the mountaintop finish at Brasstown Bald tomorrow that should determine the final standings. Let's hope Floyd brought his climbing legs to the race. See the full story at Velonews.

See also the short profile on Natural Cycle in today's paper.

Unger and Hal are racing this weekend at Grand Beach. Hope the season gets off to a good start.

minutes march 12

present: dr. hubie, hal, unger, secretary

small but pleasant gathering.

most specific klub discussion was about booking our campsite... we will need to get a semi-accurate list of attendees together in the next bit so sites can be booked. please email the club address to indicate your intentions.
bike_club2003@yahoo.ca

dr. hubie is again in a bind with attendence at the most critical event of the year... an offer to do a 24hr race in one of the Virginias... we didn't push him on the matter, although discussion with another bike club member since the meeting recalled some significant claims after last year that he wouldn't miss this next one...

hal will be holding a few library skills seminars with unger... if anyone wants in, let hal know. (he didn't actually make this offer, but i'm sure would be in favour.)