2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia

Photos By: John Goodson, Eddie Sunn & Todd Abercrombie

This album is a collection of photos taken on Wolf Pen Gap during Stage 4 and Hog Pen Gap during Stage 5 of the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia. Many thanks and credit goes to John Goodson and Eddie Sunn for some great photos that were taken during stage 4.

Let me explain a little about the events that took place on Wolf Pen Gap.

My good friend and new roadie John Goodson and I arrived early on Wolf Pen Gap and scouted for almost an hour for the perfect spot. John’s new to the road scene experience and just like I cautioned him, he was hooked! After this experience, John purchased a new Orbea road bike. Sweet! I wish him well in his new adventures of road riding and hope to be riding with him soon in the Gaps.

Oh yeah, don’t let me forget to mention that John was able to squeeze in an autograph from Lance at the start of Stage 5. Way to go John!

Well, if you think you can go to one of these professional cycling events and try to get a good spot arriving late you might as well pack it in and stay home because the event organizers will shut down the entire route about two to three hours ahead of the arrival of the first riders or peloton. And while I’m on that subject, they will not open up the road you may be on until the last rider and support vehicles go by. This is done primarily for the rider and public's safety.

After finding the best spot possible, we unloaded the tent, banners, etc.

Great! I thought. Now we can just sit back and enjoy the scenery and wait.

Well, after a few minutes the entire location around us was packed with people and riders that had been riding the route to experience the joy and pain of suffering what the professionals go through.

The atmosphere around us was intensifying by the minute! Everybody loved the spot we had and dropped by to socialize and rest from either walking or riding. We met some local riders and a family that had parked in front of us and chatted about the race and whom we thought might win the stage and so on. This is what it’s all about!!!!

Then, it went good to bad in about thirty minutes!

Mother Nature (as some would call it) had a different change of plan. It went from a nice sunny day to cold… windy… thundering… lightning… hail (marble size-no kidding)… rain and back to clear in about an hour’s time. Totally, unwelcomed! I want to thank God for his mercy and grace during that! That was a scary moment! We actually had to hold the tent down because of the high winds and rain. Imagine holding a piece of metal in your hands while its lighting! Scary thought! Let me take this time to thank the many folks that were there with us and helped out with everything. I certainly appreciate it! We had about twenty or so folks under the tent during all of this.

Finally, after it cleared off. Everybody resumed their positions on the sides of the road.

Then, “Here they come!” was shouted from every direction. The State Troopers, Officials and Course Marshall’s came zipping by.

Crowds lined the roads and then here comes the lead pack. Gracefully, as is they are in one fluid motion, no hesitation or slowing down. Grinding up some of the steepest sections in North Georgia as if they were on a joy ride. It’s amazing to see these professionals ride. I know from experience about the pain and suffering on these climbs. It can be excruciating at times. Some say it is like riding the baby Alps or Dolomites in Europe. I can’t vouch for that because I’ve never been there, but I can imagine. These guys just make it look so easy! It’s awesome!

I tried in vain to get a good shot but as nervous as I was (maybe I should get a professional camera), most of mine were blurred. Could it be that most of the riders were traveling at such a high rate of speed? Who knows? I’m just glad that John and Eddie were there and came through with some great shots!

The riders looked as though they were averaging around 18-20 mph on the climb. That may be exaggerating a little but who care’s. I can’t even imagine averaging half of that on these climbs. They have already traveled around 90-95 miles into the race and hit these mountains at that high rate of speed! You can imagine the shape these guys are in! What a life! Getting to travel all over the world and still have fun with something they love to do.

The look on most everyone’s face seeing these riders climb was stunning to say the least. The excitement was as if you were at the Super Bowl! Just hearing all the encouragement everyone was giving was much appreciated by riders as they passed, beside all the pain and suffering they were going through. What a sport!

A little bit about Stage5 events that took place on Hog Pen Gap.

I was able to take my oldest daughter with me on this stage and she really enjoyed it except for the weather (it was freezing) and we got some decent shots of the riders coming over Hog Pen Gap. People were actually hanging off cliffs to get a good look. No kidding!

I was able to keep up with the action ahead of everyone else thanks to another good friend of mine (Mr. VIP- Marty Nix). He was able to get a ride in the official’s car that followed the lead pack of riders. He kept me up to date through out the stage.

As they approached the bottom of Hog Pen Gap he called me on the cell and told me, “Get ready, we will be there in about 5 to 10 minutes.”  I said, “No way!” He laughed, “Yeah, we will be their in a little bit.” I said, “Who is in the lead?” and his reply, “LANCE!”

Ok, you know what was running through my mind. Lance was down by over 2 minutes. This might be one of those epic days like you see in the Tour de France. He’s either going to kill them on this climb and breakaway or he’s just riding for the support of his teammate.

I told a couple of groups around us what I had heard on the phone and instantly the word got passed on to others around us on the route. We heard the helicopters coming.  Then approximately 8 to 10 minutes, the lead pack with Lance hammering away just like Marty had mentioned came up the Gap and everyone went crazy! I was almost run over by one of the officials on a motorbike trying to get a decent shot of Lance pulling the pack. What a day!

After all was said and done, I enjoyed both days and met many new friends and riders and hope to see them and any of you that read this article at next years stages in the Gaps.

PS: I was able to take some shots of Lance and Mario last year at that same location on Hog Pen. I will post them as well. Mario was cracking jokes with his teammates as he went by.

Take care and enjoy the photos!

Todd Abercrombie, Adventure Cycles

2005 TDG Stage 4 Photos                  2005 TDG Stage 5 Photos