Tour of Missouri - Stage 5
Well, one more day in the books...which means one more day to go, sadly. It seems like most of the folks I've talked to today are ready for the event to wrap up. It's been an amazing event, but folks are ready to go home and sleep in their own beds, not question the integrity of the hotel we'll be in that night. As for me, I've made SO many new friends this week. I know this isn't the last time I'll see them, but the event is so amazing, I just want it to last forever. Not to mention my passion for Discovery. All of the talk this week has been about the team folding at the end of the season. I admit, I still get teary eyed when I hear the talk about my dream team fading. Especially the fact that this'll be the last time I ever see my hero, Johan Bruyneel in person, EVER again. I mean, what're the odds of me moving to Madrid, next door to him? I'll never have the feeling I get when I stand next to the man I sometimes call "The Ultimate", the feeling like I'm so scared that I don't have the resume to be able to talk to him. Someone who's seen all there is to see and done most of it with one hell of a palmares. While I think about that, there's still today's Stage to talk about!This morning was cold, real cold. Remember me saying that quite a few folks went out to buy jackets in Kansas City? They came to GOOD use this morning! When Virginia and I walked out to pack the car, the temp was around 47 degrees! Whoa! Don't get me wrong! I was loving the weather!!! After we packed the car around 7:30, we met some other folks in the lobby for breakfast. Everyone got a good laugh at my battle with the waffle machine (I still have the mark to prove it!) so I ate what was left of that and a bowl of cereal. Our morning was a little different from others. Virginia and I headed to the Start in Jefferson City at 8am. The start line was located at the Capitol building, really neat! The set up for the morning Hospitality Tent was fairly normal, including the "overachiever" of a volunteer who was going nutty about not having the tablecloths yet. I was handling the VIP check-in solo (staff wise), but with the help of some awesome volunteers comprised of Chamber of Commerce (I think) staff, the morning went smoothly. Cynthia was my favorite of the staff! She and Sylvia (I think) were so eager to learn about cycling and even more eager to know how to get the athlete's autographs. I had a great answer for every question they asked and even gave them the 'heads up' of riders coming up to the Sign In stage. As you all know, riders are required to sign in before each stage. The "alley ways" leading to and from the Sign In stage are what is known as "Autograph Alley". That's the best way to get the rider's John Hancock in the morning, keeping in mind to get a spot early, because it fills up quick! So somewhere around the time the big dawgs of the race started pulling up to Sign In, Virginia came to me and offered to take the "Will Call" sheet from me so I could neander around and talk to folks like my amigo, the VIP car driver, Darach and the Comm 3 driver John, always saving time for Cynthia and Sylvia and cracking jokes with Nelson Vails. At one point, when Cynthia was asking about who the riders were (which I found the Start Lists for her to get her autographs on), Nelson walked up and I said "Whoa, wait a minute! Girls! THAT is THE autograph you need!!! That's Nelson Vails!!!" Nelson put on a nice little grin and walked over to the ladies and introduced himself. In the meantime, I saw my boy, Tony Cruise heading up to Sign In, so I walked onto the course between the Sign In stage and the Hospitality tent. As I was point out the riders to the girls, Tour de France winner Alberto Contidor came up. Cynthia begged me to go get his autograph so I got her start list and pen and walked over. 'Berto was gladly signing autographs and signed Cynthia's as well, as well as posing for a PICTURE with yours truly! I headed back over to the fence at the Hospitality tent across the street to applause from all of the girls around! Then..."HIGH FIVE!" Tony the Cruiser pulled up to give me our daily high five. I introduced him to the girls as well so they could get his signature and he and I got a picture as well. I got lots of good pictures today! So the riders began to pull up to the line before Call Ups began and I stepped back to talk to John Kelly, driver of Comm 3. As the National Anthem was played, I slowly stepped back behind the fence to wait for the race to start, watch the only circuit lap (couldn't leave anyway because all of the Staff cars wound up parked ON THE COURSE! Whoops...) After the circuit, which was ALL in view of the start line, Virginia and I hopped in the car and headed off to St. Charles, an hour and a half drive away.On the way over, Virginia was working on the awards ceremony for tomorrow and arranging a meeting (after the stage) to discuss it with the key players of the staff. At one point, she got an unpleasant call from Ryan who was at the Finish line VIP tent. Bad news, he was running out of wristbands. (We give out wrist bands as we take up tickets so VIPs can still have access to the tent.) We arranged a plan to temporarily save our crisis with the wristbands. We would give the white, paper wrist bands to anyone over 21 and give the normally over 21 bands to the underaged, just a reversal of the way we usually do it. When we got to the tent, Ryan only had a handful of bands...it was then that we found out that he has misinterpreted our plan and had still given out the regular wristbands. Well, today we were expect 500 VIPs...and tomorrow...over 700!!! Virginia was a little frustrated and explained the bands again...craziness! She was also able to order more bands through Anheiser Busch (sp?) (who supplies them) for tomorrow. So the race was getting closer. The closer the race got, the more VIPs left the tent for a better view or approached the barriers for some kind of view. This left the tent area completely empty minute Sean, Darach, me, and Ryan watching the race finish on the screens around the tent and "testing" the food. If I may say...Danny Pate owes his victory to me...we were talking about the riders in the breakaway and I said "I'd love to see Danny win! For the last three years, I've been watching him; he's so aggressive!!! But he only manages 2nd or the Aggressive Riders Jersey, nothing more." Just a few minutes later, he bridged the gap to the two leaders and soloed in for the win to a massive cheer from the crowd. I didn't take as much time today cleaning up as I usually do, but instead joined in on the meeting about tomorrow's awards presentation. All of tomorrow's awards including the presenters, awards themselves, and order was the topic for the meeting. After the meeting, as usual, many of the Medalist folks and major Tour folks stood around talking about the day and the upcoming. Before Virginia and I left, she was talking to Jim Birrell and he explained to her about a (ok, get ready for JC to pout and cry!) presentation that is going to take place for Discovery tomorrow...actually...I think I may leave my race report at that...In the meantime, we all wandered down the street to yet another Tavern for a few drinks (mine again being non-alcoholic. So many folks want to buy me a beer tomorrow!) Tomorrow morning sets off the big show! If you haven't read about the last stage of the race, we finish under the Arc in St. Louis amidst a major league football, baseball, and hockey game, all going on at the same time. Afterwards, THE WRAP UP PARTY!!! More info to come tomorrow...Pouting and crying,WAIT! No, not yet...Anticipating tomorrow, your reporter in the tent,JCPS. YES! I will post all of my pictures, however poor and far away from the action probably when I get home Tuesday-ish. Till then, mahalo and aloha!
Well, one more day in the books...which means one more day to go, sadly. It seems like most of the folks I've talked to today are ready for the event to wrap up. It's been an amazing event, but folks are ready to go home and sleep in their own beds, not question the integrity of the hotel we'll be in that night. As for me, I've made SO many new friends this week. I know this isn't the last time I'll see them, but the event is so amazing, I just want it to last forever. Not to mention my passion for Discovery. All of the talk this week has been about the team folding at the end of the season. I admit, I still get teary eyed when I hear the talk about my dream team fading. Especially the fact that this'll be the last time I ever see my hero, Johan Bruyneel in person, EVER again. I mean, what're the odds of me moving to Madrid, next door to him? I'll never have the feeling I get when I stand next to the man I sometimes call "The Ultimate", the feeling like I'm so scared that I don't have the resume to be able to talk to him. Someone who's seen all there is to see and done most of it with one hell of a palmares. While I think about that, there's still today's Stage to talk about!This morning was cold, real cold. Remember me saying that quite a few folks went out to buy jackets in Kansas City? They came to GOOD use this morning! When Virginia and I walked out to pack the car, the temp was around 47 degrees! Whoa! Don't get me wrong! I was loving the weather!!! After we packed the car around 7:30, we met some other folks in the lobby for breakfast. Everyone got a good laugh at my battle with the waffle machine (I still have the mark to prove it!) so I ate what was left of that and a bowl of cereal. Our morning was a little different from others. Virginia and I headed to the Start in Jefferson City at 8am. The start line was located at the Capitol building, really neat! The set up for the morning Hospitality Tent was fairly normal, including the "overachiever" of a volunteer who was going nutty about not having the tablecloths yet. I was handling the VIP check-in solo (staff wise), but with the help of some awesome volunteers comprised of Chamber of Commerce (I think) staff, the morning went smoothly. Cynthia was my favorite of the staff! She and Sylvia (I think) were so eager to learn about cycling and even more eager to know how to get the athlete's autographs. I had a great answer for every question they asked and even gave them the 'heads up' of riders coming up to the Sign In stage. As you all know, riders are required to sign in before each stage. The "alley ways" leading to and from the Sign In stage are what is known as "Autograph Alley". That's the best way to get the rider's John Hancock in the morning, keeping in mind to get a spot early, because it fills up quick! So somewhere around the time the big dawgs of the race started pulling up to Sign In, Virginia came to me and offered to take the "Will Call" sheet from me so I could neander around and talk to folks like my amigo, the VIP car driver, Darach and the Comm 3 driver John, always saving time for Cynthia and Sylvia and cracking jokes with Nelson Vails. At one point, when Cynthia was asking about who the riders were (which I found the Start Lists for her to get her autographs on), Nelson walked up and I said "Whoa, wait a minute! Girls! THAT is THE autograph you need!!! That's Nelson Vails!!!" Nelson put on a nice little grin and walked over to the ladies and introduced himself. In the meantime, I saw my boy, Tony Cruise heading up to Sign In, so I walked onto the course between the Sign In stage and the Hospitality tent. As I was point out the riders to the girls, Tour de France winner Alberto Contidor came up. Cynthia begged me to go get his autograph so I got her start list and pen and walked over. 'Berto was gladly signing autographs and signed Cynthia's as well, as well as posing for a PICTURE with yours truly! I headed back over to the fence at the Hospitality tent across the street to applause from all of the girls around! Then..."HIGH FIVE!" Tony the Cruiser pulled up to give me our daily high five. I introduced him to the girls as well so they could get his signature and he and I got a picture as well. I got lots of good pictures today! So the riders began to pull up to the line before Call Ups began and I stepped back to talk to John Kelly, driver of Comm 3. As the National Anthem was played, I slowly stepped back behind the fence to wait for the race to start, watch the only circuit lap (couldn't leave anyway because all of the Staff cars wound up parked ON THE COURSE! Whoops...) After the circuit, which was ALL in view of the start line, Virginia and I hopped in the car and headed off to St. Charles, an hour and a half drive away.On the way over, Virginia was working on the awards ceremony for tomorrow and arranging a meeting (after the stage) to discuss it with the key players of the staff. At one point, she got an unpleasant call from Ryan who was at the Finish line VIP tent. Bad news, he was running out of wristbands. (We give out wrist bands as we take up tickets so VIPs can still have access to the tent.) We arranged a plan to temporarily save our crisis with the wristbands. We would give the white, paper wrist bands to anyone over 21 and give the normally over 21 bands to the underaged, just a reversal of the way we usually do it. When we got to the tent, Ryan only had a handful of bands...it was then that we found out that he has misinterpreted our plan and had still given out the regular wristbands. Well, today we were expect 500 VIPs...and tomorrow...over 700!!! Virginia was a little frustrated and explained the bands again...craziness! She was also able to order more bands through Anheiser Busch (sp?) (who supplies them) for tomorrow. So the race was getting closer. The closer the race got, the more VIPs left the tent for a better view or approached the barriers for some kind of view. This left the tent area completely empty minute Sean, Darach, me, and Ryan watching the race finish on the screens around the tent and "testing" the food. If I may say...Danny Pate owes his victory to me...we were talking about the riders in the breakaway and I said "I'd love to see Danny win! For the last three years, I've been watching him; he's so aggressive!!! But he only manages 2nd or the Aggressive Riders Jersey, nothing more." Just a few minutes later, he bridged the gap to the two leaders and soloed in for the win to a massive cheer from the crowd. I didn't take as much time today cleaning up as I usually do, but instead joined in on the meeting about tomorrow's awards presentation. All of tomorrow's awards including the presenters, awards themselves, and order was the topic for the meeting. After the meeting, as usual, many of the Medalist folks and major Tour folks stood around talking about the day and the upcoming. Before Virginia and I left, she was talking to Jim Birrell and he explained to her about a (ok, get ready for JC to pout and cry!) presentation that is going to take place for Discovery tomorrow...actually...I think I may leave my race report at that...In the meantime, we all wandered down the street to yet another Tavern for a few drinks (mine again being non-alcoholic. So many folks want to buy me a beer tomorrow!) Tomorrow morning sets off the big show! If you haven't read about the last stage of the race, we finish under the Arc in St. Louis amidst a major league football, baseball, and hockey game, all going on at the same time. Afterwards, THE WRAP UP PARTY!!! More info to come tomorrow...Pouting and crying,WAIT! No, not yet...Anticipating tomorrow, your reporter in the tent,JCPS. YES! I will post all of my pictures, however poor and far away from the action probably when I get home Tuesday-ish. Till then, mahalo and aloha!
posted by JC Gillespie at 11:39 PM
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