very nice piece, tom. i know those roads well as i spent the last 9 years training and racing in ga. why i'm in rochester, ny right now i have no idea. you lead a nice life. enjoy.

Thanks! The terrain was tough but we had some great clients who really rose to the challenges of the week and the terrain.

I have two more editorials including one called "Epic" that is pretty darn good. Those willl be up over the next few days.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Nice article Tom. I felt like I could really visualize it based on your words. The Dukes of Hazzard analogies were pretty funny as well. Frankly I didn't realize Georgia had climbs like (I live in Nor Cal).

What a life...getting paid to ride a bike. You and Frankie rock!

I had no idea the climbs were like this. Tom McManners of Discover Adventures sent all the clients detailed information about the courses we would ride on. As part of the staff, I didn't get the e-mails.

I get down there and we are suddenly on category 2 climbs. It felt like an amputation.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

n ga has awesome climbs. there's a century every year there called 6 gap century which takes you over all 6 gaps. from the website (http://www.dahlonega.org/aboutus.asp?id06=124&par06=23)

This ultra challenging route takes you up down six of the steepest climbs in the North Georgia Mountains.  Test your stamina with more than 10,700 feet of vertical climbing over the 100 mile course.  Elevations for the six gaps in this ride range from 2,949 feet to 3,490 feet.  The toughest climb, Hogpen Gap, tests even the toughest riders, averaging a 7% grade for seven miles, with sections as steep as 15%.

Two questions:

1. Is she single?

2. Are you two an item yet?

Nice article Tom.

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Jim

**Note above poster works for a retailer selling bikes and related gear*

I didn't ask and she hated me. I represented everything this woman despised in a person.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom,

Was the Gulf Steam lady single? Did you get her phone #? Or was she "too skinny"?

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Striving to have sex more than 66 times per year

What? Honesty and integrity, yeah, everyone hates that in a person! Perhaps it was the fact that you don't set store in the "important" things in life like designer threads and bling (just a guess)?

Back to the meat. Nice piece. I like the analogies you used for the article, what bike did you take? The 39/23 would sugest not your R2.5 unless you changed out the compact and that would appear to be a grave error!

One typo, which I will pm you if you want. Can you check for my pm also whilst you are there? Sounds like you are coming out of the valve, I am still stick in the middle of mine!

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

<< I didn't ask and she hated me. I represented everything this woman despised in a person. >>



Some people just have it in for the Gay man, I guess. Do you have a nicer Prada handbag than she does? ;-)

(dude - I'm totally just kidding. Not that there's anything wrong with that)



Yeah, I was out getting my ass handed to me by an ex-TdF rider just last week too, what a coincidence! Nice that us pikers can live (and ride the coolest new steeds) vicariously, courtesy of you. Glad ya had "fun".

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float , hammer , and jog

Excellent read! I'm waiting for more.......

Tom

Are you guys riding from Helen, GA? I am thinking of renting a condo there in April and wonder about the riding there. Thanks.

Mike

We were riding from Helen. It was excellent: Highly recommended.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"right down to our beautiful hotel setting at Unicoi Lodge in the center of the State Park".

He says they stayed here, which is just outside of Helen.

"This is more like the Michelin Man having a grand mal seizure at 3 mph while weaving all over the road on his way to a place named after a pig pen."

Thanks for the GREAT visualization! This is hilarious!