Mid-summer Mix Up
With our bellies still full of the Texas size steaks and our bodies in warm comfy hotel beds, it was a small challenge to get rolling this morning. Today I was not going to be cycling but instead performing the very important role of crew chief and therefore had to wake up thirty minutes earlier than the rest of the team. One of the regular crew members was going to do his ride along and therefore we shuffled the roles around a little. Our project manager became a regular crew member and our regular crew chief became the day’s Project Manager. I was really excited to take on the challenge of managing the crew and cyclists safely from Longview, TX and across the state line into Shreveport, LA.
With a borrowed red crew polo on, I gave the first instructions to the team as they left lodging. “Right out of lodging and then left at the light!” The directions were then repeated by the cyclists to show they understand. As the last pace line rolled out I quickly said a prayer and asked that everything would go smoothly today.
Some minor construction and safety hazards were the only obstacles that stood in the cyclists’ way. The team arrived just a couple minutes late, which I was thankful for. As crew chief, I had to make a decision whether or not to rack the last pace line in the essence of time. The decision was really tough because I know how hard the cyclists push themselves to make rack point, but in the end, I had to call it in. For lunch we were sponsored by the Shriners Hospital of Shreveport. The arrival was really cool with a lot of kids and media coverage. One of the kids gave us a tour of the hospital which featured a train set, air hockey table, and lots of fun things the children could play with.
After our friendship visit we loaded up the vans and headed to lodging at a huge church called the Calvary Baptist Church. The church even had its own small school system! Our dinner was sponsored by Mr. J. Ernest Johnson, an alumnus from Auburn University which is just down the road from my own at UAB.
Being crew chief today was a really cool experience and I got to see how everything works ‘behind the scenes’. I wanted to have an awesome surprise for my fellow cyclists so at one of my crew stops I had water balloons for them to get crazy with. It was tons of fun and really brightened up everyone’s day from the heat and humidity of Louisiana. I also put on my own “jalapeno challenge”. I had a lot of jalapenos from a sponsored dinner left over in the van, so I challenged some of the guys to eat as many as they could without water. Not to be outdone, the cyclists kept “one-upping” each other until all that was left was the juice (which another cyclist drank straight up). As a cyclist myself, it was fun getting to put together cool things for the team. Tomorrow we leave for Monroe, LA, our last city in Louisiana. It’s unbelievable to a lot of us that we’re passing through this state in a mere two days. With just over 20 days left until Washington D.C., we are dreading the end while the trip seems like it’s going by faster and faster.
life on the bike 