The Tour of Georgia, one of American’s cycling’s most prestigious events, has been cancelled for next season.
Created in 2003, the Tour has failed to secure regular sponsors since Lance Armstrong’s retirement in 2005.
The Texan, who announced his return to professional cycling in September, did not include Georgia in his 2009 plans.
“I’m disappointed that the 2009 Tour has been cancelled, but very pleased that it will return in 2010,” said USA Cycling boss Steve Johnson.
In a statement, organisers said: “The planning process for the Tour of Georgia requires a tremendous amount of time and effort.
“We wanted to give all of our partners enough time to plan and allocate their resources to take full advantage of the event. Therefore, we will skip 2009.”
Seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong took the Georgia title in 2004.
Every, I’ve wanted to make the trip back east to go see the race, especially since in most years, there has been at least one stage finish in my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee … looks like I’ll have to wait until 2010.
I’m sure that economic hard times and the current recession are contributing factors as well, but it really sucks that the American corporate sponsorship community (at least for a sport like cycling) focusses so much on one rider that his retirement has a ripple effect throughout the the entire sport.
And even his comeback isn’t enough to generate big monetary excitement.
Or, it could be all the doping issues … regardless, the loss of another large American race does not bode well …
The Tour de Georgia will not be held next year, but the race’s backers say it will be back in 2010.
The race’s board of directors announced Friday that they will use 2009 to “plan ahead and properly position” the race for 2010.
“We believe that this unique and exciting event will endure,” said Tom Saddlemire, a member of the board and recently retired CFO of GE Energy.
The race backers said that by many measures the event has been wildly successful.
“Over the course of six years, the Tour de Georgia has attracted 3.2 million spectators, many of whom traveled to Georgia from out of state, and generated a direct economic impact totaling over $186 million,” said Craig Lesser, former Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “The 2008 Tour de Georgia, our most successful Tour yet, yielded over $38.6 million in direct economic impact for the state. We have come a long way since 2003.”
The 2008 event also raised nearly $3.2 million in operating expenses and commitments for more than $500,000 in support of cancer research through the Aflac Cancer Center at Children’s Healthcare and the Georgia Cancer Coalition.
Despite the fund raising and competitive successes, the race has often struggled to find title sponsors, signing its “Presenting Sponsor,” AT&T, in January last year.
This is the John McCain that I once respected, and for whom in years past, I would have considered voting … well , except for the Sarah Palin comments in the middle of the speech. If this had been the John McCain that had been campaigning for the past several months, I feel the election would have much, much closer.
Welcome back, John.
And for those who missed President-elect Barack Obama’s victory speech last night, as I did:
Growing up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I never thought an African American would ever be elected to the highest office in the land. And yet, over the past year, I have been amazed at how much it appears that Americans are becoming more color-blind … and it was my honor and privilege to vote for Barack Obama.
Living in Utah, I was on the losing side in the state … our 5 Electoral College votes are going to John McCain; but the Democratic Party has made some inroads in Utah. In 2004, nearly 75% of Utahns voted to re-elect George Bush. In 2008, 62% of Utahns voted for John McCain, and 34% voted, not only for a Democrat, but an African American Democrat. Democrats changed the balance of power of the Salt Lake County Council. A Democrat unseated the sitting Republican Speaker of the House in the State Legislature.
A shift is coming, and one can only hope and pray that it is, and continues to be, for the better.
Now that the election is over, I have to figure out what I’m going to do to occupy my geek time and come up with new blog topics.
Maybe I’ll start writing about cycling and skiing again … wouldn’t that be an interesting twist?
» by flahute in: Music on August 5th, 2008 at 06:10:06 UTC |
… but even better than just finding new music in general, is finding new music by someone you thought had disappeared.
A couple years ago, Kim and I went back to Chattanooga to visit some of my family, and to go to the annual Riverbend Festival. While there, I discovered a great rockabilly band called the Cumberland Runners, and promptly bought their CD.
I’ve been waiting fir a new one ever since. Tonight, I was doing a lyric search for one of their songs and ran across a mention of Jason Lee Wilson, who happened to be the singer. iTunes is selling JLW’s solo album so I had to buy it immediately … and it’s great!
I don’t know if this means that the Runners are no more (and I certainly hope not) but my new music fix will be satisfied for a few more days.
Is it cheesy to crib a post for your own blog from comments that you’ve left on someone else’s?
Fastgrrrl wrote today about having a sense of place, and how places leave their mark on people.
My place … I’m still trying to determine exactly where my place is …
It’s the Tennessee River, drifting along in a fishing boat. It’s Chickamauga Lake, learning how to slalom. It’s the dogwood tree in front of my great-grandmother’s house in Chattanooga.
It’s the treehouse my friends and I built with stolen building materials from the houses in our new development above Lotus Lake in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
It’s the cobbled roads and small little cafes and bars of Belgium, albeit not by bicycle, as I wasn’t a cyclist then.
It’s the North Beach bars and jazz clubs of San Francisco. It’s the streets of San Francisco dodging buses and taxis, and the roads of Marin County where I truly came into my own as a cyclist.
And it’s rapidly becoming the Utah mountains and canyons, where my knees scream on each attempt to climb higher, but my heart soars as I descend, whether with boards strapped to my feet, or astride my trusty steel steed.
I have a long way to go before I am defined by any one particular place, but as long as the journey continues, I will take it all in and make it a part of who I am, and who I want to be.
» by flahute in: Life on January 21st, 2008 at 16:09:13 UTC |
I find it really hard to believe that in the 21st Century; 40 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, that the United States still has to deal with this crap.
JENA, La. – A march and speeches by a white supremacist group are planned Monday, in opposition to the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
The Nationalist Movement, a self-described “pro-majority” group headquartered in Learned, Miss., plans to stage “Jena Justice Day” on Monday. Nationalist spokesman Richard Barrett said the group plans to show its opposition to the holiday and to the Jena Six, a group of black teens accused of beating a white classmate.
Civil-rights leaders said the charges against the six were overly harsh and race-based.
Even though I am a native Californian, I grew up in the South; in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is where most of my extended family still resides … I am used to seeing and hearing racism up close and personal, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
For the most part, my family taught me right … there are things that are done and not done, things that are said and not said. And while there was definitely a “not our kind, dear” attitude that was fairly pervasive amongst the older (and now deceased) members of my family, I am thankful that it was class-based (not economic, but attitude), and not race-based.
Yes, we judged people … but we judged people based on their actions and words, and not by their color.
And so, with that in mind, and in remembrance of a great man, on this day, I urge you to watch and listen to the following speeches.
» by flahute in: Cycling on June 24th, 2007 at 20:40:26 UTC |
Got my copy of Tour de Life: From Coma to Competition, by Saul Raisin (from Dalton, GA, near my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee) and local Salt Lake City author Dave Shields.
As is typical of Dave’s books, it is extremely well written, and does an incredible job of telling Saul’s story from his crash at the Circuit de la Sarthe in April 2006, through his recovery and return to France for a team training camp in January of this year.
The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer, however; as Saul has yet to actually return to competition, although according to his blog, he was recently cleared by his doctors … now just needs clearance from his team and USA Cycling. I believe his goal is to start (and win) the U.S. National Championship race in Greenville, SC this September.
Saul recently moved to Salt Lake City, and has been posting some of his training rides to motionbased.com. Before I found this out, some friends and I saw a rider out training; full Crédit Agricole team kit, Look bicycle, the whole 9-yards … my riding partners thought “Poseur!” but knowing that Saul was working with Dave Shields on the book, I thought it could be him … turns out, I was right.
In any case; the book is a great read … highly recommended.
