DOSWELL, VIRGINIA
I am a fan. I wish Richmond was a little bit closer but I made my fourth trip in four days.
The Men’s Individual Time Trial started inside Kings Dominion. I could drive close to Richmond without worrying about parking downtown.
I pulled up and was directed to staff parking (free) because I was wearing yesterday’s Volunteer T-shirt. Neat.
Actually, I wanted to ride down the road about 10 miles and take up a private viewing location. But after leaving the main parking lot I saw the police had already shut down Va. Rte. 30. I found an access road and rode for about 40 minutes. Then settled in for viewing.
I positioned myself at the exit of KD, a sharp right hander, where the riders jump onto Rte. 30. There were about 25 of us there at various times. There was another volunteer (an officially assigned one). There was a truck driver from Pitt-Ohio who stopped for an hour break and got to watch the ITT.
The first rider out of the box was Michael Hepburn, from Australia. The riders went in inverse order or world championship points so he was not expected to do well but put up a winning time that held up for 45 minutes or so. The TV broadcast showed up throwing up as he went to the finish line. He really gave it his all.
Some people relied on me for cycling knowledge. And I was the only one there who had the start order (above). One woman asked if I was one of the professional riders. I laughed and said “No, but that would make a good Facebook post.”
A Christian home-schooled family pulled up in their beat up old school bus. I enjoyed talking with them. When Taylor Phinney came I implored everyone to cheer for Taylor.
Then it was a little anti-climatic watching most of the big names go. After Tony Martin went, I rode a little more, then went home and watched a recording of the race.
Phinney, just 15 months removed from a horrific accident, finished 12th which qualified the USA of one of the top 10 countries for two spots at next year’s summer Olympics (two countries placed two in the top 12). The winner was the 3rd seed, Vasil Kiryienka from Bulgaria.
