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STAGE 3: FITCHBURG VS. THE TOUR DE FRANCE
Ted King
July 8, 2008
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I'm in the midst of a full day of travel from Massachsetts to Oregon as I write this. In truth, my "day" of travel is quite a bit longer than that; we finished up the 49th annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic four-day stage race in central Massachusetts Sunday afternoon, frantically packed everything from a week of racing, then sped to Boston where we spent the night at an airport hotel. Early this morning I hopped on the plane and one layover later I'm in Portland, OR. But it doesn't end there; I'm now waiting for my teammate Tom to arrive from Colorado before my teammate Omer will pick us up and spend the night at his house. Finally tomorrow, we'll arrive in Bend, OR for the Cascade Cycling Classic beginning Wednesday. So I'm somehow cramming nearly 48 hours of travel into one "day" of travel... phew!
In any event, during this day of travel of mine, I got off my first flight and received a mini bombardment of texts and emails to the effect of "Did you see today's Tour stage?!"
No, duh. I've been on a plane all morning. (Although coincidentally, my teammate Scott flew home today on JetBlue which features Direct TV, so he did actually see the race while he flew. He was one of the first to text me. Lucky!)
Anyway, if you're reading this blog on RBA, chances are you know that Will Frischkorn ran 2nd in today's stage three of Le Tour. That's phenomenal! Hats off to him and a heroic effort in his Tour debut.
It wasn't my intention to have any contiguity from post to post on this blog, but turns out that's the case here, as I compare Will's efforts in France to mine here in the States. You see, Fitchburg seems to always overlap with the beginning of the Tour, so a typical day in Fitchburg for me and I'm sure most guys racing there begins with coffee, oatmeal, and Tour watching, followed by some actual, hands-on bike racing. But what separates this year from other years is that I can remember watching Will race Fitchburg in the not too distant past, and do pretty well, if I recall correctly.
So as noted in my last post, Will has gone from racing Fitchburg to nearly winning a stage of the Tour de France. It boggles the mind.
I think it's a fairly safe bet that two or three years ago, Will was doing nearly the exact routine of breakfast and Tour watching while preparing for Fitchburg as I was doing this week. Is that inspiring for me? Umm, yes.
*On a side note, Fitchburg was successful. With awesome support from my Bissell teammates, I finished 3rd overall and netted top 10s on three stages.
You may know Ted King from the mega-famous www.iamtedking.missingsaddle.com
blog. 2008 marks his third season of racing professionally. While
studying for a degree in economics, He cut his teeth in the collegiate
ranks at Middlebury College in Vermont before graduating to the US
National Team in Belgium in 2005. Followed that, Ted raced for Priority
Health from 2006 through 2007 and currently race for the Bissell Pro
Cycling team. Off the bike, he is an amateur but focused, chef. To
learn more about the Bissel Pro Cycling Team go to: www.bissellprocycling.com
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