Fans line streets for Tour de Georgia
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Pupils at Grovetown Middle School enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds of the school as they waited for the Tour de Georgia cyclists to pass on their way to Macon. The first leg of the race was 128.9 miles long, and it started in downtown Augusta.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Dakota Knoeferl, 8, took to the streets of Harlem on Tuesday for one reason.
"I'm excited about seeing Lance Armstrong, because he is famous," Dakota said as he lounged on the lawn at Harlem City Hall with his North Harlem Elementary second-grade class, all waiting anxiously for more than 100 racing cyclists to arrive as part of the third annual Dodge Tour de Georgia.
Residents of Grovetown and Harlem and pupils from schools in both cities lined the streets to cheer on the cyclists on the 128.9-mile first stage trip to Macon.
Mike Sizemore, of Evans, said he just happened to see the race route blocked off in Grovetown and decided to head the racers off in Harlem hoping for a photo of them, especially six-time Tour de France champ Armstrong, who announced that July's Tour de France will be his last.
"If you get to see Lance Armstrong in your home county, especially in his last year, on one of his last races, that's worth taking a minute to come and watch," Sizemore said.
But it wasn't just Armstrong that Dusty Kauffman, 7, was waiting to see.
The Tour de Georgia cyclists ride past Grovetown Middle School on Tuesday.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
The North Harlem Elementary first-grader said he'd never seen anything like the fast-moving pack of cyclists that sprinted through his rural town.
"I'm excited to see them all," Dusty said.
Dave Shields, the author of The Race, a fictional account of an American in the Tour de France, enjoyed his ride with race officials ahead of the cycling pack and seeing all the supporting fans lining the streets of Columbia County's small towns.
"I've been to bike races all over the world, and this is one of the best bike races I've ever been to," Shields said.
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Dylan Drumm, 6, (center left) and Britney Grays, 7, hold up a sign encouraging cyclists in the Tour de Georgia as the cyclists move through downtown Harlem. Both children are first-graders at North Harlem Elementary School whose entire class came out for the race. Other classmates crowd around in anticipation of the cyclists' trip through Columbia County.
Photo by Valerie Rowell
Cyclists competing in the Tour de Georgia race through downtown Harlem, headed for Macon. The race ends today in Alpharetta.
Photo by Valerie Rowell