Checking in from Georgia

Cyclingnews diarist Glen Chadwick is the second rider after Rory Sutherland to provide us with descriptions in the daily life of a professional bike rider, as the Team Type 1 rider checks in from Georgia. In the first two stages Chadwick tested the waters in the South, but found the temperature a bit cold.

"Well, the numbers have been pinned on, the pockets have been filled and we're off for Stage 1 of the Tour de Georgia.

Tybee Island is where we have been hanging out the last couple of days. As it's only about 20 kilometres from Savannah, we actually raced to and through Savannah over the finish line and headed out the other side for a further 80-kilometre loop and back into the finish.

The start was a pretty fast and nervous one, to say the least. Fabio's front wheel was a casualty of a slight twitch in the field, which resulted in several spokes being ripped out of his 404. But a quick Mavic change and he was back in the peloton, no worries.

Early on, I followed a wheel across to a small break, just off the front, to test the waters and as I found out it was a tad too cold for me just yet (icy, actually). As we were swept up by the field I started to suck in the oxygen as hard as I could, even felt a bit dizzy.

Clearly, there were a lot of cob webs that needed to be blown out of the system, so I decided to just sit in from then on. Breaks kept forming off the front but High Road and Astana seemed to be keeping everything in check. With around 30 kilometres remaining, a group of six went clear and the lead jumped straight out to one minute, but that was all they were gonna get this time around. Too many teams were keen for a bunch kick.

Railway lines seemed to be the focus on this stage, though, and funding the repairs to where they crossed the roads wasn't! Man, they were nasty. We crossed the lines on the way out and way back, with about 12 crossings in total all within a five-kilometre section."

Read on to find out more about stage 1 and two.