Saturday: Has It Only Been Two Days?

Rock Racing sponsored the USPRO time trial.
Greenville, S.C. - Yes, it is only Saturday and it seems like I have been in Greenville, S.C., forever. But that's a good thing. The city is clean and getting around is easy, as we are just off I-385.

It was nice to ease into things today. Rock Racing only had two entries in the USPRO Championship time trial and Team Type 1 only had one. So I was able to Twitter updates about both teams, coordinate media and follow the race results. Phil Southerland of Team Type 1 was a part of the online broadcast for about 10 minutes and the Greenville News asked to ride in the Rock Racing team car behind Michael Creed.

Speaking of Creed, he was part of one of the more unusual sights on the day. I saw him get off his bicycle and walk away from the starthouse about two minutes before he was scheduled to go. He walked down the sidewalk and behind a bridge culvert. I quickly figured out that he was heeding "nature's call." But I didn't expect what happened when he was finished. One of the team staff put an entire bag of ice down the back of his skinsuit. Yikes! That had to be cold.

But it was also a good precautionary measure. It was HOT out there. And humid. One photographer who was in Beijing, Casey Gibson of VeloNews, said it was more humid and warmer in Greenville than at the Olympics.

Neither squad did anything in Saturday's race, which was fine and not unexpected. It still made for a long day, though, and I never did get out on a bike ride. Tracking down a bike seemed to be the first obstacle, time was the second obstacle and third, I would have been even more exhausted than I was already. (Need proof? Check out the stories I wrote for Team Type 1 here, here and here).

Saturday night was the "Greenville Rocks" concert and hospitality dinner sponsored by Rock Racing. I accompanied team photographers Paul and Bill to the event and we enjoyed the live music and a tremendously nice spread of food. Despite it being billed as an "athlete reception," not a single rider was there. They would have enjoyed the food - but missed the desserts. (There were none.)

Three things that were nice...

I was able to pick the girls up some very nice souvenirs without spending a bundle. So girls, if you are reading this, you need to stay good for Mom. She'll give me the final OK or nay on whether you actually deserve to receive the gifts I bring back to Omaha. So please continue to be good for her.

Having been here last year (and having stayed at the downtown Hampton Inn), I was very familiar with the area where the Greenville Rocks event was taking place. I even knew how to save $5 on parking.

Back in Omaha, Bridget was feeding me updates on the Nebraska football game. I ordered the pay-per-view broadcast and they threw a watching party at my apartment. (Supposedly they cleaned up afterwards.)

Now to the photos:
I thought this sign was funny at a bike event.

In case you didn't believe me that the food spread was impressive.

The band played Journey, Rush, AC/DC and Rolling Stones music.

Paul from Vero Image caught me in action Saturday night.

Here's the view of the event from across the stream.