Tour of Missouri 2009

This weekend was Tour of Missouri weekend for us - something I've been excited about for awhile now. It's been going on all week, but Friday/Saturday/Sunday it was on our side of the state in Sedalia/Chillicothe/KC. I was hoping to ditch Megan and Hannah Friday and watch in Sedalia, but work turned out to be too busy for that and I couldn't get away. In fact, I was so busy last week that I had written off going to Chillicothe and planned on just watching in KC on Sunday. But by Friday night I was just burnt out and caught up enough that we threw caution to the wind and decided to make a 24 hour trip just for the race (and the grandparent provided babysitting!).

After sleeping in Saturday morning (thanks to Megan's parents who took 6:00 am Hannah duty), we headed in to Chillicothe for the festivities. We were doubly excited because we found out that Megan's cousin Lauren and my cousin Aaron were both randomly going to be there. Lauren was in Chillicothe getting a much deserved break from boring Columbia Missouri and Aaron was "working" on the clean-up crew. So now all the Kerrs/Schads have fully met. Charlie/Amanda, Becky/John, and now Aaron/Lauren. I'd like to say they hit it off right away, but youngest siblings like to play it cool. We made them take a picture to commemorate the event anyway.

The coolest thing about a professional cycling race is the accessibility of the riders. Before the race the riders are just kicking back in their RV's and probably going over race strategies.. or playing wii or something, I don't really know. But once they come out to get warmed up they're all just right there on the street riding around. Megan got some great pics of "some guy named George" when he came out to sign autographs. Then just as we were walking past the Garmin trailer Dave Zabriskie came out to sign autographs and warm up. I had duct-taped a big Z on my shirt for Dave because he's quirky and talented and on a team I like. Dave had just taken over the lead in the race after the Sedalia time trial (and he ended up winning the Tour overall). Megan gets credit for pushing me up in front of I-don't-know-how-many people that were waiting and I got the duct tape Z autographed. So it was a pretty awesome day for me.

Then we went to Chautauqua at Simpson park. zzzzzz. That sure gets better every year. And Megan and I took a tandem ride around Chilli. We saw the dirt lot where the old high school was located last time we were in town. surreal. The bike ride was pretty awesome - thanks again, grandparents - it's been a long time since Megan and I were able to do that and I miss it.

So yeah, great Saturday. Pics below of Megan (and Lauren) doing stuff meant for kids, the bike mobile, more Megan doing stuff meant for kids, the Garmin RV, and Megan almost knocking Dave off his bike while trying to take his picture.