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Fri 4/22 - Hail of a day in Georgia! Dahlonega is a quaint little town and we always like visiting here. I came a couple of years ago to ride the 6 Gap Century with Chris Brewer when he was training for the first Tour of Hope. As we were setting up today, I met Paige Kunzer, the President of the Dahlonega Merchants Association. We were thrilled to hear that the merchants decided to donate a percentage of their sales today, to the LAF!

Pictured from the Dahlonega Merchants - Lynn Phieffer, Paige Kunzer, (myself), Judy Boggs and Kathy Yankus.

As we were setting up I noticed some guys setting up some really big speakers right in front of our booth. I pointed them out to Angie and we knew we had a problem. When they started warming up and testing their speakers, we felt like we were in the middle of a heavy metal concert. It just makes it a bit hard to talk about someone about cancer or the Lance Armstrong Foundation when you're screaming at the top of you lungs, to be heard by someone standing three feet away. When we checked about the possibility of changing locations, we found out that the band, was supposed to be a man with a banjo. Seems it turned out to be a man named Joe with a band. Anyway, we moved and setup across the street.

We were having a typically busy day for the TdG when it turned really nasty. Thunder, lightening, strong winds and lots of hail moved in quickly. As we were getting drenched and pelted with hail, we could only imagine what the riders were facing. Several tents were blown down, including the position we had just moved from, and we were quickly standing in a river. The weather cleared as quickly as it had turned sour and the crowds were immediately back with us.

It seemed that it was Rider Family Day at the LAF tent today--we met Tom Danielson’s dad, Floyd Landis’ dad and our friend that we met at the Tour de France three years ago, Rob Leipheimer, Levi’s brother. They were all so nice and came by to show their support of the LAF!

As the race got closer to the finish, I walked along the barricades and passed out Lance fans. It’s amazing how popular you get when you’re passing them out and how unpopular you become when you run out! I always try to give one to the kids along the fence because they get so excited and will be sure to wave them when the riders come through.

Tomorrow could prove to be an even more interesting day. We’ve heard possible snow, highs in the 40’s and windy for the top of Brasstown Bald. Sounds like weather made for Lance.

Best line of the day – during the thunder, lightening, strong winds and hail, when most people were running for cover, a young girl ran up to our tent and said, “Ouch that hail hurts…can I get four youth wristbands?”

Thurs 4/21 / Sat 4/23