Marty Jemison headed out for a morning training ride with a smile and a bounce in his step under threatening, overcast skies Wednesday, just hours before the start of the 1994 Tour DuPont's opening prologue.
Despite the forecast for showers, Jemison isn't going to let a little rain dampen his spirits as he prepares for 12 days and 1,060 miles of racing in U.S. cycling's biggest event."I feel good, real good," said Jemison, a Salt Lake City native riding in his first season as a professional for the WordPerfect team, sponsored by the Utah-based company whose cycling headquarters is in the Netherlands.
Jemison has a feeling in his gut, a good feeling, and that can mean nothing but sunny skies for him at DuPont. Jemison has learned to listen to intuition.
"The more I've traveled around the world and the older I get, the more I have to believe that there is something to be said about destiny and fate," Jemison said.
While Jemison is hardly ready to start checking the planetary charts, he has learned to follow his instincts. When Jemison decided to turn professional after spending last season with the US National Team, he sent out one letter. To WordPerfect.
"I just knew that was the team that I wanted to ride with," Jemison said. "There was no question. I just like everything about them. It isn't so much what's great about WordPerfect than I can say why other teams wouldn't be right for me."
Jemison knows a little about racing in Europe. After graduating from the University of Utah in 1989, he headed to France and spent three seasons racing as an amateur.
In Europe, races are everywhere, every day, and Jemison could leave his apartment each day, bike to a race, and bike home again. His amateur team paid other expenses.
"Basically, it was zero expenses," Jemison said.
Jemison came back to the States to compete in the 1992 U.S. Nationals and Olympic Trials. He surprised everyone with a fourth-place finish in the road race championship, an effort that landed him the spot on the U.S. National Team.
He climaxed last season by winning the U.S. National Road Race Championship and finishing 20th at the World Championships.
"I felt I got everything I could out of the U.S. Team," Jemison said.
Now his sights are set higher, and while that may not mean any podium finishes for Jemison in the near future, that's fine with him. He has taken on the role as a domestique, a worker, and he'll do anything to see that his team's leader is put into position to win.
In Russian teammate Viatcheslav Ekimov, Jemison has the man that Motorola's World Champion, Lance Armstrong, rates as the rider to beat at DuPont, which runs through May 15 when it ends in North Carolina.
"He's so talented, so powerful," Jemison said. "I'll do anything for him. If I have to sacrifice myself, so be it."
Last year Jemison finished 24th at DuPont. Early this season in Europe he finished 68th at the Paris-Nice stage race, helping Ekimov to third place.
Jemison eyes the talented field for DuPont, that includes some of the top European racers as well as three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, and is impressed.
"This is a great field," Jemison said. "There are guys here who most U.S. journalists don't even know. I could be at my best and still not be seen."
Possible, but unlikely, because Jemison is feeling good.
"I've got a good feeling," Jemison said. "I'm not sure if that means I'll do well, or the team, or both, but it's a good feeling to have."