Former road pros Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker have explained how an emergency shower in the countdown to this year’s edition of Unbound Gravel led them to being arrested.
In a recent episode of their LiveSlowRideFast podcast and as reported by Wielerflits Ten Dam and Dekker said the incident took place in the town of Marietta after a training ride.
When the two Dutch racers tried to 'freshen up' prior to taking a meal, they were reported to the police, who arrested them and took them to a local prison. They spent a night in jail before being released.
According to Ten Dam, the bizarre series of events began the day after Dekker had flown in for the Unbound race when the two drove to their usual stopover point of a supermarket.
However, they found that a recent tornado had destroyed both the supermarket building and a department store – which presumably they normally used to change out of cycling kit – next door.
Their original idea of getting food in the supermarket being foiled, they switched to the idea of having lunch in a nearby Mexican restaurant.
“It was still quite early, we had completed a three-hour training ride and were now quite hungry. I wanted to take a little cold shower and Thomas threw water over me," Ten Dam explained.
"We stood between the car doors, taking a shower. Suddenly I hear a man screaming very loudly. But we just wanted to freshen up for the Mexican."
The two were handcuffed, searched and then they were taken to a nearby jail. The two said they had been arrested under ‘inappropriate behaviour in public spaces’ legislation.
“We were given something to eat, wearing a blanket because we were already cold. It all took a very long time and fingerprints were taken. We also had to put on orange suits, we were really inmate Laurens and inmate Thomas,” Dekker said.
Following an overnight spell in a police cell, the two were finally released after paying bail charges of 185 US Dollars, continuing onto the Unbound Gravel race.
Following their 'preparation' for Unbound Gravel, Dekker subsequently finished 42nd and Dekker 50th. On the plus side, they said in the LiveSlowRideFast podcast they do not have to return to court in the USA over any potential charges.
