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Tour of Missouri route

As press conferences are being held this week in cities hosting the Tour of Missouri, race organizers are revealing details about the route. Today, the organizers posted the map for Stage 1 of the event, which will be Tuesday, Sept. 11, as well as the profile and information about Kansas City.

Stage 1 will start with a big loop that begins in Kansas City and goes through communities such as Parkville, Farley and Platte City before a finishing circuit in Kansas City for a total of 85.2 miles.

I'm looking forward to see how the circuit in St. Louis that will end the race on Sept. 16 will be routed, as well as the route for Stage 5 on Sept. 15 from Jefferson City to St. Charles.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments 1:45 PM

Saturday, July 28, 2007

The ride of his life

I can't think of a better phrase than Phil Liggett's classic line "the ride of his life" to describe Levi Leipheimer's time trial win today in the Tour de France.

By winning the time trail, Leipheimer pretty much assured that an American will be standing on the podium tomorrow for the ninth consecutive year. Granted, it most likely will be for third place rather than first place, but it's still a nice place to be.

Barring unforeseen circumstances -- and there have been plenty on this Tour -- Leipheimer's Discovery Channel teammate, Alberto Contador, will be on the top step of the podium. Discovery Channel has all but won the team title.

Watching today's stage has caused me to reassess what I said Wednesday about the Tour de France and bicycle racing.

One, there is still plenty of glory to be had in cycling at the highest levels. While much of the media will remain focused on cycling's serious doping problem, anyone who can ride 34.52 miles in 1:02:44 as Leipheimer did today deserves all the glory he can get.

And while the doping scandals still may have an impact on events such as the Tour of Missouri, the presence of the Discovery Channel team cannot do anything but help the stature of that event. The Kansas City Star reported this week that Leipheimer likely will participate in the Tour of Missouri.

While the Tour of Missouri doesn't have a title sponsor as of today, it still has plenty of other sponsors, and organizers will be busy in the coming week revealing details about the route. Here's a schedule for the press conferences:

Kansas City: Monday, July 30, 11 a.m.—Country Club Plaza, 810 Zone, 4686 Broadway
Columbia: Tuesday, July 31, 10 a.m.—the Henry County Courthouse, 100 W. Franklin
Springfield: Tuesday, July 31, 1 p.m.—Jordan Valley Park, 635 E. Trafficway
Branson: Tuesday, July 31, 4 p.m.—Branson Landing on Branson Landing Blvd.
Lebanon: Wednesday, August 1, 10 a.m.—Lebanon City Hall, 401 Madison Blvd.
Columbia: Wednesday, August 1, 2 p.m. – Convention & Visitors Bureau, 300 S. Providence Jefferson City: Wednesday, August 1, 4:30 p.m. – Convention & Visitors Bureau, 213 Adams
St. Louis: Thursday, August 2, 11 a.m. – St. Louis Union Station, Grand Hall, 1820 Market

While there are plenty of problems that cycling has to solve, I'm confident the sport will overcome them.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments 12:09 PM

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Tour de Farce

Already, media outlets are calling this year's Tour de France the Tour de Farce because of the recent doping scandals.

Now that Rabobank has yanked Tour leader Michael Rasmussen from the race because he lied to his team about his whereabouts, you can expect to hear or read that phrase over and over again the next few days.

In case you missed it, here's what The Associated Press reported tonight:

"Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules," Rabobank spokesman Jacob Bergsma said.

The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team's sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. The Danish cyclist missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, saying he was in Mexico. But a former rider, Davide Cassani, told Denmark's Danmarks Radio on Wednesday that he had seen Rasmussen in Italy in mid-June.

Late last week, Danish federation officials announced that Rasmussen had been ejected from that country's national squad and would not be representing Denmark at the world championships or at next year's Olympic Games because his missed the tests.

Even before Rasmussen was yanked from the Tour, respected cycling reporter Samuel Abt of the International Herald Tribune said, "Let no one mistake it: This (Wednesday) was one of the blackest days in the 104-year history of the Tour de France."

Abt cited the removal of Alexandre Vinokourov and Cristian Moreni from the Tour, the protest staged by dozens of riders at the start of Wednesday's stage and the jeering Rasmussen faced at the start and end of the phase.

Yet, Abt was stunned by the normalcy of the atmosphere that surrounded the Tour on Wednesday. He writes:

In short, life went on placidly in the Tour de France on Wednesday, just as it has gone on despite the Festina Scandal in 1998 and the ouster of a dozen riders before the start in Strasbourg last year.

If nobody cares enough to get mad, do they care at all? The possibility of more doping scandals depends on the answer.

And here's some commentary from Australian sports commentator John McCoy of the Brisbane Times:

"Been watching the Tour de Chemist?"

Question put to me by a mate in a half joking, half serious manner. But the truth is that one of the world's great sporting events, now more than 100 years old, and famous for its stages, has recently gone through some unfortunate public perception stages ... disbelief, disillusionment, disgust and now derision....

I love cycling, its history, traditions, champions. There are few, if any, events which in the past have epitomised strength, determination, extraordinary fitness and good old sheer guts like the Tour de France. The great modern sporting tragedy is that it's now the Tour de Farce and may never recover its deserved glory.

As an avid cyclist myself, I have experienced similar encounters from my colleagues at the Belleville News-Democrat. One colleague even accused Tour de Donut participants of "donut doping."

I can't help but think that the newest scandals will make it more difficult to convince sponsors to back events such as the Tour of Missouri, and it probably will take years for the sport to recover from the damage that has been done.

Fortunately, there's still plenty of glory to be found in cycling. I hope I'm wrong, but just don't expect to find it at the highest levels of the sport, at least for now.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France

Roger 1 comments 11:29 PM

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Who says you have to train?

My older sister, Teresa Parod, her son, Julius, and two of his friends, Kyle Enochs and Nate Walters, recently completed the Cycling the Erie Canal ride in New York.

I'll let Teresa describe the ride in her own words:

Julius, Nate, and Kyle were successful on the bike trip from Buffalo to Albany, N.Y. Their training consisted of a combined mileage of 5 miles in 2007.

Nate decided to go the day before we left. He won a prize at the celebration dinner for "The Best Reason Not Have a Water-Bottle Holder and Have a Water Bottle Bunged to the Bike Instead." The reason being is that Nate's bike is 47 years old and that is before water bottle holders were invented.

Kyle and Julius were the first, out of 500 people, to finish the ride. However, even more incredible, they are still friends, after spending eight days together on a tandem (also called the divorce bike).

Best sights: All the technology surrounding the Erie Canal (locks, dams, aqueducts, etc.)

Worst part: Getting three teenagers up and on the road by 6:30 a.m.

Best part: Spending time with Julius, Nate and Kyle.

I would never recommend going into an 8-day, 400-mile ride with less than 5 miles of training -- an average of 1.67 miles per teenager -- but it just goes to show what teenagers can do.

Julius' uncle has considerably more than 1.67 miles of training going into the West Shoreline Tour in Michigan on Aug. 5-11, but I don't feel completely comfortable with the amount of riding I've done going into the ride. At least we've had some Michigan-like weather down here in St. Louis for much of July, which has allowed me to get some decent miles in.

Here's hoping that my nephew and his friends will be inspiration for me while I'm climbing the hills along the Lake Michigan shore.

Labels: cycling, family, tours

Roger 0 comments 1:39 AM

Monday, July 23, 2007

I'm in Bicycling magazine!

When you open up the September issue of Bicycling magazine, you'll see a nice feature, "It's Not About The Hole" by Steve Friedman (Page 62), an amusing story about his effort to compete in the Donut Derby in Trexlertown, Pa.

Within that story, you'll find a sidebar (Page 66) about other doughnut-eating bicycle competitions -- including the original, the Tour de Donut in Staunton, Ill. That sidebar's called, "If That's How You Roll ... 4 Races With Plenty Of Dough -- And Nuts."

That's where you'll find me!

The sidebar, written by Jennifer Mack, briefly describes how the Mid-America Bicycle Club came up with the idea for the Tour de Donut and includes from quotes from me.

What did I say? Well, you're just going to have to get a copy of the magazine to find out. The article is not available online, at least as of today.

I can tell you that I am quoted and paraphrased accurately, thanks to Jennifer's reporting and a fact check done by an editorial intern, Christine Mattheis. I also can tell you there's a couple of bits taken from the documentary film about the ride, "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment."

I'm sure you'll find a delicious irony that a story about doughnut-eating bicycling competitions appears in the same issue of the magazine that has a promo that screams "GET LEAN NOW."

Labels: Bicycling magazine, Tour de Donut

Roger 3 comments 11:07 AM

Monday, July 16, 2007

News and notes

Today's post consists of some bits and pieces from the cycling scene:

TOUR DE DONUT: Congratulations to all the winners in this year's Tour de Donut, which was run Saturday in Staunton, Ill. A round of applause goes out to all the winners, and you can see all of the actual times and doughnut bonus adjusted times at the ride's Web site. As you know, I consider the people with the best adjusted times as the champions of the Tour de Donut, and special credit goes out to Anna Witt, who defended her title in the Women's Under-50 division by eating 16 doughnuts for an adjusted time of 1 hour, 13 seconds.

ITS TRAIL: Speaking of Staunton, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today reported on the efforts of the ITS Trail Committee to build a trail from Staunton to Benld. The trail would link a proposed Madison County Transit trail from Worden to Staunton to the existing Gillespie-Benld trail. The long-term goal is build a network of trails that would connect St. Louis and Springfield, Ill.

The Macoupin County Board supports the project, and county government will act as the committee's fiscal agent for expected future grants.

"We've seen what the trails have done in Madison County," County Board Chairman Andy Manar told Post-Dispatch reporter Terry Hillig. "It's an issue of improving the quality of life and health, and it has the potential for countywide impact."

TOUR DE FRANCE: Today was a rest day after Michael Rasmussen grabbed the yellow jersey with his Stage 8 win Sunday. Tomorrow should be a interesting day with climbs of the Col de l'Iseran, the Col du telegraphe and the Col du Galibier. The first week of the tour was slower than in recent years, and experts have various theories about why -- headwinds, cyclists saving themselves for the Alps and a reduction of doping.

TOUR OF MISSOURI: The Associated Press reports why the state of Missouri is putting so much effort in promoting the Tour of Missouri on Sept. 11-16.

The bottom line: marketing.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

Life after Lance Armstrong has been anything but smooth for pro cycling, which this time of year is normally celebrating the annual Tour de France. Instead, the sport is struggling to preserve its public relevance, financial footing and athletic integrity amid increasing allegations of a rampant culture of cheating.

So what in the name of Floyd Landis is the Show-Me State doing rolling out the red carpet - not to mention more than $1 million of taxpayer money - for the inaugural Tour of Missouri, a six-day, 600-mile stage race that will bring some of the world's top riders here in mid-September?

For Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, the answer is simple: a global marketing bonanza the likes of which Missourians have never seen.

"This is the greatest opportunity we have ever had to brand Missouri to a national and international audience," said Kinder, who is also chairman of the Missouri Tourism Commission.

Labels: Tour de Donut, Tour de France, Tour of Missouri, trails

Roger 0 comments 12:33 PM

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Tour de Belleville video

It sounds as if the Tour de Belleville was a big success, or that is at least what my newspaper, the Belleville News-Democrat, reports.

The second-year event drew more than 1,000 people, which doubled what the event drew in 2007. Below is a QuickTime video shot and edited by a friend of mine, Assistant City Editor Brad Weisenstein. The video was shot just outside our office as the cyclists crossed South Illinois Street (Illinois Route 159) on Lincoln Street.

Enjoy!

Labels: Tour de Belleville

Roger 1 comments 1:55 AM

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Tour de Donut 2007

Will Tim Ranek, the star of the documentary "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment," be able to defend his title in the men's division of the annual bicycle "race" on Saturday in Staunton, Ill.?

After his infamous performance in the 2005 race, Tim came back in 2006 and ate 20 doughnuts to finish with an adjusted time of -6:38. For those you not familiar with the premise of the Tour de Donut, cyclists get a 5-minute time bonus for each doughnut eaten.

The only thing I know is that I won't be challenging him for the title. I have to work late Friday night at the Belleville News-Democrat -- which means I also will miss Tour de Belleville this year -- so that pretty much knocks me out of making an early-morning trip to Staunton. The last two times I tried to do that, my cycling pretty much stunk. By contrast, I was off the Friday night before the 1995 Tour de Donut, I managed to get a good night's sleep and won the event!

I do intend to attend the race next year, the 20th anniversary of the event, and I do intend to be off the Friday before the event so I can put in a good performance.

For those of you who are fortunate to be in the event, I'm posting a preliminary map (PDF file, three pages) of the course put together by the organizers of the ITS Trail, the proposed trail between Staunton and Benld.

You have until 7 a.m. CDT Friday to sign up for the race, and you can do that at the Tour de Donut's Web site.

And to whet your appetite for this year's race, I'm once again posting the trailer for the movie below:

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de Donut

Roger 1 comments 10:34 AM

Monday, July 09, 2007

Tips for Tour de Belleville

I've been seeing a few more cyclists on the roads and trails of the Belleville area. No doubt they are preparing for the Tour de Belleville, which is coming up Friday night.

Rides such as the Tour de Belleville, the L.A.T.E. Ride in Chicago this weekend and the Moonlight Ramble on Aug. 26-26 in St. Louis draw cyclists with a wide range of experience. Last year, I posted these tips for people riding in major group rides, and I repeat them here:

Tips for newbies:

• If you're a slower rider, try to ride as far to the right as safely possible so faster riders can pass you. If you have to walk up a hill, walk your bike as far to the right as safely possible.
  
• Groups of cyclists should not take up the entire lane, again so other people can pass.
• If you plan to stop, be sure to give some type of warning. At a minimum, give a verbal warning such as "braking" or "stopping." It's also a good idea to give a hand signal by extending your left hand toward the ground. For a good illustration of that, download the Illinois Bicycle Rules of the Road (pdf file).
• If you're stopping for an extended period of time, pull off the road so other cyclists can pass safely.
• Use your gears. Most new cyclists tend to use a gear that's too big for them. Find a gear where you feel comfortable riding 60 to 90 pedal strokes a minute. When you approach a hill, you probably want to shift to a lower gear before you start climbing.
  
• Above all, ride at a pace that's comfortable for you. The Tour de'Belleville is not a race, so don't get tempted to ride at a faster speed than you're used to just because you want to keep up with other people.

Tips for experienced riders:

• Be patient with the less experienced riders. Remember that you once were an inexperienced rider yourself.
• Ride defensively. When approaching a family with young children, give yourself plenty of room to get around them because you never know when someone will suddenly veer to the left or right.
• Use caution on hills. There's a good chance someone will try to climb a hill only to run out of gas and suddenly stop. Give yourself plenty of room to maneuver around them.
• Slow down. This is not the time for a 20-25 mph training ride and long pacelines. Events like the Tour de Belleville are meant for fun, so slow down and smell the roses.
• Be a good ambassador. The way you behave will influence whether a newcomer will stick with the sport.

Let's hope that everyone will have a safe and enjoyable ride!

Labels: cycling, safety, tours

Roger 0 comments 10:17 AM

Friday, July 06, 2007

Tour de France 2007

For the second straight year, the Tour de France will open without its defending champion.

Last year, of course, Lance Armstrong didn't return after winning seven consecutive Tours. This year, the race opens without Floyd Landis, who is out because of doping allegations stemming from last year's race.

Frankly, the doping revelations that have shaken the cycling world leave me a bit ambivalent about this year's race. Will I follow the race? Yes. Will I follow it as closely as I have in previous years? Probably not.

It's good to see that all 189 cyclists who will begin the race Saturday with the Prologue in London have signed the International Cycling Union's anti-doping charter. That means they promised to submit DNA samples to Spanish authorities for the Operation Puerto probe. Cyclists also had to agree to pay a year's salary on top of a two-year ban if caught doping.

Despite the pledge, I expect fewer Americans will be watching the Tour de France this year on the Versus channel, although it is still planning many hours of event coverage. Six Americans are racing this year: Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie of Discovery, David Zabriski and Christian Vandevelde of CSC and Christopher Horner and Fred Rodriguez of Predictor-Lotto.

As usual, I won't be doing much commentary on the Tour. The news sources listed on the right column of this blog do a much better job of putting the Tour in perspective than I can hope to do.

Let the racing begin -- and the doping end!

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 1:01 PM

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Ditty Bops coming back to St. Louis

The Ditty Bops aren't on a cross-country bicycle trip this year, but that isn't stopping them from coming to St. Louis this summer.

The Ditty Bops -- Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald -- will be performing two shows Aug. 23 at the Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th St. in St. Louis, the same place where they performed last year during their Bicycle Tour The first show is at 7 p.m. and the second is at 10 p.m., and tickets are available through Metrotix. Tickets at $15 in advance and $17 the day of the show.

This year's tour is billed as the Farm Tour, in which they are raising money for local farm organizations, The Growing Connection and Farm Aid.

I had the pleasure of meeting Amanda and Abby last year and rode with them from the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge to Edwardsville, Ill. But regular readers of the blog will remember what happened when I attempted to ride back home. I hope to meet up with again this year. I took the photo of Amanda, left, and Abby while they were riding on Madison County Transit's Quercus Grove Trail in Edwardsville. You can see more photos here.

Labels: Ditty Bops

Roger 0 comments 10:29 PM