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| The anxious riders get lined up for the start |
Barbour DeTour
[Results] [More Pictures]
The Barbour DeTour Stage Race, a weekend series consisting of two races, got underway on Saturday, July 11th, with the 52 mile Barbour DeTour. The race consisted of two circuits around a 26 mile course with rolling hills and several moderate climbs. The Cat 5 and Citizens riders only raced a single circuit.
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| Junior rider, Adam Weaver, enjoys the days race on his mountain bike |
The racers where treated to beautiful, sunny weather with moderate temperatures for a mid-July day. The Cat 5 and Citizens race came down to a duel between Mark Crump and Matt Marcus. A frantic sprint to the finish saw Mark edge out Matt by no more than a few inches. Out of the field of over twenty racers participating in the 26 mile race, Sue Haywood was impressive with a third overall finish. Kudos also go out to the folks who enjoyed the days ride on their mountain bikes, knobby tires and all.
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| Gunnar Shogren took one on the hip in and early pileup |
In the race for the Cat 1 through 4 riders, a crash early in the race was a sore spot (see Gunnar's picture) in an otherwise great day for some cycling. Apparently, near the top of a long early climb during the first circuit, a rider in the middle of the pack either clipped-out, lost a grip on the handle bar, or missed a gear badly. This caused the bike to take an instant, 90-degree, right turn against the rest of the riders. The ensuing mayhem saw about seven bikes hit the pavement. Gunnar Shogren was directly behind the out-of-control rider, unsuccessfully attempted to ride through the chaos, and took the worst of it with a hard crash to the pavement on his right hip. As Gunnar recalled, "I then managed to crawl into a ditch to recover." He did recover well enough to get back on the bike and finish the race but was never able to bridge back to the lead group.
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| The sprinters make their moves at the finish |
The battle for the race win came down to a sprint finish with the lead group of about a dozen riders still together in the final stretch. At the tape, it came down to three riders with Jeff Timinski edging out Jeff Johnston by a wheel and Greg Cook, a bike length back, taking third.
