Saturday, June 06, 2009

"Spoked!": An art show for bicycle fans

The Soulard Art Market and Contemporary Gallery is calling for submissions to “Spoked!” a juried exhibition of local artists. Exhibition runs from Sept., 4 through October 2. S.A.M. is looking to represent a select group of artists in our Contemporary Art Gallery, to exhibit alongside our 15 resident artists.

Here's what the gallery has to say about the event: "In conjunction with the Tour of Missouri, which is a world-class cycling event, we are proud to announce our exhibition “Spoked”. We are seeking artworks that feature bicycling as a theme for inclusion in our show. Our gallery is on the race route, and we have special hours and events planned that are sure to draw a crowd. The eyes of the world will be looking our way and we’re gearing up for the liveliest show this town has seen. Get crankin’!"

The gallery looking for any medium of artwork (painting, photography, sculpture, jewelry) that in any way features bikes or cycling. There is no submission fee, and full details can be found at the event's Web site.

Artists are being asked to consider donating bicycle-themed artwork to a charity silent auction. All proceeds will go directly to the Big Brothers Big Sisters Amachi program which assists children of incarcerated parents. Each artist who donates an artwork valued greater than $100 to the auction will have his name entered into a drawing to receive 2 tickets (value $500) to the Tour of Missouri Gala, a black tie affair presenting the best 125 cyclists from around the world. The auction as well as the gala will be held on Sept. 6 at the City Museum.

The gallery is located 2028 S. 12th St. in St. Louis and is on the course for Stage 1 of the Tour of Missouri on Labor Day (Sept. 7).

At left is a piece I'm considering entering in the contest. It's called "Night Ride, Without Lights, in Southern Illinois." Click on the image to see a more detailed view! The inspiration for this piece is the piece "Midnight on the Ocean" featured in The Three Stooges film "Pop Goes the Easel."

I'm sure you can do better!

Labels: art, bicycling, St. Louis, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments links to this post 12:11 PM

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Around the horn ... again

Here's a few items that might be of interest to St. Louis-area bicyclists:

Another bicycle-pedestrian crossing at Forest Park: As part of the reconstruction of Interstate 64-U.S. 40 in St. Louis, a new bicycle-pedestrian tunnel is linking linking Oakland Avenue to Forest Park. The tunnel replaces an older tunnel with sharp turns that had to be removed because of the reconstruction project.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the tunnel is not completely finished, but it's done enough that bicyclists and pedestrian can use the tunnel.

Bike trial proposal gets opposition: The Green Rivers Greenway District is seeking to build a $2 million, 2.6-mile trail from Greensfelder Park in University City to Shaw Park in Clayton. But it seems the project is being opposed by some people in the upscale suburb of Ladue.

The folks like the idea of bike paths, but they don't like the idea of the trail becoming a thoroughfare for bicyclists and pedestrians. You can see a video at KMOV-TV.

Before rejecting the trail out of hand, I would recommend opponents talk to people and businesses along the Katy Trail and the Madison County Trail system to get both sides of the story.

Tour of Missouri field gets a boost: Following the announcement of No. 1-ranked Quickstep’s participation recently, the current world No. 2-ranked team, Saxo Bank of Denmark, has been announced for the third Tour of Missouri professional cycling race, scheduled for Sept. 7-13, according to a press release from the Tour.

The addition of Saxo Bank, which is led by superstars Fabian Cancellara (Olympic and world champion time trialist) of Switzerland; brothers Frank and Andy Schleck (winner of last weekend’s Leige-Bastogne-Leige) of Luxembourg and Germany’s Jens Voigt, will mark the seventh entrant expected to line up at the 2009 Tour de France this summer. It will mark Saxo Bank’s first time racing at the Tour of Missouri.

Meanwhile, tour directors are seeking volunteers for the event. You can sign up for a wide range of jobs online.

Labels: St. Louis, Tour of Missouri, trails

Roger 1 comments links to this post 11:51 PM

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Tour of Missouri makes phone book covers

When AT&T customers start getting their new Real White Pages and Real Yellow Pages in the next few weeks, they'll be seeing the Tour of Missouri right on the front cover.

Tour of Missouri and AT&T have reached an agreement in which the Tour of Missouri is featured on the cover of the Real White Pages for the city of St. Louis and parts of St. Charles. The tour is also featured on four Real Yellow Pages suburban directories serving specific areas of St. Louis County.

Ravi Batheja, AT&T Advertising Solutions marketing manager, said in a press release: "We are pleased the Tour of Missouri is featured on the cover of our new AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory for this area. We always strive to make our directory covers special on the outside and tailor the contents inside our print directories and the online search options to best serve the needs of our communities. You can count on the AT&T Real Yellow Pages as your complete source of local information."

Steve Brunner, the Tour's marketing director and president of King of the Mountain Sports, the event’s marketing agency. said the inclusion on phone book covers in a first for a major cycling event. "To be on AT&T’s covers is a testament to a great partnership and promotion for this worldclass event. It's historic in nature," he said.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:54 AM

Friday, March 13, 2009

Astana signs up for Tour of Missouri

The Tour of Missouri scored a major coup this week with the signing of Lance Armstrong's team, Astana, for this year's event.

"This is a big development for the Tour of Missouri," said Chris Aronhalt, the managing partner of event organizer Medalist Sports in a press release. "To have the participation of Astana is yet another huge step for this race. The Tour of Missouri's reputation is evidently very solid in the minds of the top teams and riders. To have Team Astana join the already great line-up of teams is good for all coming to see the 2009 Tour of Missouri."

Tour of Missouri organizers did not say whether Armstrong would indeed race in Missouri.

In addition to Armstrong, Astana is the team of top American Levi Leipheimer, who has won three straight overall titles in the Amgen Tour of California. Astana's roster also includes 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain, who raced in the inaugural Tour of Missouri, and Tour de France podium finisher Andreas Kloden of Germany.

“We are very much looking forward to coming to the Tour of Missouri. We like to compete in the big American races,” said Johan Bruyneel, the general manager of Team Astana. “The Tour of Missouri is a very good race and will be competitive this year looking at the initial roster of teams. As always, we will bring a very good team to compete for the win.”

Labels: Lance Armstrong, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:42 AM

Friday, March 06, 2009

Tour of Missouri announces 4 teams

Garmin-Slipstream, led by defending champion and Illinois native Christian Vande Velde, was the first cycling team committed to this year's Tour of Missouri, and three other teams have joined the fray, race organizers announced Thursday.

Another American team, Columbia-High Road, the Italian team Liquigas, as well as the Swiss-based Cervelo Test Team will be in this year's event, which begins Sept. 7 in St. Louis and ends Sept. 13 in Kansas City.

"We have had record interest in the event, which has precipitated the early announcement of the first teams committed to participate," Chris Aronhalt, the managing partner of event organizer Medalist Sports, said in a press release. "The stature of the Tour of Missouri continues to grow, and the participation of top teams like Columbia-High Road, Garmin-Slipstream, Liquigas, and Cervelo -- all teams expected to race in the Tour de France this year -- justifies this event’s world-class reputation. We anticipate the announcement of more teams in the next couple weeks."

In addition to Vande Velde, Garmin-Slipstream also will feature Canadian Svein Tuft, who finished third overall in last year’s race.

Liquigas, an entrant into last year’s race, is one of Italy’s top teams and last year was led by Czech Republic’s Roman Kreuziger, who won the Best Young Rider jersey.

Last year, Columbia-High Road was the top team in the Tour of Missouri on the strength of Mark Cavendish's three stage wins and Michael Barry's one win. George Hincapie, who won the inagural Tour of Missouri in 2007 while riding for Discovery Channel, also rides for Columbia-High Road.

The Cervelo Test Team will be a first-time entrant into the Tour of Missouri. Cervelo’s team features 2008 Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre, top Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd, who already has won a stage of the Amgen Tour of California and Het Volk event this year, and Dominque Rollin, who finished third overall in the 2007 Tour of Missouri and won the Michelob Ultra King of the Mountain jersey last year.

Race rosters will not be announced until August but team directors are already talking about sending many of their top stars, Aronhalt said.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:06 AM

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Disappointment in Springfield and Hannibal

As you might imagine, the Tour of Missouri's decision not to route the 2009 through Springfield and Branson came as a disappointment to civic leaders in those communities. Springfield and Branson had been host cities the first two years of the race.

Also disappointed were the folks up in Hannibal, who were hoping to get to race to visit northeast Missouri for the first time.

Tour organizers are striving to take the race to other parts of the state. St. Louis and Kansas City, the state's two largest metropolitan areas, not surprising got to keep their stages. Springfield is Missouri's third-largest metropolitan area.

"To my knowledge, there wasn't anything in their guidelines we couldn't accommodate," Springfieled organizing committee chairman Randy Worley told the Springfield News-Leader. "We had met their requirements the last two years and continuously had been praised for the organization and facilities we offered. I think the new schedule indicates they were trying to give other cities a turn."

A civic leader in Hannibal told the Hannibal Courier-Post that politics might have played a role in choosing southeast Missouri over northeast Missouri.

“I would lie if I didn’t say that I think politics doesn’t play into it a bit,” said Beau Hicks, executive director of the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The southeast corner of the state has definitely wanted it and I think politically seeing that the lieutenant governor (Peter Kinder) is from there probably gives them a little better chance at getting that corner of the state involved than perhaps our corner to be real honest.”

Kinder, who has spearheaded the state's promotion of the Tour of Missouri, lives in Cape Girardeau, the finishing city for Stage 2 of this year's race. I'm sure that helped.

But other factors that probably helped Cape Girardeau's bid include the challenging terrain near that community and an active cycling community that strongly supports events such as the Tour de Corn and the Tour de Cape.

The Hannibal folks hope the Tour de Missouri will reconsider their community in 2010 during Hannibal's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain's death. The legendary author was born in Florida, Mo., and spent most of his childhood in Hannibal.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments links to this post 8:47 AM

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

2009 Tour of Missouri host cities named

Tour of Missouri organizers today announced the host cities for the 2009 race, and there are some dramatic changes.

The most notable changes are the routing of the even from east to west rather than west to east and the exclusion of the Springfield-Branson area from this year's route. The communities of St. Charles and Hermann also aren't on this year's route.

In the first two years of the Tour of Missouri, the race began in the western part of the state -- Kansas City in 2007 and St. Joseph in 2008 -- and ended in St. Louis. This year's ride begins on Labor Day (Sept. 7) with a circuit race in St. Louis and ends Sept. 13 with a circuit race in Kansas City. Here's a full list of the route:

• Stage 1: Circuit race in St. Louis, Sept. 7.
• Stage 2: Ste. Genevieve to Cape Girardeau, Sept. 8
• Stage 3: Farmington to Rolla, Sept. 9
• Stage 4: St. James to Jefferson City, Sept. 10
• Stage 5: Time trial in Sedalia, Sept. 11
• Stage 6: Chillicothe to St. Joseph, Sept. 12
• Stage 7: Circuit race in Kansas City, Sept. 13

"In keeping with tradition, we will change the course from year to year to keep it fresh," said Chris Aronhalt, the managing partner of event organizers Medalist Sports of the Tour of Missouri Web site. "There will be new drama on the race route and we expect a few more hills. Overall, we have some great and very excited host cities."

Based upon my knowledge of Missouri geography, the Farmington-Rolla stage should be the hilliest of the race, while the Ste. Genevieve-Cape Girardeau, St. James-Jefferson City and the Chillicothe-St. Joseph stages will provide plenty of the undulating rolling hills the Tour of Missouri is known for.

"I like what they've done," said 2008 Tour of Missouri champion Christian Vande Velde, an Illinois native who also finished fourth overall at last year's Tour de France. "It's a totally different race course and it looks like they've added some challenging terrain. Last year's race was very fast and tougher than it looked on paper. I look forward to coming back"

With the Stage 2 start in Ste. Genevieve, the Tour of Missouri will be going through one of Missouri's most historic towns. Ste. Genevieve has the greatest concentration of French Colonial buildings in the United States, some dating as far back as the 1770s. Shown at left is the The Bolduc-LeMeilleur House, which was built in 1820.

The Tour of Missouri has formed a partnership with the Gateway Cup in St. Louis, the largest amateur cycling event for road cycling in the country. The Gateway Cup will feature four days of racing by more than 1,100 competitive amateur cyclists over the Labor Day weekend. These four days of racing will lead into Stage 1 pf Tour of Missouri .

Gateway Cup organizers say the final day of racing (Labor Day) in that event will use the same start-finish line as the Stage 1 of the Tour of Missouri, St. Louis' new City Garden in the Gateway Mall in downtown St. Louis. In recent years, the Labor Day race had been run in the University City Loop. Back in the 1990s, the final race was held in the Signal Hill neighborhood near Belleville, Ill.

On Labor Day, the Gateway Cup races will begin at 7 a.m., the Tour of Missouri Women's Criterium will begin at 11:45 a.m., and Stage One of the Tour of Missouri will begin at 2 p.m.

Tour of Missouri Women's Criterium races also will take place Sept. 4-6 during the Tour de Lafatette, the Downtown St. Louis Criterium and the Giro Della Montagna.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 1:05 PM

Friday, January 23, 2009

Landis to ride in Tour of Missouri

Floyd Landis, coming off a two-year ban because of a doping violation at the 2006 Tour de France, says he's planning to ride this year's Tour of Missouri with his new domestic cycling team, OUCH. The team plans to ride the major U.S. races, starting with the Amgen Tour of California in February.

"Starting with the Tour of California, every race we enter we’ll be entering to win," Landis told Outside magazine. "Not that it will be easy. The Tour of California is huge, so it’s kind of a stressful first race back. And there are some very strong domestic teams we’ll be up against this season: BMC, Bissel. Guys come along each year who you’ve never heard of and surprise you. There’s real talent in the U.S. And great races. After the Tour of California there’s the Tour of Utah, the Tour of Missouri. I’m looking forward to it."

Landis' entry in the Tour of Missouri isn't official yet. The Kansas City Star reports that the only team that has received an invitation to compete in this year’s race is the Garmin-Slipstream team led by Christian Vande Velde, the 2008 individual champion. The September race still is in its planning stages.

Landis also had an extended interview with USA Today in which he not only confirmed plans to ride in the Tour of Missouri, but said he has no more faith in anti-doping controls.

"Those are half-(hearted) tests and they know it, but I have no choice if I want to race. You have to agree to those terms. But I trust those guys less than just about anyone I've ever met," Landis said.

After a long legal battle with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency over a test that showed he had an illegally high testosterone-epitestosterone ratio after his dramatic win in the 17th stage of the 2006 Tour de France. Landis ultimately was stripped of his overall Tour title because of the test.

One cyclist who's welcoming Landis' return is one-time teammate Lance Armstrong. The 7-time Tour de France champion, racing this week in the Tour Down Under in Australia, told Australian media the people should "forgive and forget" and welcome Landis and other cyclists who have done their time for doping violations.

"It's good that the strongest people in the world are in the strongest races in the world," Armstrong said in the Herald Sun. "You've got to remember that Floyd might have been found guilty but at the end of the trial, if you polled people more than 50 per cent thought he was innocent."

Speaking of Armstrong, he's is 38th place in the Tour Down Under after today's stage, in which he finished 47th. He's 39 seconds behind Australian Allan Davis after four stages with two more stages left.

Labels: cycling, Lance Armstrong, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 9:59 AM

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Looking for gifts for the cyclist in your life?

In case you're still Christmas shopping and haven't decided what to get the cyclist in your life, check out some merchandise from the 2008 Tour of Missouri!

Still available are the popular beanie pictured here and a wide range of shirts and hats. You can get 20 percent off your purchase if you enter TOMSALE.20 while you check out!

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:29 PM

State continues Tour of Missouri backing

On Tuesday, the Missouri Development Finance Board approved spending $500,000 to support media coverage of the 2009 Tour of Missouri. The board contributed the same amount for this years' race, The Associated Press reported.

The race's $3.7 million budget also includes $1 million from the state tourism division. The rest comes from corporate sponsorships and donations.

The third annual race is to run Sept. 7-13, and the community of Hannibal is making a push to become a start city for a stage of the race, the Hannibal Courier-Post reported. Hannibal, of course, is best known as once being the hometown of author Mark Twain.

“I feel pretty good about it, said Beau Hicks, executive director of the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The next thing is it feasible for us to be a start city where they spend the night at? Can we work that issue out? I was pretty clear I’m not asking my hoteliers to give free hotel rooms. Once we work that out as a start city, I think we’ll be just fine."

Hannibal has about 850 motel rooms available, so I would think there would be enough rooms to handle the teams and support staff. My hunch is the economic benefits also may spill over to nearby Quincy, Ill., which has more than 1,000 motel rooms.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:31 AM

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tour of Missouri to get airtime on NBC

National exposure for the Tour of Missouri bicycle race is growing.

This Saturday, the Jeep World of Adventure Sports will do a segment about the Tour of Missouri that will air Sautrday on NBC (1:30 to 3 p.m. CST on KSDK-TV, Channel 5, for those of you who live in the St. Louis area; check your local listings for other parts of the country).

The segment will include behind-the-scenes footage from Team Garmin-Chipotle shot throughout the seven-day race. Garmin-Chipotle rider Christian Vande Velde, an Illinois native, was the overall winner of the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

(Note: Garmin and St. Louis-based Energizer are partners with Jeep in sponsoring the show.)

Saturday's episode is the final episode of the 2008 season and marks the debut of the Jeep World of Adventure Sports “Green” initiative. Segments dedicated to raising awareness for the issues affecting our environment globally will continue to air throughout the 2009 season.

Labels: cycling, racing, television, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 6:11 PM

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Kinder: Tour of Missouri "surpassed our expectations"

The 2008 Tour of Missouri brought $29.8 million into the state's, up from $26.2 million for last year’s inaugural tour, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder told a group Tuesday in St. Joseph, Mo.

An estimated 434,000 spectators combined watched the seven-day race at some point, the St. Joseph News-Press reported. About 2,100 people watched competitors as they raced through Kansas City, and 10,500 spectators spanned the St. Joseph to Kansas City route.

“This year’s race brought nearly $30 million of economic impact to our state,” Kinder said in a press release. “I am extremely pleased with the success of this year’s Tour. Though we faced very challenging weather conditions, with the remnants of Hurricane Ike passing through our state, our fan base was resilient and came out to see one of the most competitive professional cycling events ever to be held on American soil.”

During the course of the seven day event, the average out-of-state visitor spent over $270 per day during their visit. And in planning their trip, 77% of non-Missourians said the Tour of Missouri was reason they came to spend time in Missouri. A total of 72% of spectators rated the Tour of Missouri more highly than any other professional sporting event they had attended in the previous 12 months.

All figures are projections based on an economic impact study by IFM Sports, a firm Kinder said is regarded internationally for its sports marketing and research. Tourism comprised the bulk of the spending, he added.

The state has a contract to hold the Tour of Missouri again in 2009, but the future of the race beyond that is in question. Kinder, a Republican, is opposed by Sam Page, a Democrat who has said he is opposed to some aspects of state funding of the bicycle race. (Clarification: St. Louis Post-Dispatch political writer Jo Mannies wrote last week that Page says he doesn't mind state tourism money being used but objects to the use of about $250,000 from a state job-creation fund.)

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 1:30 AM

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Tour of Missouri gets an upgrade

The Tour of Missouri recently got a big boost in its international stature when the Union Cycliste Internationale upgraded the status of the 2009 event to 2HC.

The two biggest American races, the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour of Georgia, also are rated 2.HC, the highest rating available to North American races. The rating means the race will award premium international competition points to winners, which should attract more attention from fans, the international media and top international competitors.

Speculation is rampant that Lance Armstrong could race in Missouri next year, but the Kansas City Star reported Friday that's all it is.

In an interview with the Star, Medalist Sports managing partner Chris Aronhalt said he hoped Armstrong would add Missouri to his 2009 schedule, but he said he wasn’t counting on it. Medalist Sports puts on all three of the major U.S. stage races.

“It would be icing on the cake,” he said. “But we want to make sure it isn’t built on one rider.”

The higher rating doesn't necessarily ensure the race's future. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, both Republicans, jump-started the event in 2007 with state funding that Aronhalt said this year amounted to around $1.7 million of the event’s $3.3 million total budget, the Star reported.

Medalist Sports’ three-year contract with the state runs out after next year’s race. Blunt is not seeking re-election, and Kinder is running against Democrat Sam Page, who is opposed to state funding of the Tour of Missouri.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:40 AM

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Vande Velde wins Tour of Missouri; Chicchi wins Stage 7

Congratulations to Lemont, Ill., native Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle), who won the 2008 Tour of Missouri today by finishing safely in the pack of the 53,2-mile Stage 7.

Accompanying Vande Velde on the podium were Australian Michael Rogers (Columbia) who finished second in the general classification 18 seconds behind the winner. Canadian Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) rounded out the podium.

“It’s been a really great race from day one,” Vande Velde said of the Tour of Missouri Web site. “I didn’t expect to win the time trial, but from then on, it was game on with everyone throwing everything at us, trying to take away the 21-second gap I had from the time trial. In the end, I was happy that everyone gave us such a fight because the win means that much more to us.”

Vande Velde, who finished fifth in this year's Tour de France, won Tuesday's Stage 3 time trial in Branson and never lost the lead again.

Fransesco Chicchi (liquigas) of Italy won Stage 7 in about 1 hour, 52 minutes, denying Mark Cavendish (Columbia) of Great Britain of a fourth stage win.

On the strength of his three stage victories, Cavendish won the points jersey and his Columbia squad won the team competition. BMC's Jeff Louder won the most aggressive rider competition and Toyota-United's Dominque Rollin won the climber's competition, and Liquigas' Roman Kreuzinger was the best young rider.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike had a major impact on the final stage. The circuit had to be cut from 13.5 miles to about 10.5 miles because of flooding inside Forest Park. Tour organizers took out 3.5 miles of the course within the park, which would have taken them past the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo and the Muny Opera. The remnants brought rain early in the stage and stiff winds throughout the stage.

Tour organizers also canceled a health and wellness expo scheduled for downtown St. Louis, race official Priscilla Visintine told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

From what I saw the the crowds on video -- I couldn't make it to today's stage because of work obligations -- they seemed sparce on much of the course. Of course, the crowd was strong along the start-finish line near City Hall, and there were decent numbers along parts of Euclid Avenue in the city's Central West End.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 3:43 PM

What's the forecast for Stage 7?

From all appearances, the worst of the remnants of Tropical Storm Ike has passed through the St. Louis area. Weather.com is reporting a 30 percent chance of rain at the 2 p.m. start of Stage 7 of the Tour of Missouri, which will begin and end at St. Louis City Hall on Market Street. The chance of rain goes down to 20 percent by 3 p.m.

It will, however, be rather windy. Northwest winds of 19 to 23 mph are expected throughout the stage, with gusts of up to 45 mph. A wind advisory is in effect until 4 p.m.

The worst of the rain passed through the St. Louis roughly between 8 and 9 a.m., and it is heading to Chicago and Michigan.

On a related note, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch did a nice profile of Christian Vande Velde, the Illinois native who most likely will cross the line this afternoon as the 2008 champion of the Tour of Missouri. Reporter Kathleen Nelson also talked to his father, one-time racer John Vande Velde, about his son's early days on the bike.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:38 AM

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Vande Velde keeps yellow; Cavendish wins Stage 6

Barring a major catastrophe, Illinois native Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chiptole) should be your 2008 Tour of Missouri champion.

Vande Velde maintained his 18-second lead over Michael Rogers (Columbia) in the general classification after Saturday's Stage 6. Canadian Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) is 48 seconds back, followed by defending champion George Hincapie (Columbia), who is 1:03 back.

If the weather forecast holds true for Sunday, there is plenty of room for catastrophe. The remnants of Tropical Storm Ike -- it was downgraded from a hurricane earlier today -- are still expected to pelt St. Louis with heavy wind and rain.

Crowd favorite Mark Cavendish (Columbia) , a four-stage winner in this year's Tour de France, pulled away from the field in the final 50 yards of a long, straight finish to claim the 96-mile stage from Hermann to St. Charles in 3:32:25.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:15 PM

Friday, September 12, 2008

Vande Velde stays in yellow

When cyclists line up Saturday morning in the Missouri wine country community of Hermann, Illinois native Christian Vande Velde once again will be wearing the Tour of Missouri's yellow jersey as the race leader.

Dutch cyclist Boy van Poppel (Rabobank) won today's stage with a strong climb up a 300-meter hill leading to the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City.

There were no changes to the top of the general classification. Anyone who wants to knock Vande Velde off the top rung probably has to make his move Saturday. There are three King of the Mountain climbs on Saturday's stage, then a long stretch of flat riding before St. Charles, the finish line for Stage 6.

Of course, rain could be a factor in the final stages. There's a 60 percent chance of showers Saturday and a 100 percent chance of rain Sunday because of the remnants of Hurricane Ike.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 7:54 PM

Stage 7: Meet me in St. Louis

For those of you who are coming in from out of town to watch the final stage of the Tour of Missouri, I have one piece of advice: Bring your rain gear to watch Sunday's Stage 7.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike are expected to come into the St. Louis area sometime Saturday and stay around well into Sunday. The National Weather Service is predicting a 100 percent chance of rain Sunday. At least one media outlet is predicting up to 5 inches of rain to fall as a result of Ike.

Nevertheless, I welcome you to St. Louis. I've been lucky to live for all but two years of my life within 50 miles of the Gateway Arch, and I think St. Louis is a great city.

As I mentioned last year, St. Louis has taken its share of punches over the past four decades with population losses and crime, but St. Louis still has a lot of things going for it. In addition to the Gateway Arch, one of the world's most distinctive monuments, we also are home to a world-class symphony, a world-class zoo, a world-class botanical garden and the St. Louis Cardinals, who have won more World Series titles than any other team, except for the New York Yankees.

Last year, the final stage of the Tour of Missouri drew about 50,000 people, tour organizers estimated. I thought that was rather good, considering about 45,000 people were watching the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs in Busch Stadium and about 60,000 people were watching the St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers play at the Edward Jones Dome.

This year, only the Rams are in town at the same time as the Tour of Missouri. The Rams take on the world champion New York Giants at noon at the Dome. Stage 7 is slated to begin at 2 p.m. and end about 4:50, minimizing conflicts on the streets and MetroLink, the city's light-rail system, between football fans and cycling fans.

Still, I might give yourself time to get there and to give yourself time going home. Even with the rain, a bicycle might be the best way to get around the city Sunday. To that end, the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation will be offering a bicycle parking service at the Soldiers' Memorial at 13th and Chestnut streets.

This year's Stage 7 begins and ends on Market Street in front of the St. Louis City Hall, rather than Union Station, where the finish line was last year. City Hall is about four blocks east of Union Station.

However, we'll start our tour of the 13.5-mile Stage 7 circuit at Union Station. The Tour of Missouri will be making five trips around the circuit. In the first half of the 20th century, Union Station was the second-busiest railroad station in the nation, surpassed only by Chicago's Union Station. Today, it's a center for shopping and dining, but the station still adds a distinctive touch to the the city's skyline.

The course begins with a short downhill, the makes a long, gradual climb up Market Street to the A.G. Edwards headquarters at Market and Jefferson streets. The route passes Harris-Stowe State College and Saint Louis University's new basketball arena before reaching a tricky part of the course.

After being on nice, wide Market Street, the peloton will have to squeeze into a single lane on the ramp from Market Street to Forest Park Boulevard. Making things a little more difficult is that there are grates on the left and right sides of the ramp that can easily gobble a road tire.

The course opens up again on the right lanes of tree-lined Forest Park Boulevard, which serves as home to businesses, apartments and single-family homes. The route continues on Forest Park Boulevard past Barnes-Jewish Hospital, underneath Kingshighway and into Forest Park itself. I wouldn't recommend trying to watch the race between Kingshighway and DeBalievere Avenue because access to that part of the route is limited.

At DeBalievere, the route turns left into Forest Park. It goes to the left of the Missouri Historical Museum and continues on Lagoon and Fine Arts drives past the St. Louis Art Museum and the St. Louis Zoo to Government Drive. From there, the circuit continues on Theatre and Grand drives before turning right onto Union Boulevard. The route continues on Union until it turns right on Delmar Avenue.

At first glance, the Delmar Avenue stretch of the course doesn't seem all that impressive. It has a look of a neighborhood that has seen better days, but if you look closer, you will see signs that Delmar Avenue is coming back to life. The neighborhood is trying to build on the success of the University City Loop district, which is west of the Tour of Missouri route on Delmar.

The route continues on Delmar and across Kingshighway, then turns right onto Euclid Avenue and into one of St. Louis' most distinctive business and residential areas, the Central West End. The CWE is home to several sidewalk cafes and coffee shops, and no doubt will be extremely busy Sunday. Duff's, at 392 N. Euclid, has a reputation for having one of the city's best Sunday brunches. A bit further down the street is Coffee Cartel, rated by many as St. Louis' best coffee shop. There are several other choices, so I'm sure you can find something that will keep you nourished as you watch the race fly past you.

Last year, the route turned left on Lindell Boulevard and passed some of the most distinctive architecture of the city. This year, the route stays on Euclid to Forest Park Boulevard. The racers will turn left onto Forest Park Boulevard and go east until reaching Compton Avenue between the St. Louis University and Harris-Stowe campus.

From there, the circuit turns right on Olive Street. Olive Street is another street that had been in decline but is trying to stage a comeback. On 21st Street, just north of Olive, is the Schlafly Brewery and Tap Room, home to some of the city's best microbrew beer. If you look hard enough, you will find some bits of interesting architecture along Olive.

The route turns right on wide Tucker Boulevard, then turns right on Market for toward the start-finish line.

Compared with what the cyclists encountered on Stage 6, the hills on this circuit will be a piece of cake. The hills on Market and Olive are long, gradual grades.

Also Sunday, there will be Family Fun Village features Demonstrations and entertainment throughout the day, including live music, Kid’s Safety on Bikes Program, St. John’s Helmet Fittings and low cost helmets available to purchase. Check out the Metro bike rack, and get a free smoothie from Trailnet’s Bike Blender.

Hope you enjoyed our little tour of Stage 6, and see you Sunday!

Labels: St. Louis, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 3:01 PM

Stage 6: How about some more wine?

Part of the rationale for the state of Missouri to pour money into the Tour of Missouri is to boost tourism in the state, so it makes sense that Saturday's Stage 6, which starts in Hermann and ends in St. Charles, goes through the heart of Missouri's wine country. I'm posting this now so you have a few hours to make your last-minute plans.

Last year, the Saturday stage of the race began in Jefferson City. This year, tour organizers took away the stretch between Jefferson City and Hermann. Hermann is the home of the Stone Hill Winery, one of the best-known Missouri wineries. Missouri is known for its dry, red Norton wines, its German-style white wines and its Port wines, and Stone Hill is no exception.

The Tour of Missouri is expected start in Hermann at 12:30 p.m. with a neutral start through town, then they'll turn east on Highway 100, where they will pass several more wineries as racing begins in earnest. Sprinters points will be awarded in New Haven and Washington.

The route crosses the Route 47 bridge at Washington, and the cyclists will turn east on Highway 94 and pass the Blumenhof Winery. They'll turn right on Emke Road, then turn left on Augusta Bottom Road, paralleling the Katy Trail. The first set of KOM points will be awarded near the Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta. The winery also is offering some packages so you can enjoy the race race for the winery's VIP area. Below is the profile for the first KOM:



The route traverses through Augusta back to Highway 94. After about a mile on that highway, the route turns left onto Schluersburg Road. That's when the racers will face one of the two stiffest climbs of the day, the climb up the Schluersburg Road hill for the second KOM points.

If you want to see a bit of suffering, Schluersburg Road is your place. Last year, several hundred fans lined the road to watch the racers plod their way up the hill, and the hill is one of the best places to get a glimpse of the race. You also should have time, if you're traveling by car, to get to the finish line in St. Charles.

Here's what the riders will be facing on that 0.7-mile climb with about 350 feet of vertical gain:



The route has a third KOM zone, on Old Colony Road near Defiance. The cyclists will be going on a flat stretch of Highway 94 through Defiance, then the road veers away from the Missouri River valley, and the climbing begins. They turn left onto Highway F, then they'll turn right onto Old Colony to finish the climbing to the KOM banner. Here's a profile of the stretch between Defiance and the KOM banner:



This year's route then continues into the city of O'Fallon, then north into the Mississippi River valley. The flat route in the valley should give the non-climbers a chance to recover from the the big climbs, but they have one more hill in the northern part of St. Charles before the finish line.

The route ends in St. Charles, Missouri's first state capital, in the city's historic district at Riverside Drive and First Capitol Drive. There are plenty of shops in the historic district, not to mention the Ameristar Casino to the south of the finish. For more details about the Stage 6 route see the map and the log at the Tour of Missouri site.

The bad news for Saturday is that the Weather Channel is forecasting a 40 percent chance of thundershowers at the start of Saturday's stage, increasing to 70 percent by 4 p.m., so come prepared. Wet conditions could make for a rather interesting finish.

Nevertheless, the state of Missouri is hoping you'll come visit -- and spend some money!

Also Saturday, people will get a chance to ride the 13.5-mile circuit Tour of Missouri racers will be doing Sunday in the finale in St. Louis. Trailnet is putting on a Racecourse Ramble at the Soldiers' Memorial, 1315 Chestnut St. in St. Louis. The ride begins at 8:30 a.m. and costs $8 for Trailnet members, $12 for non-members and $3 for children under 13.

After the bicycle ride, you enjoy the Family Fun Festival at Soldier’s Memorial, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. There will be activities, including a bike safety program at 10:00, 11:00 and noon, food and beverages. Later in the evening, around 7:30 p.m., the film “American Flyer,” which stars Kevin Costner and was partly filmed in St. Louis, will be shown at the south end of Union Station. There will be food, beverages and prizes during the movie.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:15 AM

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Vande Velde keeps Tour of Missouri lead

Columbia’s Michael Barry won today's Stage 4 of the Tour of Missouri, but Garmin-Chipotle's Christian Vande Velde kept the overall lead. Vande Velde is followed by Michael Rogers (Columbia) at 21 seconds back , Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) at 44 seconds, defending champ George Hincapie (Columbia)at 1:03 and Tom Danielson (Garmin)at 1:24.

The day's final King of the Mountain banner near mile 64 of the 95-mile course proved to be the turning point of the race.

Leading into that KOM, Toyota-United drilled the front, reeling back in the break and setting up its man Dominique Rollin, who is leading the KOM competition. Toward the top, Columbia’s Barry jumped clear, and Rollin was the only one who matched him. Rollin came around Barry to take maximum KOM points, but Barry kept the gas on over the top.

Heading over the climb, the field came apart, with only 18 riders making the front selection. The group quickly built up a lead over the peloton that ballooned to 18 minute, 37 seconds by the finish.

The field dropped by seven riders by the end of today's stage, from 113 to 106. John Devine and Craig Lewis, both of Columbia, and Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing) did not start the stage. Elliot Cervantes (Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalaiara) and Rock Racing riders Sterling Magnell and Justin Williams dropped out. Jonathan Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) finished after the time limit.

Friday's Stage 5 promises more fun hills for the field. The race begins in the wine country community of St. James and ends in Jefferson City, the state capital. Riders will have to climb a 300-meter hill to the finish line in Jefferson City.

Also, Blake Caldwell (Garmin-Chipotle), who blew a tire and crashed halfway into the 18-mile time trial in Branson, is recovering after suffering a concussion, a broken clavicle, cracked sternum, cracked iliac and lung contusions. He is in stable condition and will remain under observation until further notice.

Reports of an airlift were incorrect, and he was taken by ambulance to the hospital, Tour of Missouri officials said.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 3:47 PM

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

New leader in the Tour of Missouri

Judging from the headline in the cycling world this week, the news about Lance Armstrong resuming his cycling career has far overshadowed this year's Tour of Missouri.

In case you're wondering, Lance Armstrong did not win the Stage 3 time trial today in Branson, Mo. He isn't the overall leader in the race. In fact, he's not even in the race.

But the winner of Stage 3 is Garmin-Chipotle rider Christian Vande Velde. As a result of his time trial victory, Vande Velde also now owns the yellow jersey as the leader in the general classification.

Vande Velde won the hilly 18-mile time trial in 39:51. Columbia’s Michael Rogers was (40:12), and Sven Tuft of Symmetrics was third (40:24).

Columbia's Mark Cavendish, who won the first two stages, struggled as expected. He finished the circuit in 44 minutes.

Here's your top five in the GC:

1. Vande Velde, 8:48:24
2. Rogers, 21 seconds back
3. Tuft, 44 seconds back
4. George Hincapie (Columbia), 1:02 back
5. Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle), 1:10 back

Vande Velde told VeloNews that the course as brutal. "Everyone told me that it was really hard,” he said. “You just have to see it to believe it."

Missouri may not have the long, sustained climbs like other parts of the world, but I can tell you from first-hand experience, it has its share of short, steep ones.

Tour of Missouri competitors will see more of the the undulating hills Thursday in the 95-mile Stage 4, from Lebanon to Rolla. The route will go through Fort Leonard Wood, where many a solider went through basic training, as a special salute to the Armed Forces on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The later part of the course, between Jerome and Rolla, will be on an old alignment of Route 66.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 3:22 PM

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Two-for-two for Cavendish

When it comes to sprint finishes, it's tough to beat Britain's Mark Cavendish. The Columbia rider just one his second straight Tour de Missouri stage, taking the 126-mile stage from Clinton to Springfield.

Commentators Steve Schlanger and Nathan O'Neill say Cavendish's dominance of the race should end Wednesday in the Stage 3 time trial in the tourist city of Branson. We shall see.

There's a good chance the yellow jersey will remain in Columbia's possession, even if Cavendish falters in the time trial. Of course, you also can't count out Christian Vande Velde or some his Garmin-Chiptole teammates.

I had work to do today, so I didn't jump aboard the video coverage until late in the stage. I noticed that the streaming video on the Tour of Missouri Tracker and Universal Sports wasn'tworking again, but I did manage to find streaming video at KMOV-TV in St. Louis. If Tour of Missouri Tracker and Universal Sports aren't working again tomorrow, you may want to check out KMOV for the streaming video.

Here's a few more observations about Stage Two:

• The people of Springfield, Mo., seemed to be impressed by the racers, both the Springfield News-Leader reported. It helped that Brad Huff, a native of nearby Fair Grove, Mo., finished sixth, but they were amazed by the entire field. "It was amazing," Carol Winaus of Springfield said from her perch on the crowded bleachers. "It's amazing how fast they go. You can't blink or else you'll miss it."
• They also seemed to be especially impressed by Cavendish. The crowd went wild, as it did at Monday's finish. And so, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, he has spent more time signing autographs and smiling than any other rider. "He's got that impish charm," said team owner Bob Stapleton. "He's like everybody's little brother."
• Wednesday's time trial promises more of the fun that racers saw last year. The 18-mile course features three climbs, the last being a 2.5-mile haul up to Shepherd of the Hills Homestead and Outdoor Center, the location where tourism in the Ozarks was started in 1907. It was also made famous by the book and movie by the same title. The movie starred John Wayne.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 4:01 PM

Monday, September 08, 2008

Cavendish wins first stage of Tour of Missouri

UPDATED: Here's some observations from Stage One of the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

• Britain's Mark Cavendish lived up to expections by winning today's Stage One , a 90-mine trek from St. Joseph to Kansas City. Garmin-Chipotle's Tyler Farrar gave him a go at the end, but Cavendish won the stage. In July, Cavendish won four stages of the Tour de France.
• Reports indicate there was a crash at the end of the race, but the riders who crossed the line are likely to be given the same time as Cavendish.
• Near the end of the race, one of the inflatable archways over the course nearly blew over. You can see video of that over at MyFox Kansas City. The story says one of the inflatable archways collapsed on some of the riders. It didn't appear that way to me, although it clearly slowed down the peloton in Kansas City. No one appeared to be hurt and the mishap didn't seem to slow down the leaders.
• The riders battled a cross wind for the first half of the race and a driving rain in the middle third, which split the group into two. Clearly, it stayed windy at the end of the race, as evidenced by the blowing archway.
• Brooke Miller, the defending U.S. road and crit national champion, won the Tour of Missouri women's criterium race, which was run in Kansas City before the men charged toward the finish line.
  
• The Kansas City Star published an attractive preview of the Tour of Missouri, and you can download a PDF of the spread.
  
• Tomorrow, Stage Two takes the cyclists 126 miles from Clinton to Springfield. It was during this stage last year that George Hincapie took off as part of a big breakway to take the overall lead for the rest of the race. Hincapie solidified that lead with a strong time trial performance in Branson, and the Discovery Channel team was able to control the race the rest of the way.
  

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 4:01 PM

2008 Tour of Missouri: A modest preview

Instead of writing this post, I was hoping to be watching live video from the first stage of the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

Because of weather conditions and equipment issues, none of the outlets for streaming video -- Universal Sports, the Tour of Missouri Tracker or KMOV-TV in St. Louis -- are working. At least the Tour of Missouri Tracker has the commentary and location of the riders working, so that helps.

Clearly, the two top teams here this year are Columbia and Garmin-Chipotle. Defending champion George Hincapie rides for Columbia. Two former Discovery Channel teammates who were at last year's race -- Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer -- aren't here this year. Instead, Contador and Leipheimer are at the Vuelta a Espana. (Leipheimer's in second place overall after today's stage; he was in first after Sunday's stage.)

Illinois native Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle) also will be one of the people to watch for this year. Vande Velde finished fifth in this year's race. Will Frischkorn, who finished second in last year's Tour of Missouri, is back for another go, and David Zabriskie and Danny Pate also are in Missouri.

Columbia is getting a boost from Britain’s Mark Cavendish, winner of four Tour de France stages and two Tour of Italy stages this season, and three-time world champion time trialist Michael Rogers of Australia.

It will be interesting to see whether the Tour of Missouri can increase its fan numbers from last year. Event organizers were pleased with the turnout in most of the finish citieslast year.

You also can read some of the Missouri papers' previews of the Tour of Missouri. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch devoted considerably less space to the preview of this year's race compared with last year, when the Post ran a special section. In today's Post, the preview consisted of a single article and a list of top contenders.

Check out Google News for a list of other newspapers' previews of the race. Also, some of the links on the right side of this blog can fill you in.

P.S. This post is a mild milestone for this blog. This is my 700th post since Febraury 2004.

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:47 PM

Saturday, September 06, 2008

FSN Midwest, FSN Kansas City to cover Tour of Missouri

For those of you who are fortunate to have either FSN Midwest or FSN Kansas City, the two regional cable sports networks will be airing highlights of each stage of this year's Tour of Missouri.

Highlights of Monday's first stage will be shown at 10:30 p.m. on both networks. Highlights of Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Thursday's stages will be show in the neighborhood of 10:15 (FSN Kansas City) to 10:30 (FSN Midwest). The start times for those shows are at the mercy of Kansas City Royals baseball (FSN Kansas City) and St. Louis Cardinals baseball (FSN Midwest).

Friday's and Saturday's highlights are slated to begin at midnight, and Sunday's highlights are scheduled for 11 p.m.

The half-hour shows will be hosted by Steve Schlanger and eight-time Australian national champion Nathan O'Neill.

FSN Midwest operates in eastern and central Missouri as well as much of downstate Illinois, southern Indiana and Iowa. FSN Kansas City, of course, operates in the Kansas City region in Missouri and Kansas.

Labels: television, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 1:38 PM

Friday, September 05, 2008

Tour of Missouri coverage on Universal Sports

For those of you wanting to watch freeonline video of the Tour of Missouri, it looks like Universal Sports will be the place to go.

Here's Universal Sports' schedule (All times Central Daylight Time):

Mon, Sept. 08	Stage 1	St. Joseph to Kansas City	1:45 p.m
Tue, Sept. 09	Stage 2	Clinton to Springfield	1:30 p.m.
Wed, Sept. 10	Stage 3	Branson (Time Trial)	11:15 a.m.
Thu, Sept. 11	Stage 4	Lebanon to Rolla	1 p.m.
Fri, Sept.12	Stage 5	St. James to Jefferson City	3:30 p.m.
Sat, Sept. 13	Stage 6	Hermann to St. Charles	1:30 p.m.
Sun, Sept. 14	Stage 7	St. Louis circuit race	2 p.m.

A while back, Gene Bisbee of the Biking Bis blog reported that Universal Sports is making a foray into cycling coverage to see whether there's enough interest to expand its coverage in 2009. Universal Sports has video on demand for the Tour of Germany, and it will cover the UCI Univest Cycling Grand Prix (10 a.m. Saturday) and the Doylestown Criterium (10 a.m. Sunday). Later this month, Universal Sports will cover the UCI World Championships in Varese, Italy.

The Versus cable channel also plans to air hightlights of the Tour of Missouri at 3 p.m. Sept. 28 as part of its Cyclysm Sundays bicycle racing coverage.

It appears from looking at the schedule for Justin.tv and Cycling.tv, which provided onlne video coverage of the 2007 Tour of Missouri, that neither outlet has coverage of this year's race. Cycling.tv is pouring its resources into the Vuelta a Espana.

The Vuelta a Espana has most of the top European riders, but the sole American in the race, Levi Leipheimer, is making an impact. After six stages, Leipheimer is second in the overall classification, 10 seconds behind Sylvain Chavanel.

I'll keep you posted of other outlets for video of the Tour of Missouri when I learn of them.

Labels: television, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:31 AM

Tour of Missouri Fan Zone

As of tonight, I am an authorized journalist for the Tour of Missouri Fan Zone.

You can be one, too

The Tour of Missouri -- which starts Monday afternoon with a stage between St. Joseph and Kansas CIty -- has partnered with Vitrue, a social media marketing company that provides fans, host partners and sponsors the opportunity to chronicle the 623-mile professional cycling event on the Fan Zone.

The site will enable fans to contribute their videos, photos and comments from the race. The site also provides channels devoted to host cities and sponsors. It is the first social site of its kind for this level of a professional cycling event, according to the press release about the Tour of Missouri Fan Zone.

Fan Zone participants will be:

• Upload photos, video and comments on the site and also through their mobile devices.
• Create their own profile and message other members within Fan Zone, creating a true community.
• Feature content from host cities and sponsors as well as exclusive professional content.

The Tour of Missouri will provide video cameras to event personnel and each of the 15 teams in the race in order to capture behind-the-scenes footage, which is usually never seen by the public. Team footage could include views from caravan vehicles following the race or team strategy sessions, said Steve Brunner, president of KOM Sports, which markets the event.

It will be interesting to see how fully the army of journalists can cover the event. If you recall from last year, when Justin.tv provided live streaming video feeds from the race, the picture went black from time to time. Also, AVF Creations' efforts to track the race were spotty.

The reason for that? Some parts of Missouri are rather isolated, meaning reliable cell phone and satellite connections can be difficult to find. However, reliable connections should be available at all the start and finish cities, so people who want to upload videos, photos and other media from those places shouldn't have any problem.

Labels: computers, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:47 AM

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Vande Velde joins Tour of Missouri field

The Tour of Missouri got a big boost with announcement today that Tour de France fifth-place finisher Christian Vande Velde will be part of this year's field.

Vande Velde, a native of the Chicago suburb of Lemont, is giving the Tour of Missouri a boost in much the same way the addition of 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and 2007 third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer gave the inaugural race a boost last year. I would think Chicago-area cycling fans would want to come down to Missouri to see their hero sometime over the course of the race. Vande Velde rides for the American Garmin-Chipotle cycling team.

The 32-year-old Vande Velde, one American cycling’s big revelations in the post-Lance Armstrong era, surprised the world by finishing less than a couple minutes out of the podium at this year’s Tour de France. Known as a top trialist most of his career, Vande Velde showed amazing climbing skills and has matured into one of the world’s best all-around riders. Earlier in the year, he finished 3rd overall in the Amgen Tour of California and last year finished second overall at the Tour de Georgia, two of North America’s biggest races. He finished 17th overall in the road race at the Olympic Games two weeks ago.

Vande Velde will be joined by Garmin-Chipotle teammates that include U.S. Olympic team member David Zabriskie, Tour de France team member Danny Pate and Will Frischkorn, who finished second overall at last year’s Tour of Missouri and narrowly missed winning a Tour de France stage last month.

Zabriskie is the only American to ever win a stage of all three of professional cycling’s Grand Tours (France, Italy, and Spain), and is a two-time time trial champion and former Tour de France race leader. Pate won Stage 5 of last year’s Tour of Missouri, breaking away to win into St. Charles. Pate is a former Under-23 world champion.

Also joining the field is 2008 Tour of Switzerland champion Roman Kreuzinger.

The Tour of Missouri opens Sept. 8 with a stage from St. Joseph to Kansas City and closes Sept. 14 with a circuit race in St. Louis.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 2 comments links to this post 8:50 AM

Monday, August 04, 2008

Garmin-Chipotle to race in Tour of Missouri

Tour of Missouri organizers announced today that the Garmin-Chipotle team will return to ride this year.

Garmin-Chipotle, known last year as Team Slipstream, won the inaugural event's team title. The press release did not say whether Illinois native Christian Vande Velde, who finished fifth in this year's Tour de France, would be part of the Tour of Missouri roster, but my hunch is that he will in much the same way Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer were persuaded to ride for Discovery Channel in last year's race.

Will Frischkorn, who finished second to George Hincapie, and stage winner Danny Pate also are part of the Garmin-Chipotle squad.

“We will be back to win,” Jonathan Vaughters, director of the Garmin-Chipotle team, said in a press release. “This is not an end-of-the-season fun race for us. This is a serious objective for our team. It’s a major event.”

The top U.S. teams will participate in this year's Tour of Missouri and will be joined by international teams such as Liquigas and Rabobank. Here's a full list of the teams:

Columbia (USA)
Liquigas (Italy)
Rabobank (Netherlands, developmental team)
Garmin-Chipotle (USA)
BMC (USA)
Sparkasse (Germany)
Tecos (Mexico)
Symmetrics (Canada)
Health Net presented by MAXXIS (USA)
Toyota-United (USA)
Rock Racing (USA)
Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light (USA)
Bissell (USA)
Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast (USA)
Jelly Belly (USA)

For more details about the race, see the press release.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 7:39 PM

Tour of Missouri seeks your help

Michael Grote of the Tour of Missouri Breakaway Club just sent out this note to bicycle clubs in Missouri and nearby state:

As you may already know the Tour of Missouri will be taking place September 8th through the 14th. The Tour of Missouri is a seven day professional cycling event featuring elite international men’s teams with stages across Missouri.

Additionally, the Tour of Missouri will host an invitational pro-am women’s race taking place on Monday, September 8, in Kansas City, Missouri. This event builds on the great success of last year’s inaugural Tour of Missouri that inspired cyclists throughout the state and attracted many new fans to the sport.

In order to continue to make this event successful while, exposing Missourians and mid-westerns alike to this great sport, we need your help. As you can imagine a professional bike race through the state takes tremendous resources to guarantee that the event is challenging but safe for the riders, enjoyable for the spectators and supports the race’s continued development in Missouri.

I am asking you to support cycling in Missouri by joining the Tour of Missouri Breakaway Club. The Breakaway Club is an individual donor program that supports the race and ensures its success in 2008 and beyond. More importantly though, it provides great opportunities for you, as a sponsor, to be intimately involved in the action of the Tour of Missouri.

I hope that you will consider this request to support the sport of cycling and the Tour of Missouri this year.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at your convenience at 573-424-5120 or at tourofmissouri@ga2.us.

Thank you for your consideration of this request and your support of the Tour of Missouri.

A $5,000 Champion's Level, a $500 Podium Level ($400 for couples), a $75 Peloton Level ($100 for couples) and Patrol levels for individual levels. The benefits include jerseys at the higher levels and discounts for the lower levels. For those of you who sign up by Aug. 7, your names also will appear i n the Tour of Missouri program.

You can find out more benefits and download forms at the Breakaway Club's page.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments links to this post 12:31 PM

Friday, July 18, 2008

Tour of Missouri adds women's criterium

The Tour of Missouri already has grown from a six-day to a seven-day event in just one year. If that wasn't enough, the Tour of Missouri is adding a women's criterium race to the mix.

The women's race will take place Monday, Sept. 8 in the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. The race will be a 55-minute plus 5-laps event slated to start at 1:30 p.m.

"Starting while Stage 1 of the men's event is underway, the Tour of Missouri Women's Criterium will showcase the speed and energy of the women's professional circuit while building excitement and anticipation for the hard-charging finishing circuits of the men's race," according to the race's Web site.

Stage 1 of the men's race is slated to begin in St. Joseph on Sept. 8 and ends at Country Club Plaza.

In case you haven't visited the Tour of Missouri site for a while, you will notice Armadillo Xing T-shirts for sale. For $18, you can own your own T-shirt and "help keep the armadillos at bay."

The shirt recalls the unfortunate accident during the 2007 Tour of Missouri that knocked St. Louis-area native Dan Schmatz from the race. Schmatz tumbled to the ground after hitting the armadillo, fracturing his collarbone.

Labels: racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 7:33 PM

Monday, July 07, 2008

Will Frischkorn? Who's he?

I was surprised to see this morning that American racer and Tour de France rookie Will Frischkorn not only came in second in today's Stage 3, but is sitting in third place in the general classification.

If that wasn't enough, Frischkorn was named the most aggressive rider of the stage, and his American-based squad, Team Garmin-Chipotle, is leading the team classsification.

Just who is Will Frischkorn?

Well, Tour of Missouri fans may remember that Frischkorn finished second to George Hincapie in last year's inaugural event. Frischkorn finished 1 minute, 38 seconds behind Hincapie in the six-stage race.

Frischkorn, 27, was born in Charlottesville, Va., and now lives in Boulder, Colo., according to his biography at the Team Garmin-Chipotle Web site. Frischkorn won the 2007 Univest Grand Prix and he won the U.S. Under-23 National Championship Road Race back in 2002.

Being in third place in the Tour de France, even this early in the race, is a career highlight.

"I felt pretty darn good," Frischkorn said in an interview on the Tour de France Web site. "I’m ecstatic to have done this. It’s weird to feel a little disappointed right now actually.”

Why was he disappointed? Because he had a chance to win the stage.

“The sprint at the finish was a long one," Frischkorn said in the interview. "It started from two kilometers out really. (Samuel) Dumoulin hit out and I had literally been planning to attack after coming back from my previous turn of pace but he timed it perfectly. That really started the game.

“He rode a great finish and I hesitated just a little bit with 400 meters to go and I think that’s where I made my mistake but I take my hat off to him, he was great."

Dumoulin won the stage, but fellow Frenchman Romain Feillu, who was part of the lead breakaway, is wearing the yellow jersey. Frischkorn is 1:42 behind Feillu in the general classification. The breakaway finished 2:03 in front of the peloton.

Frischkorn, one of four Americans in this year's Tour de France, is writing a journal about his experience at VeloNews. It should be interesting to see what he writes about Stage 3.

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

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:07 PM

Monday, June 23, 2008

Tour of Missouri to be ‘deceivingly tougher’

Organizers of the Tour of Missouri bicycle race Sept. 8-14 say this year's course will be "deceivingly tougher" than the course for last year's inaugural event.

For one, the race has grown from six to seven stages, and organizers say there are more hills this year.

That won't be comfort to the racers, many of whom were surprised by how hilly Missouri can be.

This year's Tour of Missouri starts in St. Joseph on Sept. 8, and roughly follows the Missouri River to Kansas City. "The first 50-plus miles feature a series of relentless small, uncategorized climbs, some of which form a panoramic view of the Missouri River. This differs from the relatively flat out-and-back course featured on the course last year for Stage 1," according to a description of the stages.

Stage 2 (Sept. 9) once again starts in Clinton and winds up in Springfield. This is the stage where George Hincapie pulled off a major breakaway that enabled him to win the 2007 event. Hincapie will be back to defend his title.

Stage 3 (Sept. 10) will be an 18-mile time trial on the hilly roads of Branson and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Stage 4 (Sept. 11) starts in Lebanon and will take competitors through a hilly course to Rolla. Plans call for the route to go through a portion of Fort Leonard Wood as a tribute to U.S. troops. The route also features a 12 percent grade near Waynesville.

Stage 5 (Sept. 12) begins in the wine country town of St. James and goes up and down a series of small hills to Jefferson City, the state capitol.

Stage 6 (Sept. 13) differs from the next-to-last stage in 2007. Last year, that stage started in Jefferson City and ended in St. Charles. This year, the stage will start in Hermann, the heart of Missouri's wine country, and ends in St. Charles. The new route eliminates the relatively flat part of the course between Jefferson City and Hermann, but the difficult climbs on Augusta Bottom and Schluersburg roads near Augusta remain, and a difficult climb of Old Colony Road near Defiance has been added to the course. From Old Colony Road, the route continues to O'Fallon, Mo., then heads into the flat Mississippi River valley before heading into St. Charles.

The final stage (Sept. 14) remains a circuit course in the city of St. Louis. Instead of starting and finishing at Union Station on Market Street, the start-finish line will be in front of City Hall a few blocks east on Market. Racers will be making five trips around the 14-mile circuit.

This year's course will start on Market, continue on Forest Park Boulevard, loop through a portion of Forest Park, returns to the Central West End -- a popular place to watch the race because of all the outdoor cafes -- turns east on Forest Park Boulevard, turns north on Compton Avenue, returns downtown on Olive Street to Tucker Boulevard, then back to Market.

In case you're wondering, the St. Louis Rams will have a home game at noon Sept. 14 against the New York Giants, but the St. Louis Cardinals will be on the road, so traffic may not be as big of an issue.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:48 AM

Friday, May 02, 2008

Hincapie to defend Tour of Missouri title

George Hincapie, longtime lieutenant to Lance Armstrong and winner of the inaugural Tour of Missouri, will return in September to defend his title in the state’s seven-day stage bicycle race, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday.

Organizers of the event made the announcement at a press conference Friday.

I would write more, but I better get a little rest before Tour de Stooges tomorrow!

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:23 PM

Friday, February 15, 2008

Economic impact of the Tour of Missouri

Two recent reports by Tour of Missouri organizers and the University of Missouri’s Tourism Economics Research Initiative reveal some interesting numbers about the economic impact of the inaugural 2007 event. It already had been revealed that the race was estimated to bring in $26 million into Missouri's economy. Here's some more numbers:

• The estimated number of spectators totaled 367,566 with 255,529 unique stage spectators.
• St. Louis is estimated to have hosted the most spectators at the beginning or end of a stage,
  with an estimated 50,000 at the final stage of the Tour. Of those, 20,089 were at the St. Louis finish line (Union Station), with the rest scatted along the circuit.
• The fifth stage between Jefferson City and St. Charles came in second with an estimated 45,000 spectators. Of that, 7,478 were at the St. Charles finish.
  
• Household travel parties averaged 2.05 people spending $560.85. In Fiscal Year 2006, average expenditures by domestic travelers in Missouri (per household travel party) were $307.25.
• On average, 41.8% of the start/finish line spectators came from outside the local area. Kansas City had the highest percentage (60.19%), followed by Branson (59.24%) and
  St. Charles (48.23%).
• 25.6% of the out-state respondents stated they had not visited the interview site within the
  past five years. 73% said the Tour of Missouri was very important or extremely important
  in planning their trip.

The organizers of the event contend that the higher numbers at St. Louis and St. Charles stages were the number of spectators at the finish. That may be possible, judging from anecdotal evidence I heard from spectators and personal observations. Many people who may have watched an earlier portion of a stage also traveled to the finish line.

You can see the unfiltered numbers in the Tourism Economics Research Initiative's "The Economic Impact of the 2007 Tour of Missouri" (PDF file). Filtered numbers can be found in the Tour of Missouri's Annual Report (PDF file).

Labels: cycling, Missouri, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:36 PM

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

2008 Tour of Missouri route announced

Organizers of the Tour of Missouri have announced the start/finish cities for the 2008 race. They are:

STAGE 1 / Monday, Sept. 8
St. Joseph to Kansas City, road race with circuits (90 mi / 144.81 km)

STAGE 2 / Tuesday, September 9
Clinton to Springfield, road race with circuits (125 mi / 201.13 km)

STAGE 3 / Wednesday, September 10
Branson, individual time trial (18 mi / 28.6 km)

STAGE 4 / Thursday, September 11
Lebanon to Rolla, road race with circuits (105 mi / 168.95 km)

STAGE 5 / Friday, September 12
St. James to Jefferson City, road race with circuits (100 mi / 160.9 km)

STAGE 6 / Saturday, September 13
Hermann to St. Charles, road race (110 mi / 177 km)

STAGE 7 / Sunday, September 14
St. Louis, circuit race (75 mi / 120.68 km)

The racers can expect more undulating rolling hills on this year's route. While there aren't any major climbs by professional cycling standards, the riders on the 2007 ride learned that Missouri isn't a flat state by any means.

It wasn't surprising to learn the Tour of Missouri is returning to St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Branson, since those were the cities than drew the biggest crowds last year. The addition of a stage allows the Tour to add a stage along old Route 66 between Lebanon and Rolla. The exact routes of the stages will be announced later.

"The Tour of Missouri is perfectly positioned between the Olympic Games in Bejing and the World Championships in late September," said Chris Aronhalt, managing partner of the event organizers Medalist Sports, in a press release. "We can expect the field to include some of the top cyclists who have either competed in the Games or are preparing for the Worlds. This will be a good course for them."

The Tour of Missouri will field 120 of the world's top cyclists, many of whom raced in last year's inaugural race and were very happy with the terrain.

"Winning the Tour of Missouri was one of the highlights of my season. I received tremendous support from everyone and the fans along the route were awesome. The Tour of Missouri goes through some beautiful countryside, and I hope to return in September," George Hincapie, 2007 Tour of Missouri overall winner said in the press release.

Here are some links to some stories about the 2008 Tour of Missouri:

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Kansas City Star
• Springfield News-Leader

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:01 PM

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Fired up about Tour of Missouri

Once again, the folks at the Fired Up! Missouri blog are, well, fired up about the Tour of Missouri bicycle race. Here's what the blog -- with a heavy dose of hyperbole -- has to say about the race:

Now comes word that Kinder's bike race ran a $330,000 deficit--- and taxpayers are getting stuck wiping up the mess.

Recently released Missouri Development Finance Board minutes paint a picture of (Lt. Gov. Peter) Kinder strong arming the board he chairs for $350,000 in emergency funding to cover race shortfalls. Kinder also discloses that he is asking (Gov. Matt) Blunt to release state emergency budget reserves to cover other costs.

With all due respect to the folks at Fired Up! Missouri, it's real stretch to get call what Kinder did "strong arming" based solely on the minutes of the meeting. You can read them for yourself and come up with your own conculsions.

The short form is that the board approved the request of $350,000 to cover remaining costs associated with the Tour of Missouri.

Robert V. Miserez, the executive director of the board, said it had approved $100,000 for the race in August and said costs came in under budget, but revenues also came in under budget. Total revenue shortfall costs were approximately $330,000.

Kinder commented that not as much money was raised from sponsorships as they had hoped for, but he expected this would improve for the 2008 event. Vice Chairman John Starr said it is not unusual for an event to take several years to gain enough momentum and seed capital to have a self-sustaining event.

Earlier in the meeting, Kinder reported the economic data from the University of Missouri School of Business for the Tour of Missouri race and indicates the race had an economic impact of $26 million for Missouri and the out-of-state visitors stayed longer and spent more dollars at the race than the average tourists to the state.

The Missouri Bicycle Federation says Blunt and Kinder are supposed to announce the start and finish cities for the 2008 Tour of Missouri and discuss the economic impact of the 2007 race at a press conference Wednesday in Jefferson City.

I'm sure it will be entertaining to see what Fired Up! Missouri has to say about that.

Labels: racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments links to this post 1:41 AM

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Tour of Missouri press conferences canceled

On Friday, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt was supposed to hold press conference in St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City and Springfield about the economic impact of the Tour of Missouri bicycle race on the Show-Me State's economy.

But those press conferences were canceled.

The Springfield News-Leader had reported that the governor, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Tourism Director Blaine Lieutkemeyer had planned to visit cities that hosted the tour in 2007. But later, it reported that the press conferences were not on Blunt's calendar for Friday and that they would be rescheduled.

No reason was given for the cancellation, although at least one blogger speculated it was because of grilling Blunt faced at a Thursday press conference over a lawsuit that alleges Blunt played a role in a plan to destroy public records to cover up political activities by his staff.

Meanwhile, the governor and Kinder will announce cities that will participate in the tour later this month and will release information on the race route in February, Laurie Dawson, Kinder's director of administration, told the News-Leader.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 9:46 AM

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Catching up

Just catching up on cycling headlines from the past few days. A couple of them reference the Tour of Missouri, so here goes:

TOUR OF AMERICA ORGANIZER SPEAKS OUT: British-based Cycling Weekly did an interview with Frank Arokiasamy, the Malaysian-born, U.S.-based businessman attempting to put together the ambitious Tour of America race. Arokiasamy still thinks he can get UCI approval for a 2008 ride, find sponsors and offer $1 million to the winner. Cycling Weekly asked him about the fact his proposed September race would conflict with the Tour of Missouri:

Q: Your proposed dates also clash with the new Tour of Missouri, which was very successful last year. In terms of goodwill and PR, it's not a great move is it?

A: Not at all. I don't think it's a good move, but in the big picture we don't have a choice. You can't put a race as big as this on the whole sporting calendar and not step on some toes. I regret that deeply. I'd like to talk to the people at the Tour of Missouri so that everyone can exist and complement each other and co-exist. When you want to do something big, you have no choice but to step on some toes. Tell me when there is a spot on the calendar when it doesn't clash. If someone can do that, please tell me.

The conflict not only involves overlapping dates, but the fact Tour of America would have stages in the Show-Me State at the same time as Tour of Missouri.

DAN SCHMATZ MOVES ON: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch did a story about Dan Schmatz, the St. Louis-area native who gained notoriety when he broke his arm after hitting an armadillo during the second stage of the 2007 Tour of Missouri.

Since then, Schmatz has left pro racing, but he returned to his second home in Colorado with a renewed sense of purpose, the Post-Dispatch reported. Schmatz has started a new career in real estate management and is passing on his racing expertise as director of the THF Realty Cycling Team, an amateur team that plans to participate in 10 to 15 U.S. races this year.

To mark the change in his life, Schmatz also has created a new version of his blog, Your Bike Sucks.

ILLINOIS 3-FEET LAW: In their roundups of new laws that took effect Jan. 1, most daily papers in Illinois only gave a sentence or two to the new law that requires motorists to give at least 3 feet of clearance when passing a bicyclists. But there were a couple of papers that took it a step further.

The Aurora Beacon News did a full story about the new law, and it cited startling statistics: According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, there were nearly nine cyclist-motorist accidents per day in the state of Illinois in 2006, with the vast majority of them taking place in Chicago. In 2006, 26 cyclists were killed in road accidents in Illinois.

The Kane County Chronicle, which serves some of Chicago's suburbs, also wrote about the law.

BIKE SEX CHANGE: My cycling friends Jody and Arlene may consider this sacrilege, but San Francisco Chronicle columnist David Curran recently wrote about how he turned his daughter's pink bicycle into a more masculine silver.

Here's how Curran described the original appearance of the bike, a $30 Magna purchased from Target:

This bike featured three shades of pink. And little pink flowers on top of the pink. You could safely accuse it of pink overkill. In big letters on the chain guard, it said "Starburst." No boy bikes are named Starburst.

How did he perform the sex-change operation? Duct tape. There's a lot more to this story, but I won't spoil the ending here.

Labels: advocacy, bicycles, cycling, Illinois, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:27 PM

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Happy New Year!

OK, I'm a little late with this, but I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year! With the coming of the new year, it's time to reflect on 2007 with a best/worst list:

BEST EVENT OF 2007: By far and away, the Tour of Missouri was the best event of 2007 for those of us in the Midwest. At first, I wondered whether Missourians would embrace the race, but big crowds at all the finish lines in the event proved that Missourians and the Midwest would come out for world-class cycling. Especially impressive was the fact that the final stage in St. Louis drew about 55,000 people despite the fact that the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams also were playing in downtown St. Louis that afternoon. The fact that Tour of Missouri was the U.S. swan song for the Discovery Channel team no doubt was a factor in the large crowds, and it was most fitting that George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong's longtime lieutenant, won the race.

BEST/WORST WEEKLONG RIDE OF 2007: The West Shoreline Tour in Michigan. It was my only weeklong tour of the year. The ride was great because of the scenery and because I managed to miss an August heat wave in St. Louis that week. The ride wasn't so good because I didn't get enough training in beforehand, meaning I rode much slower and with more rest breaks than I what I was used to.

BEST SINGLE-DAY RIDES OF 2007: One of them was my first significant ride of 2007 back in March, when I and three other friends did a 40-mile trip from Alton, Ill., to Pere Marquette State Park. Another was the "Donut Trail" ride, an informal ride with three other friends that toured some of south St. Louis's best doughnut shops. And, of course, the Belleville Area Bicycle and Eating Society's winery rides at Hidden Lake Winery near Aviston, Ill., and Ravissant Winery in Belleville, Ill., always rank among my favorites.

BIGGEST SURPRISE OF 2007: The Tour de Stooges drew more than 700 riders last year, about 200 people more than our previous high! It still continues to amaze me that people from 14 states attended the ride. I'm a bit nervous about the 2008 ride because we had to move the ride from its longtime home at McKendree University in Lebanon, Ill., to Highland, Ill. However, even well-established rides such as the Hilly Hundred in Indiana have had to move because the ride outgrew their facilities, so we're confident the move will be a good one for the ride.

BEST TREND OF 2007: The willingness of the Illinois General Assembly to pass bicycle-friendly legislation. In a year not known for productivity in state government, lawmakers did approve a bill that requires motorists to give three feet of clearance when passing cyclists, allows cyclists to use their right arms to signal a right turn, among other things. The legislature also passed a bill that requires driver's education courses in Illinois to educate people about their obligations to share the road with cyclists. The most impressive triumph was the legislature's ability to override a veto by Gov. Rod Blagojevich of a "Complete Streets" bill, which requires bicycle and pedestrian ways to be considered when constructing roads in urban areas in Illinois.

As for 2008, it looks like May will be a hectic month for me. In addition to Tour de Stooges, I will be working with friends and relatives of Gerry Frierdich, the Belleville cyclist critically injured when his recumbent bicycle was struck by a pickup truck in August, for a fund-raising ride. Gerry is continuing his long recovery at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, but the good news is that he may be able to return to Belleville later this month.

Despite the organization work that goes into those rides, my goal is to balance that out with more cycling miles in March, April and May so that I will be ready for weeklong tours in the summer and fall. I haven't determined which rides I'm doing, but I should know by February.

I hope all of you will be able to reach your cycling goals for 2008!

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri, tours

Roger 0 comments links to this post 9:55 AM

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Tour of America

Plans are still being made for the Tour of America in 2008, albeit much shorter and less ambitious than originally planned.

The race is slated to begin Sept. 6 in New York City and end Sept. 28 in Palo Alto, Calif. In between, there are two stages still slated for the St. Louis area, a 143-mile stage from Casey, Ill., to St. Louis on Sept. 13 and a 134-mile stage from St. Louis to Columbia, Mo., on Sept. 14. The 15th would be a "rest day" in which the cyclists and their crews would fly to Denver and resume the race there on the 16th.

The original plan for the race called for a 250-mile stage from Indianapolis to St. Louis on Sept. 12, a 130-mile stage from St. Louis to Carbondale, Ill., on Sept. 13, and a 205-mile stage from Carbondale to Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 14.

There remains several obstacles to this event:

• The event still is not on the Union Cycliste Internationale schedule for 2008, meaning few major cyclists would show up.
• The event would conflict with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of Missouri, among other races. The Tour of the Missouri, by the way, is on the UCI schedule for Sept. 8-14.
• Would Missouri have sufficient law-enforcement resources available to escort Tour of Missouri and Tour of America on Sept. 13-14? My hunch would be that the Missouri Highway Patrol would make Tour of Missouri a much higher priority.
• And what about the transition from low altitude to high altitude? Columbia is about 760 feet above sea level. Denver is 5,280 feet above sea level. I know we're talking about high-level athletes, but you still have to wonder about such a drastic change in elevation.

In short, I remain rather skeptical whether the Tour of America actually will happen.

Thanks to my new Facebook friend Fritz at the Cyclelicious blog and VeloNews for reporting the new developments. Yep, I'm on Facebook as well as MySpace and LinkedIn, and frankly, I think Facebook is a lot more fun!

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:59 PM

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Productive visit to ARTEAST

On Sunday, I paid my annual visit to the Edwardsville portion of the ARTEAST Edwardsville-Alton Studio Tour. While walking through one of the exhibits, I happened to come across some cycling photographs.

The photographer happened to be sitting in the hallway. He was pretty easy to pick out: He was wearing a LiveStrong cap and bracelet.

I struck up a conversation with the photographer, David Sill. He's a professor of theater at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. "I've been a cyclist since I was a little kid and started shooting races when I heard about the Tour de Georgia and that Lance was going to be there. I've been shooting races ever since," David said.

At ARTEAST, he showed a batch of photographs he took at the Tour of Missouri and Tour of Georgia.

David decided to share with me a couple of photographs that he didn't show at ARTEAST, and now I share them with you. The first photograph is of Discovery Channel rider Yaroslav Popovych, and the second is an artistic blurred shot:

Labels: photography, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:10 PM

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Tour of Missouri's on the 2008 calendar

Missouri leaders have said they are committed to at least two more years of the Tour of Missouri, and they got a shot in the arm this week.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports today that The Union Cycliste Internationale, cycling's international governing body, and USA Cycling have given their blessings to the second Tour of Missouri, scheduled to begin next year on the second Tuesday of September, just as the inaugural event did. Using that schedule, that would take place Sept. 9. The route and host cities will be announced later.

Columnist Kathleen Nelson also discusses the grandiose plans of Frank Arokiasamy, a business consultant in San Francisco who earned a Ph.D. in economics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, to create a Tour of America intended to rival the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España.

The column reports one major problem with Tour of America: It's not on the UCI calendar for 2008. Because of that, it would be highly unlikely it would draw major cyclists.

Besides, the event -- slated for Sept. 6-Oct. 5 -- would conflict with Tour of Missouri and Vuelta a España.

In case you're curious, Tour of America has posted a schedule for the race. On Sept. 12, there would be a 250-mile stage from Indianapolis to St. Louis. On the 13th, there would be a 130-mile stage from St. Louis to Carbondale, Ill., and on the 14th, there would be a 205-mile stage from Carbondale to Nashville, Tenn.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 1:04 AM

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Final thoughts on the 2007 Tour of Missouri

By most accounts, the first-ever Tour of Missouri was a big success. Thousands of people -- many of whom had never seen a bicycle race before -- got a taste of what big-time bicycle racing is all about.

Here's some final thoughts about the race and its future:

Will there be a 2008 version of the Tour of Missouri? Yes. Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder says the state is committed to supporting the race in 2008 and 2009. This year, the state put in $1 million toward the race. While some folks are concerned about how the money is being spent and whether using a bicycle race to promote tourism in the state is a wise investment, Kinder and his boss, Gov. Matt Blunt, believe the event will promote tourism in Missouri.

While the Tour of Missouri did not have a title sponsor in 2007, lots of Missouri businesses did pour money into the event. The fan turnout may convince those businesses to maintain or increase their investment into the event, and if the sport of cycling can further clean up its act as far as doping is concerned, Medalist Sports just may succeed in finding a title sponsor.

Why prompted the strong fan turnout? Two words: Discovery Channel. The fact that Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer, along with George Hincapie, were in the race automatically increased interest in the race. The fact that the Tour of Missouri was the final U.S. appearance for Discovery Channel was another drawing card.

The crowd estimates for Stage 6 in St. Louis ranged from 55,000 to 60,000, very strong considering there were two other major sporting events that drew more than 100,000 between them in St. Louis at the same time. While some spots on the 10.6-mile circuit only had a few fans, such as the backstretch on Olive Street pictured above, the start-finish line at Union Station and many streets in or near the Central West End neighborhood were jammed with fans.

Kansas City's Stage 1 had a turnout of about 40,000, and Stage 5 from Jefferson City to St. Charles drew about 30,000, including a large contingent on the Schluersberg Road hill.

Can Tour of Missouri repeat the buzz? That depends on whether Hincapie's and Leipheimer's new teams are interested in coming to Missouri next year. While there were a lot of promising riders in the Tour of Missouri, those cyclists don't get a lot of attention in the mainstream media.

I'm not sure how many top European pros will come over for the Tour of Missouri. If the 2008 version of the race is run in September, it once again will conflict with the Vuelta a España.

Where will the Tour of Missouri in the future? You would think that the event would go to St. Louis and Kansas City every year, and you can make a strong argument that the Springfield-Branson area should get a stage annually. Only a small portion of this year's route went north of Interstate 70, so St. Joseph and the hilly countryside in northwestern Missouri could get some consideration. No doubt, Cape Girardeau and its cycling community will be seeking a piece of the action as well.

Highlights of the Tour of Missouri: The obvious ones: Hincapie's overall victory, especially his finish in Stage 2 in Springfield; Leipheimer's time trial victory; the challenge cyclists faced with the seemingly unending "rolling" hills of Missouri; and the fan turnout.

Lowlights of the Tour of Missouri: Dan Schmatz's encounter with the armadillo in Stage 2 and Brad Huff's accident on the final sprint in Stage 6. Both were unfortunate because they are Missouri natives who wanted to put on a good show in the Show-Me State.

Labels: cycling, Missouri, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 1:01 AM

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Congrats to George Hincapie

George Hincapie made sure Discovery Channel's swan song in the United States was a sweet one by winning the overall title of the first-ever Tour of Missouri.

Thousands of fans -- I don't know how many -- lined the 10.6-mile circuit in St. Louis. I wonder how many more would have been there had there not been two other major sporting events going on at St. Louis at the same time, but there seemed to be more than enough support for Tour of Missouri.

One of the interesting things I saw on the back stretch was after the fifth lap, when groups of cyclists were cruising down the road toward to the finish. I assume they had been watching the race from other vantage points, such as the Central West End.

I saw two of my friends from the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society, Randy Love and Gail Taylor. Randy also saw the cyclists climb Schluersburg Road near Augusta during Stage 5. "It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen," said Randy, whose cycling skills belie her age.

Congratulations go out as well to Stage 6 winner Ivan Dominguez, who also was the top sprinter for the entire tour. Jeff Louder already had won the King of the Mountains since there were no KOM points to be had in Sunday's stage.

Slipstream-Chipotle, the heir-apparent to Discovery as being the premier U.S. cycling team, took the team title, and Slipstream's Steven Cozza was the best young rider.

BTW, these aren't my final thoughts about the 2007 Tour of Missouri. I plan to post those Tuesday along with a couple of photos from Sunday's Stage.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 6:39 PM

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Tour of Missouri Live TV coverage

Watch avflive live video and chat on Justin.tv
Updated Sept. 16: Today is the sixth and final stage of the 2007 Tour of Missouri. If you can't be in St. Louis today. you still can watch it here. Barring a major crash, you'll likely see George Hincapie close out his tenure with the Discovery Channel with the overall title. I think it's most fitting, giving all the loyal service he's given to Discovery Channel/U.S. Postal Service, that he wins the Tour of Missouri.

If for some reason you can't get the video to work above or you want to join the chat about the stage, you can go to this link:

http://www.justin.tv/avflive

You also can find the video, along with other race information, here:

http://www.avftracker.com/tom/TourTracker.html

Today's Stage 6 will start at 1 p.m. CDT at St. Louis Union Station. WCSM.com's coverage of the race begins at 2:30 p.m. CDT if you want to watch it there today. WCSM.com is free, but you'll have to register before you can see the video.

I want to thank all of you for visiting this blog this week. I will post some closing thoughts about the event either tonight or Monday morning.

Labels: television, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:30 AM

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Stage 5: How about some wine?

Part of the rationale for the state of Missouri to pour $1 million into the Tour of Missouri is to boost tourism in the state, so it makes sense that Saturday's Stage 5, which starts in Jefferson City and ends in St. Charles, goes through the heart of Missouri's wine country. I'm posting this now so you have a few hours to make your last-minute plans.

While there's pretty scenery in the early part of the stage, the real action for the racers and tourists begins in Hermann.

After crossing the old, rickety Highway 19 bridge into Hermann -- a bridge that isn't too safe for cyclists any other day of the year because of its narrow lanes -- the riders will sprint for points past the Stone Hill Winery, one of the best-known Missouri wineries. Missouri is known for its dry, red Norton wines, its German-style white wines and its Port wines, and Stone Hill is no exception.

It's not surprising that the Hermann wineries have a wide range of events tied to the Tour of Missouri. On Friday night, the 2-mile King of the Mountain Time Trial climbs some of the town's biggest hills. On Saturday, the Hermann Wine Trail puts on the Seven Hills of Hermann Bike Ride, which routes people on part of the Tour of Missouri before turning on Highway H and taking on the Seven Hills of Hermann. The climb out of Hermann is particularly nasty, and I'm a bit surprised the Tour of Missouri didn't use Highway H as part of its route. There also will be a kids' bike race in Hermann from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.

The Tour of Missouri is expected to pass through Hermann after 1 p.m. After that, they'll turn east on Highway 100, where they will pass several more wineries. The first of the day's King of the Mountain points will be awarded about two miles east of Hermann on Highway 100. Here's the elevation for that first KOM stop:


The route crosses the Route 47 bridge at Washington, and the cyclists will turn east on Highway 94 and pass the Blumenhof Winery. They'll turn right on Emke Road, then turn left on Augusta Bottom Road. The second set of KOM points will be awarded near the Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta. Below is the profile for the second KOM:



Not surprisingly, there are events planned in Augusta as well. The Augusta Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a timed 23-mile VIP ride, which includes 11 miles of the the Tour of Missouri. The $100 entry fee includes ride, gourmet lunch at Mount Pleasant and parking pass. The winery also is offering a range of packages that range from reserved parking to reserved viewing space in a VIP area.

The route traverses through Augusta back to Highway 94. After about a mile on that highway, the route turns onto Schluersburg Road. That's when the racers will face their stiffest challenge of the day, the climb up the Schluersburg Road hill for the third and final KOM points on the day. Here's what the riders will be facing on that 0.9-mile climb with about 350 feet of vertical gain:


If you want to see a bit of suffering, Schluersburg Road is your place.

The route ends in St. Charles, Missouri's first state capital, near the city's historic district. There are plenty of shops in the historic district, not to mention the Ameristar Casino to the south of the finish.

Trailnet's Bicycle Fun Club will have a Tour of Missouri Fun Ride that starts at the casino between 9 and 10 a.m. Riders will travel the Katy Trail to a vantage point where they want to see the race. They can go as far as Augusta, which is a 64-mile round trip from St. Charles.

The state of Missouri is hoping you'll come visit -- and spend some money!

(Coming Friday: A preview of the Stage 6 route in St. Louis.)

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:25 PM

Stage 3 guest commentary

Since I haven't been able to attend any of the early stages of the Tour of Missouri because of various commitments, I'm offering guest commentary tonight from Jerry Whittle.

Jerry is a ride leader for the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society and a regular on the Gateway Council of Hostelling International's 5-Star Century circuit. One of his daughters, Laura, is a member of Midwestern State University's cycling team, so I think Jerry's more than qualified to offer commentary about his Tour of Missouri experience:

We were in Springfield to watch the end of Stage 2 yesterday. (George) Hincapie sure put on a show. The breakaway put in a lot of time on the rest of the peloton. Almost certainly one of the breakaway group will win this tour.

Today was the Individual Time Trial in Branson. Branson is a great place for a race. Lots of hotel rooms and things to do after the race. The roads are HILLY. The ITT was more like a hill climb than TT.

Unfortunately, the finish line was blocked by the time we got there due to a lack of parking. The crowds were even larger than they expected. We were there a half hour before the first rider was due in. I’m sure that they will learn from this if they go through Branson again.

Therefore, Patti (Jerry's wife) and I found a nice place towards the top of a long, steep hill at mile 12. We were just inches from the riders! There were about 100 other spectators on the hill and this was at mile 12!

Just as we got there, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador flew by. A while later Levi Leipheimer blasted up the hill. He looked great and was as he won the stage. Last came George in the yellow jersey and he looked very focused. I don’t think that he even heard my cowbell ringing. George finished a couple of minutes behind Levi, but ahead of the others in the previous day’s breakaway. Therefore he’s even more likely to win the whole thing.

Between my yelling and ringing a cowbell and his being really close and fast while passing by, I managed to ruin the chance for a perfect photo by cutting off half of George’s head. Now I know why I’m not a professional photographer.

The weather has been perfect. Low 80s, little wind, and dry. Branson might not be Paris, but it made for a great bike race venue.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:06 PM

Thoughts about Stage 3

There were no really big surprises today during the Stage 3 time trial of the Tour of Missouri:

• Levi Leipheimer won the time trial by 16 seconds over Australia's Nathan O'Neill. Leipheimer, who finished third in this year's Tour de France, finished the time trial in 39 minutes, 37.48 seconds.
• George Hincapie finished the time trial in 41:44.07, solidifying his hold on the yellow jersey. Hincapie now leads fellow American William Frischkorn by 1:40. Barring a disaster, I see Hincapie wearing the yellow jersey on the podium in St. Louis.
• Initial reports indicate more good crowds at the start and finish of the time trial.
• Tour of Missouri cyclists and cycling writers are finding out what those of us who have ridden Missouri roads already know: The Show-Me State has hills. Cyclingnews.com describes tomorrow's stage this way: "One of the hardest stages looms tomorrow -- a 214 km leg with more of the same relentless rolling Missouri hills, two intermediate sprints and a (King of the Mountain) climb before finishing in the university town of Columbia."
• And Leipheimer has this to say in VeloNews about the Stage 3 course: "It was definitely a hard course. ... I don't know if you can call them climbs, compared to something like the Tour de Georgia where there was a steep wall. But they were definitely bigger than rollers."
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's 10-Speed Blog kicked into a higher gear Thursday with good posts about Dan Schmatz's crash with the armadillo, the podium girls and the Missouri Department of Transportation trucks that kept the cyclists safe on U.S. 65 in Branson.
  

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 7:04 PM

Thoughts about Stage 2

While you're waiting for today's Tour of Missouri Stage 3 time trial to begin, here's some random thoughts about Stage 2:

• The experts are pretty much saying that the overall winner will be one of the 12 riders who participated in the breakaway. If George Hincapie can maintain the overall lead after today's time trial, he will be the prohibitive favorite to be wearing the yellow jersey in St. Louis. You know there's no way Discovery Channel will allow another breakaway to take hold, unless Hincapie is a part of it. The bulk of the riders are at least 14:20 behind Hincapie. While some riders might be able to cut into that gap today, I don't see any way they can eliminate that gap by the time they reach the finish line in St. Louis.
• The (Springfield, Mo.) News-Leader reported that Springfield local organizing committee co-chair Rusty Worley estimated turnout in Springfield at between 5,000 and 10,000. At places farther north along the race's 120-mile route, fewer fans gathered but they seemed just as supportive.
• The same article also reported numerous traffic jams along the route. Motorists found traffic snarls in Springfield longer than those north of the city as drivers who gave up on main arteries bailed onto smaller streets, causing backups on them as well. As I've mentioned before, the Tour of Missouri, the Rams-49ers game at the Edward Jones Dome and the Cardinals-Cubs game at Busch Stadium -- along with the St. Louis Blues' first exhibition game against the Atlanta Thrashers at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Scottrade Center -- will put tens of thousands of sports fans in St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. No matter which event you attend, give yourself plenty of time to get there and to get home.
  
• I generally give Missouri's three biggest newspapers -- the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Kansas City Star and the News-Leader -- good marks for their coverage of the event. The only other thing I'd like to see from the Post-Dispatch is more frequent updates over the course of the race. I also was disappointed the Post-Dispatch didn't have a separate story about St. Louis-area native Dan Schmatz's crash with the armadillo, although it did mention the accident at the end of its main race story.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 9:26 AM

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Yes, there are armadillos in Missouri

St. Louis-area native Dan Schmatz's bid to make a good showing at the Tour of Missouri came to an abrupt end today when he struck an armadillo three miles into Stage 2 between Clinton and Springfield.

In addition to Schmatz, VeloNews reports Slipstream’s Will Frischkorn and Danny Pate, Canadian Svein Tuft, Kodak’s Jesse Anthony and Schmatz’s BMC teammate Jonathan Garcia were involved in the crash. Only Schmatz has abandoned the race at this point.

You can read The Associated Press' take on the accident at SI.com.

A.J. Hendershott of the Missouri Department of Conservation told the Southeast Missourian that armadillos now populate every county in Missouri south of the Missouri River.

What a bad way to go. Schmatz really did a lot to promote the race in recent weeks and looked forward to racing in his hometown.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:27 PM

Thoughts about Stage 1

As Stage 2 of the Tour of Missouri begins, here's some random thoughts about State 1 of the race:

• It wasn't surprising that there was a mass sprint finish, which was won by Cuban Ivan Dominguez. The big boys of Discovery Channel -- Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie -- were safely nestled in the peloton and were awarded the same time as the winner.
• The Missouri Highway Patrol estimated the crowd for Stage 1 as 40,000. It's not as many as the Kansas City Chiefs would draw on a fall afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium, but it's considerably more than the Kansas City Royals normally draw for one of their home games at Kauffman Stadium. “It’s a heck of a start for us,” Rick Hughes, president of the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association, told the Kansas City Star. “Just getting started, this year the impact is probably a couple of million dollars. But in the Tour de Georgia, in the fourth year they estimated $300 million across the state. ”
• I'm still not sure how well rural Missouri will support the race. I think they'll be good crowds at the end of the stage in Springfield and at tomorrow's time trial in Branson. Missouri is called the Show-Me State for a reason, and Tour of Missouri organizers have a big selling job to do outside the state's urban areas.

In addition to this blog and the links on the right side of this page, there's lots of other great resources for following the race. Here's a few of them, some of which I've mentioned before, but some are new:

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Kansas City Star
• (Springfield, Mo.) News-Leader
• Tour of Missouri racer Dan Schmatz's blog. Schmatz is a native of the St. Louis area.
• Missouri Bicycle Federation. MoBikeFed also has wallpaper available for your computer here.
  
• Spare Cycles

Have fun and enjoy the Tour of Missouri

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments links to this post 10:53 AM

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tour of Missouri: A modest preview

In a matter of hours, the Tour of Missouri begins in Kansas City.

Most of you already know the significance of the race: It's the final American race for the Discovery Channel team. Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer and long-time Lance Armstrong lieutenant George Hincapie will be joined by some of the top U.S. and European teams on the rolling hills of Missouri.

It's also the most important bicycle race ever held in the Show-Me State, and the state of Missouri is banking a lot of money -- $1 million to be exact -- that the race will bring lots of tourism dollars into the state. Hopefully, the race also will encourage more people to go out and bike.

Not all the world's top cyclists will be in Missouri. Many of them, including Denis Menchov, Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre, are racing in the Vuelta a España. Still, the race will give great exposure to lesser-known, yet talented, racers.

Generally speaking, the Tour of Missouri has received lots of positive coverage from the state's newspapers. It will be interesting to see if that coverage brings out casual fans and introduce new people to the sport.

A Google blog search for the Tour of Missouri generally shows positive commentary about the event. One exception is the progressive blog Fired Up, which takes a dim view of the state spending $1 million in taxpayers' money on the race. Here's an example of what Fired Up has to say:

The massive infusion of taxpayer money to support (Gov.) Matt Blunt and (Lt. Gov.) Peter Kinder's bike race is being laundered through a closely controlled private organization--- the Hawthorn Foundation.

Once used to fund gubernatorial trade missions with exporter contributions, the Hawthorn Foundation is now receiving massive amounts of taxpayer funding from Blunt and Kinder.

Their likely purpose: to try to conceal from the prying eyes of the press the spending details and race documents (including doping test results) -- even though two high-level public officials, Blunt and Kinder, are overseeing the entire effort. Down to the last drop.

I don't know enough about Missouri politics to say whether the issue is legitimate, but the group's obsession with doping and its pandering to the fears about traffic tie-ups in St. Louis on Sunday tells me there's more rhetoric than reality to Fired Up's claims.

There is no doubt there will be lots of sports traffic in downtown St. Louis on Sunday. In addition to the Tour of Missouri, the St. Louis Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers at the Edward Jones Dome (noon start), while the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium (1:15 p.m. start). The sixth stage of the Tour of Missouri starts at 1 p.m. at Union Station and is expected to end sometime between 3:30 and 4 p.m.

City streets and the region's MetroLink light-rail trains will see lots of users, so give yourself plenty to time to get to where you're going and plenty of time to go home.

Several other events are being planned around Tour of Missouri.

Trailnet, which organizes many of the St. Louis region's largest group ride, will have a Tour of Missouri Fun Ride on Saturday in St. Charles, the St. Louis suburb that hosts the finish line for Stage 5. Cyclists will be able to ride the Katy Trail to vantage points to see the race.

There also will be plenty of activity in Hermann, the capital of Missouri's wine country. The Hermann Wine Trail will sponsor The Seven Hills of Hermann Ride at 8 a.m. Saturday. Tour of Missouri is expected to pass through Hermann about 1 p.m. On Friday night, Hermann plays host to a 2-mie time trial that features 400 feet of vertical climbing.

To see the events planned for the other cities on the Tour of Missouri route, visit the ride's calendar page.

Because of jury duty and other work obligations, I probably will be able to see only one stage of the race, the St. Louis stage. I will try to offer commentary and other insights about the Tour as it progresses, plus I will be adding Tour of Missouri news to the Bicycle racing feeds listed in the right column of this blog.

Versus will air highlights of the Tour of Missouri on Sept. 22.

Here's hoping the Tour of Missouri will enhance the Midwest cycling scene and bring positive attention to the state of Missouri.

Labels: cycling, racing, St. Louis, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:18 PM

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Post-Dispatch Tour of Missouri preview

Today's edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an eight-page special section about the Tour of Missouri.

As an employee of the Belleville News-Democrat, it's not every day that I recommend that you buy a competing newspaper, but you really should if you're a cycling fan.

You can get most of the information in the special section online, but the print edition of the guide is well-designed and packed with lots of good information, maps and photos. It'll be handy to have around as you follow the race.

Other Missouri newspapers also had stories about the Tour of Missouri today. These included

• (Springfield) News-Leader
• (Jefferson City) News-Tribune
• Kansas City Star
  

Labels: Missouri, newspapers, St. Louis, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:41 AM

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Tour of Missouri gets TV exposure

Last night, while I was at home during my dinner break from work, I happened to be flipping channels when I saw Charles Jaco doing a segment about the Tour of Missouri on his news show, "The Jaco Report," on KTVI-TV, Channel 2.

Jaco interviewed Mike Weiss, the owner of the St. Louis-based Big Shark Bicycle Co. and an organizer of the Tour of Missouri, about the event.

If you didn't see the segment Saturday or early today -- and the odds are that you didn't -- you still can see the segment at MyFoxSTL.com. To go directly to the segment on the Tour of Missouri, go to the SideBar, which is located below Jaco's logo, look for the Video section and click on the second image, which is mostly green.

Jaco has won Peabody, Edward R. Murrow and National Headliner awards for his broadcast coverage of international and national affairs. While he doesn't have the expertise of a Phil Liggett, Phil Sherwin or even Bob Roll about professional cycling, Jaco came up with some good questions, and Weiss came up with good answers.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 11:49 AM

Friday, August 17, 2007

Discovery's last stand in America

The Discovery Channel cycling team will simultaneously launch the Tour of Missouri and go out of business with a bang, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star report today.

Among the riders Discovery will send to the inaugural event will be Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer, eighth-place finisher Yaroslav Popovych and U.S. pro champion George Hincapie.

The Tour of Missouri will be the final U.S. race for the Discovery team, the Post reports.

Here's the text of the press release issued by Tour of Missouri organizers on Thursday:

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain and American Levi Leipheimer, the third-place finisher at that race, were officially announced today by the Discovery Channel Team as participants in the inaugural Tour of Missouri, September 11th – 16th. The Tour of Missouri is North America’s newest elite cycling stage race and patterned after the successful Tour de Georgia and Amgen Tour of California statewide stage races. The race will start in Kansas City, Tuesday, September 11 and conclude 600 miles later in St. Louis the following Sunday.

Contador and Leipheimer are both members of the Discovery Channel team which recently dominated the Tour de France with two overall podium places, two stage wins, and laying claim to the best young rider classification and overall team classification. Also included on the Discovery Channel roster in Missouri are: pre-race favorite and current U.S. National Champion George Hincapie of Greenville, S.C.; 8th place Tour de France finisher Yaroslav Popovych of the Ukraine; Tony Cruz of Long Beach, CA; 2007 3rd place finisher of the Amgen Tour of California Jason McCartney of Coralville, IA; up and coming U.S. star John Devine of Dixon, Ill., and Fuyu Li, the first Chinese athlete to compete at the elite Pro Tour level.

“To have Johan Bruyneel commit to bringing Discovery Channel’s Tour de France “dream team” to the Tour of Missouri is very special for this first-time race,” said Race Director Jim Birrell. “We will have three riders from the top eight of the Tour de France, two being from the final podium, and I look forward to hosting the entire Discovery Channel team during their swan song on domestic soil.”

The Discovery Channel team’s management company, Tailwind Sports, recently decided to disband the team at the end of the 2007 season, making the Tour of Missouri their last event in the United States. “Having just announced my retirement from cycling I am pleased that one of my last races as a director will be at the Tour of Missouri,” said Sports Director Johan Bruyneel. “I have always enjoyed directing in the U.S. because of our success and an amazing group of fans that come to see us race. It is sad to think that this will be one of the last times I will be directing, but I am glad it will be in front of a such great fans.” The Tour of Missouri will cap off a stellar season for Discovery’s Leipheimer, who won the season’s kick off race, the Amgen Tour of California in February.

“I have had an amazing 2007 season which started out when I won the Amgen Tour of California, followed by a successful showing at the Tour de Georgia and then finishing on the podium at the Tour de France. It is only fitting to close it out my season with a U.S. homecoming at the Tour of Missouri,” said Leipheimer. “I have always said that there is nothing that compares to racing at home and it will be very special for me to have guys like Alberto, Popo and George riding next to me in my final race as a Discovery Channel Team member.” George Hincapie is the 2006 US National Champion and has raced in 12 editions of the Tour de France, seven of them as Lance Armstrong’s primary lieutenant. Hincapie has won stages in the Tour de France, Tour of California and the celebrated Dauphine Libere.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:30 AM

Friday, August 03, 2007

Tour of Missouri St. Louis stage, Part II

Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on the final stage of the Tour of Missouri, focusing on the fact that professional cyclist Dan Schmatz, a St. Louis County native and a member of the BMC Pro Cycling Team. will get to ride in a major pro race in Missouri on Sept. 11-16.

The Post-Dispatch reports Schmatz was especially excited about the Tour of Missouri's last stage, a 74-mile circuit race in St. Louis. The Post says the final circuit features 10 laps around a 7.4-mile course that starts in front of Union Station, heads west through Forest Park and returns downtown on Lindell.

Although the Post-Dispatch reports the circuit is 7.4 miles, the map and profile posted on the Tour of Missouri site indicates the final circuit is 10.6 miles. Since I was unable to attend the press conference Thursday, I don't know which is correct. But the map published today in the print version of the Post and the map on the race's Web site show identical streets and turns, and a check of the route at Bikely.com indicates it's 10.6 miles.

The stage is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and finish between 3:30 and 4 p.m., just after the St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Rams-San Francisco 49ers games that will be played in downtown St. Louis that day, the Post reports.

On Thursday afternoon, the Jefferson City News Tribune posted its story coming from the Wednesday press conference held in Jefferson City, Missouri's state capital. The News Tribune also quoted Schmatz extensively, only that they called him Pat Schmatz instead of Dan Schmatz.

The News Tribune focused on the expected participation of Levi Leipheimer and the hilly terrain racers will face in Missouri.

Labels: cycling, racing, St. Louis, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:23 AM

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Tour of Missouri St. Louis stage

The final stage of the Tour of Missouri on Sunday, Sept. 16, will begin and end at Union Station. Ride organizers posted the map tonight in advance of their press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at Union Station.

Here's how the circuit will go: West on Market Street, west on Forest Park Parkway, north on DeBaliviere Ave, east on Delmar Boulevard, south on Euclid Avenue, east on Lindell Boulevard, east on Olive Street, south on 15th Street and west on Market back to Union Station. The circuit is about 10.6 miles, but the map doesn't make it clear how many laps are planned. Perhaps that will be revealed Thursday.

I'm sure race organizers would have loved to route the circuit closer to the Gateway Arch, but that wasn't a realistic option this year. The St. Louis Cardinals play the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium, while the St. Louis Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers at the Edward Jones Dome. Both are day games (Cards-Cubs at 1:15 p.m., Rams-49ers at noon), so traffic and parking demands would have made it nearly impossible to route the circuit any closer to the Arch and the Old Courthouse, two of the most iconic symbols of the city.

But, still, the Arch and the Old Courthouse will make a great backdrop for cyclists racing down Market Street. Of course, the colors won't be quite as vibrant during the race as they were when this picture of Market Street, the Arch, the Old Courthouse, Union Station and the Civil Courts building was taken, but a skilled photographer should be able to get a powerful image with the peloton and the landmarks.

Labels: cycling, racing, St. Louis, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments links to this post 10:36 PM

Monday, July 30, 2007

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 links to this post 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 links to this post 12:09 PM

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 links to this post 12:33 PM

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Discovery signs on to Tour of Missouri

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today that the Discovery Channel cycling team, for which Lance Armstrong rode to seven consecutive victories in the Tour de France, will participate in the Tour of Missouri, which begins Sept. 11 in Kansas City and ends Sept. 16 in St. Louis.

The top American riders on the team are Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and Tom Danielson.

The Post-Dispatch calls Discovery's commitment significant, given the uncertain climate in cycling. A spate of doping allegations has led to jittery investors and the cancellation of the Tour of Utah and the Montreal-Boston Tour.

"Missouri has hung in there when other events haven't," said Steve Brunner, marketing director of the Tour of Missouri, told the newspaper. "Once you get a team like Discovery, a lot can fall into place. Getting Discovery proves that the event can be all that we hope."

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:18 PM

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Tour of Missouri Route press conference

As expected today at a press conference in Kansas City, Mo., the organizers of the Tour of Missouri bicycle race announced the host cities for the inaugural event. Here are some excerpts from the press release:

The cities of Kansas City, Clinton, Springfield, Branson, Lebanon, Columbia, Jefferson City, St. Charles, and St. Louis have been selected to play host to either a start and/or finish of the race.

“The Tour of Missouri is a great opportunity to showcase these towns and cities, and for Missouri as a whole,” Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt said. “I support the Tour of Missouri because of the economic and health benefits that Missouri can realize by hosting these professional, world-class athletes from the heart of Missouri’s largest cities to some of Missouri’s most scenic rural areas.”

The Tuesday through Sunday race breaks down as follows:

Stage 1, Kansas City to Kansas City, road race
The race will start in Missouri’s second largest city in Kansas City, Tuesday, Sept. 11, as cyclists will race an out-and-back course.

Stage 2, Clinton to Springfield, road race
After an auto transfer, Stage 2 will start in Clinton, the trailhead of Missouri’s famous Katy Trial cross-state bike path, and race to Missouri’s third-largest city Springfield, Wednesday, Sept. 12.

Stage 3, Branson, individual time trial
The caravan will make its way 40 miles south Thursday for an individual time trial in the hilly resort town of Branson, Thursday, Sept.r 13. For Stage 3, cyclists will race against the clock during this all-important “race of truth”, which could determine the overall winner.

Stage 4, Lebanon to Columbia, road race
The caravan transfer north to the agricultural town of Lebanon for the start of Stage 4, routing north to the collegiate town of Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, Friday, Sept. 14.

Stage 5, Jefferson City to St. Charles, road race
After a short auto transfer south, Stage 5 will start in Missouri’s capital Jefferson City and travel through the state’s wine region en route to the historic river city of St. Charles, Saturday, Sept. 15.

Stage 6, St. Louis, circuit race
The cross-state journey for the world’s top cyclists will finish in Missouri’s largest city, St. Louis, Sunday, Sept. 16. In the shadows of the arch, the race will have gone through more than 20 counties, 50 towns and cities, and covered about 600 miles.

“Missouri is an absolutely beautiful state for a professional cycling race of this nature. It has rich and varied terrain. I think cyclists will be surprised by the amount of hills in the state,” said Jim Birrell, the race’s director and managing partner of Medalist Sports, of whom also manage the Amgen Tour of California and Tour de Georgia. “The enthusiasm from state leaders in Jefferson City, to the civic leaders in the communities hosting this event, to the sports enthusiasts in Missouri really has been overwhelming. There already is a great grass roots buzz about this event. The event shows great promise and hasn’t even started yet.”

Exact locations of each start and finish line will be announced this spring. More than 120 world-class cyclists from more than 15 countries are expected to participate, along with one of the world’s top professional teams, the Discovery Channel team, owned by seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. The team features top Americans George Hincapie (the current U.S. Professional Champion), Levi Leipheimer (a three-time top 10 Tour de France finisher) and young star Tom Danielson, the winner of the 2005 Tour de Georgia.

For the full press release, visit the Tour of Missouri Web site, which also was updated today with a new look and some new features.

Will the Specialized Angel, Jana Ireton, be there? She's heard whispers she may spread her wings about Tour de Georgia, but she hasn't heard anything yet about the Tour of Missouri.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 5:07 PM

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

The Return of the Angel!

Cycling fans -- especially male ones -- will be happy to learn that Jana Ireton will reprise her role as the Specialized Angel during this year's Amgen Tour of California, slated for Feb. 18-25.

I sent an e-mail to Jana on Monday night, and she responded to me Tuesday afternoon. Here's her reply:

Hello Roger,

Thank you so much for your nice email. It is great to hear from you again. I am happy to announce that I will be returning with Specialized this year as their Angel for the TOC!!!

I'm so excited to be a part of TOC for the 2nd year. I was delighted that Specialized asked for my return. Last year was incredible as the Specialized Angel being at 4 tours: TOC, Sea Otter, Giro (d'Italia), and TOF (Tour de France). Amazing!!!

Thank you as well for mentioning me on your blog. It is such a privilege and I do have your blog saved in my favorites and have passed it on to all my friends, family, and of course Specialized and my good friends in the cycling industry too. ...

Angel Kisses,
Jana Ireton

For those of you unable to see the Tour of California live, the race will be broadcast this year on the Versus channel (formerly OLN), and the TV schedule has been posted on the tour's Web site.

This year's race should be of special of interest to bicycle racing fans in the Midwest. It will give you a taste of what to expect in the inaugural Tour of Missouri, which will be Sept. 11-16. The same organization that manages the Tour of California, Medalist Sports, also will manage the Tour of Missouri.

We can only hope that in addition to the elite cyclists that will be coming to Missouri that the Specialized Angel will be coming to spread her blessings among cyclists and spectators alike!

Speaking of the Tour of Missouri, the KCBike.Info blog is reporting that there will be an announcement concerning the route Thursday in Kansas City, Mo. The folks in Springfield, Mo., are confident their city will be the finishing spot for an early stage of the tour, the Springfield News-Leader reports.

And if the map released early today by the Missouri Bicycle Federation (PDF file) is correct, they shall have their wish. The map -- which lacks information about the precise roads that will be used -- indicates the following:

Stage 1 (Sept. 11): Road race with finishing circuit in Kansas City
Stage 2 (Sept. 12): Road race from Clinton to Springfield
Stage 3 (Sept. 13): Time trial in Branson
Stage 4 (Sept. 14): Road race from Lebanon to Columbia
Stage 5 (Sept. 15): Road race from Jefferson City to St. Charles
Stage 6 (Sept. 16): Circuit race in St. Louis

Labels: cycling, racing, Specialized Angel, Tour of California, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments links to this post 3:02 AM