Tour De Toona-Stages 1 and 2

by Tim Henry (West Virginia)
July 27-28

Stage three’s 100 mile point-to-point course was not as bad as I had expected. Yes, there was 8,000 feet of climbing, but it was spaced out. The five-mile climb out of town was tough but once we were over that and another three-mile roller, the pace was not too bad. Most of the pack was together over the top and Navigators set a tempo on the front to keep a breakaway group in check. The thing about this area is that even though the climbs can be long in total distance they usually level off several times during the ascent so that even less-than-stellar climbers like myself can get enough relief to stay in the
group. The course seemed to be on a large ridge or plateau with only rolling hills for a long time so I talked to as many people as I could find to pass the time. Eventually we hit the first King of the Mountains (KOM) climb. The course profile made this
look tough but the climb leveled off twice and it was grouppo compatto (except for the breakaway) over the top once again. We then plunged down several steep descents at high speed. Even though these descents were nearly straight, they were made interesting by the fact that many riders even at this level insisted on riding their brakes all of the way down. I weaved
through the pack and moved all the way up to the front with ease. We then hit a valley section where the roads were mostly flat. I almost got dropped after the feed zone because I drifted off the back of the pack while taking bottles out of my bag. The problem came when I got nervous and sprinted right up to the pack as we hit a deceivingly long hill. Anyway, I
suffered over that and everything was ok. The next big obstacle was Blue Nob, a three mile climb with some steep grades. The good news was that the top of this climb was only 15 miles from the finish, the bad news is that Saturn was sure to blow the race apart there. So we hit the climb and I shot off the back with many others. I eventually got into a good rhythm
and rode myself into a descent group over the top. I crested the mountain with six others and later caught several other groups until we swelled to about thirty by the finish. The last 10k of the course had lots of nasty little hills that took a lot out of tired legs but we finally got there. I was happy to find out that we came in only six minutes down on the leaders and that I was in the second group on the road. I almost felt like a climber at that point. Even better news came when I found out that my teammate Scottie got second on the stage. This moved Scottie up to 9th overall and my 56th place finish pulled me up to 65th
overall. I know it’s small fries but that is a twenty spot improvement in one day so I am happy with it.  Robbie had some difficulties but made the time cut to fight another day.  

Stage 4 was a short 60 mile circuit race around Holidaysburg. We were to complete three laps of a 20 mile loop. There were two tough climbs each lap. One was short but very steep and the other was about a mile in length and served as the KOM. The first lap was uneventful until the last 5k when we hit the KOM hard and the pace was fast until we passed through the Start/Finish. The second lap was even less exciting and also slower. The final lap I could feel the fatigue from the previous three day’s racing. After the feed zone the action began with a large crash towards the front of the pack. The major teams were all involved in the incident so the pace slackened for a brief period. The race picked up again before the KOM climb and I tried hard to stay at the front to avoid any splits in the field like on stage 2. I made it over the KOM with lots of pain and hung on to a decent spot in the strung out peloton. With 1k to go the race slowed and I moved up to near the front. In the last 500 meters there was a nasty crash that took out race leader Nathan O’Niell and five others. I swerved, ran over some glasses, and sprinted back up to speed for 27th place, my best stage finish so far.  Scottie came in for 16th and Robbie was safely behind in the group. I moved up three places in the overall to 62nd place for some reason and Scottie moved up to
8th overall because John Leiswyn of 7-Up was penalized 20 seconds for drafting off his team car after going down in the first crash. Also, Nathan O’Niell will not start tomorrow because of the severity of his crash and this will move us all up one spot. I just found out that he broke a vertebrae and severely damaged his forehead and knocked out some teeth. His season is over...all too sad. It is always unfortunate to lose a great rider in such a way.  That's not my preferred way to gain position in a race. The plan for tomorrow is to try and get in a break and get a good stage finish. Saturn will probably not let anything go but I will try anyway. 

Thanks for reading, 
Tim