The anxious riders get lined up for the start

Saturday, July 11, 1998 -- Philippi
Barbour DeTour

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The Barbour DeTour Stage Race, a weekend series consisting of two races, got underway on Saturday, July 11th, with the 52 mile Barbour DeTour. The race consisted of two circuits around a 26 mile course with rolling hills and several moderate climbs. The Cat 5 and Citizens riders only raced a single circuit.

Junior rider, Adam Weaver, enjoys the days race on his mountain bike

The racers where treated to beautiful, sunny weather with moderate temperatures for a mid-July day. The Cat 5 and Citizens race came down to a duel between Mark Crump and Matt Marcus. A frantic sprint to the finish saw Mark edge out Matt by no more than a few inches. Out of the field of over twenty racers participating in the 26 mile race, Sue Haywood was impressive with a third overall finish. Kudos also go out to the folks who enjoyed the days ride on their mountain bikes, knobby tires and all.

Gunnar Shogren took one on the hip in and early pileup

In the race for the Cat 1 through 4 riders, a crash early in the race was a sore spot (see Gunnar's picture) in an otherwise great day for some cycling. Apparently, near the top of a long early climb during the first circuit, a rider in the middle of the pack either clipped-out, lost a grip on the handle bar, or missed a gear badly. This caused the bike to take an instant, 90-degree, right turn against the rest of the riders. The ensuing mayhem saw about seven bikes hit the pavement. Gunnar Shogren was directly behind the out-of-control rider, unsuccessfully attempted to ride through the chaos, and took the worst of it with a hard crash to the pavement on his right hip. As Gunnar recalled, "I then managed to crawl into a ditch to recover." He did recover well enough to get back on the bike and finish the race but was never able to bridge back to the lead group.

The sprinters make their moves at the finish

The battle for the race win came down to a sprint finish with the lead group of about a dozen riders still together in the final stretch. At the tape, it came down to three riders with Jeff Timinski edging out Jeff Johnston by a wheel and Greg Cook, a bike length back, taking third.