Tour of Missouri stage race officially announced

steephill said:

Today the Tour of Missouri was officially announced. It's supposed to
start near Kansas City and finish near St. Louis. It's being billed
(prematurely?) as the 3rd biggest U.S. stage race behind Georgia and
California. Given the state's topography and Fast Freddy's appearance
at the rollout, it should be sprinter's stage race.

I've posted an enhanced press release from today's announcement:http://www.steephill.tv/2007/tour-of-missouri/

Stevewww.steephill.tvbike travelogue

Fantastic news! I'm a MO resident and welcome this chance to see the
pros in action.

Smokey

Quoted message said:

Fantastic news! I'm a MO resident and welcome this chance to see the
pros in action.

Given the race :
1. starts near Kansas City and finish near St. Louis
2. is roughly 600 miles over six stages with at least one TT
3. most likely will include the Missouri Ozarks for mountain stages in
the midde of the race.

As a local rider, can you figure out the route?

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

steephill said:

Quoted message said:

Fantastic news! I'm a MO resident and welcome this chance to see the
pros in action.Given the race :

1. starts near Kansas City and finish near St. Louis
2. is roughly 600 miles over six stages with at least one TT
3. most likely will include the Missouri Ozarks for mountain stages in
the midde of the race.

As a local rider, can you figure out the route?

Stevewww.steephill.tvbike travelogue

Actually, I live in north central MO, about 100 miles north of where
the Ozarks start. There's lots of good riding area in the Mark Twain
national forest, as mentioned in the announcement. I've never rode my
bicycle down there, but have ridden my motorcycle there a few times.
I'm also curious about the route. I would like to spectate on one of
the hilly sections and also see the finish of one of the sprint stages.
My wife and I will be bringing our bikes along and hopefully will be
able to get in some riding along some of the route. Where I live, there
are very few other adult bicyclists. My neighbors think I'm kind of a
kook for riding as much as I do. It will be quite a different
experience to be with thousands of other cyclists.

Smokey

Quoted message said:

I'm also curious about the route. I would like to spectate on one of
the hilly sections and also see the finish of one of the sprint stages.

I've received the scoop on the tentative stage details and I've updated
my page:

http://www.steephill.tv/2007/tour-of-missouri/

Quoted message said:

My neighbors think I'm kind of a
kook for riding as much as I do. It will be quite a different
experience to be with thousands of other cyclists.

It's great to see stage racing in areas not known for road biking...
it's good for the sport and local residents.

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

The timing might work. The Tour of Utah is currently the third biggest
race, and was early August.

--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall

If FDR fought fascism the way Bush fights terrorism, we'd all be
speaking German now.

steephill said:

Quoted message said:

I'm also curious about the route. I would like to spectate on one of
the hilly sections and also see the finish of one of the sprint stages.

I've received the scoop on the tentative stage details and I've updated
my page:

http://www.steephill.tv/2007/tour-of-missouri/

Quoted message said:

My neighbors think I'm kind of a
kook for riding as much as I do. It will be quite a different
experience to be with thousands of other cyclists.

It's great to see stage racing in areas not known for road biking...
it's good for the sport and local residents.

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

Steve,

Please pardon my ignorance, but why isn't the Tour de Toona listed on
the 2007 schedule?

thanks.

-bdbafh

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Steve
www.steephill.tvbike travelogueSteve,

Please pardon my ignorance, but why isn't the Tour de Toona listed on
the 2007 schedule?

thanks.

-bdbafh

It's not on the UCI Calendar. The USA Cycling Professional Tour was
simply
created by pulling out the internationally-sanctioned events from the
National
Racing Calendar.

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

steephill said:

Quoted message said:

Fantastic news! I'm a MO resident and welcome this chance to see the
pros in action.

Given the race :
1. starts near Kansas City and finish near St. Louis
2. is roughly 600 miles over six stages with at least one TT
3. most likely will include the Missouri Ozarks for mountain stages in
the midde of the race.

As a local rider, can you figure out the route?

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

The TT has to be Jeff City to Columbia, that's
only about 40 miles or so.

Kansas City to Springfield (stage 1?) is going to
be at least 120 miles via back roads with some
fairly big rollers about 3/4's of the way through.

There's precious little in Missouri that I'd call
flat.

--
Scott Johnson / johnson dot sa at comcast dot net

Quoted message said:

The TT has to be Jeff City to Columbia, that's
only about 40 miles or so.

Actually, there isn't a TT scheduled based on what I now know.

Quoted message said:

Kansas City to Springfield (stage 1?) is going to
be at least 120 miles via back roads with some
fairly big rollers about 3/4's of the way through.

There's precious little in Missouri that I'd call
flat.

That seems to be the consensus among people who have cycled MO;
however, will there be enough tough rollers to separate the field to
prevent six days of bunch sprint finishes is a key question.

Steve
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

steephill said:

Quoted message said:

The TT has to be Jeff City to Columbia, that's
only about 40 miles or so.

Actually, there isn't a TT scheduled based on what I now know.

Quoted message said:

Kansas City to Springfield (stage 1?) is going to
be at least 120 miles via back roads with some
fairly big rollers about 3/4's of the way through.

There's precious little in Missouri that I'd call
flat.

That seems to be the consensus among people who have cycled MO;
however, will there be enough tough rollers to separate the field to
prevent six days of bunch sprint finishes is a key question.

Definitely the stages to/from Rolla will meet that criteria. There's a
reason Bob Roll mentions in Bobke 1 that everyone should ride the Ozarks
sometime in their life.

They should go straight down 76 in Branson, that would be hilarious.

--
Scott Johnson / johnson dot sa at comcast dot net