Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993 TAG: 9305130098
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Michael Stowe Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This year's Tour is a chance for many small Southwest Virginia communities to get some national exposure with ESPN providing same-day taped coverage of the event. It's the kind of exposure that localities usually lobby for and campaign to bring to their community.
Ironically, the Tour DuPont is coming to the New River Valley by accident sort of.
Last summer, Blacksburg's Sidewalks and Bikeways Committee applied to be a Tour DuPont finish site in 1993 as a way to promote cycling in the area.
"I don't want to say it was a pipe dream, but it wasn't something we were counting on," said Mike Matzuk, committee member and local organizer for the Tour DuPont.
After talking with race organizers and Town Manager Ron Secrist, Matzuk decided Blacksburg shouldn't try to host a tour finish as well as the Family Motor Coach Association's summer convention in August.
The Bikeways Committee members decided to sit out this year's race and apply to be a finish site for the 1994 Tour DuPont.
But last fall, Tour DuPont organizers contacted Matzuk and said they were mapping out the race's route and Blacksburg looked like a great place to start a stage.
Matzuk said it's tougher to be a finish site because the host is responsible for providing housing and food for the 130 racers, numerous team members and event organizers who travel with the Tour DuPont.
"We really had backed out of the picture. We are just in a good spot geographically," Matzuk said. "It would have been very difficult for them to get to Beech Mountain without traveling through this area."
Stage 8 will finish Thursday at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, and the cyclists will travel by car to Blacksburg.
Stage 9 of America's premiere cycling race will start Friday in Blacksburg on Virginia Tech's campus and travel through Montgomery and Pulaski counties to Galax before heading into North Carolina and finishing at Beech Mountain. The 150-mile marathon stage is almost entirely an uphil climb, starting at an elevation of 2,035 feet and finishing at 5,058 feet.
The Tour DuPont, which started in 1989 as the Tour de Trump, is an 11-stage, 1,100-mile race that started May 6 and ends Sunday. The 1993 course _ which runs from Delaware through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina _ is the most mountainous ever.
Blacksburg officials are excited to have the race coming to their town and hope to get the entire community involved in the event.
The Downtown Merchants and the Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce are planning a downtown street festival the same day as the race. It will be similar in format, but smaller, than Steppin' Out, the town's summer festival.
College and Draper streets will be closed off, and organizers expect about 14 craft vendors and 20 merchants to set up sidewalk sales. WVVV (104.9 FM), Rock 105, will broadcast live from downtown Blacksburg the day of the race.
In addition, Virginia Tech's engineering department is sponsoring a science exhibition that will show how the technology of bicycle racing affects everyday life.
Secrist said the race is an excellent way to show the rest of the country the beauty of the New River Valley.
The stage will begin at Virginia Tech's Mall and run down Main Street too Washington Street where the bikers will turn right. At West Campus Drive, the course turns right onto Drill Field Road and heads back to the Mall and Main Street.
After leaving Blacksburg the race will head out U.S. 460 through Christiansburg and then veer right onto Virginia 8 before turning right onto Virginia 693.
About 50 Christiansburg High School students will be acting as race marshalls Friday, helping Tour DuPont officials keep traffic off the bike route. With the exception of some parts of downtown Blacksburg, roads will only be closed for about 10 minutes while the bikers whizz by, Matzuk said.
A biker's average speed for the six-hour race will be about 22 mph, and the racers will burn about 10,000 calories a day.
"There's going to be some mighty fit individuals," Matzuk said.
After reaching Virginia 693 the bikers will travel through communities unfamiliar to folks outside the New River Valley. Places like Childress, Snowville, Hiwassee, Allisonia and Sylvatus.
The race course goes right by Snowville Elementary School, and teacher Patricia Conner said the 136 students there will be ready with a big banner welcoming the cyclists.
"Everyone here is real excited," she said. The Blue Ridge Mountains stretch along the background of the race course as it runs beside the New River and Claytor Lake in Pulaski County.
On some of the stretches along the route the bikers are more likely to see cows and sheep than cycling fans. But even so, Matzuk said Stage 9's hills could be the deciding factor in who wins this year's Tour DuPont.
The riders have already nicknamed this stage "The Death March," according to the Tour DuPont's official race magazine.
by CNB