Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 10, 1994                   TAG: 9405100138
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER NOTE: Below
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THOSE WHO CAN'T RACE, IMPROVISE

After years of practice and long days in grueling weather, Jeff Brice and Bob Cleghorn say the secret to their success is pure improvisation.

Directing traffic should never be boring. On the contrary, they say, keep it fun.

So on Monday, at the intersection of Valley Forge Road and Brambleton Avenue in Roanoke County, the two strutted their stuff - Cleghorn sporting a bathing cap with a tuft of hair poking out and Brice, also known as "Lurch," taking his hat off to reveal his newly shaved head. As the bikers whizzed by, the two did a mean rhumba step or their very own interpretational dance.

"Ride like the wind," Cleghorn commented as one biker passed.

As marshals with the Tour DuPont, the two are official traffic directors for the race - keeping crowds at bay and cyclists on the course. If there's a problem, they say, they point to a state trooper who is often positioned nearby.

"You stand in the middle of the street with a rubber hat on your head and point. You travel with everybody and meet people from other countries. It's a ball," Cleghorn said.

Off-race, Brice is a security guard in Wilmington, Del., and Cleghorn is a telecommunications technician in Albany, N.Y.

The traffic-directing duo met two years ago. Now they make sure they schedule their vacations around the tour. The race sponsors pick up the tab for their stay.

What brought them together? Fate, or the bad luck of their captain, they say.

"Before anything starts we tell our captain what we're going to do and that we're sorry," Brice said.

Their performance in Roanoke was just a slice of their wacky humor. Last year, Brice stripped down almost to his birthday suit, wearing a couple of orange placards around his waist. He placed himself at the bottom of an S-turn on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He assures that underneath the billboards, he was wearing a pair of rolled-up shorts.

"The riders, they laugh; some give us a thumbs up," Brice said.

This year racing officials made the two promise that they would keep their clothes on.

"We provide the comic relief," Cleghorn said.

"The toughest part is being out on the course no matter what the elements," Brice added.

"Yeah," Cleghorn said. "And I decided to wear a rubber hat on the nicest day."