Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994 TAG: 9405110018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Michael "Shadow" Shaw had it, after having driven down from Northern Virginia to catch the race where he graduated less than six months ago. He, like hundreds of others, sat for hours in the afternoon sun staring up at the racers on the "Big Mo" television screen.
Brian Pittack and his buddies had it, as they stood on College Avenue marveling at the town's second biggest event Tuesday: an eclipse. Pittack poked a hole in a paper to let the shadow shine through onto another. His buddies, who'd been up since 9 a.m. partying, thought the scheme neat.
"All this and the Tour DuPont too," said Pittack, a history major at Tech who finished his last exam Monday. "Just finished yesterday so gotta live it up . . . ."
And five women, Tech students Alicia DeMartino, Dawn Miller, Jennifer Schupp, Kristina Kerns and Kelli Campbell, most definitely had it.
The five perched in a busstop bench for an hour Tuesday afternoon waiting to see the men in spandex whoosh by.
Miller held her flash cards in front of her, trying to sneak in a few minutes studying for an exam today.
"Who needs a college education?" quipped Kerns. "Maybe they'll give us free spandex."
In an event notable as much for the marketing that its organizer, Medalist Sports of Richmond, puts on, as for the caliber of racers it sports, Tuesday buildup held to the last second.
Here was announcer Jeff Roake's play-by-play of the riders' struggle up Mountain Lake, perked by Greg LeMonde's and two others' early breakout from the pack. Background music designed to heighten the effect threatened to drone him out at times.
Here was a showboating Brian Patterson winning a roller-blade race down the same stretch of university mall where the bikers would finish two and a half hours later. Patterson broke out in the lead of both his heats, turning and blading backwards in one, finishing far in front.
"It was easy," he said. Then he appropriately asked a reporter, "You get any pictures?"
Here was Tour De Tech, a university-sponsored engineering and science symposium, being overrun by hordes of youngsters on field trips from local schools.
"I don't know but it must be pretty neat 'cause there's a lot of people," said Jennifer Grayboyes, a 7th grader at Blacksburg Middle School. In front of her, dozens of boys and girls crowded around a liquid nitrogen exhibit, watching a demonstrator plop pieces of marshmallow into the frigid element.
And here was the early-on weather worrying lots of people who helped organized the race.
As foreboding clouds drifted in from the west around 12:30 p.m., local organizing committee chairman Mike Matzuk wondered if the darkness was being caused by the upcoming eclipse.
"This isn't supposed to happen," said Blacksburg Town Manager Ron Secrist, looking at the skies.
But at the height of the eclipse and hour later, the clouds parted, and by the time the riders hit town, more blue than gray showed above.
By that time, though, the five women at the busstop were at the end of their anticipation. They'd stood up and were ready to see the riders.
"We were supposed to eat at 5," said Kerns. "The cafeteria waits."
"You guys are too tall," complained DeMartino, as she stood on the bench to get a better view. Schupp broke out her video camera.
They finally got to see their racers - Lance Armstrong, "he's the cute one," Kerns said - at 5:30, about an hour later than expected.
And not before at least four vans, nine cars, 20 motorcycles and two orange trucks with big orange signs reading, "Bicycle Race Follows" built up their anticipation just a wee bit more.
Finally, two bikers hurtled around the corner onto South Main Street, and the cheers erupted. "What a race!" yelled a man clad in biker gear himself, with his road bike propped against a tree nearby.
Then three more flew by, then a pack of riders, then a couple stragglers, and more as the thinned out racers finished up the stage. Like Indy 500 cars without the noise, they passed in a flash.
And then . . . it was over.
by CNB