Tour De Toona 

by Tim Henry

The Tour de 'Toona is a six day stage race for men run from Monday through Saturday in and around Altoona, Pennsylvania. Monday is a 3.5 mile uphill TT, Tuesday is a 70 mile circuit race through Johnstown, Wednesday is a 100 mile point to point RR from Johnstown to Altoona, Thursday and Friday are circuit races around Hollidaysburg and Martinsburg, and Saturday is a tough RR through and around Altoona. Wednesday and Saturday have big mountains that split up the field and really decide the winner of the race. I have an advantage this year because I did this race last year and know what to expect from day to day. 
My team for this race consisted of my A.G. Edwards/ Nalley Lexus team of Jed Schneider, John Murphy, Brian Bibbens and myself and three composite riders from other teams including Andy Applegate from Cane Creek, Creed Sewell from Kalahari, and Bob Cagle who is a great mountain biker looking for some form before his next NORBA Nationals. 
Getting sick at the Tour of Ohio last month and some other medical problems kept me from riding as much as I wanted to leading into this race so I knew I would be well rested for the first couple of days. This changed my race strategy and made me more conservative about efforts for the first two days of racing. The third day is hard regardless of what I want to do so I knew I had better be ready by then. 

So back to Monday, it was raining when we woke up and continued all day. The TT was not until 6 pm so we held out small hope the rain might stop. We decided to skip our morning recon ride because there was no reason to get wet twice. Even if it hurt our TT times a little we wanted to stay warm. So we get there and get wet and warm up as much as possible. The course is fairly gradual in grade for most of the TT, with a kick in the climb about 1.5k to go. My plan was to keep my heart rate just below my max TT pace until that kick and then go flat out from there. My HR was extremely high for the whole effort but I felt good and that gave me some confidence for the next day. I finished 64th for the day, about halfway through the field. The next day on the drive to Johnstown it was raining and extremely foggy. This circuit race has many turns in the last 10k as is winds through town and would be loads of fun in the wet. Right from the start Colavita went to the front to set tempo and defend the race leader Nathan O'Neill. Last year O'Neill crashed out of this race with two broken vertebrae on stage 4 while in the lead. This year turned out to be eerily similar as there was a crash at the front of the race about 5 miles in. Nathan hit the guardrail hard and pulled out of the race shortly after. We slowed down just like in the tour when the Maillot Jaune hits the deck. Then word came down that O'Neill had abandoned the race so Healthnet went to the front to set tempo for their leaders who were now 1st and 2nd on GC, Jason McCartney and Scott Moninger. The race was fast from there and my only goal was to help set up John Murphy for the intermediate sprints and the finish. There were many crashes during the rest of the race and all of them seemed to contain at least one Webcor rider. With about 10 k to go, just when you think it can't get any worse, it starts raining harder, then even harder. So screaming into town in the pouring rain, unable to see a damn thing getting ready for an extremely fast and technical field sprint and I was having more fun than I had had in a while. I was actually scared out of my mind but that is the kind of fear cyclists live for. Once I accepted the fact there was a good chance I was going to crash in the final 10k I was able to put the fear aside and try to move up. Then with about 5k to go I came to my senses and realized I was not going to win the race so I decided to just finish safely in the bunch and try not to lose time. John could take care of himself and did, with an impressive 8th place finish. Jed and Andy (our GC guys) also finished in the front group and I was the second to last rider on pack time, in 42nd place. This race blew apart at the finish and some people lost lots of time but A.G. Edwards stayed out of trouble to fight another day. 
Stage 3 is one of the hardest days and the longest day with a 5 mile climb out of town followed by some descending and then another 3 miles of uphill before settling out for a while. The race was hard from the gun and the word of the day was suffer. We lost Brian and Bob over the first climb and almost lost me over the second, but I hung on knowing it would level out. Only about 65-70 riders made it together over the top so I at least knew I was not the only one suffering. Once the initial break was established Healthnet set tempo at the front and it was pretty boring. The next big obstacle of the day was Blue Knob, a 3 mile climb where the race really started. From the top of Blue Knob there was about 25 miles to the finish. The mood was tense at the bottom and I came off the back straight away. After a while I worked into a good rhythm and caught a duo of Ofoto riders. Over the top I could see John Muphy's group just ahead but my group of four was completely unmotivated. Our group swelled to 8 and we rolled in just 10 seconds behind John's group, but 7 minutes behind the leaders. Jed and Andy did well to finish in the second group only seconds off the leaders. 

Our host family was nice enough to cook us dinner that night so we would be energized for the next days stage, a 60 mile circuit race around Hollidaysburg. Unfortunately I did not get a whole lot of sleep that night had a pretty bad day. The Hollidaysburg circuit has one major climb, which is the KOM, of about a mile and the top of that is only 2k from the finish so it gets strung out over the top and very fast. The end of the first lap was just ridiculous. It was sooooo hard, I mean really fast. It was a horrible "I'm going to get dropped really soon if we don't slow down" feeling. But then we slowed down so it was ok. The second lap was chill and the third lap I got blown off the back on the KOM climb. Only about 45 riders made it over the top so I did not feel too bad about that. I really just wanted to finish. So I lost almost a minute to the leaders but moved up 10 spots on GC because so many others got shelled. I was sitting 53rd overall, already better than my finish last year. 

Fridays circuit around Martinsburg has no major climbs and no KOMs so it is a good chance to rest before the death march of the final stage. The first of four laps was fairly easy. Scottie Weiss got away in a five man group. Then in the middle of the second lap we heard over the radio that Scottie was leader on the road and I knew the easy part was over. Webcor picked up the pace for their race leader Chris Horner. The third lap was uneventful and passed quickly. The last lap got even faster but all I could think about was the finish line. Then, just like in the Tour, with 9k to go there was a crash. Team Snow Valley lost three riders all at once and everyone behind had to crash, stop, or go in the ditch. I knew for sure I was going down as I could not stop in time and there was nowhere to go. I had a choice between hitting a rider and flipping or getting tangled up in his bike and flipping. I decided I would rather have someone hit my bike at speed than hit me so I aimed for the bike. I held on for dear life as I hit it. I narrowly avoided the frame and managed to just run over the rear wheel and actually made it over without crashing myself. The rider's glasses were an unfortunate casualty because they were right in my way. After that thrill, I realized the leaders were still going all out and we were off the back. What amounted to about half the field was caught off the back trying desperately to chase back on before the finish. Long story short, we lost time anyway, about another minute at the finish. Andy was with me but John and Jed stayed in the front group. 

So now it all comes down to the final day, a 93 mile ride over three mountains and innumerable hills. There was only 18 seconds between Horner and Healtnet's John Leiswyn so there was going to be a battle royale and lots of innocent bystandars like myself caught in the crossfire. The day started out slower than usual and the pack actually stopped for a pee break about 15 miles in. After the first 25 mile loop we rolled back through the start/finish to head out on the longer loop with all the climbing. The first mountain was Blue Knob but we were going up it a different way from Wednesdays race. This side is about 3.5 miles but much steeper and kicks to 20 percent at the top. The pack got to the bottom of the climb all together and I came off the back right at the start with a few others. John hung on much longer but eventually blew and I caught him with about 1k to the top. We rolled with two other riders for the rest of the race. Going over the last climb it started to rain. Then we began descending back towards Altoona and the rain became pelting and painful, not to mention cold. It was hard enough seeing until sweat got into my eyes and I could see nothing at all. At this point I asked myself why I enjoy doing this? That is a tough question sometimes and the only answer I can give myself is the knowledge that I can finish an event that difficult. Either that or masochism. Anway, to make it just a little worse, I bonked about 2k from the finish and then we almost got creamed by a car crossing the course literally within sight of the finish line. I went straight to the food tent and pigged out on everything sweet until I was so cold I had to change clothes. Only 53 riders finished that day, less than half the starters on Monday, so I am proud to be one of them. Jed came in just behind the second group to lock up his 18th place overall. Andy placed 28th overall, John was 41st, and I was 45th. Not a bad week of National level racing for our regional team. 

All this was to prepare for U-23 nationals in two weeks in Park City, Utah. This is my last year in that age group so I am hoping to pull something good out but it will be tough at 6,000 feet, not to mention the 7 mile climb to the finish and the 120 mile race distance. 

Thanks for reading, 
Tim