2004 Tour de Boulder Stage Results

Prologue: NCAR Time Trial

Start at the change in the pavement at the end of the neighborhood. Slow rolling start is allowed. The finish is the "Weapons Free Zone" sign at the top. This is on the right, just before the first driveway.

Distance: 2 kilometers

Elevation Gain: 420 feet.

A huge group pedaled over to the base of NCAR at lunch today. Many other riders were out on this hill as well, so it was quite the scene. King Kreighton and Bert Callicoatt Cat had ridden the stage early in the morning. Juan and Derek rode the stage just before we showed up. Mark Schwab (races Pro/1/2) had a meeting and hence fired up the hill without taking a warm-up lap. His ears were still buzzing from the four-hour Rush Red Rocks concert the night before, but it didn’t stop him from posting the fastest time of the day at 5:22. Of course, with the standard ten-second penalty for having a slew of people to pass and the five-second-ponytail penalty, his actual time was 5:37, still putting him in the leader’s jersey, which he forgot to take with him, so I’ll add another five seconds to his time.

Photo 1: Eric Coppock blasts off at the start.

The rest of us took a warm-up lap up the hill, cheered Mark on, and then descended back to the start. Here everyone stripped everything off their bikes. Helmets, water bottles, pumps, etc. were all deposited by the side of the road. I noticed no tri-bars or skinsuits, though.

I was last to start the stage and had a great ride, posting a PR time of 5:47 (previous best was 5:52). I figured being only 25 seconds behind Schwab would certainly earn me the coveted Polka Dot climber’s jersey as the second fastest. I descended back to the base to regroup with everyone and compare times. Matson immediately asked my time and when I stated it, he whooped with joy. He was four seconds faster. It is interesting to note that is the first stage of any Tour de Boulder in which I have not finished last! I like this trend…

In fact there was a pretty tight grouping of riders once we got past Mr. Schwab. Everyone was smoking today, with a number of PR efforts. Jeb Dunnuck came out and even rode the hill twice, but not for a time. I hope he rides the flat stages because he is a sprinter extraordinaire and should add lots of excitement. He’ll miss the entire Tour since he’s going to Europe to watch (not even race!) the tour they run over there.

Anyone can still be in the Tour. The riders listed below should get out and time themselves on the course before next week’s Stage 1, on Wednesday. Oh, and an update to the race schedule. Stage 2, the Vortex Time Trial, will be held on Thursday. Thanks everyone for coming out and making the Tour a success. We have a really great group and if we can keep this, it is going to make for some fun racing.

Photo 2: Steve heading up the steep lower portion of the course.

Table 1: Prologue Results

Place	Rider	Time	Points	KOM Points	Overall Time
1	Mark Schwab (G.C.)	5:22	10	10	0:00
2	Matson “Bullwinkle” Tew (KOM)	5:43	9	7	+0:21
3	Bill “The Squirrel” Wright (Points)	5:47	8	5	+0:25
4	Steve “Cipo” Zdawczynski	5:51	7	3	+0:29
5	Jon Baker	5:53	6	1	+0:31
6	Don “Euro Pro” Powell	5:54	5	0	+0:32
7	Eric “Stickman” Coppock	6:12	4	0	+0:50
8	Scott Stricker	6:20	3	0	+0:58
9	Derek “E.F.” Hutton	6:23	2	0	+1:01
10	Jason “Tri” Fraze	6:24	1	0	+1:02
11	Kevin “H.C.” Cawley	6:26	0	0	+1:04
12	Jeb “Fabio” Dunnuck	6:40	0	0	+1:18
13	Andy Zakel	6:41	0	0	+1:19
14	Mike Holmberg	6:41	0	0	+1:19
15	Ed “I’m A” Messman	6:43	0	0	+1:21
16	Bernard Vachon	6:43	0	0	+1:21
17	Erin “Hey, where’s the other chicks?” Huck	6:45	0	0	+1:23
18	“King” Kreighton Beiger	6:47	0	0	+1:25
19	Darren Berns	6:55			+1:33
20	Juan Jacobo “Am I Latin or Dutch?” Van der Dys	6:59	0	0	+1:37
21	Bert Callicoatt “Cat”	7:10	0	0	+1:48
22	Doug Lonsinger	7:30	0	0	+2:08
24	Mark Krebs	8:03	0	0	+2:41
25	Mark Welliver	8:50	0	0	+3:28
	Kraig “Kwai-chang” Koski	Hasn’t raced yet	0	0
	Rob “Hairy Legs” Karman	Hasn’t raced yet	0	0

Photo 3: Matson starting his 2nd place effort.