2008 Race Review

The racing gods smiled on the 2008 version of the 75 Miles of Mon-Tour.  After 24 straight hours of steady rain, the clouds parted and, as you can see from the photo, participants were treated to picture perfect race weather with mostly dry roads and temperatures in 60’s.  Right after the last participant crossed the finish line (around 3:00 p.m.) the clouds converged again and the rain started all over again. 

As usual, the racers are one, big, happy family until they hit bottom of the first big hill: Bald Top.  After that, we usually get a peleton of contenders for the overall win.  This year, the first climb dropped a few, but a nice group of riders remained and reformed into a good sized group heading into the rolling farmland section of the course that makes up most of the western portion of the ride.  Experienced “75-MIles” riders know that this section is merely a prelude to the actual race.  Most know that the race really begins at Yeagle Road.

At Yeagle road, things thinned out and the eventual winner (Doug Carlson - 3:55:35) came to the head of the pack.  Doug developed a 6:00+ lead from the 35 mile point in the race to the end.  His lead was so large at one point, that he lost the lead vehicle! 

Alaina Dietz defended her title of fastest woman with a time of 4:08:24

There is no point in comparing times in one year to another, because we had to alter the course this year due to road construction.  But, as luck would have it, most veteran racers preferred the

new ending over the old as it offered an additional

533 vertical feet of climbing over the advertised 5940 for a total of 6473!  Don’t let anyone tell you you don’t get your money’s worth at the “75-miles of Mon-Tour”!

THANKS TO ALL THOSE THAT PARTICIPATED AND HELPED MAKE THIS RACE THE BEST 75 MILES OF MON-TOUR EVER!

Check the “Updates” page for more about this year’s race and 2009!