Tour of the Valleys Road Race History

Wearing the Putney/West Hill jersey and racing in the Master's field last season inevitably brought questions from other racers, such as, "How's Neil?" "Is the shop still without plumbing?" "Where's Scott Wade?" "Is David Bradford here?" along with comments, such as," The Tour of the Valleys was a great race." I trained with Doug Dale at Incline Training this winter, and he would reminisce about the TOV race. I rode the Tour of the Valleys course on May 17th, and noticed the usual landmarks (the water spigot with the cyclist sculpture on Kurn Hattin Hill; the sheep in the meadow with the sheep dog near the fence on the Patch Rd. at the Major farm) and realized what a great course it must have been, since it had two climbs, and a hilltop finish (Green Mountain Orchards on West Hill Rd.), and unlike many of the road races today, it did not consist of several laps around a shorter course. So I asked Neil to give me a little history about the race, and here is the first installment regarding the first three years.

"The first TOV was a point to point starting in Lebanon, NH, and finishing all the way up at Putney School, at that last turn up to Elm Lea Farm. John Allis led for most of the race, but was passed right at the last turn by Doug Dale, a savvy drafter and sprinter, who took the inside line. The next race was on the current loop, except the finish was at the Putney elementary school. We thought all the hills would spread out the field but there was a bunch sprint, at 30+ mph, of over a dozen riders for the win! We had to ask the racers where they thought they placed. So the next year we changed to a "promoter's finish", that is, after a steep climb. So most racers remember the finish at Green Mtn Orchards. Yes, there was cold beer available after the first events. We often, in the first years, had some hot Canadians come down who would take the best prizes home"