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"

The Length of the State Ride - Our Club History

The West Hill Shop today (it was once located on West Hill Road in Putney).

In an earlier post, I informed readers of the 1st Annual Connecticut River Challenge Ride - a one-day event from the Canadian border to the Massachusetts border on Route 5. (See post dated 4/20/08).

Neil Quinn, founder of the West Hill Shop, former racer, promoter of the famous "Tour of the Valleys" road race, and the father lode of historical information about cycling in these here parts for the past 40 years, provided me with the following history of the length of the state ride:

It was Bob Gray (West Hill Shop/Snail Cycles co-founder, many-time national X-C 50k champion) who had the idea to ride the state in one day as a training exercise with several other hot-shot cross country ski racers. Johnny Caldwell had earlier persuaded some ski team members (including Bob) to run the Long Trail from Canada to Massachusetts as a training exercise (a new record, 9 days 4 hours, 270 miles, in 1969). Most of the riders in the first years were national-class X-C skiers; Bob, Jim Galanes ("The Motor"), Tim Caldwell, Chris Osgood, Joe McNulty, Stan Dunklee (I think), Kim Mumford (US downhill team). Bill Koch came along on a number of the rides, although his knees usually gave out after about 150 miles. It was sort of by-invitation-only, trying to include only good riders who would not crash out the others, or start too quickly and not maintain the pace. We would do support with one or two vehicles, often with Bob's wife Sue in their truck. The plan was to keep buying food and drink and pull ahead of the riders every hour or two and stop so they could take on vittles. They would stop most years for an hour for lunch, around Stockbridge. Sometimes there would be a swimming stop, in Plymouth. One year we went up the night before and camped out near North Troy....the mosquitos were so bad we packed up about 9:30pm and had to search out two motel rooms for the rest of the night! One year I was able to fit 13 (count 'em, thirteen) bicycles, along with Bevan and Jeremy, into my red Suburban, while most of the riders went up in other cars. The usual start was at day break at the border checkpoint at North Troy. The usual route was Route 100 all the way to Route 30 then to Route 5 to finish at the Bernardston border. The skiers, just off their season, were not concerned with Terrible Mountain or any other hills. I never rode the whole way myself, but joined in for segments. One year Bill Koch thought it would make sense to start at the Mass border; he said he heard that there would be a wind out of the South all day. They had a head wind most of the way instead.

After many LOTS rides each year, it died out as a West Hill thing, largely due, I think, to too many Bozos wanting to come along.

Other groups have done it, of course, since those early days (I think we were the first). Betsy and I had a friend (Doug Fontaine, a VBT leader) who started up north near Canada with a another rider, rode down one day unsupported to our house on the Massachusetts border, spent the night on our kitchen floor, and rode back up the length of the state the next day.

This is one of those events that exists just in our memories....little was ever written down. We did take a few pictures sometimes. I remember one of Bob by the Massachusetts border sign; he was very obviously thinner than he had been that morning at the start.

Stay tuned for more posts on our club history.