Training Helps Fourney Climb Every Mountain Easily, Take Lead : Cycling: Denver resident’s preparation in the Rockies pays off. He has a 15-minute advantage 1,172 miles into the race.
Race Across America leaders encountered two passes higher than 9,900 feet high Wednesday. Not surprisingly, the rider with the most chances to train in the mountains is the leader.
Denver resident Bob Fourney, who has the Rocky Mountains just miles away, was the leader as of 9 p.m. (PDT). He was near Folsum, N.M., 1,172 miles into the race.
The 2,922-mile race ends in Savannah, Ga., some time next week.
Fourney, a 32-year-old computer mapper, was eight minutes behind Tuesday’s leader, Rich Fedrigon of Chicago. When Fedrigon struggled up Wolf Creek Pass Tuesday night and early Wednesday, Fourney went ahead. The pass is an eight-mile pull on U.S. Route 160 in Colorado.
Fourney maintained his lead all day as the riders rolled up and down several lesser grades.
Rob Kish of Port Orange, Fla., is in second place, having closed the gap to 15 minutes. Al Muldoon of St. Joseph, Mich., is third, 1 hour 24 minutes behind Fourney.
Fedrigon has dropped to fourth, about an hour behind. Rick Kent of Houston is fifth, 9:45 out of the lead, but he was still in the mountains. Jim Penseyres of San Juan Capistrano is sixth, 10 minutes behind Kent.
Muldoon had a frightening moment on the down side of Wolf Creek Summit at about 5:30 a.m. (PDT) Wednesday on a 40-degree morning.
He was riding down, moving about 50 m.p.h. as he passed a semitrailer truck loaded with logs. Suddenly, the spokes on his back wheel loosened and the bike started to shudder.
As the road turned sharply to the left, the truck pulled off to the right shoulder to make room. The bike continued to shake violently, but Muldoon kept it under control while slowing and pulled into the empty on-coming traffic lanes.
“I figured I had to either stop it (the bike) or die,” Muldoon said.
His pace van was quickly behind, and he had a new back wheel and was on his way again minutes later.
“Wasn’t that exciting?” Muldoon said. “What a way to wake up in the morning.”
Nancy Reposo of Newport, R.I., has taken a commanding lead as the women enter the steep grades. She is almost 11 hours ahead of second-place Kay Ryschon of Omaha, Neb. Michelle Grainger of Portland, Ore., is third, 11 1/2 hours off the lead.
The women’s field was reduced to five Wednesday when Laura Stern of Menlo Park dropped out because of dehydration, nutrition problems and a sore knee.
The lead riders have spent much of the past two days seeing some outstanding natural scenery in Arizona and southern Colorado.
But there was one man-made offering worth a mention. There is a motel built in the shape of a boomerang at the back of a drive-in theater in Monte Vista, Colo.
Billed as the Movie Manor, Saturday-night motel guests are treated to a free movie just outside the window on the drive-in screen. This week’s feature is “Dick Tracy.”