CYCLING RACE ACROSS AMERICA : Bob Fourney Forges Ahead in Colorado

For the second consecutive year, Bob Fourney took the lead of Race Across America as the lead riders went through Colorado, his home state, Tuesday.

Fourney, the defending champion from Denver, started the day in second place, almost 20 minutes behind Loren Godshall of Los Altos.

Fourney and the rest of the leaders spent the day riding in the steepest elevation of the course, including Wolf Creek Pass (10,850 feet).

From there it was mostly down hill to Trinidad, Colo., which Fourney passed at 3:55 p.m. (PST) at last report from race headquarters. He is almost an hour ahead of Godshall, who passed Trinidad at 7:40 p.m. Rob Kish of Port Orange, Fla., is in third, 2 hours 16 minutes behind Fourney.

Fourney, Godshall, and Kish were the only riders through Trinidad, which is 1,111 miles into the race. Fourney is averaging 14.1 m.p.h. and 337 miles a day.

The 2,930-mile race, in its 10th year, started at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Irvine Holiday Inn and end in Savannah, Ga., in about five days.

In the women’s race, Cathy Ellis of Cambridge, Mass., is the leader. She passed through Pagosa Springs, Colo., at 7:44 p.m., 897 miles into the race.

The men’s tandem team of Lon Haldeman (Harvard, Ill.) and Tom McKenna (Capron, Ill.), had passed Pagosa Springs, Colo., at 4:05 p.m.

The mixed tandem team of Cherie and Tom Moore of Orange had reached Durango, Colo., at 4:35 p.m.