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Prologue – Monday, July 18, 2006

I picked up Kari Gates, our Soigneur, in Duluth at 8:30 A.M. Saturday morning July 15. We had breakfast in Duluth then headed east toward Michigan and North to Canada. We made fairly good time getting across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where temperatures were in the upper 90`s. The crossing into Canada went smoothly and we were soon on our way to our first night destination of Temagami, Ontario. The goal in the morning was to meet the other riders in Temagami then head on to Val-dÒr in caravan. I had thought that I could make it by 10:30 or 11:00 P.M. It turned out to be 1:30 A.M.

We managed a good night’s sleep, had breakfast with everyone then headed on to Quebec. It soon began to rain when we entered Quebec but quit within 20 miles so we let the boys out on the highway and had them pace behind the car for about 35 kilometers. We stopped in Rouyn for lunch then to Val-dÒr.

We quickly unpacked and sent the parents to find their accommodations. With Kari and Joe sharing the room with the riders it soon became apparent that we would be crowded this week. I sorted out much of the gear and equipment and passed out rider clothing before having a meeting with the riders to discuss strategy and expectations for the week.

Monday I began washing bikes at 6:30 A.M. I had all bikes and the car washed by 10:30. That’s 13 bikes washed as most riders brought two bikes and I brought two spares that needed the bugs washed off of them. Then I began to prepare the bikes for the evenings prologue, a 400 meter street sprint. Shortly after bringing all bikes back to the room it began to rain. It continued to rain until 6:30 P.M. with the start of the race expected to be 6:30 and the worst of the storm coming between 5 - 6:00 P.M. The boys stayed in the school where we are staying as there was plenty of lightning and heavy downpours. The race was delayed until 7:30 P.M. and finally was completed with plenty of spectators considering the weather.

We raced fair at best with few sprinters on the team I was pleased with the effort they put out against the other riders.

We had position 20 in the caravan for the first road race on Tuesday morning. More tomorrow.

Larry

Stages 1 & 2 – Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The first stage started n Rouyn and was to finish in Val-dÒr. This year the riders would do three laps of a course in Rouyn then on to the main highway to the finish 70 miles away. A few of our riders were nervous about the laps and were quickly at the back of the pack. Once we were headed out on to the highway in the caravan we spotted Lloyd off the back of the peloton. We encouraged him from the car to draft the caravan to get back on to the peloton. He seemed to understand but because of lack of experience he failed to stay close enough to the cars to get back into the group. We also came up to Logan who was struggling. Logan was trying hard to get into the caravan, but at this point the caravan and the peloton were doing nearly 40 mph. Logan began to fade and we lost contact with him also. We needed to stay focused on the four riders we had left in the peloton.

There were a couple of crashes with none of our riders involved. Kris called for a feed and nearly dropped back too far to take it from us. He asked for a second bottle in case anyone else wanted or needed a feed. He is a total team player and willing to do almost anything for the team as I would find out later.

We entered Val-dÒr and the pace began to increase. We hear on the radio that a rider from Borah Development is down and on the left side of the road, but that he is back on the bike. As we approach the area that we heard on the radio, we find Kris standing beside his bike. We pull over and I give him a wheel. We’re just 5 km from the finish and try to bring Kris back up, but he`s struggling. We pull him a long for a while then decide that we need to leave him since he is unable to keep a fast enough pace. Once we reach the finish area we find Kris and discover that he has seriously injured his head and has multiple abrasions on his chest, back and shoulder. We take him to the medical area where it is decided that he will go by ambulance to the hospital. Joe and his mother go with him and I wait for the remainder of our group.

Logan and Lloyd come in to town and are sent to the school. We get word that they are OK and we should go to the school. Logan is upset that he wasn’t able to hang on in the early going. Lloyd is also pretty upset. But we get everyone ready for the team time trial in the evening. Joe spent the majority of the afternoon at the hospital with Kris and his mom, while Kari and I prepared the bikes and riders for the Team Time Trial in the evening.

The TTT turned out to be a waste of energy for some. We dropped Kris and Stephen fairly early on, and continued with Lloyd, Logan, David and John. As we began our second lap we dropped Lloyd too. Logan, John and David would bring us in to the finish line in respectable time. We were expecting a good, though not great time.

As it turned out we got neither. It seems that Logan and Lloyd finished the Road race out of the time limit and should not have started the TTT. So even though the ride team of John, Logan, and David were within a good time frame we would finish last.

As we found out late in the evening Lloyd and Logan were out of the time limit and are not allowed to compete for the remainder of the week. Kris has back spasms and a bit of a head injury, but is hanging on and determined to continue to ride and race.

We are last in the Caravan for tomorrows race so we will see how it goes to Senneterre on Wednesday.

Larry

Stage 3 – Wednesday, July 19, 2006

This morning we were awakened to a beautiful sunrise and the promise of a great day of racing.

Kari wanted to get out for a ride and so did I, but I had bike work to do and wasn’t certain that I could do both, so I set up a bike for her and sent Logan and Lloyd out with her for an hour long ride. We also had a team managers meeting in the gold mine, laundry to do, and bikes to prep before a team photo at 11:00. The meeting went well, Joe was doing laundry and I managed to prep a few bikes before heading down for the Team photo. In my haste I hadn’t noticed that I had put on the shorts from last year instead of this year’s shorts. Maybe you’ll never notice.

We sent Logan and Lloyd out on the highway at about 3:00 p.m. to Senneterre to get to the finish of the race. We then brought, Stephen, David, John and Kris down to the start of the road race. Heading out of town there was a small southerly breeze with the riders heading east. At about 25 km into the race Lowell`s team was called up for a flat rear tire. They had trouble with the exchange and were not able to bring their rider back into the peloton. Soon after their flat another team flatted, then yet another. In about a three mile span nearly all team’s had puncture, but not Borah Development. The SERFAS tires did their job and didn`t puncture or cause us any problems. We got all four riders into the finishing circuit and were feeling good about our prospects.

At the third lap Kris was dropping with a group of guys. He had already done better than expected so we weren’t too sorry about his placement. We finished the race and realized that we hadn’t seen Stephen. A commissar came to us and said that Stephen had gone down with another rider and was on the backside of the course with the Ambulance. Joe went over to him and discovered multiple head lacerations and wounds. He ended up with 9 stitches and a few bumps. Stephen was out of the race for the week.

We are now down to 3 riders and will have a tough time competing for this race. But do not stop this letter from getting to you. We now have John, David Williams, and Kris Karnik left in the race. We race out of the gold mine shaft on Thursday and a night criterium. We will be busy tomorrow but I’ll attempt to write.

Larry

Stages 4 & 5 – Thursday, July 20, 2006

To bring you up to date, this is how the week has unfolded. We lost Lloyd and Logan in the first road stage on Tuesday when they were dropped early on and missed the time cut for finishing. They’ve been real troopers helping the rest of the team and by riding to the other race starts so that they get some miles on their legs. We’ll try to get them in the caravan car today so that they can see how the caravan works to help the dropped riders.

Kris was injured toward the end of that race but was able to finish and has continued to race despite a slight concussion and pulled back muscles that cause him constant spasms and pain.

On Wednesday, Stephen crashed with two and a half laps to go. He would have liked to continue but the medics wouldn’t allow him to go on because of the bleeding from his eye and nose. He has 9 stitches on his cheek below the right eye and across the bridge of his nose. He cannot race any longer because he did not complete that race. We are now down to three riders.

On Thursday we started the day with the individual time trial. In the Abitibi race the riders start in waves of 26 riders in the depth of the gold mine here in Val d’Or. The mine shaft is 685 feet below the surface and rises out to ground level in just over a quarter of a mile at 17 % grade. The riders are told that standing is difficult but as Jens Brabbit from the US team said, “When they tell you that, you just gotta try it!” But they always slip the rear tires on the wet surface or bang their helmet on the low ceiling.

One of the US riders won the ITT. David Williams was 49th overall, Kris also had a good race and John was our slowest just breaking the top 100. We had no mechanicals, no flats, and everything went smoothly.

Thursday evening was a criterium in downtown. I had prepared the bike sand was ready to send the riders out to the start when it began to rain again like Monday. It let up and was dry for the start, but the streets and spectators were all wet. I was a spectator at this point!

The race went smoothly, there were a couple of crashes and a more than a few punctures. We didn’t have any problems until the riders were coming around to see 6 laps to go. We didn’t see David, then he comes rolling along off the back. We were to learn later that he had crashed and didn’t think that he could get a free lap because there were 6 laps to go. He would have gotten the free lap and saved some position from the fast ITT. I told him what he did wrong and what he did right, and that he’s here to learn and sometimes under those circumstances you make mistakes. He was OK and only mildly scratched so he would race again on Friday.

Cole House from Baraboo Sharks (another Wisconsin Team) won the race.

Lowell’s team had one rider in the top ten and another that was 12th.

We sent Kris to his Mom’s hotel for a hot bath to ease his back spasms. He showed up back at school feeling a lot more refreshed.

I took the remainder of the group out for dinner with Kari and Joe.

Larry

Stage 6 – Friday, July 21, 2006

Friday we raced from Amos to Val-d’Or. I was eating lunch with some of Lowell’s riders and explained to them that if a break was to make it in this stage the best place would be just after the last King of the Mountain.

We drove to Amos and met the boys there. The plan was for Logan to ride in the car with Joe, Kari and I and Lloyd was going to ride back behind the caravan. The race was to start with three circuits in Amos before heading out on the highway. The town of Amos had tried to prepare the road surface with some patch. The only problem was that the patch had been put down in the morning and was still wet and sticky when we got there. Several volunteers began sweeping and shoveling patch off the road but the damage was already done, so the officials decided that the three laps in Amos would be neutral. Everyone exited just fine with no problems. As we headed down the road behind the riders we spotted Lloyd tagging along in the caravan. The motor official asked him to stay behind the caravan, which he then did.

Things were going fairly fast and smooth when we heard something on the radio in French that I determined was a crash, I asked Joe to get me as close as he could, I ended up running a long way to find out that our riders made it through. There were three separate groups in the front that regrouped into one main group after several minutes of chasing. We didn’t see any of our guys as we passed some of the victims of the crash, so we figured that all was well.

As we began to relax again there was a second crash, I spotted a hole for our car up the right shoulder of the highway and directed Joe to drive through. I got close enough to jump out and determine that we were safe again and Joe found a hole through the wreckage to get us back up to the group. There were a couple more small crashes and again none of our guys were involved.

Just after the last KOM there was an attack with three riders, then another group gave chase, soon there was a group of 12 riders at the front. They gained over 1 minute on the peloton as they entered Val-d’Or with another group of four in the chase. They caught the main breakaway at the base of the finish climb and that’s how they finished over one minute ahead of the main group.

Kris was leading the field as they started the climb, but he faded back and all three riders finished very close together.

John and David are in a virtual tie just 4 seconds apart. Kris in doing well and has stuck with the struggle even though he is in a fair amount of pain.

Saturday we race late from Priessac to Val-d'Or. I'll attempt to send a report afterward.

Larry

Stage 7 – Saturday, July 22, 2006

Friday we raced from Amos to Val-d’Or. I was eating lunch with some of Lowell’s riders and explained to them that if a break was to make it in this stage the best place would be just after the last King of the Mountain.

We drove to Amos and met the boys there. The plan was for Logan to ride in the car with Joe, Kari and I and Lloyd was going to ride back behind the caravan. The race was to start with three circuits in Amos before heading out on the highway. The town of Amos had tried to prepare the road surface with some patch. The only problem was that the patch had been put down in the morning and was still wet and sticky when we got there. Several volunteers began sweeping and shoveling patch off the road but the damage was already done, so the officials decided that the three laps in Amos would be neutral. Everyone exited just fine with no problems. As we headed down the road behind the riders we spotted Lloyd tagging along in the caravan. The motor official asked him to stay behind the caravan, which he then did.

Things were going fairly fast and smooth when we heard something on the radio in French that I determined was a crash, I asked Joe to get me as close as he could, I ended up running a long way to find out that our riders made it through. There were three separate groups in the front that regrouped into one main group after several minutes of chasing. We didn’t see any of our guys as we passed some of the victims of the crash, so we figured that all was well.

As we began to relax again there was a second crash, I spotted a hole for our car up the right shoulder of the highway and directed Joe to drive through. I got close enough to jump out and determine that we were safe again and Joe found a hole through the wreckage to get us back up to the group. There were a couple more small crashes and again none of our guys were involved.

Just after the last KOM there was an attack with three riders, then another group gave chase, soon there was a group of 12 riders at the front. They gained over 1 minute on the peloton as they entered Val-d’Or with another group of four in the chase. They caught the main breakaway at the base of the finish climb and that’s how they finished over one minute ahead of the main group.

Kris was leading the field as they started the climb, but he faded back and all three riders finished very close together.

John and David are in a virtual tie just 4 seconds apart. Kris in doing well and has stuck with the struggle even though he is in a fair amount of pain.

Saturday we race late from Priessac to Val-d'Or. I'll attempt to send a report afterward.

Larry

Stage 8 – Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Finale is today. The guys are in good spirits this morning and ready to finish Le Tour.

Lloyd spent last night with his parents at their hotel. They were going to consider leaving this morning. Lloyd just came back to the school and told me that they would stay for the awards and the race.

Today is a general clean up day. I put chain rings back onto bikes that came with too large of gear and switched back a couple of the cassettes that I loaned to the riders. I washed and cleaned the car to have it ready for the trip home. It appears that the race radio left a mark on my roof, so I’ll have that to polish out when I get back on Tuesday.

Kari has been working on the last three boys this morning to prepare their muscles for the hour and a half criterium today. They must finish or be pulled by the officials to have completed the full tour. They are allowed to race even if lapped until four laps to go. There are two wheels pits for repairs and wheel exchanges. We have yet to flat or have to change wheels.

The product support from Serfas has been a real boost for us. The three broken Bell Helmets has also saved us from injury. The guys are liking the gloves and socks from Adidas and the kits from Borah have been really sharp and outstanding. We’ve had great success with shifting with the exception of David’s chain drop yesterday. I was able to duplicate that in only one gear and fixed it to prevent it from continuing. Tubes from Giant have also been handy because the stem length is perfect for the majority of the wheels.

I really can’t begin to tell all of you how very grateful we are for your support. Some of the other coaches were talking about the expense to bring a team here and for the most part it falls in line with our expenses. I usually debate whether or not I want to continue to return, then someone does something for me that makes return inevitable.

Last night City Councilwoman Celine Brindamore gave me a tour video from last year. I took her son and daughter with me in the car last year and Rick-Daniel again this year during the Wednesday stage. They had a note on the back of the DVD thanking me for giving them that opportunity and wishing me well. Rick-Daniel expressed interest in learning to ride and race. I volunteered my spare bike to him to get started. He was resisting the urge to take it, but gave in and will keep my spare here for the year. He’s free to ride it and race it as long as I can have it to use during next year’s race.

We’ll finish up around 4:00 P.M. this afternoon and I’ll either send the final report on the race when I get home or perhaps tonight before I go to bed. I’ll have 20 hours of driving to think about what to say in the report. If I get tired it may be a short one.

Bon Jour!

Larry

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The 2006 Tour de lÀbitibi is now over. The Borah Development Team completed the race with three riders John Zaccone was 74th overall, David Williams bounced back to finish 103rd and Kris Karnik finished 113th.

Today’s stage was contested under clear skies and warm temperatures. There were several break away attempts early in the race with nothing getting away. About midway through the race one of Lowell’s riders overlapped wheels right in front of us and he went down. He got up right away and was putting his chain back on his bike when a rider coming up from the back hit him full force. The rider was launched 10 feet into the air and landed 20 feet up the street from impact. He got up, got a new bike and continued to race. Logan, Lowell’s rider, was conscious but lay on the ground motionless. The ambulance and medical staff ran to his aid and took him to the hospital. The bike of the other rider had the fork ripped in half and the down tube of the frame was ripped open. That’s how much impact there was. Within fifteen minutes after we returned to the school, Logan was walking down the hall to his room. His chest and hip were badly bruised and he was having trouble taking deep breaths, but he’s doing well.

The race ended in a slight breakaway by a Belgium rider. The Canadians took the Brown and Orange Jersey to Mark Hinnen, and the Blue jersey also went to the Canadians.

We finished 25th with one team not finishing with any riders. We are listed in last place. It was a tough week, but the guys were tough too. No complaints and they stuck it out to finish.

So now we begin to prepare for next year.

Larry