I received an email from Jack Painter, an avid cyclist and advocate who lives in St. Louis. He's concerned, and rightly so, that the Tour of Missouri isn't getting adequate coverage in its home state. He was surprised, and so am I, that few cyclists on a local bike ride even knew about it.
Once again: The Tour of Missouri starts Tuesday in Kansas City and ends Sunday in St. Louis. It features many of America's top cyclists, as well as the winner of the 2007 Tour de France.
Here's Jack's email:
Gene,
Worried? You and all cycling advocates should be. I won't go into great detail but, if I wasn't a daily reader of numerous cycling blogs, I would have no idea that a major cycling event is to be held here (I live in St. Louis).
The PD newspaper started a blog zone (“Bring on the Tour”) on it last week and has received only ONE comment.
The PD has a subset of suburban journals where the following story titled “Hey, Missourians; cycling is a major sport, too” can be found.
My reply to her article is below. On Saturday, a group of 25 friends went riding on an informal century, few even knew about ToM.
Jack
Dear Monika,
I'm worried too. Other tours have aggressive campaigns to highlight the rewards of cycling for not just the pros but for everyone, even the community at large.
The ToG and ToC attempt to attract a large base of residents by emphasizing educational and transportation benefits of cycling. Gov. Blunt announced on August 10th a “Health & Safety” campaign. This late announcement is important but the proper execution of its intent is extremely important. Locally I have heard nothing about this from the local media, government or our advocacy groups and the race is next week.
I'm also concerned about the course design for the final stage in St. Louis. Without going to lengthy details, it fails to pass by some of our greatest public treasures and does not offer the best route for spectators either. The timing of the event also may become an issue due to the other, more popular, sporting events as you mentioned.
Hopefully MO leadership will take this opportunity to expand the base of cycling fans and, more importantly, support healthier lifestyles. Unfortunately I have witnessed the opposite in policy as our roads and highways are being designed to make cycling more difficult and more dangerous.
Sincerely,
Jack W. Painter
Check the right sidebar of the BikingBis Tour of Missouri page for stage information and news about the race.
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