Somerville residents enjoy the Tour of Somerville annual bike race.

One of the things that make our area so desirable is the communities and the
traditions they uphold. This attribute
was most recently displayed last weekend in Somerville as community members gathered to
enjoy the annual Tour of Somerville bike race.  If you missed it this year, mark your calendar’s
for 2008 as this is a truly enjoyable way to cap off the holiday weekend.

Holiday
tradition a family custom in Somerville
From The Courier News
By KARA L.
RICHARDSON
Staff Writer

SOMERVILLE — The Tour of
Somerville returned to its 60-plus year tradition Monday of starting and
finishing the race on Main Street.

It’s a move
that pleased many merchants along Main
Street and fans who followed the 50-mile race.

"There’s
a lot of tradition in this race, and I feel that’s the way it should be,"
said Richard Schneck, 19, of Milford, who sat under a maple tree on High Street
with his 17-year-old brother, Michael, sister Kimberly, 13, and girlfriend
Ashley Sommer, 19.

The Schneck
family has been coming to the Tour of Somerville since they were babies,
Michael Schneck said.

Their father,
Rich Schneck, who grew up in Bound Brook, was a big cycling fan. He became a
cyclist and raced in the Category III contest at 11 a.m. Monday, picking up
$120 in prizes.

With 30 laps
to go in the race, the Schnecks preferred High Street, the more relaxed side of
the course. As it progressed, they would move to Main Street, to cheer the cyclists in the
final laps.

Cyclists
headed east from the historic Somerset County Courthouse, turned left on Grove Street, left
on High Street and left on Mountain
Avenue before returning down Main Street.

Race
organizers moved the start/finish line to High Street two years ago, amid
demolition and redevelopment plans on the west end of Main Street that remain
delayed.

RanD Pitts,
owner of Xpress Gear, was pleased about the change back to Main Street. He had many more people
browsing through his store, compared to the years when the start/finish line
was on High Street.

"You
could call it the other Tour of Somerville," Pitts said about a steady
flow of race fans checking out the merchants between laps. "It’s good to
see it back."

The race’s
staging area, logistical operations and awards ceremony was in front of the old
courthouse and former church now used as the jurors’ waiting room, just as when
Fred "Pop" Kuglar founded the event in 1940.

Somerville
police Sgt. Kenneth DeCicco said this year’s event drew about 15,000 people,
about 25 percent more people than the previous year.

Doreen Cooper
liked the start/finish line better on High Street. She holds a party with her
husband, Bill Cooper III, on the lawn of his law firm, Cooper & Cooper at 25 W. High St. The
Coopers’ Tour of Somerville celebration is a quarter-century tradition in their
family, so whether the action begins and ends on High Street or Main Street, the
race is still a great time.

"It’s
the kick off of summer. It brings out the community after a long winter,"
Doreen Cooper said.

High Street
remained festive with many tented tailgate parties. Spectators sat on the curb,
letting their feet dangle in the road until the pace car rode by and the horde
of cyclists blew by.

As the race
drew to a close, many parties closed shop and their attendees gravitated toward
Main Street.

Chad Andrews, a professional cycling
announcer from Charlotte, N.C., asked the crowd to get
"lights-out loud" on the final lap. People obliged. They hugged the
sidelines, next to the finish line, and roared as Hilton Clarke, a Melbourne, Australia,
cyclist from the Navigators team, crossed the finish line.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.