For professional bicyclist Kristen La Sasso, it doesn't get much better than the Tour de 'Toona.
La Sasso, who races on team TIBCO and competed in the women's pro 1-2 field Sunday, called the stage race the best in the country.
"It was one of the races I looked forward to every year," she said about a block from where fellow cyclists were speeding their way through the 1-mile criterium course in the afternoon heat.
The 2010 one-day tour took place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the start and finish at 11th Avenue and 14th Street.
Promoter and chairman Rick Geist said 107 cyclists had signed up by Saturday evening but even more signed on for action come race day.
The tour, which has been struggling financially, was canceled last year.
The year before it went from seven days to one.
The race brings out "quality racing" and "community support," La Sasso said. She appreciates the equality afforded to women cyclists with prize money and treatment, she said. She'd like to see it return to a weeklong event.
"I think that's how the majority of women bikers feel," she said.
Good news, ladies, the tour is making a comeback, Geist said.
"I think that we've turned it around," he said. This year, there is no debt and they managed to set aside a little seed money, he said.
The tour will eventually make its way back to a seven- to 10-day event, he said. Volunteers did a great job and the steering committee has welcomed some "good, young people," he said.
Professional cyclist and men's champion Jeremy Grimm said it's disappointing not to have a bigger event, but it's not any less reason to come out.
"It is worth coming to," he said. But a bigger event would attract more professionals and with them revenue for Altoona, he said.
The three key pieces for making a race are money, courses and participants, Geist said. Cyclists are not immune to the poor economy, though.
"The economy has really hit a lot of people hard in the bicycling world," he said.
Grimm is grateful for sponsors.
"That's huge," he said. "Without sponsors we would not be here."
Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Clegg is at 949-7030.
