The Tour De Nez is back in the Reno/Tahoe area once again and celebrating its 15th year. Project Moonshine will be working hard to cover all the events and document the race…and much much more.

On the Tour De Nez blog, Tim Hellion, head-honcho and coffee aficionado makes the following statement:

I think we’re in store for a little finger crossin’ come true here at Nez land. As a race promoter, I haven’t always followed the rules of the book as written, you have an idea, you sell it, then you put it on. I learned from one of the great bullshiters of all time back in the early 80’s in a bike shop I worked in; Warren Gibson, Lemonds buddy. He used to hang out at the counter on the shop phone promoting a race and making up so much stuff about what was going to happen and who was going to show up. We used to have so much fun emulating him; ah, yeah, the Russians will be here, ah so will Greg….we got a lot of miles out of that one. So did I as here I am; Joe promoter guy, makin’ up stuff and then workin’ my ass of to make it come true…lookin’ for a gimick to get ‘em in the door so to speak. One of the ways we’ve done this in the past was right out of Gibby’s book; tell the press who is coming before they are confirmed and then work my ass off to make it happen. The other one I’ve done which is really stupid is to create this event/party/race, declare the intentions, make up prize money, hire people……and then figure out where the money is going to come from to make it happen. -Get the sponsors first Healion!- Not me, although, and here it is-> looks like all that work over the last 15 years of race promotion is going to pan out. Not only that but we’ll be able to grow this thing people refer to as; “Nez” into the multi day stage race in the Tahoe Sierras that we’ve been dreaming about all these years. We’ve gotten close but when the Title sponsor is the guy in the mirror, it certainly isn’t where it’s supposed to be from a business standpoint.

Schedule of Events

Thursday June 14th – At the Sands Hotel & Casino in Reno, Poolside
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Registration & check-in
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Athlete BBQ

Friday June 15th – Downtown Truckee, California
5:30 pm – 5:40 pm Second 10th Annual Clunker Classic
5:45 pm – 5:55 pm Kids’ Races
6:00 pm – 6:25 pm Handcycling Criterium in Truckee
6:30 pm – 6:40 pm Handcycling Awards
6:45 pm – 7:45 pm Pro Criterium in Truckee
7:45 pm – 8:00 pm Pro Awards & Interviews
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Block Party Featuring Fearless Chicken

Saturday June 16th – Reno, NV
7:15 am – 8:00 am Century Ride registration & check-in
8:00 am Century Ride begins
9:00 am – 11:00 am Ride with the Pros catered breakfast & bike ride
10:00 am – 8:00 pm Expo
11:00 – 5:00 pm Bike Swap
1:00 pm – Bike Messenger Alley Cat Race begins
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Bike repair clinics & bike fitting
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm 2nd Annual Bike Shop Challenge
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Masters’ Criterium
3:35 pm – 3:45 pm Master’s Awards & Interviews
4:00 pm – 4:15 pm Second 10th Annual Clunker Classic
4:20 pm – 4:25 pm Clunker Classic & Messenger Awards
4:30 pm – 4:45 pm Kids’ Races
5:00 pm – 5:01 pm Cycling Community Photo from the top of Park Tower
5:15 pm – 5:40 pm Hand-cycling Criterium
5:45 pm – 5:50 pm Hand-cycling Awards
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Mighty Tour de Nez Twilight Pro Criterium
7:30 pm – 7:45 pm Pro Awards & Interviews
7:45 pm – 8:15 pm Taiko Drummers
8:15 pm – 10:00 pm Party in Wingfield Park featuring Drinking with Clowns
9:15 pm – New Belgium Raffle
10:00 pm – 2:00 am Tour de Nez After-Party

You can find all of this info and more on the Tour De Nez website at http://www.tourdenez.com/

Hope to see everyone down there. Special thanks to Tim and Marnee for letting Project Moonshine get in on the action. We’ll be sure to get some weird and wild stuff.

See ya out there,
Mike