The event was called a Rally, perhaps for insurance reasons, and was advertised for casual riders as well as racers, but everybody up in the front knew that it was a full-on race. The course started on Rugar St., headed west, then south on Military Turnpike toward Peru. With no police traffic control, the field was required to follow the rules of the road. We were asked to ride in a "controlled" group until we passed the traffic light where Rugar St. meets the Turnpike, but it didn't turn out that way, and the field was immediately broken up at the light with the eight strongest riders pulling away while the rest struggled to get through the cars at the traffic light.

Several chase groups formed, while the more casual riders paired up in the back and chatted. The first chase group of four rode hard for at least ten miles, finally catching the front bunch as they waited at a red light somewhere in the south-western swing of the course. The new group of twelve stayed together until it broke up again on the sharp little hill coming out of Morrisonville toward West Plattsburgh, where the same four went off the back.

They chased again in singles and pairs, but only one reached the front bunch as they waited at another light, on Route 374. These nine stayed together until things heated up on the small climb up Quarry Rd. Charlie Mitchell won the sprint down Boynton Avenue to the finish at the Checkout Lane store half-way down the hill. Here is the finish list.

 1. Charlie Mitchell 1:13:38       18. Gary Dumas       1:25:26
 2. Steve Martin     1:13:39       19. Jim Duffany      1:25:35
 3. Craig King       1:13:40       20. Terry Nash       1:26:16
 4. Tom Gallagher    1:13:41       21. Bob Ayotte       1:26:17
 5. Chuck Sanborn    1:13:42       22. Gary Dukette     1:26:49
 6. Kevin Steward    1:13:43       23. Steve Bruso      1:29:08
 7. Terry Relation   1:13:43       24. Michel Hebert    1:30:09
 8. Mary Kavanaugh   1:13:45       25. Dave Blow        1:30:24
 9. Don West         1:14:08       26. Cindy Dukette    1:30:45
10. Steve Beaver     1:15:50       27. Walter Calavetti 1:38:00
11. Peter Brush      1:15:51       28. Richard Brenner  1:43:44
12. Dale Crosby      1:18:19       29. Michael Peterson 1:43:45
13. Bob Davies       1:19:32       30. Bernie King      1:44:50
14. Jim Sullivan     1:20:20       31. Timothy ?        1:44:52
15. Tom Caramia      1:20:50       32. Robert Lake      1:44:55
16. Paul Schurman    1:23:22       33. Dorothy Lake     no-time
17. Elliott Leurs    1:25:22       34. Beth Schurman    no-time

Later in the day, riders gathered in a back yard (Rabideau's?) for a picnic and season awards for the Time Trials. This is the only time in the first 35 years of the event that such an event has happened. Clyde Rabideau sponsored the picnic and, again, Janette King did much of the organizing. She went through the season records and computed five-best-ride averages for many of the riders.

At the picnic, Janette announced winners in four categories: Open, Women, Juniors, and Veterans. I brought photo-copies of clippings from the early days, and told about the day that we all rode with Jim Ochowitz. Here is the story that ran in the Plattsburgh Press Republican.