Scroll to the bottom of the page to see pictures. Most of these pictures were processed in September of 1967, the month this race is believed to have occurred. Click on any picture to see it at full size.

Tour de Graceada
September 10, 1967


by David Steffen

By 1967, the Modesto Roadmen were getting older. Of the five Roadmen who competed in this year's Tour de Graceada, two, Jeff Cowdrey and Tom Woods, raced as Juniors (the under 18 category) and three, Neil Johnson, Eldon Rosenow, and Neil Johnson, raced as Seniors (the adult category.) Whoever took these pictures was apparently more interested in David than anyone else, as there are no pictures of the Junior race and a preponderance of pictures of David. Might this have been David's father, Lloyd Steffen?

The Modesto Roadmen racing as juniors did much better, where Jeff got sixth place and Tom got tenth from a field of 30 riders. The winners were Ed Kinney, Joe Radialli, and Mark Gates in first through third places respectively. By comparison, of the senior Roadmen racing in a field of 49 riders, none of them placed. Winners of this race were Bob Parsons, Jackie Simes III, and Bob Tetzlaff.



Start of the Senior race. Eldon, in a Modesto Roadmen jersey, is third rider from the right. Two over, partially obscured, is Neil.

The Senior pack. No Roadmen are visible in this picture.

The leading rider in this picture is Neil. Two back is David, who can be identified by his long cage derailleur. Immediately behind David is Eldon.

The Senior pack. No Roadmen are visible in this picture.

Eldon and Neil are to the far right. It is possible that the rider fourth from the right, largely obscured, is David.

Bob Parsons winning the 1967 Tour de Graceada.

David, apparently dropped. Touring through Europe did not prove to be good training for criterium racing.

Modesto Bee newspaper articles about this race. (Clicking on this picture will take you to those three articles.)