The Tour of Utah has grown every year and it’s getting to be a big-time event here in the state. Since I enjoy cycling, I love going to see the races to see and appreciate the things these professional athletes can do. They’re amazing.
This year was a lot of fun.
On Thursday, August 8, I cut off of work early and went down to see the finish of stage 3. It was a great finish with the breakaway rider staying ahead of the pack (a rarity). I was in the picture that was featured on the Tour of Utah home page the next day. (I was alerted to the picture by my co-worker, who was wondering how I was able to be at the finish at 3pm on a Thursday.)
Friday was an awesome day. My boss had passed along an invite for a corporate bike ride. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but signed up anyway. It turned out to be great. The sponsoring company was one of the sponsors of the Tour of Utah and had all sorts of connections. They gave us all full kits (jersey and bib shorts — nice ones too!), fed us breakfast, and had us meet at the Energy Solutions Arena in downtown SLC. The ride went up Emigration Canyon, and we also had a full police escort all the way. It was sure nice to cruise through the city without having to worry about traffic or intersections. Several folks mistook us for the real Tour of Utah and cheered us on. Bob Roll (a former pro cyclist, now cycling celebrity) was there for the ride and had us take pictures with him.
After the ride, they gave out VIP passes to their hospitality tent right at the finish of the stage 4 circuit race around downtown Salt Lake City. I secured a couple passes and sent Manina a text message that I had our date night all planned out. We went up and watched stage 4 and had a fun date downtown.
And, no we weren’t done yet. For Saturday’s queen stage we took the whole family (minus Jake, who had just returned from Timberline scout camp) up Little Cottonwood canyon to see the last few kilometers of a brutally hard stage. We packed a picnic lunch and watched some poor amateur riders try to finish the same course as the pros. We saw one of my riding buddies who is a strong rider really struggling going up that brutal hill. I ran along side and pushed him for a while. It looked perfectly miserable.
When the pros came by we handed out cups of water to the riders, who happily grabbed them and poured them over their backs. Drew and Ellie shot them with squirt guns and rang cowbells. We screamed and yelled encouragement. They looked much less miserable than the amateurs did an hour earlier, but it was obvious that even some of the pros had suffered plenty. The Tour of Utah is known as America’s toughest stage race, and it sure lived up to that claim on Saturday.
We all had a great time. This race has gotten better and better each year, so we can’t wait to see what happens in 2014.
MightyJohnsons 