Nice clouds...

Just had to post this quick shot of the sunset tonight. Look at those clouds! They were on fire.

Tour of Utah Final - Local brings home the win!

The Tour of Utah turned into quite the nailbiter towards the end of Stage 4. With Salt Lake native Jeff Louder putting in a major attack on the lead group of riders to catch and pass Blake Caldwell (overall leader at the time) on the final climb up to Snowbird Ski Resort. After Stage 4, Louder was only 7 seconds down from Caldwell with a short time trial to come in Stage 5. After 14,000+ feet of grueling elevation gain on Saturday, the racers headed out to Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday to finish things up with a short and fast time trial of 12km around the LHM track and surrounding area to finally finish in front of the grandstands on the butter-smooth asphalt of the world-class racetrack. In the end, Louder knocked off 8 seconds from Blake Caldwell's previous 7 second lead leaving Louder wearing the yellow jersey on the final podium.



What a great race, and congratulations to Jeff Louder, representing for the "801".

Pics of Stage 2 and 3 to come soon from me. More pics on Cyclingnews.com and Velonews.com

Tour of Utah - Stage 3 video

Thanks to thefredcast for this great video of the Tour of Utah Stage 3 in downtown Salt Lake City.



Full results can be found at this link on Cyclingnews.com Here's a short quote from their write-up:

"Argentina's speedster, Ricardo Escuela of Successful Living, treated the crowds to a sprint showdown, winning the bunch kick ahead of Fast Freddy Rodriguez (Rock Racing) and Jonny Clarke (Toyota-United)."

Stage 2 short update and Stage 3 tonight in SLC!

Stage 2 yesterday was amazing, I got some great pics that I'll post as soon as I get some time. See the write-up on Cycling News to read about Stg. 2.

Stage 3 is the spectator-friendly criterium starting and finishing at Pioneer Park in downtown SLC tonight. Start time is at 7pm. Then stay for the Friday night movie in the park starting at 9pm.

Tour of Utah - Stage 2 Intro

Stage 2 is tomorrow, and it's the first brutal mountain stage of the Tour of Utah.

Stats:
Distance: 137km (84.6 mi)
Elevation: 3,226m (10,585 ft)

Three cruel climbs evenly spread throughout the day with the first coming at mile 6. Then one minor climb just 8 miles from the finish to smack the racers around one more time before the long downhill approach to the finish at the U of U Orthopedic Center. Should be a great race. Best places to watch are the top of each mountain pass, especially the decisive and aptly-named "Big Mountain." Click the map below for an interactive approach to the race course map.

Watch for early attacks on the climb up North Ogden Canyon with more serious attacks coming on the second climb on the backside of Mt. Ogden, and finally the climb up Big Mountain starting at about mile #62 will surely have fireworks all the way up it.

Tour of Utah - Opening Day

Just a quick update, Cycling News has posted the page for the Tour of Utah. Check it out here for updates, photos, etc.

So far in stage 1, a breakaway of 3 has gone off the front and one rider bridged up at about mile 55. Breakaway had a gap of about 6 minutes last I heard. Listen online at The Fan Sports Network for updates every 30 minutes or so.

***Update***

The break stayed away but dropped back down to 3 riders.

Final after Stage 1
1st - Jason Donald (Garmin-Chipotle)
2nd - Sheldon Deeney (The Fan Network Composite Team)
3rd - Brad White (Successful Living)

Tomorrow is a fairly big mountain stage with 10,000 feet of vertical climbing. I'll be watching from the top of Big Mountain!

Flashback - 2006 Tour of Utah

Just a few snapshots of mine that I found from the 2006 Tour of Utah.

Heading up the Alpine Loop:


Arriving at Snowbird:

Tour of Utah - Stage 1

When:
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - 10 am

Stats:
Distance: 162 km (101.2 mi)
Elevation Gain: 1,478m (4851 ft)
3 intermediate sprints (mile 40, 72, 87)
1 intermediate climb (mile 60)

Starts in Nephi and heads towards Fairview canyon.

Best places to watch:
See TOU website here

The Tour of Utah is Back!

After a brief hiatus last year, the Tour of Utah professional bike race is back this year. (next week in fact!) This year is "bigga' and betta' than ever"! A $75,000 prize purse and plenty of bragging rights up for grabs makes this race the "Richest Race in America". The race is now on the National Race Calendar which means that more mainstream professional bike teams will be vying for National points. Over the course of the 5 day/5 stage race, riders will cover 336 miles with 30,000 feet of climbing.