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Here's the press release for the event I'm in charge of on March 26-27, 2010. It's coming up! Let me know if you are interested in volunteering or participating!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bikes for Kids Utah Hosts First-Annual Omnium With University of Utah Cycling Team Proceeds from the event's time trial will benefit the Bikes for Kids Utah mission to give Bikes to second-grade students SALT LAKE CITY - Feb. 25, 2010 - Bikes for Kids Utah today announced details of the University of Utah/Bikes for Kids Utah Omnium, the first of its three annual fundraising events. This series of three bike races will be held Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27 throughout Salt Lake County, and produced in partnership by Bikes for Kids Utah and the University of Utah cycling team. Proceeds from the Hill Climb Time Trial on March 27 will support Bikes for Kids Utah while proceeds from the Criterium and Circuit Race will support the University of Utah cycling team. "Developing our annual time trial into a three-stage, USA Cycling-sanctioned event is a great opportunity to draw more cyclists to the Bikes for Kids cause and for local cyclists to compete against each other in multiple racing disciplines," said Debbie Reid, founder and president of Bikes for Kids Utah. "We're working hard to make this a quality event that draws amateur and collegiate cyclists from around our  conference."All USA Cycling, Utah Cycling Association (UCA), Intermountain Collegiate Cycling Conference (IMCCC) and cyclists who like riding in charity events are invited to participate in the three-stage omnium events to earn racing points and to raise money to buy new bikes for Utah children. Descriptions of the stages follow below: Stage 1: Electric Park Criterium Photo credit: Bradlee Duncan Friday, March 26 at 12 p.m. Starts in Thanksgiving Point's Electric Park at 3003 Thanksgiving Way in Lehi, Utah The criterium race track consists of an 11-cornered, closed loop through Electric Park and the surrounding roads. Each lap of the spectator-friendly course is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) that ends in front of the Electric Park pavilion. Riders will race between eight and 35 laps depending on their category, taking about 20 to 75 minutes to complete the race. Stage 2: Hill Climb Time Trial Saturday, March 27 at 8:30 a.m. Starts at the intersection of Bangerter Parkway and 13800 South in Draper, Utah. The climb travels up Traverse Ridge Road and finishes at the intersection of Traverse Ridge Road and Deer Ridge Drive. The four-mile (6.4 km) time trial course has an elevation gain of more than 1,300 feet (396 m) with 10 percent to 12 percent grades in some locations. Stage 3: Circuit Race Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m. Starts at Early Light Academy at 11709 S. Vadania Dr., South Jordan, Utah Starting and finishing in Daybreak Utah, the race loop is 12 miles (19.3 km) and includes one 600-feet (188.8 m) climb. The route will take competitors up to the Kennecott Copper Mine, past Butterfield Canyon and through the Herriman area back to the finish. Riders will race between two and seven laps around the circuit depending on their category. Registration for these events opens February 25 at sportsbaseonline.com and closes for the Criterium and Time Trial on Friday, March 26 at 11 a.m. and for the Circuit Race on Saturday, March 27 at 12 p.m. Please register in advance, as there is no on-site registration at any of the Omnium events. The registration fee for each race is $25 and $65 for the entire omnium before March 1. Collegiate cycling discounts are available with collegiate cycling license. Any Bikes for Kids Utah supporters that want to make a $5, $15 or $30 donation to the organization can do so at sportsbaseonline.com. "We have really enjoyed working with Bikes for Kids Utah the past several years and are glad to increase our commitment to the organization's mission," said Brad Duncan, race director of the University of Utah cycling team. "Together we're planning and promoting strong events that will help get more Utah kids on bikes and strengthen Utah's cycling community." For information about joining USA Cycling, UCA or IMCCC teams and participating in rides sanctioned by the governing bodies, please visit usacycling.org. More information about Bikes for Kids Utah is available at www.bikesforkidsutah.com. More information about University of Utah cycling is available at www.utahcycling.org. About Bikes for Kids Utah Bikes for Kids Utah is a non-profit organization formed in 2006 that provides bicycles for underprivileged children throughout the Salt Lake Valley. It generates support for its cause through its event registration proceeds, auctions, and private and corporate donations. Bikes for Kids' annual bicycle fundraising events, including casual road rides, timed road races and a dinner auction, raise money to provide 1,000 underprivileged children with new bicycles each year. For more information about the events, please visit www.bikesforkidsutah.com or call 801.656.0472. Details about the Bikes for Kids Utah Fundraising Rides, held in conjunction with its bike giveaway on Saturday, May 8, 2010, and its fall dinner auction are forthcoming. ### MEDIA CONTACTS: Elizabeth O. Hurst, 801.656.0472 (work)/ 408.386.8168 (mobile) ehurst@soarcomm.com Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 (work/) 801.597.7515 (mobile), csmith@soarcomm.com or Debbie Reid, Bikes for Kids Utah, 801.232.2681, debrareid@mac.com Brad Duncan, U of U Cycling Race Director, 801.836.8079, bradleeduncan@gmail.com |
A few weeks ago my friend suggested doing one more long ride for the season. We planned it for the 16th and with the weather being as good as it was on Friday and me being on Fall Break from school, I couldn't resist. I rode down to American Fork Canyon and we rode the Alpine Loop and Cascade Springs before heading home. It couldn't have been a better day, temps were in the high 60's for most of the ride and I was taking my birthday present out for their maiden voyage. Boy were they good! Thanks G
Stats:
Distance: 191.77 km (119.2 mi)
Elevation Gain: 2,136 m (7,008 ft)
Link to interactive map
Gina surprised me good for my birthday this year. I had really been wanting a set of carbon wheels for some time but I'd written them off thinking that I would just get a pair of nice all-around wheels instead. Gina totally faked me out and, with a bit of help from my family, surprised me with these! I took them out for their first ride on Friday and boy were they good. Thanks for a great birthday Gina and fam, you guys are the best.
See my bike routes post by clicking the link or look over to the left at the top of the column to access it. Each link on that page will take you to an interactive map of the route.
The Tour of Park City route is linked under the "Summit County" section on that page.
First time up Big Mountain (in Emigration Canyon) for the year. This has to be one of the best rides in the SLC area.
View from the top (sorry for the crappy iPhone pic, I need a new Point and Shoot camera):
Elevation profile:
Map:
I got a few good pics from the Tour of Utah, and I finally got around to processing them. Here's my favorite one that I got from the race. Corner #1 in the Friday night Criterium in downtown SLC.
Rock Racing's own, Tyler Hamilton:
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
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 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.
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.
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!
Just a few snapshots of mine that I found from the 2006 Tour of Utah.
Heading up the Alpine Loop:
Arriving at Snowbird:
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
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.
As a follow up post to this one, I thought I'd post the only picture that I got from our ride of the Wasatch Loop, as I affectionately call it. It was a great ride, there were a few of us from the University of Utah Team (myself, Tyler, and Jon), and one "friend of the program," Trevor. It was great having you guys, we'll have to do some other long rides next time. Thanks for the 5-star lunch at Sundance Gina! It was a welcome pit stop.
Sorry for the camera phone pic, I forgot the camera :-(
This is just a post for me to put links to various bike (mostly road) routes. I'll update this as I discover more fun routes to ride. Check back often.
Salt Lake County
Faultline Ride (Interval workout)
SL Valley Ride 'o Round
Wasatch Mtn. Loop
The Big 5
Marina Run. Some of the flattest riding along the Wasatch Front.
Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah's own "Alpe d'Huez". Almost the same elevation gain and distance as the famous Tour de France climb.
Big Cottonwood Canyon
Traverse Ridge Rd. (Connect to Suncrest Rd. in Utah County)
Millcreek Canyon (note that half-way up the gate is closed until June and may have snow until then)
SLC to Park City (via Emigration Canyon)
Emigration Canyon (just to Little Mountain)
Emigration Canyon (all the way to Big Mountain)
Rocky Mountain Raceway (RMR) Criterium Course
DMV Criterium Course (course layout can vary from week to week)
Potential 2009 RMCCC Championship Crit Course
My commute to/from work (less ambitious version)
My commute to/from work (more ambitious version)
My commute to/from work (MOST ambitious version)
Tour of Utah Preview ride with Utah County friends
Utah County
Suncrest Rd. (Connect to Traverse Ridge Rd. in Salt Lake County)
Utah Lake Century
The Gauntlet
The Nebo Loop
Sundance Hill Climb Route
Alpine Loop
South Fork Provo Canyon
Squaw Peak
Juab County
Tour of Utah 2008 - Stage 1 Route
Morgan County
East Canyon Road Race 2008
Summit County
Tour of Utah 2008 - Stage 4 Route
Tour of Park City
Tooele County
Potential 2009 RMCCC Championship TTT Course
Weber County
Tour of Utah 2008 - Stage 2 Route
Mt. Ogden Race Course
More to come!
Unfortunately it's not every day that you find a company willing to help out a single user when it means making a global change to the product. In the case where that change will help other users, this becomes more common, but it is still rare for it to happen quickly. I came across a great service that did just that. TopoRoute is a route mapping software for runners and cyclists (and anybody else that needs to plot a route). The software works great and they've gone through some changes recently that have made it even better.
I was trying to plot a route that was 115 miles long with many curves (means the file size is relatively large). They apparently had a limit on the size of a file that could be created and I was over that limit. I emailed their contact and within the day, Martin (thanks Martin!) got back to me to tell me the problem and that he wanted to get it fixed. By the next day, he had doubled the size of file that could be created and my route worked perfectly. Here's the route (a ride that me and some friends are going to do this Saturday if anyone else wants to come!)
I couldn't help but post this when I saw it on the news tonight. We've posted about the "bakfiets" (cargo bike) before: See here, and here. But this takes the cake because it's an Orem family doing it. They stopped driving their car for short errands and just take the bike instead... complete with child seats, seat belts, and a convertible roof for the rainy days! See here for the complete story.
They're a bit pricey, but Mad Dog Cycles in Orem can get them in apparently. Now I want one even more!
