wheels on asphalt

In addition to the engine-powered speed demons, we also saw a bunch of leg-powered speed demons: the Tour of Utah has arrived!  This is a bike race (like a mini Tour de France), touted as the "toughest stage race" in the country, what with all the mountains and altitude we have here.  H is a bicyclist and through him I've become interested in the sport (as a spectator) so we were really excited to see some of the stages.

The prologue (preliminary time trial) was held in downtown SLC at the capital. We found a parking spot in the Avenues, walked down the east side of Memory Grove and then back up the west side, and arrived right on time for the start. Since it's a time trial, the cyclists go out one at a time, at 30-second intervals, and race the clock. The less-good guys go first and the best cyclists ride last, so we had time to walk around and look at the vendors (I had a daiquiri-flavored sno-cone) and the various cycling teams.

The better riders were camped out by their team buses, riding trainers and warming up. There are some pretty big names here (if you're a cycling fan), most particularly George Hincapie, a veteran of fifteen Tours de France, and Levi Leipheimer.

Big George, warming up

Big George was easy to pick out.  He's like 9 feet tall (not really but most cyclists are short and since he's around 6', he seems like a giant) and soooooo skinny.  People were swarming him, taking photographs and trying to shake his hand; he had his game face on and put up with it for a little while.

Me and my new friend Levi

Levi was harder to find but we did track him down as he was warming up with the Radio Shack team, and wearing a RS jersey, even though he's not officially riding for RS in this race.  When I sidled up to him for a picture, I wished him good luck and he thanked me.  He's a tiny little guy and has tan lines on his scalp from his bike helmet.

Taylor Phinney, the whippersnapper who won the prologue

There was a decent crowd but we were able to stand right next to the starting gate for both George's and Levi's starts, as well as move to the finish line for their finishes.  Neither of them won the prologue - some whippersnapper from Radio Shack did - but managed to position themselves well for the coming stages.  It was a beautiful evening for a bike race and pretty exciting to see these world class athletes competing in our new hometown.