Ride Report
We've had a lot of smoke in Reno ever since I got back from Utah. It started with the American Fire in Tahoe National Forest and recently has been much worse from the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park. Visibility was poor today, as you can see from the above photo, which was taken at 11:00 AM when it would usually be bright and sunny outside. Physically, the smoke hasn't seemed to bother me too much. I can only hope I'm not doing any long-term damage to myself. It's been more of a problem mentally.
Ride Report
The vacation is over and it's back to life as normal. It was a rude awakening. The weather took a turn for the worse about 75 miles into the ride. It started off with heavy rain, turned to hail, and finished with flooding. The hail was small at first- small enough that I kept on riding. However, the hail kept getting larger, forcing me to stop. I assumed the time trial position, hoping most of the hail would hit me in the back. As it turns out, I could have used a TT helmet because a few of the hail stones made their way through the vents in my helmet and hit me directly in the head.
The hail didn't hurt too much, but for some reason I got hit in the left ear 3 times and one particular spot on my right leg kept getting hit over and over again no matter how many times I moved my leg. It's hard to say how long the hail lasted. Time moves very slowly in a moment like that. I would estimate 2 minutes, but that's probably an overestimate.
The rain was fairly heavy after the hail stopped, which caused flooding on the roads. Luckily, most of the water was on the westbound side of the road and I was going eastbound. The rain started to die out as I continued east. It wasn't raining on the Geiger descent, so I didn't have to freeze my butt off on the way home. I was thankful for that and now, a few days later, I'm thankful for the whole storm. It made for a more interesting ride.
The Schleck brothers were in town yesterday to train and help raise money for the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway. Here's the link to a local news video, where I make a few cameos (especially at the 58-second mark).
An easy ride was scheduled through Reno, followed by Mt. Rose (13.7 miles at 5% from Thomas Creek Rd). I just got back from my 5-day, 500 mile ride from Bozeman to Salt Lake City the night before, so I was either in really good shape or really tired from the ride. I would find out soon enough.
I did an easy ride from home to downtown (14.5 flat miles) and showed up a little bit after 8:00 AM. There were already tons of people there. One of the first things I saw was Frank Schleck doing a TV interview.
Frank Schleck doing an interview
Shortly after he was done, Jens came out for his interview.
Jens doing an interview
Jens doing an interview
After Jens came Andy.
Studying up on nice things to say about Reno?
Jens came back out dressed and ready to roll. He had a nice white, German-themed bike with "Shut up legs" on the downtube.
Jens' bike
After the interviews, the guys signed autographs and took pictures for a while. The ride was scheduled for 9:00, but it started closer to 9:30.
Getting ready to ride
Lined up and ready to go
Finally the ride began and I was pretty far back in the pack. To be honest, I was more concerned about crashing than anything else. As the ride headed south and got hillier, things spread out a little and I made my way towards the front.
Getting closer to Mt. Rose Hwy
Jens Voigt
I wasn't too sure what to expect once we hit the Mt. Rose climb. Would they drill it right from the start and leave us all in the dust, or would they play around and let us hang around for a while?
It turns out that they took things easy and let us hang out for a while. We were going 14-15mph on the section before the fire station (the first 2.5 miles), which isn't exactly an easy stroll for me but is sustainable. Then we hit the downhill after the fire station and it was anywhere between 12-14mph for a while. Again, a pace I can actually live with. We had a pretty steady pace going up until about the 7,000 foot mark, which is about halfway up the climb (summit at 8,900 feet). I was starting to believe that we were all going to make it to the top together.
After 7,000 feet there is a short flat section, then the road goes back uphill again. Not too long after the road went uphill again, Andy Schleck went off the front. I think he was more playing around than actually attacking, but he blew our pack apart and I could hear Jens behind me say, "Attack!" I did what I could to get back on, but I couldn't do it. I could see the pace kind of settle down a little bit ahead of me, but there was no way I was making it back on at that point. What can I say? I guess I was dropped on Mt. Rose by Andy Schleck.
I went into the red a little bit trying to chase back on, and I paid for it for a while. But just like they say on TV, once you get dropped all you can really do is ride your own pace and try to limit your losses. I was able to do that and when I got to the top Jens and the Schlecks were long gone. I still came out of the day with a PR on the section from Thomas Creek to the summit. This will be a fun PR to try to beat. If I end up beating it I can give myself a good pat on the back. If I can't, I have a pretty good excuse.
Here are some videos I took along the way. I wish I had a recording of the moment I got dropped!
Stage 2 started in Panguitch, ended in Torrey, and passed by Bryce Canyon National Park.
I didn't have enough time to go to the last KOM (Boulder Mountain), so I planned on parking near the Grand Staircase KOM, riding out to the Hogsback KOM, then riding back to Grand Staircase to watch the race. However, on my way back from Hogsback I noticed that they had set up the feed zone right after the sprint point in Escalante. I rode back to the car and drove ahead to Escalante to check out the feed zone.
The ride out towards Hogsback from the car was easy with a downhill and a tailwind.The riders must have enjoyed this portion of the route.
1k to the feed zone. This is facing the opposite direction.
The intermediate sprint, facing the opposite direction.
When I got back to Escalante, the team cars were all ready for the riders in the feed zone. I picked a spot past the feed zone without any other people around. It had a nice sidewalk that I could ride on to search for discarded items before the caravan was done moving through.
Feed Zone
My spot
Looking left from my spot
Looking right from my spot
I had a few riders throw bottles right at me and I also picked up quite a few bottles after the peloton passed through. I could have picked up a lot more, but the volunteers were picking up a lot of them before I had a chance to get out on the road. After two days I had collected 20 bottles and 4 musette bags.
If you haven't seen them, check out my other spectator reports:
The Tour of Utah finally visited southern Utah in 2013 and I had to be there. Stage 1 started at Brian Head resort (9600 feet) and finished in Cedar City.
Stage 1 Route
I was camping at Cedar Canyon Campground, which is along the route about 12 miles east of Cedar City. My plan was to ride to Brian Head for the start, then jump ahead of the route by riding south on 148 to rejoin the route on 12. The plan worked well and I was happy with the way the day turned out.
The ride to Brian Head was only 18 miles, but gained 2,641 feet.
On the way to Brian Head
I got there pretty early and the BMC bus was already in the parking lot.
BMC Bus
As cars and buses started to trickle in, Dave Zabriskie strolled past me towards a team car with Christian Vande Velde inside.
Dave Z and CVV
Cannondale Bus
Fast Freddie was there, and his new US Champion kit from Jelly Belly is a sight to see. I couldn't get a great picture, but here it is.
Fast Freddie
Jelly Belly also has Mexican Champion Luis Lemus, who seems like a really nice guy. A couple of kids were walking by and he offered them some jelly beans, which they loved.
Luis Lemus grabbing more jelly beans
Continuing the national champion theme, here is Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian champion.
Tomas Vaitkus
Former US national champion George Hincapie was there with his team. He looks like he's still in great shape.
George Hincapie
I'm used to seeing Bob Roll do the TV interviews in California and Colorado, but the Tour of Utah was covered by Fox Sports, so there was a new interviewer in town. Here she is with Chris Horner.
Horner and Fox Sports
Chris Horner at the Tour of Utah
The sign-in area was close, so I went to check it out for a little while. I couldn't get any good pictures, but I saw interviews with Luis Lemus, Jens Voigt, and birthday boy and eventual breakaway rider Chris Jones.
Ryder Hesjedal leaving the sign-in area
Jens Voigt entertaining the fans
\I wanted a better picture or Ryder Hesjedal, so I stalked him a little bit. Unfortunately, this is the best I could do.
Ryder Hesjedal
I left the start area early so I could ride up the road a little bit to find a good viewing spot. As I was leaving, I noticed that riders were warming up on the road, so I stopped for a while to check it out.
Pre-Stage Pee Break
Jens Voigt, Joseph Schmalz, and Nathan Brown
Ed King (I think)
Serghei Tvetcov
Tomas Vaitkus
Chris Horner and Matthew Busche
I jumped on the road as a few riders were still warming up and started looking for my viewing spot. The day started out with an uphill section and the guys were taking it easy. I saw Chris Horner riding up ahead of me. I was tempted to sprint ahead of him just so I could claim that I dropped Chris Horner on a climb, but I just cruised along behind the riders and gave them their space. As I was riding I was passed by Meron Russom of MTN-Qhubeka. I didn't want to get right on his wheel, but I stuck close enough to get a good look at him.
Meron Russom
Eventually all the riders turned back around towards the start and I found my viewing spot. It was a nice uphill section maybe about 2 miles from the start with a good view of Cedar Breaks.
The bike and Cedar Breaks
Cedar Breaks
A 2-man breakaway formed early, containing Michael Torckler and Chris Jones.
The Breakaway
The Breakaway
Then the peloton came cruising through.
I also took videos.
Once the peloton was gone, I rode south on 148 to rejoin the route on 12. I stopped along the way for more pictures of Cedar Breaks.
From 12 I rode the route backwards, looking for a good spot to watch. There were too many good spots to choose from, so I just rode for as long as I could until the riders were getting close.
After the riders were gone I rode the stage route back to camp, picking up a few bottles along the way. Greg Van Avermaet won Stage 1 thanks to a late solo attack. I ended up with about 78 miles and 7,200 feet of climbing. The scenery was great, I got to watch the riders twice in one day, and I even got a few bottles. It was a great day.
