Spectator Report: 2013 Tour of Utah Stage 2

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:

2013 Tour of Utah Stage 1
2012 Tour of California
2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge
2013 Tour of California Stage 4
2013 Tour of California Stage 5