Stage Three, Be Nice to Me!

So I survived the first two stages of the Tour of Utah.

Stage one was much easier than I thought it would be: the clouds provided shelter from the heat (at least for the first hour or so), and a breakaway formed before the first climb, making the pace quite tolerable for much of the stage. As to be expected, the final climb was a vulgar nasty brutish little imp, stinging my legs horribly with each pedal stroke. I was dropped, but survived.

Stage two was an absolute blast. Railing around the Larry H. Miller Motorsports Park on TT bikes was a close to playing a video game on bikes as it gets. The turns were smooth and well-engineered. The cement was clean, and flawless. I took a lot of GoPro footage yesterday, so expect a video soon.

Today should be an entirely different affair. I've done this stage before. It's hellish. It's one of those days where the invitation to quit is sent time and again. In 2008 this stage was so hard, my mind completely reconfigured what happened, and constructed a missive delusion in a (failed) attempt to preserve my sanity (read about it here). Right out of the gates, we ascend a nasty climb -- and I mean nasty: roughly three miles at 10%, I shit you not. It completely shatters the field, with yours truly probably ending up a shard of broken glass. I'll be left to find other shards of broken glass so that we might slowly and painfully claw our way back to the peloton juuuuust in time to hit the second climb so that the process can repeat itself, a never ending cycle of getting dropped and chasing back. Sisyphus himself would shudder. Suffering galore.

Today is one of those days where I'm already fearing tonight's massage.

All in a day's work.

Utah Countdown

The Tour of Utah is about to blast-off. You can follow this race any which way you please: on your phone, on your computer, or on your television. Here's a wonderful guide to all the ways you can stay tuned, courtesy of Podium Insight:
http://www.podiuminsight.com/2012/08/05/how-to-follow-tour-of-utah-via-social-media-web-tv/



Now then, on to host pets. I love host pets, even the drab ones. No vet bills, no house-breaking -- just a lot of playtime (the same is usually true for host children). Last week down in Lehi, we had the distinct pleasure of staying with some really great host pets. There was a very sweet (and tolerant) dog named Tango, a rambunctious puppy named Wookie, and a Siamese cat who's name I forget. I'm pretty sure the cat was the smartest creature in the house (humans included). In fact, the cat might have been the smartest creature if the universe -- if not the omnipotent, all-knowing creator of the universe himself. If, upon my death, my soul was welcomed into heaven by this very cat, I wouldn't be too surprised. So, in honor of the wonderful host pets we enjoyed in Lehi, I made this video:

BUCKLE UP! CURIOSITY LANDS IN A FEW HOURS!!!

Remember my post about Mars back in June? About how right now there's a really amazing Mars rover hurtling towards the Red Planet at 13,000 miles per hour? And about how it's going to utilize a totally remarkable landing system to safely lower the rover to the ground? And about how there's going to be a seven minute delay between when the spacecraft starts entering the Martian atmosphere and when we here on Earth get news the fancy machine's progress. Did it work? Or did NASA just lose a lot of money on what ultimately ends up being a big firework show for the Martians?

Well we all find out tonight. Watch it live here:
http://www.youtube.com/NASATelevision

Or, if you miss the real-time excitement, just go here:
http://gizmodo.com/mars-curiosity/

For the record: my money's on NASA....

UPDATE:

It's Every Bit as BAD as They Said it Would Be!

If the Tour of Utah were a movie, I just spoiled the ending. Today, my teammates and I climbed up the absolutely crazy Empire Pass, which (with a little luck) I'll be climbing at the end of Stage 6, a week from Sunday. It's without a doubt the hardest 6.7 miles of climbing I've ever done. The average grade up Empire Pass is stunning 8.3%, there are pitches of over 20%, and there are extended sections of 14% or more. For comparison, the average grade up Boise's feared Bogus Basin road is a piddly 4.1%, and the steepest pitch has got to be no more than 10 or 11%.

I couldn't believe how hard that climb is. It wasn't just crazy, it...was...ludacris:





In celebration of the lunacy that awaits me at the Tour of Utah this week, I brought a GoPro along on the ride, and this is the fruit of my labor:

Mormon Churches

If there's one thing I've learned about Lehi it's that there are good antique shops. If there's TWO things I've learned about Lehi, it's that there are a lot of Mormon churches here. It's about ten miles from our host house to the base of the Sun Dance climb we've been training on. Yesterday I took a photo of all the churches I passed on my route -- mind you I didn't go looking for churches, these were just ones I happened across. I counted eight, but I'm sure there were more.

Utah Is COMING!

Alright -- I've got two more big races this season. That means only thing:

I need to get my blog up and running again!

Well, here we go:

Two days ago, I bid adieu to the fair hamlet of Boise, Idaho, and relocated to the dramatic and sprawling Salt Lake City, Utah. That's right, SLC baby:  the salty suburbia, the weak-beer wonderland, the Mormon metropolis. What am I doing here you might ask? Well the answer is simple: shopping for antiques of course!

We're staying in the satellite city of Lehi, just south of SLC. On my first ride here I stumbled across this place:

The place was a total gem. The shelves within were overflowing with knickknacks, odds-and-ends, whatchamacallits, and bric-a-brac. I took a fancy to the the following items, and proceeded to haggle mercilessly with the store's proprietor.

I'm especially proud of the hat. Supposedly it's made from REAL BEAVERS! This is my only beaver-based garment, and I must say -- highly underrated.

Plus, it says "OPEN ROAD" on the inside. 

As satisfying as my antique finds were, I suppose the purpose of my early arrival in Utah (the Tour of Utah doesn't start until Tuesday) is to get in some quality riding on the race courses. And so, we've been doing just that: previewing some courses. We went up the dreaded Sundance climb (a beastly affair I've tangled with in the past). It was wonderful to climb those mountains at a leisurely pace -- I really enjoyed the scenery for once!

Ok. More to come.

KROGG RAMPAGE!

Krogg on little bit of rampage lately. WHO WOULD THINK? KROGG CONTRACT MEASLES AT CASCADE CYCLING CLASSIC! LOOK:  

Krogg also perform this activity: