Tour of Utah

Mike, Me & BOB ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I had the unique pleasure of watching some professional cycling goodness without having to buy a plane ticket to France or Italy. That's right! It's Tour of Utah time. Mike, Mom, Dad, Grandma Pat, Patricia, Patrick, Alex, Steve and I went to the TOU prologue. This was an individual time trial - only 8 miles long - that went along City Creek Canyon Road. We had the distinct pleasure of enjoying a Taco Bell picnic right at the finish line. What else did I enjoy? I met the one and only Mr. Bob Roll in person. The camera really must add 10 pounds. I was surprised at how small Bob is in person. I was also surprised he still wears tight black wranglers...

I've never been this close to a Time Trial finish line - it was a ton of fun. I think my favorite part of the entire thing was watching each of the rider's finish line grimace. Case and point:

Time trials are especially hard because the rider must go at his (or her) absolute maximum effort and sustain it the entire course. Thanks to my big brother Steve who took tons of really cool pictures and then SHARED them with me so that I could blog about the day. Here are the highlights.



Dave Zabriski came out for the ride! He got 2nd in the prologue and (obviously) won the "Best Utah Rider of the Day" award. This is his first ride since completing the Tour de France. As Bob said, I'm sure he's still cleaning out the cobwebs...haha.



Left to Right: Mom, Dad, GP, Me, Mike



Utahns lined the streets to welcome the pros from ALL OVER!



Mullet alert: evidently some people think these are still cool. Personally, I think they'll just give this guy helmet hair ALL THE TIME.



Floyd Landis riding for team Ouch. Trying to get his muscles back in shape after his 2 year suspension from cycling. I can't decide how I feel about the guy...