As Cycling fans we go to see the races for several different reasons. Many go to just see their favorite rider, others go for the excitement of the race or maybe the play of team tactics in a deciding move. I have heard some explain that just the physical feats that the riders are capable of leave them stunned and only want to witness it live. Of course you also have the rabid fans who go for the roadside parties that go along with a large spectacle like a professional race. Witness the Dutch corner or even more recently the continually developing Tanner Flats in the Tour Of Utah. Last year it was a fan giving a hotdog to a rider, this year the menu included: Powdered donuts, raw steak, pizza slices and even a whole pickle along with of course the ever popular beer. Personally and from the people that I have talked to it is not common knowledge what goes into that rider being were they are performing like they do. The behind the scenes work that gives us this great sport we love, Professional Cycling.

Special Chair made for Stephanie by Team Jamis-Sutterhome

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No Story this time as it has already been told in lots of places. Instead here is a gallery of favorites that in my opinion were not seen by the rest of the Photographers covering the stage. There just was too much scenery and racing going on for everyone to get everything. As usual there will be a link at the bottom to see the rest of the shots. In particular the Slyfox Moonwillow shots are unique as I just happened to be in the car right behind him when he decided to go for a ride.

Where else are you going to see a goat, a buffalo and a zebra in the same yard???

Enjoy....

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The 16 Hour Drive home yesterday has put this and two other stories behind the curve ball. Here is a small look at what the fan's saw during Saturday's very warm circuit race in downtown Salt Lake City. It was a 7.4 mile 11 lap course that ran past the capitol building and through the main drive of the University Of Utah. A nice combination rolling terrain, long straightaways, and a tough short climb before the finish.

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The race of truth will be run over 14.5 miles of sweeps and turns usually occupied by roaring high powered monsters reaching speeds of close to 200mph. Today they were covered with sweat and the only sound was the smooth rolling of carbon wheels and labored breathing. It was a windy hot evening in Toelle at the Miller Motorsports Park. An impressive facility for racing by any standard. Riders launched down the ramp starting at 5pm local time (Mtn). Your speed demon on the day was Tejay Vangarderen, seen here signing autographs and relaxing after his run.

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The Tour Of Utah Stage 2 rolled from Lehi home of Xango a  major corporate sponsor of the race. It then ran 151km around Utah Lake before coming back north to the center of the 2nd largest city in Utah, Provo. The course was mostly a wide open flat run with particular attention needed to prevent splintering the peloton in the crosswinds.

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Ogden Utah today saw Stage 1 of the Tour of Utah, a 187km triple circuit that was described by the winner on the day as very similar to the US road race championship course in Greenville. An early break stretched the lead to over 8 minutes at one point before finally succumbing to a counter attack from the peloton just before the last climb of Ogden Pass. Going into that climb Jay Thompson had soloed away from his three breakaway companions (Rubens Bertogilati, Roman Van Uden, Bradley White). Roman took the first two intermediate sprints while Rubens took the KOM's. The last time up it was a surprise rocket from the main group that went by all of the breakaway riders to take command of the lead.

More on the Jump

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The Tour Of Utah's Prologue was a nasty bit of straight uphill pain. While only 2.1km long the steep ascent along with an altitude of over 7500ft had a couple of riders completely wrung out by the top. See Christophers post with great gallery pictures for some pain faces. Thought I might add a little as to what the location was like and how the race itself went off. Also heard some interesting tidbits into the difference of organizing a race from one year to the next now that this race is UCI 2.1

View of Team area and first 1km from top of one of the practice Ski Jumps here in Olympic Park.

More on the jump.

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Monday marked the official Tour of Utah press conference with 9 riders in attendance. The press conference was held in front of the Utah Travel Council building, a nice scenic location but a little warm with temperatures in the mid 90's. Spots in the shade were at a premium. Despite a little trouble with the sound system (which I understand precluded them from showing the live web stream they had planned) they managed to roll through the introductions of the race big shots fairly quickly and got to the racers in short order.

Steve Miller lead the festivities from the steps of the Travel Council Building.

More on the flip....

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The Tour Of Utah kicked off last night with the official team presentations. The event was held in Park City at the foot of the hill containing the Olympic Village and Tuesday's opening prologue that runs the course of the Bob Sled run. A Nice open plaza in the shopping district saw the majority of riders introduced to a decent sized and enthusiastic crowd. There were some missing riders as a few riders are still making their way here from various races around the world. Most were missing due to The Tour Of Elk Grove which did not finish until within a few hours of the presentation.

Teams Pictures on the Jump

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The Tour Of Utah today released it's preliminary roster of riders for only 2 week away race. Lots of high profile American Riders fresh off the Tour: Danielson, Hincapie, Leipheimer, Vande Velde, Van Garderen and Zabriskie, Pate. The KoS will be there after a crazy week or so that saw him on the Podium at the US Road Nationals only to get a collar bone break at Philadelphia International Championship. Hopefully Utah will be a better host to Ted King and his Liquigas Team. Links to Presser and Roster after the Jump.

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The start of stage 2 has been moved to Nevada City and will commence at 12:15 PDT, the finish will now have three laps of the circuit instead of the original one.

Lake Tahoe Pano (via Marvin Johnson)

Even with the cold and snow I am glad The Tour of California came here, otherwise I would not have had the opportunity to see it. It is sad to think that this will most likely make the high Sierra's a no go for the Tour in the future. Goodbye Lake Tahoe, looking forward to coming back amid better weather some day, Beautiful place!

Stage 2 Pictures

Lt. Governor Kinder presented the economic impact study results today showing that the Tour Of Missouri not only has been successfully growing all three years of it's life cycle.

2007 26.2 Million in Revenue with 368,000 Spectators.

2008 29.8 Million in Revenue with 434,000 Spectators.

2009 38.1 Million in Revenue with 500,000 Spectators.

Pretty nice return on investment from 1.5 Million from the state.

Body of Email after the jump

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From TourOfMissouri.com

Looks like Mark Cavendish will headline the ToM in September. He will have lead out man Mark Renshaw with him as well as Michael Rogers, Michael Barry, Marco Pinotti and George Hincapie although George may be a last minute scratch depending on his collar bone at the time.

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My experience at the Tour Of California had a tension filled start as I was down with Strep for several days prior to my time to leave and it was a close thing as to wether I was going to be able to go or not. It is never a good sign when the doctor looks at your throat and says "hmmm that is the worst throat I have seen in a long time". Luckily it was early enough that I was able to get it cleared up before time to fly the coop.

I have all my photo's posted online now in my Photobucket account so feel free to browse. Tour Of California - A note that these are the raw photos, they have not been edited just resized for quicker uploading.

After the flip I will give a rundown of my experience as well as showing a few of my favorite photos.

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Somewhere at home I have a picture of Steve from the Tour Of Kansas City Race this year where he came in 12th overall behind the likes of Brian Jensen and Brad Huff. All guys almost half his age.

Steve Tilford has sewn up his place in cyclocross history — but he isn't done

"By Carolyn Szczepanski

Published on January 20, 2009 at 2:19pm

Perched on the edge of his couch, Steve Tilford performs minor surgery wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a silver medal of St. Christopher that rests just below his neck.

The late-December afternoon casts dim light through the window of his single-story Topeka home. A plastic bag with a biohazard symbol stamped on the front spills its contents on the coffee table. The kit is missing a needle, the one that Tilford is gingerly using to thread stitches through the leg of a black-and-white English setter......"

The Rider lists are starting to be filled out for the Tour Of Missouri.

Garmin-Chipotle will bring Zabriskie, Pate, Frischkorn, Cozza, Friedman, Farrar & Donald.

Team Columbia also filled in there support for Hincapie the returning Champion of ToM as well today. Joining George will be the afore mentioned Cavendish, Eisel, Rogers, Barry, Devine, Lewis & Pinotti.

Liquigas is bringing Kreuzinger, Nibali, Chicchi, Da Ros, Guarnieri, Mugerli, Agnoli, & Cataldo

.pdf of full roster and numbers can be found HERE 

Back Stories at the following links:

TOP AMERICAN AT 2008 TOUR DE FRANCE AND 2008 TOUR OF SWITZERLAND WINNER HEAD INITIAL CYCLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR TOUR OF MISSOURI.

Additional Riders Announced...

Looks like a pretty good field for the Tour this year.

The ToM has released detailed maps of all 7 stages of this years race. They are available in pdf form or you can follow the links to a "Map My Ride" version of each one.

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Here is the schedule for track events and time conversions for the U.S.

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This weekend saw the 45th running of the Tour of Kansas City and my first opportunity to get out and watch. It was also the first time I have seen a Crit in person. Loved the excitement and atmosphere from the whole event. The two biggest names in the race were Missouri resident Brad Huff from Jelly Belly and Lawrence , KS resident Brian Jensen from Successful Living. Jensen is also the overall winner of the past 3 events.

More on the Flip...

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GARMIN-CHIPOTLE And LIQUIGAS Head a list of teams added to complete the TOUR OF MISSOURI field

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News from the heartland...

First-Ever Women’s Pro-Am Criterium to Take Place in Kansas City September 8th during 2008 Tour of Missouri

Women’s Cycling Event Precedes Hard Charging Finish of Men’s First Stage

St. Louis, MO – (July 17, 2008) – The Tour of Missouri, a seven day professional cycling event featuring elite international men’s teams, is pleased to announce the addition of an invitational pro-am women’s race taking place on Monday, September 8th in Kansas City, Missouri. Top professional women’s teams and riders from across the US will compete in this inaugural event for a $7500 cash purse......

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Gerolsteiner, Milram, ,Landbouwkrediet, Quick Step, Silence, Topsport, CSC, Caisse d'Epargne, Euskaltel, Saunier Duval, High Road, Slipstream, AG2R, Agritubel, Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Crédit Agricole, Française des Jeux, Barloworld, Lampre, Liquigas, Tinkoff, Rabobank, Skil & Collstrop.