The Long And Winding Road

Although my camera phone doesn't do it justice,
this was one of the most scenic descents.
Park City, Utah - Yes, gas prices are high. And bike racing teams do a lot of driving.

The motorcoach gets about two to four miles to the gallon. "The Beast" gets about eight. And I get tired when I've been out in the sun all day. Can you only imagine how tired the riders are after racing nearly 100 miles over four mountain passes?

That was on the menu today - 15,000 feet of climbing. And the last seven miles were all uphill. It was brutal. I can't wait to bring the girls out here to ski in a few years. They'll absolutely love it. The only drawback to being this high up (7,000 feet and higher altitude) is that your nose seems to be bloody all the time.

Another potential problem today was the unprecedented closing of I-80 for a bridge construction project. We had to make it to the canyon pass before it shut down or we would risk having to drive another 90 minutes out of our way. (We made it.)

Other notes:
- Mom would have loved the old-fashioned student desk that we saw while driving by a yard sale.

- The smell of burning brakes was all over the mountain. At one point, the Rock Racing bus had dozens of cars behind it as it negotiated the trip down the mountain. Dad had to call them to pull over and let everyone (or at least the Escalade with the team owner inside) go by.

Let's get right to the gallery for the rest of the story:
I accompanied Rock Racing soigneurs Sergey (left) and Jen again today.

A picture of a mountain - just for Uncle Jon.

Team chiropractor Rich hangs out in the feed zone
by one of the Escalades. That large flag
helps the riders spot where the soigneurs are feeding.

Toyota-United soigneur Reed McCalvin is ready at the second feed zone.

The Snowbird Ski Resort is where today's race finished.

Fred Rodriguez (left) and Tyler Hamilton (right)
did an autograph signing at a Salt Lake bike shop.
It made for a long day, but they did a great job.

On board "The Beast" with Dan, driver and gracious host.
The picture of Freddie and Tyler (above) was taken inside.

In between all of today's work and excitement, I did get a chance to catch Michael Phelps making history at the Olympic Games. Fortunately, NBC's coverage is tape-delayed here in the Mountain time zone. So the things that you are watching in Omaha around 8, 9 and 10 p.m. are shown here at 9, 10 and 11 p.m.