Tour of Utah: And So It Begins

I lunched outdoors at The Corner Cafe in Park City, Utah, while doing my weekly Team Type 1 conference call.
Welcome to my personal blog. Because of some circumstances beyond my control, I am no longer (publicly) updating the YD Cafe blog. So in the interim, I hope you enjoy me sharing my personal and professional experiences. Not everyone is a proud father of five beautiful girls you know!

Today was my first off-site work assignment since the Tour de Georgia - way back in April. Since then, I've started getting my teeth straightened (thanks to a nice little retainer) and I have lost more than 30 pounds. The latter has had a very positive influence on my cycling.

And cycling is what took me to Utah (helped along by a ride to the airport from my great dad and his 4:50 a.m. wakeup call). I will be here for nearly a week, staffing the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. Here is my day in words and pictures:

Above is the view of the Arizona desert as I made my way to Salt Lake City via Phoenix. The temperature in "Sun City" was 92 degrees. Once on board the "regional jet" to SLC, I endured two hours of brutal in-flight instructions from JoAnn, who was undergoing flight attendant training for US Airways. It was painful to watch - particularly when her trainer got on the intercom and asked her to return to the front of the plane to close the door so we could get ready to take off (20 minutes late).

This is my kitchen in my personal room at the host hotel of the race. It's nearly as impressive as my apartment. The only thing that's missing is food.

Yep, your eyes are not deceiving you. That's a Murphy Bed in my room. I have never slept on one. Based on the fact that it's past midnight right now and I have to get up at 5:45 a.m., I won't be enjoying much time on it.

This is the view of my "dining room" where I am typing this right now. My room looks over a gigantic parking lot that is virtually empty today, but probably packed in the ski season.

Right outside my hotel is the mountain. No skiing at this time of the year, but they tell me more than 500 inches of snow fell here this year - and it was on the ground until June.

Here are the Rock Racing guys getting ready for what was supposed to be a 45-minute training ride. Unfortunately (for me), they were gone nearly three hours. That meant having to postpone a TV shoot with a Park City station. I did my "song and dance" routine to keep them on-site as long as possible. Afterwards, one of the team mechanics said I would make a good used car salesman.

This is Mario, one of the Rock team photographers. He tried out the "six beer sampler." One of them wasn't very good, he said. (I don't recall which one.) I went all out and ordered a Dr. Pepper.

Has it really been six years since Salt Lake City (and Park City) hosted the Olympic Winter Games? This downtown park area commemorates the occasion.

And next to the area above is this torch-like display. Very cool at night, as you can see.

So that's Day One of my blog - and my Tour of Utah experience. Girls, I miss you. And I miss your Mom, too.