It's coming up in a couple of weeks so I thought I would start a thread to see who's interested. It's billed as the most difficult race in the US, primarily due to massive amounts of climbing up and over mountains. Two stages have uphill mountaintop finishes. You can even download course routes to use in your Garmin GPS!
Here's the link to their homepage: http://www.tourofutah.com/
Dates are Tues., Aug. 18 - Sun., Aug. 23.
Here's my cliff notes of the stages and photo opportunities:
Tues., Aug. 18th. - Prologue @ State Capitol Building to City Creek Cyn & back. Racers against the clock over a short course one at a time. Pace will be fast, easy access for closeup shots of individual riders. Exotic looking Time Trial Bikes.
Stage 1 Wed., Aug 19th - Road Race from Ogden to U of Utah Research Park. The first climb up to Snow Basin Ski Resort should be awesome. After that, a monster climb up over Big Mountain from East Canyon. The pack will be broken up due to all of the climbing, but the tight hairpins on the downhill side of Big Mountain summit will make for some great shots.
Stage 2 Thurs., Aug. 20th - Road Race from Thanksgiving Point finishing on Mount Nebo. Tough uphill finish on Mount Nebo will offer some great shots of the riders really suffering with the 2nd day in a row of tough climbing. Getting up in the mountains will be a nice respite from the August heat in the valley
Stage 3 Friday, Aug. 21st - Time Trial at Miller Motorsports Park. One rider at a time against the clock on the race track! More exotic Time Trial bikes, high speed riding at maximum effort. Good photos of individual riders. Not sure what the access around the track will be since I've only been there for motor events.
Stage 4 Sat., Aug. 22nd - Road race Park City to Snowbird. This is the killer of all mountain stages. Race route leaves Park City, heads to Heber Valley, down Provo Canyon, up past Sundance over the brutal, but beautiful alpine loop. Down a fast, twisty descent on narrow roads to Alpine, then up another tough hill over Traverse Ridge to Draper, along the east bench, then up the monster climb of Little Cottonwood Canyon to finish at Snowbird Ski Resort. Zillions of vertical feet climbed - over 3,000 alone on the final climb. Great shots of suffering cyclists anywhere in Little Cottonwood Cyn. or the Alpine Loop. High speed downhill action at the Alpine Loop, but I hear they will be limiting car traffic there this year. Get there early or bring a bike or a moto to move around easier.
Stage 5 Sun., Aug 23rd Criterium Race around Library Square in Salt Lake. - lap after lap of fast, furious action on a tight course. Only four turns, but the one at State Street and 5th South should be the fastest. Look for big crashes in the pack fighting for position into the turns. Since the course is so small, it'll be easy to walk around and shoot at various locations. The mfg. booths and displays will be fun to see, too as well as the final awards ceremony.
Well, that's the scoop. As for myself, I'm thinking Big Mtn. on Wed., possibly Mt. Nebo on Thurs., Alpine Loop & Snowbird on Sat. and Library Square on Sun.
Who all is interested? Let's make some plans to meet up.
Dave
Here's the link to their homepage: http://www.tourofutah.com/
Dates are Tues., Aug. 18 - Sun., Aug. 23.
Here's my cliff notes of the stages and photo opportunities:
Tues., Aug. 18th. - Prologue @ State Capitol Building to City Creek Cyn & back. Racers against the clock over a short course one at a time. Pace will be fast, easy access for closeup shots of individual riders. Exotic looking Time Trial Bikes.
Stage 1 Wed., Aug 19th - Road Race from Ogden to U of Utah Research Park. The first climb up to Snow Basin Ski Resort should be awesome. After that, a monster climb up over Big Mountain from East Canyon. The pack will be broken up due to all of the climbing, but the tight hairpins on the downhill side of Big Mountain summit will make for some great shots.
Stage 2 Thurs., Aug. 20th - Road Race from Thanksgiving Point finishing on Mount Nebo. Tough uphill finish on Mount Nebo will offer some great shots of the riders really suffering with the 2nd day in a row of tough climbing. Getting up in the mountains will be a nice respite from the August heat in the valley
Stage 3 Friday, Aug. 21st - Time Trial at Miller Motorsports Park. One rider at a time against the clock on the race track! More exotic Time Trial bikes, high speed riding at maximum effort. Good photos of individual riders. Not sure what the access around the track will be since I've only been there for motor events.
Stage 4 Sat., Aug. 22nd - Road race Park City to Snowbird. This is the killer of all mountain stages. Race route leaves Park City, heads to Heber Valley, down Provo Canyon, up past Sundance over the brutal, but beautiful alpine loop. Down a fast, twisty descent on narrow roads to Alpine, then up another tough hill over Traverse Ridge to Draper, along the east bench, then up the monster climb of Little Cottonwood Canyon to finish at Snowbird Ski Resort. Zillions of vertical feet climbed - over 3,000 alone on the final climb. Great shots of suffering cyclists anywhere in Little Cottonwood Cyn. or the Alpine Loop. High speed downhill action at the Alpine Loop, but I hear they will be limiting car traffic there this year. Get there early or bring a bike or a moto to move around easier.
Stage 5 Sun., Aug 23rd Criterium Race around Library Square in Salt Lake. - lap after lap of fast, furious action on a tight course. Only four turns, but the one at State Street and 5th South should be the fastest. Look for big crashes in the pack fighting for position into the turns. Since the course is so small, it'll be easy to walk around and shoot at various locations. The mfg. booths and displays will be fun to see, too as well as the final awards ceremony.
Well, that's the scoop. As for myself, I'm thinking Big Mtn. on Wed., possibly Mt. Nebo on Thurs., Alpine Loop & Snowbird on Sat. and Library Square on Sun.
Who all is interested? Let's make some plans to meet up.
Dave
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and shoot it. It sounds like it could be fun.
