Thursday, September 10, 2009

2009 Tour of Utah: Some Reflections

The Tour of Utah was a very successful stage race. The race was won by Rock and Republic racer Franciso Mancebo. I did not want to appear negative about the event, however some comments are in order.

This is the post information age, I understand that. Everyone is tethered on an Internet link, blogger, twitter, or a social network site. Problems emerge when people are deprived of a computer, say during a race, and they have only conventional news outlets to rely upon for information. This happened to me during the Tour of Utah and the results were less than satisfying.

The main and only media outlet was KFANZ radio in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although KFANZ repeated advertisements for the Tour of Utah thousands of times a day, the race summaries were perfunctory five minute news releases. The prologue was won by Jeff Louder who beat David Zabriskie by four seconds. Finis. Even the so called queen stage with a mountain top finish at Snowbird Ski Resort, which was advertised to have regular race radio updates...well the updates never materialized...the station ran a syndicated ESPN radio program discussing Brent Farve and Micheal Vick ad nausea. The Tour of Utah should work to improve the race coverage in 2010 beyond a mere two minute summary of the stages, realizing that some race fanatics do not have access to the Internet.

KSL radio did not even mention the downtown Salt Lake City criterium race in their sport report the following day even though there were several thousand people downtown. Bizarre.

One other thing. Take my advice and never decide to ride your bike up Little Cottonwood Canyon, in the afternoon, on race day, in one hundred degree plus heat. Duh! Being a fool and ignoring advice, I set out from Salt Lake City at 11:00 a.m. rode thirty miles to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon and started to climb. I felt great for the first five miles. But the traffic was bumper to bumper and Little Cottonwood Canyon has no shoulders, a very dangerous situation. Of course, there is no need to mention the exhaust fumes, the ozone, the smell of burnt rubber, the heat, the 8% grade, or the fact that at mile marker seven I ran out of water. There is also no need to mention the fact that spectators who lined the road waiting for the professional riders to appear cheered me on with shouts of appreciation and applause.

Darn. I bonked with less than one mile to go, sick of the exhaust fumes, the traffic, the heat, the stench of burning rubber, and the ozone. There was not one breath of wind in the canyon that day. Only thirty eight miles back to Salt Lake City to ride! Panic and a fateful decision. Turn around and leave before they close the canyon road for the professional race. Bad idea, which I regret to this day.

But as you can see from some of the photographs I took maybe it did not matter. The camera may be great for portraits but not so good for high speed bicycle racing. The queen stage did not have any race changing attacks or unexpected bonks as many people had expected. The only bonk was from the idiot riding the orange and red thirty pound mountain bike up Little Cottonwood Canyon that day...me.

Lastly, I wish Floyd Landis would have been a little more interactive with the fans. Floyd you don't have to be paranoid, come out and play. I still love the way you ride man. I was there and you were there and that beats an unfair suspension every time.

3 comments:

ZENmud productions said...

my Captain!

what the hell's up out there? :-) I remember Little Bighorny Canyon...

You should have done what I did, en route to Morzine: take off all your cycling kit and dangle your ass in the river! Hell, man, you could have made a friend, even! heh heh...

I realize you've given up on TPX, but it's amazing what's come out of WADA's favorite criminal (AFLD: the Anti-Floyd-Lance-Directorate) this last week, after UCI dumped Cofidis and BBOX...

I actually did three posts since Friday! hooooweeeee...

Were those photos of the race from 'downtown', or up near the University? I haven't been there since about 1987, but something looked familiar...

Things have changed at TPX, now Pieter and Harry slag on each other, Raymond and Chris have mellowed out, and the TPX themselves are lame-o.

But French Police announcing yesterday that they 'seized evidence' of multi-drug use by 'foreign teams', announced two days after UCI dumped the two FR teams, and with UCI announcing that they may withdraw any AFLD/LNDD involvement in next year's Tour testing, things remain lively on the Old Continent...

ciao Maestro!!
ZENdid

velovortmax said...

Zen,
The New York Times did mention that Pierre Bordry and the AFLD did accuse Pat McQuaid and the UCI of giving Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador preferential doping control treatment during the 2009 Tour de France. The tests were allegedly delayed until the afternoons and Armstrong and Contador were supposedly given more time to report to the doping control. Sounds like sour grapes, the AFLD attacks the UCI in the hopes of assuming total control of the process like they had during the 2008 Tour de France. Pat McQuaid and the UCI would be better off to rid themselves of LNDD and the AFLD forever, thus ending the perpetual conflict of interest.

The prologue photographs are from Capital Hill. Main Street in Salt Lake City (North) dead ends at Capital Hill.

The Criterium photographs were taken from 400 South Street in downtown Salt Lake, the North edge of Library Square.

Jon

Unknown said...

What a great week of racing and yes it is to bad that you were unable to hang around for the pros in Little Cottonwood canyon. I never suggested riding that canyon after memorial weekend. I was crusing down at a high rate of speed (60+ mph) and got a great welcome from one idiot who opened a car door close to me while passing. Needless to say I was missed but had to pull over to empty my shorts out.

It was great seeing you at the prologue but missed you downtown.

We may expect to see Levi next year along with Z-man giving a try at conquering the TOU.

Scott
Utah Internet Marketing