2010 Tour of Utah: Reprise

The 2010 Tour of Utah was sensational with vast improvements over the 2009 version, but not perfect. There were issues that must be addressed before the 2011 race and I hope that people will take these issues seriously.

KFNZ 1320 radio, a local sports network here in Salt Lake City, Utah; and part of the official media group of the Tour of Utah, did an outstanding job of updates of the race, but astoundingly forgot to mention the time when the capitol prologue was to start! I left the University of Utah Marriott Library at six o' clock, raced down the eleventh avenue bike path to the entrance of City Creek and ran into a mounted police officer. "Has the race started yet?" "The race has started" he replied. So, I rode down to the turnaround point and watched a few riders, then left to take photographs at the Capitol building, wasting an incredible amount of time riding around Memory Grove. Come on guys! Mention the prologue start time on the radio!

I probably should mention that a man at the Prologue did give me a card that stated, "tell us what you think!" Good idea! Here goes!

The Tour of Utah Official Race Program Guide was a slick, glossy publication with incredible photographs, team lists, and adequate stage information that proved invaluable. However, there was no rider lists for any team. Even the 2009 Race Program had a rider list, without bib numbers. At the Tour of Utah Stage One kiosk at Research Park, I gave the gentleman a lecture as to the importance of the rider list. He claimed that there was no rider list because teams and riders that were scheduled to race, failed to show up! "Do you know what happened to Bahati Foundation?" I asked. "No," he replied. Finally, exasperated with my interrogation, he told me that the rider list was "on line." "What if you don't have a computer?" "Then you are out of luck." Probably, half of the people in the Great State of Utah have no computer! You guys can do better than that!

Then there is the publication Cycling Utah. Cycling Utah is a local publication that carries informative information of cycling events, races, helpful tips, safety and bicycle advocacy issues. Cycling Utah also has interesting Tour of Utah news, rider interviews, and other race tidbits not to be found elsewhere. Cycling Utah would have been an excellent resource guide if it could only been found. In the University of Utah Marriott Library, stacks of the July issue of Cycling Utah was available, but the August issue was missing. I checked the Marriott Library news kiosks every day to no avail! Cycling Utah, keep your current issues, current and available!

You would think with the fixed gear/single speed cycling craze going on with university students these days that the Tour of Utah would focus on such a promising target audience. But, alas, no. Not one 2010 Tour of Utah Official Race Program Guide was anywhere to be seen on the University of Utah campus! Do better! Create interest in the race!

I have some photographs of the race and will post them with some additional comments soon.