Fit and Fast

Another reason I love where we live: there are all kinds of outdoor sports/fitness events going on. Today it was the first stage of the Tour of Utah professional cycling race ... 3 laps, each one starting in Ogden, going up over North Ogden divide, circling around Pineview Reservoir and then down Ogden Canyon... a total of 116 miles with a nearly 3000' climb to an elevation of 6200' each lap.

The riders were crazy fast... and crazy fit, of course.

This is the downhill side of the Divide...

We missed the first lap by only minutes, but caught the next one. The first rider to come off the pass on Lap 2... he was flying, as were all the riders behind him...

A few spectators, of course...

 (The one with the camera is my favorite spectator!)

The big climb on the third and final lap ... but first, a little tease from a Lamborghini that says "WIN ME" on the hood...

...and then riding solo, the first rider to come up the hill...

 ... he made it look so easy...

 ... and, by the way, he (Jesse Anthony) won the first stage...congrats to him!

And after him, they just kept on coming...some smiling, some showing the strain of the heat and steep ride, but all pressing onward and upward.

He seemed happy... but, of course, he took the easy way up the hill. 

Here were a couple of unofficial riders... working hard for the money... Frankly, you couldn't pay me enough to do that ride. I've driven it enough times in a car to know how steep it really is.

It might only be 200 meters to the top of the hill, as the sign says, but that would be 200 meters too many for me... just look at it!!

But he, like so many before him, just kept on pedaling...

Now, here's a true easy rider...look Ma, no hands...and this, while still climbing up that last 200 meters...show off!! 

 Smart guy...I'm all for staying cool.

And then, finally, the sign that the last rider had passed...

 ...time to head home... 

What a great event! Congrats to every single one of the approximately 120 riders who rode and finished Stage 1! You are all amazing in my book!!!

Click here to view the whole unedited batch of photos I shot.