What a week of training. I decided to do my Ironman training a little different this year. Not your typical Ironman prep. I joined some of the top UCI Pro cyclists in the nation for a stage race in Utah. The Tour of Utah was a 6 day Tour with 6 stages. It started on Monday with a flatter 112 mile road race. It was very eventful with a wind and rain storm that blew through the first part of the day and put all of us in difficulty. There were times that you couldn't even see the rider that was right in front of you because of the dust storm blowing around. The race finished strong and very fast. I did well and finished with the group.
The second day was even faster at times. Another long 97 mile flatter day, but very hot pushing 103 degrees. The finishing circuit was on a technical motorcycle race track. Heading into the track there where times that we were riding 43 miles an hour on the flats. Once we got on the track the race turned physical. It was windy so people were not giving an inch. Guys were getting ridden into the dirt, and it was very difficult to hold onto the rider in front of you. I ended up behind a couple of riders that let a gap open, so I lost about 1 minute behind the winner of the stage.
Day 3 was a time trial, which is what you would think is my specialty, but the problem was that it was only 8.5 miles. Little shorter than the 112 mile race I am used to. I ended up doing well and finished 8th despite the short course.
Day 4 - The real mountains started.? This day was another long one, finishing with a 20 mile climb that finished over 9,300 ft. I was in a small break for part of the day, and as we made it to the base of the climb the main chase group caught us and went through quick. I was dropped off the the back until I got my legs back and started to climb well. I rode myself back to the group and then kept driving the pace trying to catch the small group in the front. I picked off riders that where falling back, and I rode as hard as I could in the very thin air. It was an epic climb and experience; I ended up finishing 17th which moved me up to 17th overall in the GC.
Day 5 - A circuit race in down town Salt Lake City. It was a 6 mile loop course that we had to do 6 times. It was a shorter stage but very difficult. There was a large steep climb in the middle of each lap that we were flying up. Then we had to deal with the 15 plus sharp turns and descents reaching 50 miles an hour through down town streets and corners. I road well finishing with the main group and held onto my 17th place overall on GC.
Day 6 - The final day and the toughest stage of the tour. I knew it was going to be a hard day, and if I wanted to do well in the day I would need to be aggressive. I figured that a break would likely happen early on, and it would possibly stay away for the day or get a head start up some of the climbs. Right from the gun the attacks started. The first few miles were a slight downhill, so we were flying. Breaks going off the front at speeds up to 50 miles an hour. I timed it right and followed a couple riders I thought would help make a break stick. We drove hard, and the break was successful with about 14 riders in it. Most of us helped drive the break to gain as much time as possible.
Once we hit the climbs the responsibility went to Tiaff-Cref since they had 4 riders in the break, and one of them (Caldwell) was the highest placed rider in the break. They set the pace up the first climb, and by the time we hit the last climb of the day heading up to Snowbird, there were only 6 riders left. Attacks started early and they were fierce. I didn't like all the attacks, so I went to the front and tried to set a hard pace that no one would want to attack off the front. It worked for a while, but then Caldwell got aggressive and attacked hard. Everyone tried to follow, but it was all split up. Five of us were left, and we were spread out about 5 seconds apart, and it stayed like that for about 5 K. I was in 5th and wanted to dig deep and see if I could bridge across? I finally caught the Toyota rider and went right by him working my way to Zajicek from Navigators and couldn't drop him. My inexperience in bike racing started to show as I encouraged him to work with me to try and catch the others. I should have just kept driving, tried to drop him, and went on my own. He stayed with me not helping much, saying he had nothing left to help. As we got close to catching Neil Shirley who was in second, we were about 1 k from the finish. Neil was maybe 5 seconds in front and Zajicek jumped and left me behind. My legs had nothing left. He ended up getting 3rd, and I was a close 4th. The winner of the day (Caldwell) climbed amazingly, and the help of his 3 teammates helped him in the win. He moved up to 5th overall in the GC, and I finished 11th in the GC for the tour.
What a week! Tough riding, great training, and incredibly strong training partners. I couldn't have asked for a better training camp. My fitness has jumped another notch. For more info on the tour go to www.tourofutah.com. Now its time to take a short recovery and then focus on my Kona prep. Long riding, focused swimming and getting my running down for a hard hot marathon in Kona. I can't wait for the day and the challenge; I will be prepared for a great performance. See you all there.