2018 Tour of Utah

I enjoy watching sports games like baseball, football, and basketball, but I don't really follow them the way others do. However, I do love bicycle races. And each year the Tour of Utah is one race I can watch live. Earlier this year, my right knee kept swelling like a water balloon. Follow along; this does get back to the Tour of Utah. Dr. Eric Heiden (look him up; he won six gold medals in the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1980 and is now an orthopedic surgeon in Park City and a really nice guy) removed the bursa. (He also cleaned up the meniscus and removed a .22-caliber bullet from my left knee 10 years ago.) I've been going in for follow-up appointments to check the recovery progress. My knee hasn't been cooperating too well, so I've had several follow-up visits. Now we get back to the Tour of Utah. Dr. Heiden is also the team doctor for the BMC road bike team in North America. A couple weeks ago, he suggested my next visit be before the start of one of the Tour of Utah stages. So, today I drove out to Antelope Island, the beginning of the third stage of "The Toughest Stage Race in America."

I arrive about 9:15 for the race, which is to begin at 11 a.m. The race starts at the Fielding Garr Ranch, about 10 miles down the southeast side of Antelope Island from the visitor center. The team buses park in the tiered visitor parking lots. 

The teams arrive in buses, cars, and vans. 

The team mechanics set up the bikes along the side of the buses and make sure everything is adjusted just so. 

I wait outside the BMC bus for Dr. Heiden and notice it has these winner's jersey stickers on its side. 

Dr. Heiden looks at my knee and gives me the clearance to stop wearing the compression bandage and start my regular biking and other activities. He says my knee isn't likely to heal any more than it has. If it continues to swell, I'll go into his office and get it drained and shot with cortisone again, but we both hope this is the last time we see each other as doctor and patient. He also gives me a BMC hat. 

I'm not sure what arm of the military this is, but I assume National Guard. They're sticking down Utah Sports Commission signs. 

I'd like to come back in a week or so and see if these signs are still stuck here. 

There's really a lot of activity around the starting point of the race: 17 teams with busses, support cars, coaches, doctors, and mechanics; police; volunteers managing parking, food, water, and other details; an Air Force Honor Guard; Park rangers; several official vehicles with marshals and other dignitaries; Coke trucks; and a host of other support people and vehicles. 

Sepp Kuss is the current rider in the Yellow Jersey. That means he has the best overall time so far, after a time trial prologue and two stages. I love that he rides a beautiful Celeste color Bianchi. The teams ride several brands of bikes, from BMCs and Bianchis to S-works, Scott, Canondale, Diamondback, and a bunch of others. I asked Dr. Heiden if there's really a difference among all the bikes. He said they're all pretty similar. One of his riders overheard us and said that the BMCs are made with more love. Anyway, I think the Bianchi's are the best-looking bikes in the race. 

The racers are very competitive, but many of them from different teams are also friends. 

And I discover the key to owning the Yellow Jersey is always having a banana in your pocket. 

The race begins right at 11 a.m.

We fast-forward to the end in Layton, 115 miles and 4-1/2 hours later. This stage of the race ends at the Layton Commons Park after going through Bountiful and around Hill Air Force Base. There are all kinds of activities for spectators, from vendor booths giving away cow bells and selling T-shirts to a drum team and children's races. Some of these kids are in this race just for fun. Others were super serious, with their legs pumping at what looked like at least 120 times a minute. Really. The pros pump at 85 or so most of the time. 

This is the peloton passing the bleachers where I'm standing. They circle past here five times. 

This is what it looks like when the peloton zooms by. 

The finish. United Healthcare's Travis McCabe sprints in first. He also won the first stage of the Tour of Utah in Cedar City. Team Lotto NL Jumbo's Sepp Kuss still wears the Yellow Jersey. Lotto NL Jumbo's Neilsen Powless is currently in second place. And BMC's Tejay Van Garderen, who is the only cyclist in the Tour of Utah who also raced in the Tour de France a couple weeks ago, is in third. These three are from the United Sates, although there are racers from all over the world, and their teams are based in the Netherlands and Switzerland, respectively. 

Golden Spike and Aggie Ice Cream

It's Pioneer Day, the day Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Though it's not a holiday for Henry Schein One, I took the day off so we could go with the Austins and Weavers to Golden Spike National Historic Site. I've been there several times, but I've never seen the reenactment of the meeting of the railroads, which volunteers put on every Saturday and holiday during the summer.

If you haven't read it, you should read "Nothing Like It in The World" by Stephen Ambrose. This is a fascinating story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad across the United States. I really do highly recommend this book. I know it sounds boring, but you won't be able to put it down. 

The Central Pacific Railroad started in Sacramento, California, and the Union Pacific Railroad started in Omaha, Nebraska. The U.S. government paid each company by the mile of track laid, so the operation became a race. After passing each other by many miles (because they were being paid by the mile), they finally agreed to meet at Promontory Summit in northern Utah, with a ceremony where they drove the golden spike (more about this in a minute) on May 10, 1869. 

This is inside the Jupiter, which came from the west. 

Notice the wooden brake mechanism. 

The Jupiter burned wood to make steam, because wood was plentiful as the rail layers made their way across the Sierra Nevadas. 

The 119 came from the east. It burned coal, because that fuel was plentiful in the east, and wood was scarce coming across the vast Midwest. 

This is the 119 coming down the Union Pacific tracks. It will stop, back up, and switch to the Intercontinental track to meet the Jupiter. 

The 119 comes in for the final meeting. 

This is the final spike, which is connected to a telegraph (note the telegraph operator at the table on the right), being driven for all the nation to hear. Two gold; one silver; and one gold, silver and steel spikes have already been placed in predrilled holes in a ceremonial tie. 

Annie, Jared, Chieko, Sara, Jackson and Tanner, where the trains met. 

Three cheers for bringing the nation together. 

Our group of spectators. 

About five miles from the Golden Spike site is ATK, which makes rocket engines. It used to make the liquid-fuel engines for the Space Shuttle, including the doomed Space Shuttle Challenger. We found it interesting that these two monuments to travel that are so distant in technology are so close in proximity. 

Next we drove to Logan to enjoy Aggie Ice Cream. Very generous portions of very delicious ice cream for a very reasonable price. Who could resist? 

The end. 

Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park

Independence Day was on Wednesday this year, so we decided to take Saturday through Wednesday as a vacation in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. But then we decided we didn't need five full days there, so on Saturday I rode my bike to Provo and got the trailer and all ready to go. Sunday morning we left at 6:15 and arrived at Gros Ventre Campground near Jackson, Wyoming, about 11:30.

Here are some pictures from our trip. These are not chronological. They're more by theme, I guess.

Here's our camp spot at the Gros Ventre Campground. 

One thing to remember when you go camping: Never, ever leave home without your rice cooker. 

A lodge with hand-dipped ice cream is also handy. By the way, if Yellowstone is too crowded for your taste, stop by the Yellowstone Lake Lodge. It doesn't have nearly the hustle of Canyon or the insane crowds of Old Faithful. And they serve mountain berry ice cream in a waffle cone.

The Snake Rivers' Ox Bow Bend view of Mount Moran. 

Us. 

If you take the dirt road just west of the Ox Bow Bend overlook, it winds down to the river, where you can fish, kayak and canoe in the calm waters. 

Looking at the Tetons across Jenny Lake from our secret beach. 

Seriously, the South Jenny Lake parking lot spilled up the entry road and onto a half mile of the highway on both sides in both directions. We didn't even try to get close to that busy place. Instead, we hiked about a half mile to a little people-free beach we discovered last year. 

Chieko at our secret beach. 

Jenny Lake. 

The shores of very windy Yellowstone Lake. 

The Yellowstone River from the Sulfur and Oil overlook. 

Mammoth hot springs. 

Hayden Valley. We usually try to spot bison (sometimes in the hundreds), birds (in the thousands), wolves (in the zeroes when we've been here), and other wildlife. But the view of the valley itself is spectacular. 

Sunset over Hayden Valley. 

Roasting a marshmallow over our campfire. 

Grand Teton from the property of the old Mormon Barn. 

This is the iconic Mormon Barn that you see on all the postcards and book covers. 

But this barn is also nearby on Mormon Row. 

And so is this barn. These are all within easy walking distance of each other. 

Mount Moran from the dirt road that goes to the fishing spots near Oxbow Bend along the Snake River. 

Same place. 

Chieko woke me up to get pictures of the Mormon barns at sunrise. This isn't a barn spot, but it is sunrise. 

Is this mushroom safe to eat? 

How about this one? 

A pronghorn and its baby in Teton National Park. So, apparently pronghorn are not really antelope, and bison are not really buffaloes. That really messes up that song. 

I have a great idea: Let's all stand here and take pictures of this docile bison. He weighs only 1,400 pounds, runs 40 miles per hour, and has short sharp horns mounted on a massive head and a nasty temper. 

This is a safer distance. If this bison decided to run you down, you'd have approximately 19 seconds to jump in your car and speed away. Remember that the speed limit in the park is 45. 

The elk still have fuzz on their antlers.

This guy is apparently someone's pet who's gotten loose. The collar says he answers to "Otis." 

If you look closely, you can see four bighorn sheep just above the vertical volcanic shafts. 

This moose cow has two calves. 

This is the other calf. The river is the Gros Ventre, which runs past the campground. 

No pictures, but we also saw a coyote with a young pup. The mother crossed the road as we were entering the campground, and the fluffy little grey pup stayed on the left side of the road and watched us as we drove slowly by. 

We have seen the Bar J Wranglers perform here in at least 25 of the past 30 years. I think we first came when Tim, the fiddler, started 30 years ago. It doesn't seem so long ago that Babe, sitting in this picture, "officially" retired, but that was 20 years ago. 

A carving outside the Bar J barn.