The announced the stages today. They only one I've seen is the last one (stage 6). OMG!!!! I've done all of these singularly (in fact they will ride with 1/2 of my house!!!!) but can't imagine doing all of them on the same day.
KSL.com said:Utah Cycling Race Billed as "America's Toughest"
May 2nd, 2006 @ 12:42pmLance Bandley reporting
Some of the top cycling teams in the country will come here to compete in the Tour of Utah this summer. The race is being billed as "America's Toughest Professional Cycling Race."
The six stage race will be more than 500 miles long. It will wrap around Utah Lake, through the streets of Salt Lake City, and up into the mountains. But all anyone can talk about is the last stage.
David Harward: "It will be an accomplishment to finish."
Draper's David Harward races professionally. Stage 6 starts in Salt Lake City goes to Park City, down to Provo Canyon, up through Sundance and over the Alpine Loop, then down to Alpine over Traverse Mountain through Draper and Sandy and ends at Snowbird. 114 miles in all and 17,000 vertical feet of climbing.
David Harward: "Depending on the race situation coming into the final day, it could absolutely destroy the field before it gets to the Alpine Loop." But the winner may be the best in the world.
I'll be curious as to how they rate the climbs. My guess is
Emigration canyon Cat 2 maybe cat 1
I-80 to parleys summit) Cat 2 (maybe cat 1)
North Fork of Provo Canyon HC maybe Cat 1
Traverse Mountain Cat 2 maybe 3
Little Cottonwood Canyon HC (no doubt on that one.)
Here's a list of the climbs. The park city route I'm sure will be emigration to parley's summit (the jump on at the Mtn dell exit.)
flux.utah.educlimbs.htmlOpen ↗
Traverse Mtn is not on the list but it's basically in my backyard. It goes up 1,200' in 4 miles or so. (EDIT: Here's a link to a map, but not elevations. Those of you with google earth can plug in the coords.) I think there will also be a couple of lower grade climbs thrown in along the way, for good measure. I can't wait. I want to turn Little Cottonwood into Utah's version of the pyrenees!!! (it's not going to happen... 😉 )