It's Not Everyday World-Class Athletes Race Through Your Town...

Sure, I've heard of The Tour of Utah--it's a bike race, right?

Yesterday we got to see it first-hand.

And it was awesome!

I don't really follow cycling. I could--it's got a lot of things I like in a sport. It's a team sport, but also an individual one. The courses they ride change depending where they race, and it's human-powered transportation. All cool stuff!

We knew the race was coming through our town so we checked the live feed as the group went through Ogden Canyon. We watched as the leaders kept their distance from the peloton (I am learning the lingo...), and we followed the bikers as they went over Trapper's Loop and up I-84. That's when we decided to drive down the hill and wait for the race to come to us.

There were a lot of people who waited with us. The excitement built and soon cop cars and motorcycles filled the road.

Then came the first group, almost a dozen. I tried videotaping them and taking pictures at the same time. After a few minutes, the main group rode through. In our little town, it's not unusual to see half a dozen bikers on our streets, but I've never seen anything like the main group riding up the road.

We came home and rewound the live feed and watched on the internet what we had just watched live. They raced from Antelope Island to Bountiful, and the last two hills those poor bikers had to climb are brutal! It's hard to climb that hill in my car.

And the bikers did it twice.

No, I haven't really been a fan of the sport, but after seeing my first race, I just might be.