The Tour of Utah returned in 2008 after taking a year off. We were so excited to see it come back and took the kids up on the big mountain stage to see the racers. For those who don't know what it is, The Tour of Utah is a bicycle race, similar to the Tour de France, but held here in Utah. It doesn't have as much media coverage or the same caliber of riders, but it's still fun and it's local. 
As you can see from the photos, the riders were clumped in several groups. The first group, the biggest, was the overall race contenders. That is where riders like Tyler Hamilton and Freddie Rodriguez were riding. They were going too fast for me to get any good pictures of them. The next groups would be riders who were helping the overall contenders, but were not going to win the overall race, so they didn't need to keep up with the big group (these helpers are called domestiques). The domestiques may go back to the team car and get water bottles for the other team members, or they may ride in front of their team leader to block the wind, which makes the leaders ride a lot easier and gives them the best chance to have "fresh legs" for the last climb. The last few riders were those who were mainly sprinters (and don't do well on the mountain stages) or those domestiques who had been in the bigger group helping and had given all they had on some of the previous climbs for that day.
After these groups went past, and after getting a free water bottle thrown at us, we took off in the car and chased the riders up Little Cottonwood canyon. We had to stop for gas, so we were pretty far behind the leaders and missed seeing them cross the finish line. but we were able to scavenge another water bottle from the side of the canyon road. (as the riders finish their water bottles, they throw them to the side of the road. as in most races, the discarded water bottles don't stay there long as spectators scoop them up pretty quickly.)
We got to the top and walked over to the Rock Racing truck and were lucky enough to see Freddie Rodriguez giving an interview.
We didn't get any pictures with him, because on the other side of the truck was Tyler Hamilton. Quick history on Tyler. He rode with Lance Armstrong on his US Postal Service team for a few years. He left and went to his own team, team CSC, and ended up placing 4th in the Tour de France in 2003. In 2004 he raced in the Olympics and won the gold medal in the individual time trial, but ran up against some contraversy as one of his doping tests came back positive. They always take 2 samples from athletes, but Tyler's second sample had been frozen and they weren't able to get the results from that sample. So, Tyler kept his medal. In that same year, he tested positive in two other samples taken for a win in the Vuelta a Espana (Spain's big cycling race). Tyler's team basically fired him and he had to look for a new team. Though Tyler denies any doping, it's hard to argue against test results. Anyway, Rock Racing picked him up in September 2007 and he has been riding with them, but cannot participate in races with rules against people who have been busted doping. 
I still think Tyler is a decent rider and was thrilled to get a chance to meet him. I was very surprised at how small he is. Here are a few photos.
After we met Tyler, Shelby asked him to sign her shirt. He was very nice and everyone who wanted to get pictures with him was able to. He signed water bottles, shirts, programs, hats, and anything else people would shove at him.
Check out that huge belly!!!! I am 23 weeks along in this picture.
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