I was able to get into a limited group of 300 cyclists who will do stage 4 of the Tour of Utah.   Called the 300 Warriors, we start at 6 am on Saturday, 4 hours ahead of the professional riders.    The 99 mile course starts in Park City, Utah, travels over to Midway, down Provo Canyon, then up over the Alpine Loop.  We will then go down American Fork canyon, then over Suncrest to Draper, then take the roads over to Little Cottonwood canyon, then the last big climb, up to Snowbird Ski Resort.

This stage represents over 28% of the horizontal distance and almost half the climbing in the five-day Tour of Utah stage race. Finishing this ride is the equivalent to riding the Tour de France’s Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez.  It is advertised as 99 miles and 14,778 feet of climbing. I am estimating that the the climbing will be a bit less, closer to 11,000 feet.  Here is the profile (click to enlarge).

The steepest section occurs near the end, starting at mile 95, where the grade goes to something like 20% for a quarter of a mile.

Ann will be driving SAG since this event has no support.  I have estimated my arrival time for where we will meet along the course using an estimated average speed of each segment.  Since I have not ridden on some of these roads, these are a rough estimate since I have no log data to use.  In any case, I need to finish before being caught by the pros.  The estimated times really depend on accuracy of the feet of climbing estimate.

Civil twilight is going to be after we start so the start should be dark, and cold according to the weather forecast. I will be fun once the sun comes up and the temperatures warm. I am glad that the weather forecast for tomorrow is a bit cooler but it will be still warmer than I would like on those big climbs.

Categories: Cycling Racing, Warrirors Race TofU
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