Stage 5 - Twin Lab Circuit Race (37 miles): "Every Climb is the Last Climb". This stage was relatively short compared to the others, but it surely wasn't easier. We did six laps of a 6.2 mile (10 kilometer) technical course with a steep monster climb in the middle of each lap. The climb started gradual, but then we made a left turn and it kicked up to about 8%. After a block we made a right and it kicked up to 10%, and then another left where it kicked up yet again! Then another right hand turn where it finally leveled off towards the KOM where (if you could still see straight - I couldn't) you had a view of Downtown Salt Lake City. There were about 15,000 people who lined the streets cheering us on. My name, along with my teammates, was painted on the climb and by the start/finish. It was a pretty epic stage. After the climb we had a rippin' white knuckled descent which led to the flat finish among the roaring crowds.

The ride started fast with several guys racing to the base of the first climb. I got taken to the curb on a right hander, but managed to use the four inches of road I was given to squeak by and stay upright. We hit the climb, which kept going up, up, up, and riders were already off the back on the first lap. Unfortunately, my teammate, Sandy Perrins, who was vying for the best Utah Amateur competition, was taken into a median by a moto, and although he was able to jump the curb and ride through the grass to stay on his bike, he lost momentum and contact with the lead group. My other teammates who had lost contact with the group on the climb, tried to pull him back but the speeds of the peleton were too fast.

The second lap was even faster and more riders lost contact with the leaders. There was no pacing yourself in this race. I had to go as hard as I could each climb to stay in contact. I had the mentality that every climb was the last climb, and just put my head down every lap. I'm pretty sure my heart rate monitor would have blown up if I was wearing it. At the end of lap 2 a breakaway formed of about 10 riders. Lap 3 was a little slower - probably the only lap I didn’t almost puke on the climb, although I still had to ride super hard. The break opened up a small advantage.

Laps 4 and 5 were painful - big surprise there. The break, able to go through the technical parts of the course a little faster, slowly increased their advantage. The final lap we stormed toward the base of the climb and the throttle was wide open at the bottom. I, along with a few others, started to see gaps in front of us. I paced myself but went over the top about 15 seconds behind the group. A few of us worked together, but lost a few more seconds on the flat run-in to the finish. In the breakaway, Chris Baldwin (Toyota United) outsprinted Jake Erker (Symmetrics), who took second and Daniel Ramsey (Successfulliving.com) who placed third. I rolled through 48 seconds behind the field to finish 59th. Louder retained the leaders jersey and the top G.C. spot. I was now 42nd G.C. Next up, the Queen Stage.

Stage 6 - Snowbird Road Race (92 miles): "There's No Place Like Home". This epic stage started in Park City and ended at the Snowbird Ski Resort at 8300' elevation. The race began with about 40 miles of flat, big rollers, and gradual downhill before heading up. The first climb, the Alpine Loop Climb was a Hor Category - about 8 miles long and 2700' of elevation gain. Then we had a long descent which took us to the Category 2 Suncrest climb - about 5 miles and 1400' elevation gain. Finally, after another fast descent and rolling section through a town, we had the Hor Category Snowbird Climb - about 12 miles in length with over 4000' of elevation gain. The final climb continued to get steeper with several 9% gradient sections toward the top.

Like usual, the race began with several riders trying to get into the early move. Having nothing to lose, I went with a few attacks, one of which had a gap over the field, but we were quickly brought back into the fold. Soon thereafter, however, more attacks were made and a group of 10 riders got off the front and began to open up an advantage. Having missed the move, my only goal at this point was to get to the finish line - "home". As we hit the first climb, the breakaway, driven by four TIAA-CREF riders, had 4 minutes on the field. The first few minutes of the climb were not all that bad. But then the attacks came, riders got strung out, and the field began to fall apart. I found myself in a chase group with riders from an assortment of teams. We rolled up the hill at a pretty fast pace, but it was apparently not fast enough for this caliber of a race. By the top of the long Alpine climb, the leaders of the peleton had 4 minutes on us while the breakaway had 8 minutes.

We rolled down the mountain - almost too fast to enjoy the scenery the climb brought to the stage. By the time we hit the base of the second climb, Suncrest, the break was 9 minutes 30 seconds ahead while the field was about 5 minutes. We went pretty hard tempo on this climb, but didn't kill ourselves. We weren't going to catch the field and still had a huge mountain to climb. By the time we crested and completed the descent, with about 25 kilometers to go, we went into, "okay, let's just make home" mode. At the start of the final climb (20 kilometers to go) our shrinking group (several riders had cracked or dropped out of the race) was about 17 minutes down on the leaders. Ahead, half of the riders of the original breakaway had been caught and the field had exploded on the final climb.

In the last 10 kilometers, it was Scott Moninger (Health Net), Glen Chadwick & Burke Swindlehurst (both Navigators) who proved to be the strongest and began to pull back the breakaway riders. However, the climb was a little too short and the riders up the road held them off. Blake Caldwell (TIAA-CREF) attacked to open up a gap which brought him the stage victory. Neil Shirley (KJZZ Composite) placed 2nd, while Phil Zajicek (Navigators) placed 3rd. Moninger came in 6th with Chadwick and Swindlehurst taking 7th and 8th on the stage. Down the mountain, I paced myself until I started to run out of gas about 6 kilometers from the finish, and lost contact with my little chase group. The team car drove behind me and encouraged me to keep the pedals turning. I felt like Floyd Landis when he cracked during the Tour. Except, I wasn't in the Tour, didn't have the yellow jersey, and wasn't trying to defend anything. But, I had the cracking part down cold! Toward the end, it leveled off a bit and I was able to get the cadence above fifty rpm. I made one last effort the final kilometer and crossed the line in 51st place, 27 minutes 38 seconds down. Yes, there's no place like home!!!

The final G.C.: 1st - Scott Moninger (Health Net); 2nd - Glen Chadwick (Navigators); 3rd - Jeff Louder (Health Net); 4th - Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators); 5th - Blake Caldwell (TIAA-CREF); 6th - Chris Wherry (Toyota United); 7th - Cesar Grajales (Navigators). 46th - Dan Vinson (Sienna Development/Goble Knee Clinic/Health Choice).