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Show Page 8 StatesmanSpecial Feature Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 From Logan To Jackson By STEVEN CLARK staff writer Start with a helmet, add a state-ofthe-art carbon fiber bicycle, throw in a sleek spandex suit and multiply all of that by 206 miles and what do you get? Anyone from Logan to Jackson, Wyo., could tell you the answer to this oddly formed question. Sept. 12 marked the day when 1,000 cyclists, both professional and amateur, showed up in Cache Valley to embark on one of the most beautiful – and challenging – courses in the United States. The untrained rider would call this a step below the fiery underworld, but to the best trained athletes it is called LOTOJA. The LOTOJA bicycle race is a nationally recognized event where cyclists from all levels and age groups pedal their way through three states along 206 miles of pavement. Starting in Logan, the riders meet early in the morning in order to finish before sunset. Bright, fluorescent and spandex uniforms cover the entirety of the street in downtown Logan. Sponsors such as Lexus, Skull Candy, Spin Cycle and others adorn the riders’ jerseys as they mingle before takeoff. As one Lexus rider put it, they were “just a bunch of friends going for a bike ride on Saturday.” Getting a head start, the Fun Riders left around 5:45 a.m., followed by the men’s professional groups, then the women’s professional groups and the group of citizen riders tallied off the remaining cyclists. Among the groups of cyclists, there were many unusual teams put together. For example, there was a tandem bike team. In fact, there were so many tandem bike teams that they had their own category. Along the seemingly endless ride, there were seven rest areas – or feed zones as they are known – where each rider’s support crew meets them with a baggy filled with food and an energy drink. These support crews follow the bikers to every feed zone possible. For most pro-riders, the feed zone consisted of a quick swig of water, a banana and an energy bar, all while riding their bike and not missing a beat in their pedaling. Some didn’t even bother to stop for any refueling at all in fear that they would somehow lose their place. The only time any pro-rider dismounted his chariot was when nature called. A few spectators even got a glimpse of one pro-team as they all stopped together along the Snake River Canyon to take a group urination break before they continued their ride. Once the bikers hit the Salt River Pass they faced yet another challenge – King of the Mountain. This challenge is won by being the fastest cyclist to climb up the mountain. Easier said than done. This challenge includes a 1,300 feet climb in elevation in11 miles. One rider in particular, Ed Chauner, spoke of his experience climbing the mountain. “It hurt big time,” Chauner said. “I thought the King of the Mountain was the guy who got to the top of the mountain the fastest from the beginning of the race in Logan, not from the bottom to top, so I used all of my energy to get to the top and once I made the turn at the top of the mountain I was spent.” After that, the remainder of the race was through Snake River Canyon, where the scenery itself was enough to keep cyclists motivated through the tedious hills. The bikers’ saving grace when exiting the canyon is seeing the Grand Tetons tower over the valley. When the riders see them they know they’re almost there. The final stretch of the race is a sprint to Jackson. Coming around the bend to see hundreds of support crews waiting at the finish line gets the cyclists’ adrenalin pumping just enough to make it through with one more burst of energy. For Cameron Hoffman of Clearfield, being the first cyclist to see the screaming crowd was not a new thing to him. “I was checking my legs with about 10 kilometers to go to get a good feel if I could get in a good sprint or not and I felt I could, but that’s about all I had,” Hoffman said. The 2009 LOTOJA was a three-peat for the Biker’s Edge rider, who had won both the 2007 and 2008 LOTOJA races. “I guess I have a perfect record but don’t confuse it with easy. This is never an easy race,” he said. “There’s a dozen or so riders that come out here ready. This is what they came for and they are hard, fast and charged up.” Unlike the Tour de France, Hoffman didn’t have a car riding next to him to fill up his champagne glass as he crossed the finish line, and he didn’t have women hanging on either side of him on the podium. Instead, he had bottle of water in his hand, and his two little children crawling on him while sitting in a lawn chair. The first tandem team made its way through the finish line shortly after Hoffman. Tom and Jeanne Petzold, a husband and wife combo from Detroit, Mich., took first place in the tandem bike category. Tom and Jeanne used to compete separately until Tom was injured one year and couldn’t compete, so he stayed as a support for his wife while she raced. “As a spectator I saw how good she was,” Tom said. “I thought, ‘I have an ace in the hole here, I need to take advantage of that.’” “He surprised me when he bought this tandem (bike),” Jeanne said. Since then, the double bike duo has on the last two races in the tandem category. “This year was a race,” Tom said. “The other tandems out there are very good, and it took until about 25 miles to go to get alone. Last year we were alone from mile six (to the end).” USU was represented well by the USU Cycling Club President, Shane Hohman. Hohman finished the race in 9 hours and 55 minutes, a good hour faster than his goal of 11 hours but like most other riders, the trek was not a smooth one. “With about 25 kilometers to go, I flatted out and had to exchange bikes with someone else, which I was just told is illegal,” Hohman said. “They can penalize me if they want. I don’t care. I got a better time than I expected and I’m proud of it.” Logan had another hometown hero in the race; although, he was almost half the age of most of the riders in the competition. Jon Burton, a 17-year-old senior from Sky View High School, finished 14th overall in the Men’s Cat-4 category. Burton has been cycling competitively since he was 15 but started his training around 13. “I started out by just doing my biking merit badge in scouting with my dad, just the 50-miler and that started my interest in cycling,” Burton said. “Then we jumped up to 75 miles and then the year before I first did LOTOJA we made a goal to do 100 miles. And all that time I had just a mountain bike with slick tires, so it took us about 13 hours to do 100 miles.” Apparently the bike made all the difference because Burton finished this year’s LOTOJA in 9 hours and 37 minutes. This was Burton’s fourth LOTOJA, all of which he has finished. Burton said he plans on attending USU next year once he graduates from high school. Even though Burton will continue to ride for Joyride, the bike shop located at 67 N. Main in Logan, he said he will always give a shout out to his beloved Aggies. As other cycling teams made their way to the end, they all had words to describe their feelings once crossing the line. The feeling was generally the same for every rider. The feeling of accomplishing something so much greater than themselves is an overwhelming factor that keeps these bike enthusiasts coming back each year. “It’s fun for us, it’s a big deal, it’s a big family thing and there’s always great support,” Hoffman said. “This race, somehow, it just grows on you.” –steve.clark@aggiemail.usu.edu |