Lofgran's introduction to cycling began when he started working in a bike shop at 14. Four years later, while a student at Taylorsville High, he bought his first road bike and hid it from his parents for a month.

"Other kids spent their money on dates and cars; I spent mine on bikes," he said.

When those other kids invited him to social events, he refused, saying he had to train even though no one could figure out what he was training for.

"I wasn't racing, but I had it in the back of my mind that I would do this," he said.

At 18, he entered a couple of races and beat the pros in an endurance mountain race and finished in the top 20 in the Logan-to-Jackson Hole road race. Then in August 2001 he took off for two years to serve a mission to Brasilia, Brazil. As fate would have it, he didn't even get to ride a bike on his mission. He walked.

Upon his return in the summer of 2003, he began pursuing his cycling dream. Following a training schedule that his coach sends to him monthly, he trains 15 hours a week in addition to the races. In the winter, when the racing season is finished, he rides up to 30 hours a week, much of it on rollers in the basement. He rents videos to keep his mind occupied while he pedals, but by the end of winter he's seen them all twice.

"There are just a few days during the whole year that he's not on the bike — Christmas and my birthday," said Taunya. "When he misses a day on the bike, he gets fidgety."

In the middle of the week, he usually joins a hundred or so cyclists at the Rocky Mountain Raceway for a race around a track that is normally used for auto races. On Fridays, the Lofgrans hurriedly pack their van — two bikes, a tool box, first aid kit, a plastic tub filled with food, a cooler, a bag of clothes and a bag of race clothes — and drive anywhere from three to 14 hours to a race. On the road they share a hotel room, either with another couple or, more often, other male racers.

"Race day is gross," she said. "They all have to use the bathroom, and then I'm the last one to go in there."

Taunya, who knew nothing of the sport two years ago, can tell you the strategy of a race as it unfolds and name every racer as they whir by during a race.

"These guys know what it's like to be a woman," she said. "They shave their legs. They wear a heart monitor that's like a bra. They worry about their weight. And they wear padded shorts."

Taunya is a cyclist's dream wife. She and Bob met when they were in junior high and began dating when he returned from his mission. She rubs out his legs after workouts, attends all his races, learns the nuances and strategy of the sport, serves as his spokeswoman, holds water bottles at water stations, takes him to and from training rides and travels with him.