Locals enjoy riding in Tour of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Chase Pinkham's first real challenge on a bike came in the Avenues of Salt Lake City when he was just 15 years old.

He'd just taken up cycling and he wanted to see what he was capable of climbing.

"I wanted to climb Terrace Hill," he said smiling. "It was my first major goal on a bike to get up that hill without walking."

Just five years later, he is a professional cyclist who's ridden in the sport's premier events, competing against men he still admires — like fellow Utahns Levi Leipheimer and Jeff Louder.

"It's surreal to be honest," said the 20-year-old who grew up in Sugar House. "It's absolutely fantastic to be here at this event. There aren't very many riders who get the chance to ride in this kind of event in their hometown. These are the roads I've grown up on. These are the streets where I learned to ride a bike."

Because of that, Pinkham feels as much like an ambassador for the state as he does a competitor in what cyclists call "America's Toughest Stage Race" this week — the Tour of Utah. The West High graduate took his Bissell Pro teammates on a ride up Emigration Canyon on Monday morning, where he said he's ridden three times a week every summer.

"You have the emotional attachment to the roads and you're hoping that everyone is going to like what Utah has to offer, and I think they will," he said.

Fellow Utahn and 2008 Tour of Utah champion Jeff Louder echoed Pinkham's sentiments.

"I am just really grateful this event happens," said Louder, who is riding with Team BMC. "It's the perfect venue for cycling."

Louder loves the changes to the course this year.

"They've formulated a race that is difficult at a lot of levels," Louder said. "It's going to test everybody in different ways."

Defending Tour of Utah champion Levi Leipheimer said it was the local cycling community that turned him from a winter sports enthusiast to a cyclist.

"This is where I learned to race," he said. "The roads we're going to race on are where I cut my teeth. It's where I fell in love with the sport."

Leipheimer moved to Utah at age 16 to get serious about Alpine skiing. Instead, he took up professional cycling.

"Salt Lake has a very healthy cycling community," he said. "There is a great racing scene here in Utah."