Ride report - Salt Lake marathon "bike tour"

For the second year, the Salt Lake City marathon has allowed cyclists
to ride the route before the runners get started. This was my first
time riding a marathon route. All the roads are closed off and there
are police at every intersection along the route, so for 24 miles we
had roads free of cars and never stopped for a traffic signal or stop
sign - that was cool.

The ride has a minimum average speed requirement of 15 mph and a
required finish time of 1 hour and 45 minutes.

We had a really great time. I've never ridden an entire city with all
the streets closed. I'll ride this again next year.

Pros: Closed streets. No very slow riders. Mostly flat or downhill
route. Quick pace. Early morning ride (6:00am start).

Cons: Starting 1,250 riders in a 5 minute window. Constricting the
route from 3 lanes to 2 as all 1,250 riders passed through the start
line. Finish line miles from the start line (where my car was parked).

You can see the route and elevation profile he
http://www.saltlakecycling.com/rides...lmarath06.html