In the summer of 2005, Alex Obbard of Salt Lake was riding his mountain bike as he did several times each week. He was training for a race by riding the Bonneville Shoreline trail when he suddenly found himself flung from his bike.

He ended up concussed, bruised and broken. For two months, Obbard wore a cast around his torso holding his back and chest in place.

In the spring of 2006, Obbard decided to do some extra training for the upcoming mountain biking season since he had lost out on a good part of 2005. Since snow still covers many mountain biking trails in March and April, Obbard hopped on a road bike to give his legs the needed preparation.

When mountain biking season came around, he alternated days between his two bikes and decided to train for a road bike race. Why not the 206-mile Lotoja classic in August that starts in Logan and ends in Jackson, Wyo.? Training started getting more intense and Obbard spent several hours on both his mountain bike and his road bike each week. He completed Lotoja in 2006 and trained for more races in 2007. He applied for Category 4 status in 2008 despite not having completed enough races and was accepted. Now, Obbard, 45, is a Category 3 rider.

"My wife says that I'm making up for the sports I missed out on as a young man," Obbard said.

He wasn't a high school athlete in Boston, where he grew up. He made his way to the University of Pennsylvania and eventually out to Colorado for work, where he met his wife, Susan. They have a 10-year-old son and 8-year-old fraternal twins -- a boy and a girl. However, no one takes to cycling like Alex.

"It's kind of my thing more than it is theirs," Obbard said. "Racing's not always a great spectator sport."

The family does hike and camp together. But even with his family out of town to visit Susan's family in New Jersey, Alex found time to do some hiking by himself. He spent a Sunday climbing Mt. Agassiz, a 12,400-foot peak in the Uintas. Obbard is just an all-around outdoorsman and is able to get his fix most of the time on a bike.

He considers himself an amateur botanist, something he laughs about as his midlife crisis. He can identify every native tree in Utah and has taken trips to Mexico and Costa Rica to do the same. He chronicles his adventures on a blog he calls "Watching the World Wake Up."

"I realized that if I didn't start paying attention then I would never understand the world around me," Obbard said.

Obbard watched Park City wake up on Saturday when he raced the Tour de Park City. The start time was pushed back to 6:10 a.m. as race officials waited for more daylight. Obbard finished the 170-mile ride, considered one of the toughest in the country, in eight hours and 21 minutes, coming in third among Category 3 riders. The top finisher posted a time only 16 minutes faster. It was his second year doing the Tour de Park City.

"I thought they got a lot of the first year kinks out," he said.

He enjoys all of the feed stations, the fact that it starts and ends in the same place -- despite making its way to Evanston -- and the plentiful volunteers. The race even has him taking a break from the Lotoja Classic.

From beginner to top-flight Category 3 cyclist in four seasons, Obbard will likely keep ascending the ranks before settling into the masters division. That is, unless a major crash sparks a new interest.