Cache Valley, Utah
June 7, 2008 102 miles... that's a long way for one day!Our adventure began on Friday, June 6th. Tara, my sister-in-law, and Becca, my neighbor, and I loaded our bikes onto the Xterra and headed north. The starting line for the Little Red Riding Hood Century was in Wellsville, Utah, just over 2 hours north of Orem. Early that same morning, my mom, my sister, Hali, and their friend, Debbie, piled into their vehicle in Canada and headed south for the same cause: to ride 100 miles through beautiful Cache Valley Utah and parts of southern Idaho.
Our two groups met at the Little Red evening bash in Wellsville. We picked up our swag and enjoyed a delicious western style dinner of BBQ chicken, baked potatoes and rolls. After dinner, we headed to our hotel to get ready for the big ride. Wait, did I say hotel? I mean
resort. It was faaancy! We would have been fine with the Crystal Inn up the street, but, long story short, my friend, Mary, had booked a 2-room unit and needed roommates for the night. So, our little group gladly joined in to split the cost. It was great! They had a golf course and everything -- to bad I left my clubs at home! :) Anyway, we got our gear ready, set up Jimmy's bike for Hali, and turned the lights out at about 11pm.
Saturday morning we packed everything up, checked out of the hotel, and headed back to the Wellsville city park. It was quite a site at the park. There were roughly 2,000 women -- all dressed in various shades of pink and red. Some were even decked out in Little Red/Big Bad Wolf costumes. I thought we were pretty festive with our red and white pin wheels taped to our helmets and matching ribbons to boot!
We hit the road at about 8:30, destined to complete the century. The weather was pretty chilly, but the sun was shining so there was hope of warmth as the day went on. Within the first 1o miles, we hit a lovely little patch of hail. Yes, HAIL! Thank goodness it only lasted for a mile or so -- it was painful!! It felt like little needles all over my arms, shoulders, and face. Not fun! But the sun was shining bright, so we knew the hail was only temporary.
The wind was blowing all day though, which makes it hard to ride. Poor Tara was fighting a head cold (which wasn't much better than her bout with strep on our last ride), so the wind was really making things difficult for her. We got a nice little shower just before lunch and it was not fun at all. :) The rest of the group was just a few minutes ahead of Tara and I, so they were at the lunch stop when it started to rain. We came rolling in, soaked and shivering. The Subway sandwiches hit the spot though! We were debating whether or not to catch a sag wagon for a few miles to get out of the rain, but one of the route guys promised that the roads were dry just a mile or so away, so we pushed on.
Luckily, the guy was right and the weather cleared up shortly after the lunch stop. (But the stupid wind was still blowing!) Since we made the 100-mile route cut-off by about 1 minute, we were some of the last riders on the course. It was nice to be the only ones out on the road, but I felt kind of bad for the sag wagon that had to follow us the rest of the way to make sure that everyone made it back safely. What a guy! He even had water in his trunk and filled our bottles up a few times. Talk about service!
We rolled into the city park around 6pm, 102 miles complete!!! It was a great feeling -- both to know that we had accomplished 100+ miles, and to get of that !@#$ seat!! :) We cleaned up as best we could at our vehicles and headed into Logan to grab some dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant that one of the volunteers recommended. It was nummy!! After dinner, we hugged the Canadian group goodbye and headed our separate ways home. What a great day!!
(p.s. Click on the Little Red Riding Hood graphic at the top of the page to see the rest of the photos.)
About Little RedLittle Red is a fully supported, non-competitive, Women-only century. This ride is one of only two women-only metrics in the U.S. The route looped through the Valley on rural & country (paved) roads. The terrain was mostly flat, with the exception of a nice little climb out of a river valley. Last year the Little Red Riding Hood raised over $17,000 which was donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and earmarked for breast cancer research. Honoring that tradition, this year's Little Red has again raised money for some of the most serious issues facing women today.
We are triumphant!!Debbie - my mom and sister's friend from Canada
Becca - my friend and neighbor (a few houses down) in Orem
Lorna - my mom
Ashley - that's me
Hali - my sister (one of four sisters)
Tara - my friend and sister-in-law who lives in Salem, UT
