Little Red Riding Hood Century

(A women-only ride)
Wellsville, Utah
Saturday, June 6, 2009
103 miles

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Little Red's mission:
"We strive to create an environment that promotes a strong sisterhood for exercising our bodies and clearing our head for a day of cycling in beautiful Cache Valley. As a strong sisterhood we help raise money for women's cancer research. We're proud of LRRH's 2009 charity — University of Utah's Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, lead by Dr. Mario Capecchi, a 2008 Noble Prize recipient. "

This event actually started on Friday evening with a wonderful Hawaiian Luau. My mom and sister, Hali, drove down from Canada and met me, Tara (my sister-in-law) and Becca (my neighbor friend) in Wellsville. We checked in, picked up our goodie bags, then got in line for the feast. It was delicious! Becca's spin class buddy, Melanie, also joined us for the festivities. For entertainment they had a Hawaiian family do some dancing while the dad played the ukelele and sang. For the final act, the dad even did a fire dance. It was awesome! The weather cooperated for the most part. There was a little stretch where the wind picked up and the clouds looked ready to dump some rain, but luckily we stayed dry the whole night. After the entertainment was done, we headed to our favorite spot in Logan--Charlie's Ice Cream--for some dessert. Then we were off to the hotel to get our gear ready.

Saturday morning was cloudy and it had rained pretty hard throughout the night. But the rain stayed away for most of the morning, so that was nice. Tara's knee had been bugging her lately (she had knee surgery last year) and wasn't sure if she would be able to ride. :( She decided to forgoe the century and maybe try to do one of the shorter distances. So Hali, Becca, my mom and I headed to the starting line bright and early. We grabbed a few bites of breakfast and then got in line for the 7:30 am start. This year was nice because they did staggered start times for the different distance options. The 100-milers started first, then the shorter distances started between 8:30 and 10 am. That helped a TON because it would have been completely insane with 3,000 women starting all at once!


We got off to a good start and had a bunch of miles under our seats in no time. Things were going great and at about mile 40 we passed a house that had a bunch of little puppies running around in the front yard. As soon as I saw they were Boxer puppies, I HAD to stop! My mom and sister came and petted them with me while dear Becca held our bikes with patience. :) After ooo-ing and aww-ing for a few minutes, we made ourselves get back on the road.

There was a rest stop shortly after that where we refilled our water bottles and grabbed some snacks to keep our energy up. Things were going far too well... As we got back on our bikes to head out on the next leg, this lady came speeding into the rest stop just as my mom was starting out on her bike. The lady whizzed by right in front of my mom, didn't run into her (thank goodness) but startled her and caused her to lose her balance and fall over. Her left foot was already clipped into her pedal, so of course that's the side you do down on. She fell clean over, bike and all. I felt so bad for her! And I was ready to smack that lady! But, my mom is a trooper so she jumped right up and was ready to go. Then some other ladies pointed out that she was bleeding pretty badly. Yikes! Mom hadn't even noticed, but she looked down at the inside of her right ankle and it was definitely bleeding. Apparently when she fell, her right leg was free and she must have kicked it back or something and caught her leg on the big, jaggy chain ring. Ouch!!! She had 4 good-size gouges above her ankle and a few more scrapes from the chain ring. We went over to the little first-aid truck to see if they had some gauze or something. The first-aid lady wanted one of the paramedics to take a look at it (the gouges were fairly deep and had grease from the chain in them), but when they said it would cost mom an ambulance ride back to Utah (the route crossed into Idaho), she politely declined. So we rinsed it out as best we could, wrapped it up with gauze and some tape and we were on our way. What can I say, mom is a tough cookie! :)

As we were making our way across the northern most part of the route, the rain finally decided to fall. It started out as a light sprinkle, but quickly turned into a downpour. In just a few minutes we were soaked from head to toe, water filling up our shoes. But we pedaled on, slowing our pace in case it was slippery. Of course, this part of the route is where there's a nice descent into a valley, followed by a pretty big climb out of the valley. So we couldn't get a whole lot of speed to help us up the other side, but that really only helps for the first 50 yards or so anyway. When I reached the top of the hill, I pulled off to the side to wait for Hali and mom. (Mom's leg was threatening a charlie horse, so she had to walk for a bit.) Not one minute after I stopped, Tara called my cell phone. Perfect timing! She was hanging out at the park in Wellsville catching up on work stuff. She didn't end up riding because her knee was really bothering her. So she was patiently awaiting our return. What a sweetheart!

Lunch was around mile 62 and it was delicious! A Subway turkey sandwich never tasted so good. After we filled our bellies, we headed to the first aid table to get some big band-aids for mom. The gauze and tape didn't hold up very well in the monsoon. Once mom was bandaged up we were on the road again. The last 40 miles went well. Tara drove along the route from the finish line and caught up to us when we had about 5 miles to go. She drove back and forth, getting pictures as we rode by. It was great to have our own cheerleader! She just rocks. :)

We made it back to the park in Wellsville while the party was still thumping. It was great. We took a bunch of pictures, loaded our bikes on the cars, and headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Logan. We went to the same place after Little Red last year and I think it's becoming a tradition.

After dinner, mom, Hali and I headed back to the hotel while everyone else headed home. They figured it wasn't worth trying to start driving back to Canada after a long days' ride, so we booked Saturday night at the hotel so we could sit in the hot tub and get a good nights' rest. We stopped at Smith's on our way back to pick up some epsom salts for mom to soak her leg in, along with a couple pints of Ben & Jerry's. Hey, we had to replenish the calories that we just burned!! ;) The hot tub was delightful--we'll definitely do that from now on. Sunday morning we packed up and headed our separate ways home. Another century under the seat!

Facts from my Garmin:
Distance: 103.2
Time in saddle: 08:12.20
Calories: 4854
Average speed: 12.6 mph

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Cycle Salt Lake Century

Salt Lake City, Utah
May 16, 2009
105 miles

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Considering that I haven't ridden my bike since the Zion Century in February, and my attendance at the gym has been sporadic at best, I was a little nervous about this ride. But I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. My friend, Becca, and her husband picked me up at 6 am and we headed up to the SLC Fairgrounds. We picked up our free t-shirt and goodie bags and were ready to start by 7:30 am. We hooked up with a friend of Rich's named Olly (short for Oliver) and he rode with us. There were around 1,500 people signed up for the ride, so the first few miles were pretty busy. Luckily the police had closed down a few of the roads and were controlling all of the intersections, so we just rolled right on through. It was quite a site I'm sure. We made it to the first rest stop about 18 miles into the ride pretty quickly. There were a lot of people who got flat tires along the way, but luckily we made it through unscathed. The route was pretty much flat, which was good for my weak legs. If there had been any major hills I would have been in bad shape! We hit the next rest stop, filled up our water bottles, and continued out to Antelope Island.

Along the route, Rich and Becca were motoring along and I was too tired to try and keep up. Luckily Olly was going a slightly slower pace, so I hung out with him for a while. We were chatting as we were riding along and learned that we had something in common. Long story short, his ex-in-laws were from Cardston, Alberta, near where I grew up. And, to make things even funnier, the aunt and uncle of his ex were the parents of a boy I dated for a while in high school. I was cracking up! Talk about a small world. Anyway...

I had only been to Antelope Island once before, but that was last year on the Antelope Island by Moonlight ride, so it was dark when we started anyway. So this was the first time I've been there during the day. It was quite pretty! Although I could have done without the brine smell and the bazillions of bugs. It was rather disgusting, actually. Riding toward the island on the cause way, there was a stretch of about a mile where it was like we were riding through a rainstorm of bugs. It was hard to breathe because you'd inevitably suck a bug (or five) into your mouth or up your nose. Aaack! That was miserable. But, once we got past that it was much more bearable. We rode a small loop on the island and then headed back towards Farmington. The wall of bugs had moved by the time we headed back, so that was nice.

We stopped at the lunch stop at about mile 70 and were glad that we were almost 3/4 of the way through. It was a beautiful, sunny day with hardly any wind. The last 30 miles covered the same route that we started on, so it was nice to know what was ahead and that there weren't any major hills waiting for us. We kept a pretty good pace and made it back to the car around 3:30 pm. That was by far my fastest century! It certainly helped that the route was flat and the weather was great, so we didn't have any hills or wind to slow us down. Not to mention, Rich is a work horse and pulled us along faster than I would have gone on my own. :) It was good for me though. I will definitely do this ride again in the future!

Facts from my Garmin:
Distance: 105.7
Time in saddle: 06:21.35
Calories: 5660
Average speed: 16.6 mph




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300 Warriors (Tour of Utah)

Park City to Snowbird, UT
Saturday, August 16, 2008

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First of all, what the heck is 300 Warriors?! Well, long story short, it's the 4th stage of the Tour of Utah pro race. They opened up the route to the first 300 (lucky?) people who signed up and we got a 4-hour head start on the pros. The route covered 99 miles, 14,778 vertical feet and is the equivalent to riding the Tour de France’s Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. Get a full description of the ride here or check out the elevation charts below. The course started in Park City, Utah, traveled over to Kamas then down to Midway, down Provo Canyon, then up over the Alpine Loop. We then went down American Fork canyon, then over Suncrest to Draper, then take the roads over to Little Cottonwood canyon, then the last big climb, up to Snowbird Ski Resort. Phew! So here's the report...

I signed up for this ride in May after I got an email from Blackbottoms Cycle about it. I'm not entirely sure how I got on their mailing list, but I was excited to hear about this ride. When I found that over 200 people had already signed up within a day of the email being sent, I quickly signed up so I wouldn't miss out on this opportunity. I was #229 of 300. It sold out that weekend. Jimmy was rather excited to be my "SAG support," as this was a self-supported ride. He was even trying to find someone who had a Subaru Outback so that he could look as official as possible. heehee! As time went by, I was a little nervous about doing it all by myself though. Even though Jimmy would be stopped along the way to give me snacks and water, I was hoping to find someone who would ride along with me and push me along. Well, as I was going on rides around town with Becca (my friend and neighbor), she was getting excited about trying to get into the ride. Long story short, just a week before the ride, another girl got injured and wasn't able to do the 300 Warriors, so Becca was able to purchase her spot. Woohoo! I was SO happy!



August 16th arrived and we left the house, dark and early, at 4:45 am so we could make it up to Park City and be ready at the starting line by 6 am. It was FREEZING cold. As we were getting all geared up, I realized that I had forgotten my Garmin (bike computer) at the house....NOOO!!! That fancy little device records speed, distance, heart rate, time, elevation, route, etc. I was so bummed. But, life goes on.

The big group rolled out of the parking lot just after 6 am. It was still dark, and very, very cold. As we headed out of town towards Kamas, Becca and I had to stay close to people with headlamps, since we didn't have any lighting of our own (doh!). Plus, we knew that it was going to warm up before too long, so we just had shorts and windbreakers on, and short-fingered gloves. I don't think my fingers have ever been so cold!! I'm definitely going to dress warmer next year and then peel off layers as needed.

There was a pretty good climb and descent before Kamas, then it was smooth sailing through Francis and back to the main road at Jordanelle Reservoir. The hill from the dam to highway 40 was awesome. I bet I got up to almost 50 mph. (I'd know exactly what speed I got up to if I hadn't forgotten my Garmin. grrrr!) We met up with Jimmy for our first rest stop just after we crossed hwy 40 and were headed to Midway. After grabbing a quick snack, we were back on our bikes for the next leg. By then we were about 30 miles into the ride.


Going through Midway and out towards hwy 189 wasn't bad. We were a little warmer by then, but not much. As we cruised along Deer Creek Reservoir, there were a few rolling hills, but all in all it was alright. The only problem we encountered was a particular group of riders who had a sag driver who had NO CLUE what they were doing. The roads weren't closed for us or anything, so we were out in traffic just like any other day. The ride coordinator had sent out several emails about telling your sag driver to leapfrog you and only stop in places that would be safe for everyone and not cause traffic problems. And, if nothing else, DON'T drive behind your riders at 10-15 mph on the roads. You think that would just be common sense... but not for these folks. Their big white truck was blocking the road the whole time. I was happy to see them pass and get away from me!

Things were much better once the road opened up to the two lanes of Provo Canyon. We coasted down most of the way and made pretty good time. We met up with Jimmy again at the turnoff to Sundance / Alpine Loop. Becca and I had done the loop before, so we knew what we were in for. Which may not have been a good thing. :) We loaded up on water, Gatorade, and ate peanut butter & jelly sandwich to fuel up for the climb. I left my windbreaker with Jimmy since I knew I'd be working up a sweat and then we headed up the road. As we were grunting up the hills, a few skinny little dudes would pass by like they weren't even trying. It was so depressing! I was tempted to run into them or something, just to slow them down. ;)~ Just kidding! I just wish I could climb that well!

We made it to Aspen Grove and met Jimmy one last time on the Alpine Loop segment. They asked sag drivers to not go past Aspen Grove because the road narrowed so much, and the descent down American Fork canyon would be easy. I thought we made good time heading up to the summit. It was especially fun because people were already sitting out, saving spots to watch the pros come by later on, so they would clap and cheer as we pedaled by. By that point, I needed that enouragement! We made it to the top at about mile 55 and then zoomed down the other side into American Fork. Traffic was pretty busy as we came out of the canyon, so that was a little scary at times.

At about mile 70 we turned onto the road that leads to Suncrest (aka Traverse Mountain) and met Jimmy for another recharge before climbing over Suncrest. The route map says that it's only about 5 miles to the top of Suncrest... but it felt like 20. By then the sun was beating down on us and we were beat. We had started up this climb on a ride that we did a couple of months earlier, but we didn't go all the way to the top that time. We turned around at a point where we thought we could see the summit... well, we learned the hard way that it wasn't the summit at all. We reached our faux summit and were very disappointed to see it curve around and up to another hill. Ugh!! After what seemed like hours, we made it to the actual summit of Suncrest. Woohoo!! Then we had another descent into Draper where we took the surface roads to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

When we got into Draper, Jimmy was a sweetheart and stopped at each place that we needed to turn so we didn't have to look at our maps or worry about getting lost. By now we had the pros hot on our tails, so we didn't want to waste any time. (I'm amazed at how fast those guys can ride!) We wanted to get as far as we could before they made us stop to let the pros go by. As we rode through town, I was somewhat familiar with the route because it was the same way that Christine (my sister) and I used to go when we were driving to Snowbird to go snowboarding back in the day. ;) But I have to say, I remember it being a lot shorter! And I don't remember it being so dang hilly!! It was like a rollercoaster going along Wasatch Blvd!

We made it to the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon just before the pros caught us. I was pretty please that we made it that far! So we stopped and waited to watch them zoom by. I'd never seen a professional race in person before, so it was really cool to see them go by in their peleton with the support cars right behind. There were a couple groups that went by, then a few stragglers. We ended up waiting there for about an hour, so that really helped the lactic acid build up in our legs. ;) By then it was boiling hot and we were ready to be done. But, we pressed on. After all, there were only 8 little miles left! haha!

We crawled up the canyon, getting cheered along by all the people who were there to see the pros. About a couple miles up the canyon, I looked in my little helmet mirror and saw another group of pros coming up behind us. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to stop or what, but I knew that if I stopped I would have a hard time starting again, so we just got as far to the right as we could and kept pedaling. The riders enveloped us and slowly passed by. It was actually pretty cool! That was exciting for a minute, but then reality set back in and I was back to feeling miserable. We were about 3 miles from the top and we stopped for another rest. By this point, Becca was having bad stomach cramps and couldn't go on. She'd been sick for the last few weeks and wasn't feeling great when we started out anyway, so I was proud that she made it as far as she did. So she said she was going to wait for Jimmy, but I had to keep going. :) (Jimmy was somewhere behind us--he hadn't eaten lunch all day so he went to grab something--so we knew he would be coming eventually.) So I trudged on...

Those last few miles were the hardest by far. I have never been so tired, hot, sore, or weak, in my life. As I was making my way up, spectators from the finish line were already heading down the canyon and would honk and cheer as they passed by. It was encouraging, but at the same time disappointing because that meant the party at the top was already over. I think it took me well over an hour just to go that last bit. It was horrible!! But at the same time, rewarding. My legs were so weak I could hardly pedal. I even gave Becca's bike a try (because it has a few more gears) but, sadly, it wasn't much different than my bike. I kept leap-frogging a few old guys that were battling along like I was, so that gave me something to shoot for. "I gotta beat the old guy!" I kept telling myself. :D

Finally... I made it to the first entrance of Snowbird. Hallelujah!!!! It was rather anticlimactic because everyone had already left and the clean up crew was already in action. But we took pictures anyway to prove that we made it. :) All in all it was a great ride and I would do it again -- I'm just going to train a LOT more next time!

Courage Classic 2008

Copper Mountain, CO (map it)
July 26-28, 2008

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Friday, July 25: Road Trip

Mom arrived with my sister, Hali, and her 4 kids on Tuesday of this week. It was fun to have them in town and spend a few nights playing Rockband with the gang. Even though the video game only had room for 4 players at a time, the rest of us were entertained by their performances as well as Xochitl and Oscar running around trying to decide which kid to attack (in a friendly way, of course). Friday morning, I headed up to Heather's house (another sister) to pick up Mikell (her husband) and my mom. We loaded their bikes onto the Xterra and headed for Salem (just south of Spanish Fork). We met up with Tara (Jimmy's sister), Sonya (Tara's friend) and Wilma (my mother-in-law) at their house and began the caravan to Colorado. The drive went pretty smooth and we arrived at Copper Mountain about 6 hours later. It was overcast and the roads were wet, so we'd just missed a little rain storm.

David & Sandy and their kids (Jimmy's brother's family) had already arrived from Longmont, CO, so they showed us to our rooms in the condo. Sandy had reserved a very nice condo that was right next to the main registration building, so we didn't have to walk very far to register for the weekend's ride. Since the meal plans that we purchased from the tour didn't start until the next morning, we ordered pizza and got our bikes ready for the starting day. I wish I could say we got to be early so that we would be well rested for the big ride over Vail Pass, but with this being our 3^rd year at Courage Classic, and never getting to bed before midnight, I knew that it would be impossible. :) There are just so many little things to put together, organize, think it through a thousand times, and keep asking yourself, “Do I have everything?!” Shortly before we arrived at Copper, I mentioned that I needed to remember to meet up with our team captain in the morning to pick up my jersey. It should have been mailed to me the week before, but for whatever reason, it was forgotten. So the team captain said she would have it for me at the starting line. As I mentioned that, mom had a puzzled look on her face and asked “...do I have MY jersey?” She thought about it for a minute and realized that she hadn't received it either. We tried to figure out where it might have ended up, and thought that it was probably sitting in Babb, MT, at the address that mom gave them when they asked for mailing addresses several weeks earlier. We didn't realize that they would mail them so close to the event date, and mom headed to Utah a few days early, so they must have crossed paths with the mailman. Doh! We tried to get a hold of the team captain to see if there were any extra jerseys or shorts that mom could use instead, but we just got her voicemail. Oh well. At least mom had the team training jersey that she could wear if all else failed. After all of that, I think we got to bed shortly after midnight, which is actually the earliest we've managed in the last 3 years. Hopefully we'll figure out how to speed up the whole process over then next few years. :)

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Saturday, July 26: Leadville to Copper Mountain

We were up dark and early this morning. We drove the Xterra to Leadville with the plan to leave it there for the weekend. The last day's ride ends in Leadville, so we needed to leave a vehicle there the first day otherwise we'd end up with more vehicles than drivers at Copper (since most of us were riding our bikes from Copper). They served breakfast at the starting line and we looked around for our team captain. I was able to get my jersey from her, but she said she didn't have any extras, so mom was out of luck. But at least she had her training jersey so she could still wear the team colors! We put our helmets on and jumped on our bikes.

The first few miles were great—mostly downhill. There was a little road construction along the route, so we had to ride on muddy gravel for a bit. That was a little tricky, not to mention frustrating since I was getting my pretty bike all dirty!! ;) But after a few miles we were back on pavement. There was a good climb to the first rest stop, but, as always, what goes up must come down, so we had a wonderful ~10 mile descent down the other side.

We made it to lunch in fairly good time...but the big climb up Vail was still to come. Mikell and David ended up getting pretty far ahead of us, so Tara, Sandy, my mom and I stuck together. A couple of miles past the lunch stop, Sandy was not feeling well at all. She'd been battling a nasty cold and stomach ache, so she wasn't feeling 100% to begin with. Then lunch didn't sit well with her at all. She and Tara sent me and my mom ahead and said they'd take the sag wagon if they needed to. So, we pushed on. It was getting hotter and hotter as we made our way to the last rest stop before Vail Pass. We filled up on water and grabbed a couple of snacks. The next part of the route was on an old road turned bike path, then it branched off to a regular bike path for the rest of the day's ride. It was nice to get off the roads and not have to share with traffic anymore! As we climbed steadily along the path, we checked the time and noticed it was getting close to 3pm which is when the afternoon thunder showers usually roll through. We were hoping that we would make it back before they hit, but we weren't quite so lucky. Just as we approached the fork in the route where the narrower bike path begins, we started feeling rain drops which quickly turned into a full-on shower. We took cover under a tree-like bush, but it wasn't much better than being right out in the open. The rain drops were enormous and we were drenched in minutes. We saw a few lightening flashes, heard the thunder soon after, and joked about getting struck by lightening. Just then, there was a HUGE crack of thunder—I even squealed! (And I'm not a squealer!) Once that happened, we decided to just keep moving. We were already soaked, so it's not like we could get any wetter! We pushed on, barely able to see with rain running off the front of our helmets. At least it gave us a chance to get warmed up a bit. :) The rain died down as we went along and had pretty much stopped by the time we reached the rest stop, about an hour after the rain started. Just before we reached the rest stop, Tara called on my cell phone and said that she and Sandy were waiting for us just a little ways past the rest stop and would ride down into Copper with us (it's about 5 miles downhill). It was nice to know that we would have some company on the last leg! We grabbed some cookies at the rest stop and hurried to get back on our bikes as we could feel our muscles tightening up from the cold. The last few miles were the coldest I've ever been on a bike. Normally I enjoy going downhill, but the path had a lot of turns to watch out for, and it was still wet, so we had to ride our brakes the whole way down. That's not easy when your fingers are numb!! Finally, we rolled triumphantly into Copper Mountain where the rest of the group was waiting to cheer for us as we crossed the finish line. It was great!

We headed back to the condo to take a nice hot shower before dinner. Then, we spoiled ourselves with a 60-minute massage. That's the only way to end a day of cycling!

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Sunday, July 27 Copper Mountain, Ute Pass, Breckenridge

Today's route was a little nicer because we started and ended at Copper Mountain, but it was also the day of the century route, so I was dreading it a bit. ;) As one of my fundraising incentives, I promised to do the century route (that's 100 miles) if I raised over $500. I made it to $450 and one of my coworkers, SKye, made a second donation to make sure that I had to do the 100 miles. Gee, THANKS SKye! ;)

So, dark and early, at 6:45 am, we hit the road. David had a few other friends who were doing the century option, so we had a nice little group to form a "pace line." (That's what you see all the racers doing; riding a few inches behind each other and drafting off the lead rider.) It turned out to be a pretty good system, and the lead rider is in the front for only a couple of minutes, so you don't get burned out very fast.

We made great time out to the base of Ute Pass, which is the first big climb of the day. There was a rest stop right at the base, about 27 miles into the route, so we stopped there for a bit to fuel up for the ~7 mile climb to the summit. Not long after we started up the road, the guys had pulled ahead and Shannon (one of the guys' wife) and I trudged along. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the day was warming up nicely (or, not so nicely, depending on how you want to look at it). After a long haul, we made it to the summit. But, of course, that wasn't the end. There were still 3 more miles until the turnaround point of the Ute Pass leg. It was straight downhill to the turnaround, so that was great. But then we had to climb right back up it. Ugh! It was a nice feeling to make it back to the summit, then we had a nice long descent back the way we came. I even hit my record speed of 47 mph. Woohoo! (Don't tell my mom, though.) ;) It was great fun, but I did have a bit of a scare... When I was about a mile from the rest stop, as I was leaning forward over my handlebars to be more aerodynamic, I heard a short "pssh, pssh, pssh" sound coming from my front tire. I kept an eye on my tire to see if there was a rock or something sharp stuck in it, but I couldn't see anything. Then, my wheel started wobbling/shimmying. That's NOT good! So I stopped as soon as I could to see what was going on. As I got off my bike, I could see that my front tire was flat. Doh! So, I ended up walking my bike the last mile or so to the rest stop. I was feeling pretty silly, walking my bike as everyone was zooming by. But I got a big grin on my face when i saw my mom emerge from the rest stop crowd, waving her arms and taking pictures of me walking along. I didn't realize that their route came out that way too, so I was surprised to see her there. It was great! And, I can't really complain too much about getting a flat since that was my first flat tire ever. Not too shabby considering I've gone about 3,000 miles since I started riding! Anyway, David made quick work of changing my tire tube and we were ready to head out again.

We got back in our pace line and cruised 20 miles back on the main road to the next leg of the ride. We hooked up to a bike path for the next 15 miles to lunch. Our group got a little spread out along the way to lunch, but I was only a few minutes behind the guys, so I was pretty proud of myself for that. We ate lunch at Breckenridge High School and hopped back on the trail back to Copper Mountain. We were under a bit of a time crunch because the team picture was going to be taken at 4pm. Last year, we literally rolled in from the century, got off our bikes, and jumped in the picture. We didn't want to cut it that close again this year! With about 8 miles to go, we ran into "our other half" again (mom, Mikell, Tara, and Sandy) when their route intersected with ours. I was happy to see them again, and I got to ride the last few miles into Copper Mountain with my mom, so I was happy about that. :) We made it back with time to spare for the photo, enjoyed some dinner, and then went for massages once more. I could get used to that!

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Monday, July 28, Copper Mountain to Leadville

After all of our fun riding over the last 2 days, we decided to take it a little easier today. In past years, we've done the Turquoise Lake option which adds about 10 miles, but it's a hard 10 miles with a lot of climbing. We wouldn't get done until pretty late in the day, the finish line BBQ would be pretty much over, and by the time we showered and got on the road to head home, it was already ~6pm with a 7 hour drive ahead of us. Yuck! So, we chose to skip the Turquoise Lake loop and finish a little earlier. We still had a long climb from Copper Mountain over Fremont Pass, but from there it was all down hill and flat into Leadville. It was great! David was gun ho to do the loop, so he went ahead and did it on his own. The rest of us, however, finished with about 30 miles under our seats and we were perfectly happy with that. The finish line party was still kicking and there was plenty of food. We took quick, cold showers there at the high school (which was an interesting experience, eh mom?), loaded up the bikes and headed home. It was another great year at Courage Classic!!

Antelope Island by Moonlight Bicycle Ride

Syracuse, UT
July 18, 2008

After a 69-mile ride earlier that day (in preparation for the 300 Warriors ride), I hopped into the car with my sister-in-law Tara and we headed north to Davis County for the Antelope Island by Moonlight bicycle ride. It's a popular, family friendly bike ride at Antelope Island State Park, in the middle of Great Salt Lake. The ride started at 10:00pm and was lit by the full moon. The 24-mile route went from the Marina to the historic Fielding Garr Ranch and back. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of my own from the event, but I got this one from another webpage just for kicks. The theme was “Creatures of the Night,” so we saw several people decked out in various costumes and a lot of glow stick jewelry. Some folks even had their bikes outlined with neon necklaces (tires and all) and I was very jealous. I'm putting that on the list for next year! It was a great night, the weather was warm, and we had a nice tailwind when we started out. Luckily the bugs didn't bother us much once we left the car and got off the causeway—same with the stench wafting off the lake.

The ride back to the car was a little more difficult, since that tailwind had turned into a head wind, but we pushed on. We finished the ride around 12:30 am and got home about 2 am. Luckily I could sleep in on Saturday!!

Bike for the Cure Century

Spring City, UT
June 21, 2008

Bike for the Cure Century

Well, I have yet another century under my seat. :) Yesterday, my friend, Becca, and I headed south for the Bike for the Cure Century. We left Orem bright and early at 5:30 am and arrived in Spring City shortly after 7 am. We signed in, got the bikes ready to go and rolled out just before 8 am. The weather was clear and sunny, and got pretty hot as the day went on. After 3 pretty good climbs, followed by fun descents on the way back, we hit the lunch stop around 1:30 pm. With 60 miles already done, we were glad that there were only 40 left to go.

As we approached the last few miles before the last rest stop, we were running out of steam. The rest stop was a welcomed sight, along with their cold water, fresh fruit, and granola bars. I even put my head under the water spigot to cool off. It felt great! The last 20 miles were a challenge -- but we did it!!! We enjoyed a nice little dinner at a local diner and headed home.

The route:

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Little Red Riding Hood Century

Cache Valley, Utah
June 7, 2008

Little Red Riding Hood Century 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 Red
Little 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!!

From L to R:
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

MS 150 Bicycle Tour - Washington DC

I had a great trip to our Nation's Capital. I flew out with my sister-in-law, Tara, to visit my other sister-in-law, Jennifer, who lives in Alexandria; just a few minutes south of DC. All of us signed up for the MS 150, a bicycle ride on May 17 & 18, 2008 which raises funds for Multiple Sclerosis. It was great!

Feel free to view my album on Shutterfly and read my daily reports below.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tara and I headed for the Salt Lake airport this morning and arrived at the Reagan airport shortly after 4pm EDT. Jennifer met us at the airport and we met little Coco (short for Coconut), her new French Bulldog puppy. She's super cute and reminded me of a little alien piglet. :)

Rather than dealing with the hassle and expense of shipping my bike to DC, I reserved a bike rental from a nearby bike shop. The bike I rented wasn't quite as pretty as my new set of wheels, but it should work just fine. It's a Bianchi Elle; snow pea green with cool floral designs, so it's still somewhat girly. :)~

We got a tour of Jennifer's town home and met her roommates as well. One of her roommates had just graduated from law school, so she was hosting a little party and BBQ at the house, so we got to enjoy some great BBQ and homemade desserts tonight. It was delicious!


Friday, May 16, 2008
Earlier this week, Tara found out that she had strep throat and a sinus infection to boot. So, despite a couple of shots at the doctor's office and prescriptions for antibiotics, she was still feeling pretty crappy. We slept in and got off to a slow start this morning—which was perfectly fine with me. I am more than happy to sleep in whenever I can! Tara cooked some delicious pancakes for brunch and then we were off to see the sights. Jennifer had to get some work done, so she dropped us off at the Arlington Cemetery and went back home. Tara and I went straight up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where we were able to see the changing of the guard just a few minutes after we got there. (They do it every hour.) I'd never seen that before, so it was a very cool experience. We also got to see them change the wreath that was sitting on the walkway. I'm not sure if it's there all the time, or if it was something special they were doing for Memorial Day since the wreath's had names from different elementary schools on them, but it was pretty neat to see. A couple of officers brought out a new wreath, did a small exchange with a couple of students from the school, and then another officer played Taps on the trumpet. It was very moving.

After we walked around the cemetery for a while, we walked across the bridge to see the other monuments that were nearby. We saw the Korean War exhibit, WWII memorial, Vietnam memorial, and the Lincoln memorial. It was getting late in the afternoon, and a bit chilly, so we headed back to the metro station to catch the train back to Jennifer's neighborhood. We had dinner at a delicious Southern food restaurant where I enjoyed a wonderful combination of pecan chicken with orange chutney, and mashed potatoes, butternut squash, and cheesy grits on the side. Of course, knowing that we're riding 100 miles tomorrow, we HAD to get dessert! So I treated myself to a decadent fudge brownie sundae. Perfect! :)


Saturday, May 17, 2008
We got up at the crack of dawn (maybe even earlier) to hit the road to the starting point of our bike ride. It was about an hour away in a town called Purcellville in Virginia. Tara had a fever yesterday and was feeling pretty crappy this morning, so she wasn't sure if she'd even be able to ride. But, she was determined to try a few miles at least. She had shipped her bike out a couple weeks earlier and raised $300 in donations for the event, so she wanted to at least try and ride with us. She made it to the first rest stop and decided to call it a day. Poor girl! She rode back with Eric (Jennifer's fiance) to hang out at Jennifer's for the rest of the day. I was glad we could ride a few miles together though.

Jennifer, Michelle (Jennifer's roommate),and I continued on, aiming for the 100 mile finish. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. We passed a lot of farms and beautiful homes, and I learned what “rolling hills” really means. It was like a roller coaster, mile after mile, up and down. At first it was pretty fun. We'd cruise down the hill, get up to 25-30 mph, make it most of the way up the next hill, shift down and reach the top, then repeat. For a while we kept a pretty good pace, but then our legs started turning into spaghetti. Each rest stop was a welcomed site where we could wolf down some orange slices, banana, potato chips, etc. in an attempt to rejuvenate our muscles and give us the energy to continue. Since we got of to a bit of a late start, and were having a hard time keeping a steady pace with all of the hills, it wasn't long before we were at the end of the pack. The volunteers at the rest stops kept telling us that they were going to keep the lunch stop open until everyone made it through, so we were glad to hear that we could get some real food soon. For whatever reason, lunch was at mile 67 (a little far in my opinion), so we were hurtin' at the last couple of rest stops before lunch. So, at the last stop, about 10 miles before lunch, we called Eric to come and pick us up at lunch rather than the end of the route. Plus, it was getting pretty late in the day and we knew we wouldn't be able to do the full 100 miles before they started closing the route. So, we continued on to the lunch stop to meet Eric. When we were about a mile and a half away from the lunch stop, we came upon a T in the road. The signs and arrows that we'd been following all along the route were nowhere to be found.... eeek! We had no idea which way we were supposed to go. Luckily, there was a sag wagon on the corner so we asked them which way lunch was. With a somewhat concerned look on her face, one of the volunteers explained that they had started to take down the signs because they had to reuse them for the next day's route. Doh! She told us how to get to lunch, but then informed us that they had closed the lunch stop about 1.5 hrs earlier because they were told that the last of the riders had already gone through. Doh!! We new that there were more people behind us, so there were obviously some communication issues between the volunteers at the various rest stops. So, long story short, we ended up catching a ride with the sag wagon back to the last rest stop that we were at. Eric picked us up there and we headed back home.

After we got home and showered up, we went out to dinner to reward ourselves for the day's ride. We were excited for The Cheesecake Factory, and little Coco came along as well. A lot of the restaurants have outdoor seating, so people bring their dogs to dinner and just sit outside with them. It's great! Well, we arrived at The Cheesecake Factory and learned that they only had outdoor seating for 4. Since there was 5 in our group, we decided to try another nearby restaurant with outdoor seating. They had a larger table, but it was going to be an hour wait for it... so we moved on to try another place. After a third attempt, the troops were getting restless, and Eric made a very sweet offer to take the dog and grab a table himself at one of the restaurants so the four of us girls could go to Cheesecake Factory and we'd just call him to pick us up when we were done. Too nice! So we took him up on it and headed back to Cheesecake Factory. We had a great meal, but as it was wrapping up, Jennifer got a call from Eric. He had forgotten his cel phone at home and had spent the whole time walking around trying to find a pay phone to call her. He hadn't eaten yet and was calling to say he'd just wait at the truck. Poor guy!! I felt so bad for him, he hadn't eaten all day and was probably exhausted from driving back and forth from the bike ride, and then had to wander around looking for a pay phone. Awww! We ordered a slice of cheesecake for him, so hopefully that helped cheer him up a bit. It was a long day!


Sunday, May 18, 2008
We were up bright and early again today to drive to the starting line of the second leg of the ride. Poor Tara felt worse than she ever had, so she stayed behind to get some rest. Luckily Sunday's ride was only 40 miles, so we figured it would be much more bearable. The seats were pretty sore for the first few miles, but then the bum goes numb and it's not so bad. :) The sky was mostly cloudy, and we got a few rain drops throughout the ride, but all in all, the weather was perfect. The route was still full of rolling hills, but they weren't as dramatic as the day before, so the 40 miles went by pretty quickly. We had an average speed of 13 mph, which is pretty good with the number of hills and flat stretches that we covered. We made it to the finish line by 11:30am where Eric picked us up just as it started to rain. Phew!!

We headed home, picked up Tara, and went straight out for lunch. We went to a little pub-like place that served fish and chips. I think that's the first time that I've had real live fish and chips—it was delicious!! We went back home and ended up taking naps for a bit. We pretty much just vegged tonight and watched a movie. We were all pretty tired. I was, however, able to move my return flight up a day, so I'll be going home tomorrow instead of Tuesday. That will be a lot better because I was worried about missing my classes again. Plus, I miss Jimmy and the “kids” too. :)



Monday, May 19, 2008
Well, it's official. I caught a bug somewhere along the way and I've got a sore throat. Noooo! Oh well, I loaded up on Airborne and DayQuil yesterday, so hopefully I can kill it soon. Jennifer headed back to work today and Tara and I just hung out at her house. We played with Coco for a while and then I packed up my stuff. Michelle drove me to the airport and I'm actually typing this as I'm flying home. So far, the flight is okay. Since I booked my seat so late, I'm in the second to the last row of the plane, right next to the lavatories. Great. When you're feeling crappy with an oncoming cold, it doesn't help to have to smell bathroom for several hours! And, on top of that, I'd like to strangle whoever decided put games on the little touch-screen on the back of the seats on the airplane. There's a kid sitting behind me who's been thumping on the back of my headrest for the last 2 hours. Aaagh! Oh well, what can ya do? I had a great time and hope that Jimmy and I can make a trip out there one of these years.

My New Ride

Check out my new ride! After over 2,000 miles on my good ol' 2002 Specialized Allez, I decided it was time to upgrade. My new ride is a 2008 Orbea Diva--pink and all-- and I LOVE IT!!! With it's full carbon, women's specific frame, it's a whole new experience. My old bike was great, but I'm excited to put this new one to the test. I bought the bike about 2 weeks ago and I've already put about 175 miles on it. (Keeping in mind that I work full time and made it through finals week at UVU.) Woohoo!

Welcome

Hi! Welcome to my cycling blog! This is where I will try to entertain you with my road adventures and keep you up to date on my training efforts and upcoming rides. Sure, I make it sound like this blog is for the benefit of everyone else -- but really, it's just easier than scrapbooking all of this crap! ;) Enjoy!


This photo was taken in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada, in August 2007. We went for a ride with my mom up Red Rock Road and saw 3 bears along the way. Eeek! There was a huge forest fire burning just across the border in Glacier National Park and the distant sky was hazy with smoke.