southern UT spring centuries

[yellow]

I'm thinking I need to sign up for one of the upcoming early centuries in the St George area in order to stay motivated. The Zion Country Spring Century is February 25 and the Cactus Hugger Century (which is part of the larger Cactus Hugger Cycling Festival) is April 1. Anybody ever done either/both of these or planning on them?

y, lonely in Utah, needing motivation.

[sulis]

I contemplated both of these rides, but I don't think I'll be able to make it. If my fortunes improve, I may sign up late. A friend of mine mentioned that she and a few friends were contemplating Cactus Hugger. I told her about te so hopefully she will post soon and maybe you will have some riding buddies.
Have you joined any of the Wasatch Women's cycling club rides? They always seem to be out and about riding and joining these events.
If you don't mind a slow newbie rider, I'll probably ride the Ghost Town Century in April...although I don't know if I'll be ready for the full century by then, but I will do as much as I can.

http://www.bike2bike.biz/Rides/bGhos...3/Default.aspx

[yellow]

ooh ooh! A response! There is life out there!

Not sure about Ghost Town. Depending upon what's on the platter at the time, I may be able to do it. I'm mtb-ing a week in southern UT earlier in the month and then planning a road trip to OR in May, so my "fun miles" (on my car, that is) may be used up. We'll see! Also, the info doesn't say WHERE it is. Can you enlighten me?

I'm not riding much at the moment as I had two close-to-hypothermic episodes and have decided that I need to just ride indoors and ski a whole bunch. Oh, bummer!

[Lifesgreat]

Hey there!

I am the friend Sulis speaks of. Yes! There are several of us Utah County folk planning on the Cactus Hugger. I am going to do the 45 mile and I am not sure what the others are doing. I am actually a triathlete who really focusing on the running right now, so I am not doing any biking I am planning to really get biking in early March.

[sulis]

Yes...there is a life here.
I'm not riding tons either...I'm with you yellow...its just too cold and windy.
I'm riding a bit on my trainer about 2x a week and hit a heavy spinning session on Saturdays.
I met LifesGreat through a tri board we both frequent. I too am doing alot of running this winter. But it sure does help improve cardio endurance, which can only be a plus for riding.
I will do a few tris this summer, hopefully. But find that my heart is really being pulled towards biking more. We'll see what happens.

As for the Ghost Century, I believe it said its around the Tooele area...around the old mining tows. I'll do some recon though and let you know what I find out.

[yellow]

Sulis--check your PMs!

And Lifesgreat...as long as you're doing SOMETHING you will be fine for CH. My fastest century last year was my first one (in March) for which I had completed very little on-road training, but I had been skiing a whole lot and was religious about doing pushups and wall sits. My butt complained a little bit as I hadn't spent 5+ hours in the saddle since the previous year but other than that I survived just fine.

I'm still leaning toward the Zion Country ride as the CH may interfere a teeny bit with my schedule. Not certain yet. In any case, if it looks like I can do the CH, I'll PM you and perhaps we can meet!

[Lifesgreat]

I am not going to be able to do CH. I have had some scheduling difficulties arise

[yellow]

I think I'm going to do the Zion Country ride. I have another century I'm doing in Calif a couple of weeks later so that will be a good test for my butt.

I'm still not sure about Ghost Town. April seems so far away but it really isn't. It doesn't say if there are alternate distances (that is, any less than 100). I'll have been on a almost week-long mt bike trip the week before and may only want to do a metric/partial. Sulis, did you find out anything else about the ride?

[Lifesgreat]

I found this on the internet today, but I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

4/22/2006
Ghost Town Century
Join us as we ride by & thru old Ghost Towns, the Pony Express Trail, & the old wagon train trial on this fun ride to raise money and awareness for Blood Disorders. 100, 65, & 50 mile options on this supported ride.
Phone: 801-677-0134
E-Mail: Bob@bike2bike.org
Web: http://www.bike2bike.org

[yellow]

When I printed out the entry form for Zion County it also listed those same distances for Ghost Town. If I do that one, I'll prolly go for the 65.

I do wish that Bike2Bike site provided route maps of all the rides. The way they describe Ghost Town you can't tell where the heck it is. I wouldn't know if sulis hadn't clued me in.

[sulis]

Hiya ladies

Sorry for the delayed posts. I have been off line for a while..
I actually emailed the Ghost Town Century contact and they said that it supports and half and metric century as well. Here is what they said.

"The Ghost Town Century does indeed support a metric century (65 miles)
and ahalf century (50 miles). The Metric will have 3 rest stops plus a
lunch stop and the Half will have 2 rest stops and a lunch stop. If you have
any additional questions please feel free to contact us. In the mean time:

Take Care & Bike 2 Bike "

I'm waiting until the last minute to commit because I want to know what the weather will be like then. I'm a woose...I just don't think it will be fun to ride in the rain. But I don't foresee a problem signing up for the Ghost Town if weather permits. If I do go, I'll probably do the half century.

I'll keep ya'll posted.
Happy Training!

[yellow]

Updated forecast for Saturday (Zion Country): sunny, 65 (or 67 depending upon the forecast) in St George, 61 (or 64) in the park. Not too horribly low for the low either: "mid-30s". They took the "partly cloudy" words away. 0% chance of precip.

Yay! I may even show my ankles! And I won't have to carry a raincoat!

[SadieKate]

Yay! I may even show my ankles!

Do we need to warn folks to wear extra dark sunglasses?

Without Jason around this year, we've lost our spring emergency beacon.

[yellow]

Do we need to warn folks to wear extra dark sunglasses?

glacier glasses recommended.

[CyclaSutra]

I'm having a horribly indecisive time here ... I want to come down and do the Zion century, but it's a LOOONG drive for me. I'm five hours north of Salt Lake, so that would be about 9 hours each way, and I have to zip back up to work on Sunday by noon.

Is anybody from Salt Lake going that I could catch a ride with, or hop in my SUV? I just don't know if I'm up for 18 hours of driving with "just us chickens," meaning me and my bike. I could be in Salt Lake by tonight and then get up and drive any time on Friday... but I'd need to head back to Salt Lake right after the ride so I can get up and drive home on Sunday.

I'm also not sure if there are any St. George hotel rooms left. I tried to check yesterday and didn't find any vacancies...

Any help? Tx!