LRRH Ride Reports

[Lifesgreat]

Quick report: I saw many of my TE friends today, but never saw Yellow or SK, they are TOO fast for me. I don't know where Flybye was either. Each will have her own stories to tell, so I won't say anything about others' rides.

Weather: Perfect except for an "enough to be annoying" headwind the last 27 miles.
Food: GREAT!
Road Conditions: Nice
Company: Awesome!

I ended up riding 80 miles instead of 68 because the police misdirected me and a gazillion other women. I wasn't paying attention to my map as well as I should have. I am not mad at them as they were trying to control an incredibly busy intersection/highway with 2000 women coming through. We didn't even get a chance to see the road markings b/c the police stopped traffic and diverted us through a gas station parking lot before we got to them. No worries, I just went 12 miles more than I thought I would.

Little Red, beard and all, was standing at the top of the toughest hill, cheering us on. The Blues Brothers were hosting the last rest stop with "valet" parking for our bikes (all in tidy little rows ) They were even playing harmonicas.

The Bonneville Bicycle Touring Club pulled off another great event!

I had a very nice time and it was good to see my TE friends.

[jobob]

Hee hee, I remember from last year both the annoying headwind, and Little Red himself cheering us on at the top of that last hill.

Glad you had a good time.

2000 registrants ! Holey moley.

[Alex]

I had a ball at LRRH today. I'm so excited at having completed my first century EVER, that I had to post a separate thread over in the general cycling section.

I met lots of TE'ers along the way and the course was really great. After all the hills I've been riding, all that flat stuff was fabulous.

My friend got two flats, so I was mighty happy to have tire liners in, cuz 4 flats would REALLY have sucked.

The only thing I have to ask is why were so many riders such menaces to society? I saw people riding three and four abreast. I saw people riding ON the center line, and no one was on their right. I saw a semi have to STOP because of riders who were in the middle of the road. Yikes.

I hope everyone else had as great a time as I did!

Alex

[yellow]

Well, SadieKate and I perservered, and SK once again busted her PB for a century (she did this last year at LRRH too). Great weather but I have to disagree with the headwind bidness...compared to last year, the wind was way mellower. I never felt like I was battling it this year like last year.

aka_kim, you'll be happy to know that we did not get ANY flats.

We took pictures, of course (because we always do). We started a little ahead of the "official" time and never caught up with Alex (at least we don't think we did; we heard a rumor that she was ahead of us) but saw CyclaSutra and friend, sulis, sbctwin, and Jones and some of their friends at some of the stops. Never saw Lifesgreat or Tater! (we looked for both of you at every stop.) We "picked up" a new friend, Tammy, who has only been riding for a few months and is incredibly talented. She keeps it up and she'll be kickin' all of our butts in no time!

OK, so here are some shots (not the best, but shots nonetheless).

In this one we have friend of CyclaSutra, CyclaSutra, sulis, Jones, friend of sulis, sbctwin, yellow, and SadieKate:



And here are SadieKate and yellow on the Idaho-Utah state line:



And yellow and Tammy in the same spot:



It was a great ride. I'm surprised at how good I felt considering I really haven't been riding much! Tomorrow SK and I are off to get pedicures and then mountain biking in Park City. Yipee!

[aka_kim]

aka_kim, you'll be happy to know that we did not get ANY flats.

Smart aleck! Sounds like you should have been riding with Alex and friend.

Looked like a beautiful day. Glad you all had fun!

[Lifesgreat]

Yellow,

Sounds like you and SK had a great time. I saw Tater at the Amalga and lunch stops and met up with Sulis et al at lunch and the Newton stops.

[Trekhawk]

Sounds like another great year at LRRH. Well done all.
Love the pics.

[BikeDutchess]

What a wonderful day it was! We also got caught by the unplanned detour--apparently the road construction caught the organizers by surprise as it was started after the route was marked. But you know what, it was such a gorgeous day, and everyone was having so much fun, it all didn't matter! Instead of the planned 68, we ended up doing 77 miles. My daughter, with the help of some "vitamin I" and lots of stretching during the rest stops, managed to finish all 77. What a blast it was! Next year I'm trying for the full century!

I had one flat but it was at a rest stop so a "wolf" was immediately available to fix it.

I have to agree with Alex about some of the inconsiderate/unsafe riders--I usually try to mind my own business but I couldn't help reminding a few to ride only 2 abreast or to move to the right if they were riding by themselves. I don't remember this being such a problem last year. Maybe because the crowd was bigger this year? Things did get a little better when we split off on the 68 mile route and it thinned out.

We had such a fantastic day! Kudos to the organizers (Penny, Robin, Linda, and their team of volunteers) for putting together such a great event!

P.S. the only disappointment was that there was no message on my phone telling me I had won the Ruby or the Orbea....

[CyclaSutra]

Hey, had a fantastic time riding with Jones, SBCTwin and Sulis (plus associated friends). They convinced us to do the distance, although my pal Kelsey and I had pretty much talked ourselves into the metric. Hung out with Lifesgreat at the end, too.

It could have been a PB for me (gotta check) which is crazy considering I'm carrying around a lot of extra winter/cookie-induced fluff and haven't ridden a century since last August; my longest ride this season was 56. I guess that shows you what girl power can do! Our little group carried on a respectable 15-ish average.

I wouldn't have noticed the fellow TE-ers had Jones not been wearing an A-V jersey and I said "Hey! Do you know Yellow and SadieKate?" Busybodyness pays off again.

Great to see you all!

[Flybye]

Hello, hello and hello!!

Wow, it sounds like you all did SO great. I wanted to meet you all and tell you thank you for the help that you have given me to get ready for the big day, but had little success finding anyone. I was there with a big orange sign and NO TAPE - oops! I had the sign on the grass but didn't arrive until about 7:30am.

This was my first organized ride AND my first time riding with anyone other than myself. Wow, was I nervous - but what fun it turned out to be.

Here are my impressions.

1. The weather was, as you have all commented, perfect.
2. The food was great. Not at all sure what I ate, but, it was yummy!
3. The event was so well organized - in my expert opinion .
4. I didn't know that you could ride pregnant - wow, now there is a real go getter.
5. You ladies are FAST!!!!!
6. Now that I have the distance think licked, I want to work on speed.
7. I NEED a better fitting on my bike.
8. My men's saddle that came stock with my bike is NOT comfy, especially the seams
9. Shimano shoes suck.
10. I am hooked.
11. Pace Lines are FUN!!!
12. Not so fun to ride alone but a GREAT learning experience.

I had such a great time regardless of all the little mishaps. I didn't turn where I was supposed to once and figured it out about 1 mile down the road when no one was behind me!! This was before the gas station incident.

I didn't go the entire route up to the lunch stop because when I got to Amalga, I had 33.5 miles on my bike with all of the excursions that I took to get back on course. My knee was hurting (hence the need for new shoes and a fitting) and so I figured that it would be best to turn around. I rode back to the Marina and then got back on the course with everyone coming south from the highway. When I got to the finish, I was about 7 miles shy of the metric century, so I rode around "town" to make up the miles. All in all, I DID IT - YEAH!!!!!!

Also, I am not positive, but think that I may have been in a pace line at one point with some of you from your pictures in the post.


Here are some pictures from ride day. They are of

#1 Yours truly, Flybye, scared ****less before the ride and smiling - eager and ready!

#2 People

#3 More people

#4 Myself (Flybye), Bikedutchess, and Bikedutchess' daughter before the ride - the only TE'ers I had the opportunity to meet. Very nice to meet both of you.

[Shiraz]

Nice write up and pictures ladies!! I was hoping to see your postings. I was so sad not to join you this year since last year I really didn't know you all. Sounds like everyone had a great day. Next year I will make sure I am NOT ON CALL and should not be expecting a new grandbaby.

[sbctwin]

Well, I did my first century...101.4 miles to be exact, according to my Garmin. YIPEE!!!! Glad it wasn't any further because I started to have cramps in my upper left thigh and my feet the last couple of miles. I could never have accomplished the entire ride without the encouragement and support of my co-riders - Sulis, K80K80, Jones, CyclaSutra and friend Kelsey. I told my DH before I left, that though the 100 was my main goal, I know when to cry 'wolf' and return. After the 1st rest stop, I felt my energy level drop and I was getting an upset stomach. I don't know what that was about, but thought maybe I wasn't taking in enough fluids so I started taking in a lot more and ate some cliff blocs. At the 2nd rest stop, I topped off my water bottle with cliff stuff and I think I made it too strong. I normally use Ultima and found I left my supply in the car. At the lunch stop;, CyclaSutra shared a few sportleg supplements and also K80K80 shared some of her Heed with me. I think that helped me to finish.

The weather was beautiful but I didn't put enough sunscreen on and I am feeling it today . I am a little sore in my neck and shoulders, but I am sore there anywhere after a long ride. Met other TE'ers - SadieKate, Yellow, Alex, Tator, Lifesgreat, but no where could we find Flybye (though we did look for you) and I just found out, thanks to a pic posted by Flybye who BikeDutchess is and have done a few rides with her and her daughter.

The only sad part of the whole day, and this is truely sad for me, is Sulis could not finish because of a bike mishap at the last rest stop. Her rear wheel somehow got bent. We do not know what happened at this time, but of everyone I know who did the 100, I feel very sad for her because she was so strong and could easily have completed her first century. In my mind, she did the century through all of us who she encouraged along the way. I want to THANK YOU, SULIS, for all your words of encouragement and your overall spirit.

[BikeDutchess]

Thanks for posting the photos, Flybye! It was so nice to meet you. Glad your first organized event ride turned out to be such fun -- hope you'll keep joining us for many more to come.

sbctwin -- congrats on your first century! You looked so strong when I met you at the lunch stop, I knew you would do it! I know what you mean about the sunscreen -- I was very good about applying and reapplying (tried out that Australian lizard stuff), but I forgot to do my ears (I don't know why because I'm usually very good about remembering those little appendages...).

Sulis, so sorry to hear (from sbctwin) about your bent wheel putting a damper on things. Hope things will look up on your next ride.

[Tater]

Once again, I had a blast! This ride is so well organized, it is a joy to ride. Where else can one be eating lunch and watching 'granny' wolf, in a dress, hand out Luna bars? Yet, peek under Granny's dress hem and one would find some seriously muscled calves! The guys from the BBTC really get into the spirit.
I PB'ed my century time by quite a bit. Although, I do agree with Alex and the rudeness of some of the riders! Didn't it say somewhere in our packets that we are suppose to obey Utah road rules? I didn't think riding three and four across, or out in the middle of the road were how Utahans behaved. Oh, I am going to have to agree with Yellow on the wind thing: last year was a bit more of a pain in the butt!
I do have pictures, even got the Blues Brothers at the last rest stop, but I will post them later.
It was nice meeting several TE'ers and putting names to faces. Well met, ladies! I think I saw SK and Yellow when they started, but I was on the side of the road waiting for Mr. Tater to bring me my forgotten water bottles!

[yellow]

Congratulations to all of you who completed your first C or simply went farther than you've gone before. Before you know it you'll be knocking out the same distance over and over...

sulis, I don't have a message telling me I won the bike...if I did I'd give you the wheels. I've seen several wheelsets on craigslist lately, including some pretty nice ones for a good price. I know you'd really like a new bike, but until then a new wheelset may make a big difference (it did for me until I got my new bike).

Tater, we were sure you'd catch us because you're so speedy! Glad you had a good ride!