Little Red Riding Hood in Utah

[SadieKate]

This plan is sounding GRAND! I added the ride over on bikejournal. Perhaps those that are going could add themselves to the list so it would be easier to keep track of everyone?????

Of course, we'd still need to converse here about housing and transportation needs. Yellow, you are a dear. Let me know if you'd like me to dredge up the name of last year's ride director. She might be able to help out. I'm not sure that they had ever had foreigners at their ride before. Petunia and I certainly got the google-eye look for just about every volunteer and rider when they heard we had come from Kali-fo-nia.

[Trekhawk]

This plan is sounding GRAND! I added the ride over on bikejournal. Perhaps those that are going could add themselves to the list so it would be easier to keep track of everyone?????

Of course, we'd still need to converse here about housing and transportation needs. Yellow, you are a dear. Let me know if you'd like me to dredge up the name of last year's ride director. She might be able to help out. I'm not sure that they had ever had foreigners at their ride before. Petunia and I certainly got the google-eye look for just about every volunteer and rider when they heard we had come from Kali-fo-nia.

Oooh I do like to feel special. They might wonder at Australia having so many great riders after they see how slow I ride.

Great idea on adding ride at BJ I will be sure to put my name down. I spoke to my other half tonight and he thinks he will be around in June so its looking good for a 100 miles of self inflicted torture.

[yellow]

OK, heeeere's some more info.

Assuming those that want to camp want to camp close-ish to the start (which is in Wellsville, UT), it looks like your best bet is Hyrum State Park, which is about 15-20 minutes from Wellsville. Not sure about dogs; no info on the website there. There ain't no camping at the start of the ride (at least they didn't last year). I'd offer my back yard for a couple of tents but I have a dog and, well, the lawn is hers and it probably wouldn't be a very nice place to pitch a tent!

And there are a couple of approaches for the hotel/motel bit. If you want to stay close to the start, then I'm sure we could find some rooms at a chain hotel in Logan. Logan is a college town and I believe it has one bar worth going to, so there is some life there (though apparently not much). The other approach is to stay in SLC and drive to the start in the AM, which is a bit over an hour from downtown SLC, and which would give you access to a much more fun place to be AFTER the ride. You can stay at fun and kinda fancy Hotel Monaco (we stayed at the one in Portland, OR) or there are the usual downtown and at the airport. I wouldn't recommend going any farther south; both the airport and downtown are close to the freeway that takes you to Wellsville. Of course one could stay up in Logan the night before and SLC for other nights. I'll probably make a trek up to Logan to check out the hotels/motels so I can make a good recommendation.

So if/when you let me know your preferred method of shelter and it's hotel/motel, let me know where you'd like to stay and if you prefer chain or unique. BTW, Hotel Monaco is walking distance to my house, a couple of coffee shops and restaurants, and a number of ornate churches.

[Trekhawk]

Hey Yellow - Thanks for the info. I just need to find out if my husband wants to come along with the kids or if I will just come on my own. Im thinking it will probably be easier to just come on my own and not drag the kids thru a long drive but hey we like SLC so they may wish to come and spend the day there while I ride.

Staying the night before near the ride and then the night after at SLC sounds like a good plan but again will need to check with my husband when he next rings.

Do you think all the accommodation near the start will get booked up quickly or are the ride numbers small enough not to have much of an impact?

Thanks again

Leslie

[SadieKate]

Last year, Petunia and I left the middle/east side of SLC at 6 am and made it to the ride in time (we had no city streets to drive though). Gave us a good excuse to go to Red Rock Brewing after. Wellsville itself had no real business district that I remember. As yellow said, Logan is pretty much "it" for the entire valley.

I highly recommend that the 100-miled riders are on their bikes at 8 am. Only about 75 of us did the 100 mile route so the rest stops get closed up fast and riders sagged in on the posted schedule. It is plenty of time to finish the course, but no dawdling. Also, the earlier you finish, the more food.

[Trekhawk]

I highly recommend that the 100-miled riders are on their bikes at 8 am. Only about 75 of us did the 100 mile route so the rest stops get closed up fast and riders sagged in on the posted schedule. It is plenty of time to finish the course, but no dawdling. Also, the earlier you finish, the more food.

SadieKate what is the earliest time you can start the 100? Being such a slow poke I need all the time I can get so will start as early as possible.

[jobob]

I'm going to have to work out the logistics on this

The Amtrak schedule shows it takes 17 hours from Emeryville to SLC assuming it arrives on time, which it won't. Which is probably just as well since on-time arrival in SLC is about 3 am. It might even make sense to get a sleeper car on the Amtrak, that could be kind of neat.

I would not try to arrive on Amtrak the morning of the event, especially if it's about a one-hour drive to the start from SLC. Based on my past experience, I would not be surprised if it arrived several hours late. Plus then there's the question of how to get around, so I (and whoever else might be with me) would probably have to rent a car.

According to Google Maps, the drive from my home (Union City) to SLC is about 13 hours, not including stops. I've never driven that kind of distance myself, and even driving from home to Portland (a bit shorter distance than to SLC), where Lee did most of the driving, I wasn't exactly up to riding a century the next day But it would be nice to have a car when I got there. Lee has graciously offered to let me take the LeeMobile, which could carry 2 more passengers and 2 more bikes, or one more passenger and several more bikes. It could be fun to do a convoy with Bubba if schedules work out.

So, if I take Amtrak or drive I'd have to head out a couple of days ahead if there's any hope for me to remain upright for the ride. So that means head out Thursday, arrive either late Thurs or sometime Friday (if I decided to sleep someplace onroute), and reverse the procedure on Sunday, so that I'd be back home on Monday, back to work on Tues.

That might work, depending on my work schedule. I'm accumlating lots of time off right now.

[Trekhawk]

I'm going to have to work out the logistics on this

The Amtrak schedule shows it takes 17 hours from Emeryville to SLC assuming it arrives on time, which it won't. Which is probably just as well since on-time arrival in SLC is about 3 am. It might even make sense to get a sleeper car on the Amtrak, that could be kind of neat.

I would not try to arrive on Amtrak the morning of the event, especially if it's about a one-hour drive to the start from SLC. Based on my past experience, I would not be surprised if it arrived several hours late. Plus then there's the question of how to get around, so I (and whoever else might be with me) would probably have to rent a car.

According to Google Maps, the drive from my home (Union City) to SLC is about 13 hours, not including stops. I've never driven that kind of distance myself, and even driving from home to Portland (a bit shorter distance than to SLC), where Lee did most of the driving, I wasn't exactly up to riding a century the next day But it would be nice to have a car when I got there. Lee has graciously offered to let me take the LeeMobile, which could carry 2 more passengers and 2 more bikes, or one more passenger and several more bikes. It could be fun to do a convoy with Bubba if schedules work out.

So, if I take Amtrak or drive I'd have to head out a couple of days ahead if there's any hope for me to remain upright for the ride. So that means head out Thursday, arrive either late Thurs or sometime Friday (if I decided to sleep someplace onroute), and reverse the procedure on Sunday, so that I'd be back home on Monday, back to work on Tues.

That might work, depending on my work schedule. I'm accumlating lots of time off right now.

Hey Jobob your schedule sounds a lot like mine. I was thinking if I drive that I would leave Thursday and stop overnight somewhere and arrive on Friday with time to relax and recuperate for the ride. Im still unsure if my Husband and kids want to come along but should know soon (my husband is away at the moment). If I go on my own I would love some company for the drive.
Perhaps you could pick me up on the way or you could drive to my place and get a ride with me. As I mentioned before if I take the Suburban could probably fit two bikes on the roof and one in the back depending on the amount of luggage we all have.

[jobob]

Hey Leslie - that could work out well. The good news is, we have plenty of time to work this all out.

Yellow, thanks for the hotel sleuthing !

Since we'll all have bikes, it would be good to find a place that either lets us take the bikes into our rooms, has secure bike storage, or secure parking where we could leave our bikes in/on the vehicles and not have to worry whether they'll still be there the next day.

I'm not too concerned about distance from the start, but I'm a compulsively early bird so I'd probably want to get an early start, so staying in Logan Friday night would probably make sense. It would be nice if we wound up someplace close to our apres-ride festivities on Saturday night though. So I suppose those of us so inclined could stay Friday night in Logan, check out and head for the ride, then stay someplace in SLC Saturday night. I'm fine with a chain motel.

[SadieKate]

Ride start was 8 am for the 100 milers. Good thing was there was night before reg packet pick-up in SLC. Hat sales were the same morning. Jersey sales were via active.com and were part of the reg packet pickup.

About 85 miles from SLC to Wellsville. Freeway all the way.

Yellow, as I recall we headed north along the valley till we took a sharp turn east to go through a pass into the Cache Valley. Are there more hotels/motels out there about where we turned? Was that Bountiful? What was that town? I was just following the 5 cars with bikes so I didn't really notice.

If I took Amtrak, I'd be going out on Thursday also. If you don't need to ship your bike via Fed-Ex or UPS, you can leave on Sunday. The one good thing about Amtrak is you should be able to sleep a lot.

Also, remember that if Bubba can haul several bikes, flying and then renting a multiple passenger car becomes much more fiscally reasonable.

SK

Adding that in an SUV with bikes on the back, we drove from SLC to Davis in 10 and a half hours including puppy and gas stops. Bubba doesn't take any other breaks. Towing a trailer will take him longer.

[Trekhawk]

Ride start was 8 am for the 100 milers. Good thing was there was night before reg packet pick-up in SLC. Hat sales were the same morning. Jersey sales were via active.com and were part of the reg packet pickup.

SadieKate - so you cant start any earlier? What time do they close the course? Im just a little worried that I may not make the distance before they start shutting down. Not too concerned about being out there on my own but if others are waiting for me to drive to SLC for after ride activities I could become a bit of a nuisance to all.

I know I still have a few months to work on my speed but I do think that even with heaps of training Im never going to be a speed demon.

[jobob]

Last year there was also a 100K (62 mile) option.

If you're not up to an imperial century by then, there's absolutely no shame if you do the 100K. That's my plan !

I'm not a speed demon either, so if worse came to worse you & I could hold up the rear. Maybe our dear friends would save us a snack or two at the end. Heck, I'd bring my own snacks anyhow ...

[Trekhawk]

Last year there was also a 100K (62 mile) option.

If you're not up to an imperial century by then, there's absolutely no shame if you do the 100K. That's my plan !

I'm not a speed demon either, so if worse came to worse you & I could hold up the rear. Maybe our dear friends would save us a snack or two at the end. Heck, I'd bring my own snacks anyhow ...

Hey Thanks Jobob I will keep that in mind as an option if I feel I wont make the distance in the required time. The speedy girls better save us some food. Thats the punishment for being swift riders they have to feed the slow pokes when they make it in.

[SadieKate]

The way the course snakes around you can always change your mind mid-course. The 65 and 100 miler share the same rest stops. The 100 miler visits the lunch stop twice, before and after the loop through Whydaho.

I need to go track down the map. It probably has more info about start and close. I suppose if you have your reg packet early you could start. Just beware that the rest stops might not be open,k but I know you know that.

TrekHawk, just keep you tme in the rest stops very short. The only one that was crowded was the first one. Petunia and I didn't leave until 8:30 or 8:45 because we screwed around a lot and stopped for photos which means we hit the first stop with everyone. If we had left on time we would have been ahead of the crowd. Now, mind you, there were only 875 or so riders so "crowded" is relative. As usual though, it was the line for the elephants that was the problem.

[Trekhawk]

The way the course snakes around you can always change your mind mid-course. The 65 and 100 miler share the same rest stops. The 100 miler visits the lunch stop twice, before and after the loop through Whydaho.

I need to go track down the map. It probably has more info about start and close. I suppose if you have your reg packet early you could start. Just beware that the rest stops might not be open,k but I know you know that.

TrekHawk, just keep you tme in the rest stops very short. The only one that was crowded was the first one. Petunia and I didn't leave until 8:30 or 8:45 because we screwed around a lot and stopped for photos which means we hit the first stop with everyone. If we had left on time we would have been ahead of the crowd. Now, mind you, there were only 875 or so riders so "crowded" is relative. As usual though, it was the line for the elephants that was the problem.

Thanks SadieKate - if they didnt mind I would probably like the idea of heading out earlier and having a bit of extra time up my sleeve to complete the course. I really do hope to finish the century so this might be a good plan. Im not one for lounging around at stops (not fast enough for that) I just visit the LOO, then eat/drink and Im out of there. How many rest stops do they have? Did you stop at all of them?