Little Red Riding Hood-Logan Utah June 6, 2009

[sulis]

I too am giving two big thumbs up to the staggered start times. That worked brilliantly I thought!!!

My friend and I had an enjoyable weekend. Drove up Friday afternoon and had no wait to pick up our packets. Love the adoreable bag. Saw Lifesgreat and Yellow while we found some great deals on socks and other gear. There went my budget - oh well!!! ha ha

The ride was lovely as always. The food was great, the volunteers fabulous and the course gorgeous. My friend took a spill in some gravel in the turn into the first rest stop. We managed to track someone down with a first aid kit in their car. Once we got the gravel and blood off, we realized how deep the gash was. But she patched it up and being the trooper she is, made it the rest of the day with no problems.

We too signed up for the 100 miles. But I had some knee problems and those ominous clouds helped us to decide to turn onto the 80 route. That turned out to be the best choice for us. My knee started acting up about 10 miles to the finish. But with an awesome massage waiting for me at the end, and lots of ice on the ol' knees when I got home and I am just fine today.

I actually liked the new return to the start. It was kind of fun - kept me guessing. The chocolate fountain was fabulous - banana please, don't go easy on the chcolate - and she didn't.

LRRH is definitely my favorite ride of the year!!!

[MM_QFC!]

I bet they had us do that roundabout way to the finish so we wouldn't be making a left turn into the finish-fewer traffic conflicts. As I rode past the other turn I thought "wait, I am supposed to turn there", but we went off a different way.

I only saw one accident. It looked like a girl crashed crossing some RR tracks about six miles out from the start, before the Mendon rest stop. The police and EMTs were there and the ambulance passed me going to the scene. After leaving Mendon's rest stop, the town's volunteer fire department siren went off, summoning other EMTs. I hope all are okay.

Yep, 1 of the guys at a rest stop told me that he heard she broke her arm.
I also saw a rider take another down, as she overlapped and did more than just "touch" wheels. When I got to them, they were both getting up, picking up their bikes and the 'take-down' rider was saying, "I'm sorry, I was totally not paying attention; are you ok?" - all this as she was clipping in and rolling off again! The woman whom she caused to fall, had to re-adjust her saddle, so I stopped, held her bike and helped her do that, as she also was a bit shook up and needed some time to settle the [understandable] jitters.

I had to cancel this ride last year after being hit and injured by a car, so I was glad to be able to ride it this year. It's a beautiful route, well-supported and I was impressed and appreciative of the area drivers, as I didn't experience or observe any aggressive driving, horn honking or drivers yelling at cyclists, so it was a great 're-entry' experience for me to have, being back on the road and doing the century route. On the other hand, I did see lots and lots of 2 - 5 abreast riding and lots of blowing right through stop signs, despite constant warnings by ride organizers - too bad.
The roads were clear of debris too - only saw some glass in a couple of places...and I did have rain, even some hail on the north end of the valley/century route, plus pretty constant headwinds as the route turned south toward the lunch stop, then pretty much all the way back in...whew!
I had to rely on 'memory miles' from doing tons of previous centuries and the pure enjoyment of riding my new Seven, as I'm not as fit nor strong as I was pre-injuries, but I was determined to do this ride and did not want to have to wait another year! Post-ride ice, then jacuzzi and vitamin "I" (ibuprofen) helped my still-recovering body too!
Thanks for a great ride, Utah TE'ers!

[jobob]

pops head up

Someone say chocolate fountain?!? Dang.

Glad you all had a good time. I have fond memories of LRRH from a few years back and meeting many of you. Back then we had our own chocolate fountain as it were from our visit to the chocolate shop where Ms. Yellow worked at the time.
Memories indeed.