Little Red Century Ride

On June 1st, I did a thing.  I biked a hundred miles!  

A friend of mine had signed up for "Little Red" but had something come up and couldn't participate.  Even though the thought of riding so far terrified me, I started training to take her place.  In the end, it was so fun!  I'm so glad I had the chance to participate and ride with this group of amazing women.  The atmosphere was a party, and it felt great to accomplish something I never imagined I could--a Century ride!  I'm hoping that in future years I will have the chance to ride again.

The entire ride is extremely well-supported, taking place on the country roads of Cache Valley crossing over into Idaho for a little bit.  It begins with a great breakfast in Lewiston.  If only every ride had such an amazing spread!

This year's theme was Bike the Beach. Do you like the volunteer attire?  As a women-only ride, it was fun to see all the supportive dads, brothers, and husbands helping out on the course.

Meet the amazing women I biked with! From left to right there's Amy, me, Julie, and Sarah.  Sarah, Julie and I are in the same church congregation, and Amy carpools to work at BYU with Julie.  We called ourselves the AmsterDansies because Amy is a Dansie, the brother of my husband's friend Tom from Springdale and aunt to some of my kids' friends at West.  Small Lake City!

Waiting at the start.  With 3500 riders participating, they spread out the start times over a couple of hours.  They offer distances ranging from 17 miles all the way to 100.  Personally, I think 55 or 70 could be really nice if you don't have the time to train as much.

And we're off!

Snacks at the aid stations were just as tasty as at breakfast--oreo smeared with peanut butter with a banana slice on top.  Now that's energy I can love!

Plus, so much fresh fruit!  It goes well with Julie's kiwi top.

I know I keep coming back to the food, but for the most part it's all I have pictures of.  I'm not coordinated enough to take photos and ride.  Anyway, for lunch, they had a giant picnic pavilion set up with Jimmy John sandwiches.

Here's one shot of the general landscape.  Cache Valley is so beautiful this time of year!  The weather was perfect and it felt so bucolic biking past all the rolling farmland.  The roads weren't closed down, but it felt quite safe with lots of support available if you ran into trouble.  They also had course marshalls riding back and forth on motorcycles, encouraging the cars to give us plenty of space.  Truly, Bonneville Cycling Club earns my highest praise for putting on such a well-organized and fun event!

Speaking of fun, the finish line!  I was definitely grateful to get here.  Miles 85-100 were rough, especially the "Big Hill" before Preston, but I made it!

Celebratory mock mimosa.  Best finish line drink EVER.  Many thanks to the Schreiters for running this drink station year after year!

Ladies, it was a blast!  I learned that I love to bike and I love all of you!  Hope we can do it again some time.