Little Red

So I biked 100 miles on June 1st. It  really isn't a big deal except I hadn't done a century since 2014. I didn't know that until after this ride. I signed up on a whim. They sent me an email the very last day you could apply to get into the lottery. I decided what the heck. Cyndee had told me earlier in the year that she had never been denied when she had applied alone to do the 70 mile ride. I did that knowing I would want to bike 100 miles not 70.

I like having a goal to help me train. I biked a lot in April but May was not as kind. The weather really was terrible. I was a little nervous on the day of the ride because I had not biked as much as I would have liked. The Little Red ride is an annual women's ride that takes place in Cache Valley. You ride in Northern Utah and Idaho. It is a beautiful place to bike and when the weather is good it makes for an amazing day.

I feel like the stars aligned for me because I had a great ride. The weather was amazing. My bike worked great and it ended up being awesome.

I got to lunch in three hours biking time. It was at mile 54 so I was pretty happy with that. I was lucky and had been able to ride in a pelaton with some fast people. The first rest stop wasn't until mile 28, that was a little different from previous years.

Lunch of champions. Why is it always a subway sandwich??????

I didn't stop at any rest for too long because I didn't want my muscled to tighten up. They also said they were closing the 100 mile race at 2pm at some point and I didn't know where that point was so I wanted to make sure I got past it in time.

After lunch I rode alone. I like biking alone. I enjoy going my own pace and just being alone with my thoughts. 45 miles is a long time to be alone but it worked out great. After lunch there were a couple of hills and it started to get hot. I was also pretty tired from biking so fast earlier in the day. I tried to jump in with a couple of groups but I just didn't feel like working super hard to keep up so I stayed alone.

 I clocked in at just over 100 miles. It took me 6 hours and 6 minutes of biking time. I averaged a 16.4 mph pace, not terrible.There was 1,735 ft elevation gain, not very much at all and I burnt 4000 calories.

 I was so excited for how the day went. My hamstring was really tight climbing the biggest hill of the day at mile 89 but other than that I felt really really good. Always happy to be done.

I feel like I really needed to do this to remind myself that I can do hard things. I feel like I have way less confidence in so many things as I get older. It is so weird. Sometimes I am even afraid to try new things, DUMB! So this was a great reminder that I can still bike far and pretty hard!

After the ride I headed back to Bountiful. I had stayed there the night before. Nancy was watching Moki. Katie, Nancy and I went to Texas Roadhouse and I had a delicious post ride meal. What a great start to summer!