The Big, Bad Wolf didn't Catch Us!

A few months ago, my good friends Lesa and Shellee and I decided to do our first 100 mile bike race. And we heard that "Little Red" was the race to do if we wanted to ride 100 miles. We felt lucky to get in because this race of 3,000 women, filled up in less than 24 hours-- the fastest it's ever filled up!

Here we are with a few of our riding friends. The lady in the red (right next to me), and the lady in the brown t-shirt with the blonde hair (3 down from me) and insanely fast! We like to ride with them, but they smoke us!

This year's race had a 50's theme. We loved all the decor at the race start and finish line

Here we are in the chilling morning hours before the race started.

Here is Lesa debating on how much food to take. She seriously had al this food crammed into the pockets in the back of her jersey. It's just so hard to know what you'll need to ride 100 miles! She ended up putting a lot if it back in the car. I have no room to talk, because I had the same amount in my pockets too. We didn't need any of it, though. Little Red fed us like queens!

Here we are: me, Shellee and Lesa and then 2 of our  new friends in the back

The weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. It was a little chilly in the morning, but we warmed up nicely and quickly. We rode alone (the 3 of us) for only about 10 miles, and then we were asked by a group of 2 if they could ride (draft) with us. Our thoughts about that were: "The more, the merrier!" We told the 2 ladies we were taking turns leading and it worked out nicely.

About 20 miles into it, we were approached by 2 more ladies who asked if they join our group of, now 5 women. We said, "Sure!"

Some of the beautiful scenery in the northern Utah and Idaho area

So now were were up to 7 women. This was a great advantage to all of us. We all took turns pulling so drafting really helped our legs stay fresh and helped us to not tire out easily.

At about 40 miles, we were approached by a group of 4 sponsored women. This means they were in professional outfits and implies that they knew what they were doing. The leader came up to me and said, "Man! You guys are burning rubber!! Can we join you?" We said, "Of course!" Now, our pelaton was 11 strong. We took turns pulling for 2 minutes and kept the speed between 20-21 mph. Pulling felt so good, but being in the line felt effortless. It was AMAZING! I learned a lot of great things about being in a line and it was the highlight of the race!

Here we are at lunch! Look at all those women! We were fed Subway sandwiches with all the chips, fruit and desserts you can think of! Tons of ice cold water and electrolyte replacement, too! We couldn't have asked for a better supported race.

Here we are at the finish line with our fabulous pelaton ladies! Thanks for making it such a great ride!

Lesa, Shellee and Me at the finish line. Brett was so sweet and came to see us at the finish line and brought us ice, cold chocolate milk!

Love these ladies! Thanks for a wonderful ride and for some really great months of training together! The only person we're missing is my dad! He trained with us every ride and changed all our flats!

Thanks for coming to support me, babe! Love you!