Little Red Riding Hood 2011

This past Saturday marked my third year biking Little Red Riding Hood {LRRH} up in beautiful Cache Valley. It's starting to look like a yearly summer tradition...

This year I rode with six other ladies from my neighborhood. LRRH was the unveiling of our new biking attire. Remember how I mentioned here that our neighborhood was getting custom biking jersey's imprinted with our motto "NOW Girls"...which stands for No Opportunity Wasted? Let me tell you, we looked sharp! See for yourself:

{Didi, Jenny, Brandi, Brooke, Emily, (Me), Ann}

So not only were we seriously styling...but you should've seen us ride! All 7 of us in a tight line, drafting and zipping past everyone. We got many, many compliments...from the neat jerseys to the impressive/intimidating riding style.

{Funny side note: No Opportunity Wasted is written on backs of our shorts at the waist line...one word per line going down. Which means that while riding hunched over our bikes, our jerseys riding up every so slightly...all you can see is the word "Wasted." Which made us all crack up into gales of hilarity when we realized it. We thought it was rather appropriate. :)}

I had signed up for 100 miles. Skip this next part if you don't want to hear all of the whining and excuses for why I was nowhere near ready to accomplish that goal this year...

1. Weather. Wettest spring on record. Hard to get out and train when you've got freezing rain {and sometimes even snow} clear into May.
2. Loss of my normal biking partner, Mylissa. Due to pregnancy, she is out this season for any kind of riding. She and I are really well matched in regards to riding skill, style and philosophy. Plus, she was really good at pushing to find little pockets of time and weather to ride when I would've been more than happy to just be lazy all day. I've missed her horribly.
3. The gym I joined last fall with intentions to take spinning classes all winter cancelled all their classes and daycare a month after I joined. Sigh.
4. A week and a half before LRRH I caught a cold which had me struggling with a sore throat, coughing and exhaustion.

Due to these things I seriously considered dropping out of the ride all together. As you can see, I did not and I'm glad. It was a challenging day, certainly...riding with a cold and not as well prepared as the other ladies who, being very competitive, driven and focused, HAD been spinning all winter. But it was a great ride all the same.
In order to save my strength, I modified my route a bit. So 24 miles into our ride, I veered off onto the 50 mile route which cut out a 25 mile loop at the southern end of the course. I made it to the lunch stop early and then rested and waited for the rest of my crew to arrive. After lunch I continued on with them back onto the 100 mile route for almost the entire rest of the ride... but then turned around at the last rest stop up in Idaho to get a head start back, cutting off a few more miles...and got to the finish about 15 minutes before they did. All in all, I biked 70 miles. Which, actually, is a personal record for me! Considering I was riding on limited training and a cold...I'll take it!
Didi and me. Apparently my new lime green jersey now clashes with my teal green handlebars. Ah, well.


I've discovered it's pretty hard to tell who individuals are when everyone has on not only matching clothing, but helmets and glasses. Here we are at the mile 24 rest stop in Benson.
Top to bottom: Jenny, Brooke, Emily, Brandi, Ann, me, Didi.


Ann took this picture when she was riding at the back of the pack. We were a little more spread out here rather than in a tight little line...but still drafting. This was near the end of the ride up in Idaho. {I think that's me with my brown pony tail trailing down my back...}


Along with the swag t-shirt, the LRRH socks and the finish line bike chain bracelet I came home with one other unexpected souvenir....a sunburn {ouch!} which has now turned into a lovely {sarcasm} bikers tan. Maybe I can work to get rid of those unsightly lines when I run the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay next weekend....