MS 150 - Century Bike Ride - Road Bike

Annual century ride in beautiful Cache Valley. Scott and I started doing this ride in 2006 and has been our start of summer century ride ever since. I usually drive to Logan on Friday after work, snag some grub and then camp out at the fair grounds in Logan. This year was no different. On Friday evening at the fair grounds there are vendors. One of which is Bingham Cyclery. I bought some new mountain bike shoes, cleats and a new set of handlebar tape. The wrenchers at the booth installed the tape for free. I camped with Rich (his first century ride), Rees and Scott. Scott attended the Sheryl Crow concert in Salt Lake so he didn't arrive until 1am Saturday morning. I had set up a tent for him and had his sleeping bag and gear in it waiting for him. Unfortunately he went to the wrong tent and tried to snuggle up to a young couple before they yelled and asked him to leave.

We woke up to a beautiful cool morning in Cache Valley. Scott and I skipped the Wells Fargo team group picture in favor of breakfast. Free to participants. We got geared up and ready when Rich, Rees and Aaron met up with us. We made our way to the start line. We left in the 3rd wave of riders. We snaked through the riders in front of us until there was some thinning of riders. We latched onto a small group of UHP team riders that were really cooking. Their pace was hot but doable on the flat. When we got to the first rise in the road the group splintered. Aaron stayed with the UHP boys as Scott and I watched them roll away from us. When we turned around we couldn't see Rich or Rees. At the first rest stop we were ready to go when Rees and Rich rolled in. No sign of Aaron.

Scott and I spent the rest of the ride stealing the slipstream of different groups always trying to find the perfect group that match our desired pace. We had to spend some time alone but were wheelsucking most of the ride. We got in one large group. Most were wearing Bad Ass Coffee team kits. It was a large double paceline. It kind of freaked Scott out to be riding in the large group so he went to the back of the bus. Other groups were just a couple of riders that we would latch onto for a while. Some were gracious and let is ride with them other's didn't seem to like us that close. There was another good single line paceline as we were getting near the end but we had to drop off at the last rest stop (they kept going) to pee.

Scott got to ride past his grandfather's homestead in Amalga. That made him real happy. We started the ride at about 7:30 and finished at 1:10. I'll take a sub 6 hour with stops century any day. Particularly when I have not got as many miles in my legs as I would like. Tough spring for training. (Too much snow pulling me to the ski slopes)