Salt Lake Century (3/4 century actually)

This is our one and only picture. Thanks to Melissa, and her phone, we at least have proof that we were at the Salt Lake Century. On a side note, My eyes look weird, I'm not sure what I'm looking at in this picture, it's almost as if I'm looking in two different directions at the same time...strange.

A few months ago Melissa and I decided that we were going to sign up for several rides this year, we decided that we're going to have a collection of t-shirts from every ride, you always get a "free" t-shirt when you sign up. Of course I've never received a shirt that I've felt is worth the $55 it costs to register. Our first shirt of the year was for the Salt Lake Century, we signed up to ride 67 miles, we weren't quite ready for 100 yet. Once we went down to Salt Lake to pick up our registration bag (also not worth $55, but thanks a heap for the newspaper and crappy coupons) we realized that the ride was actually going to be 72 miles, 5 miles more isn't that big a deal, so we were pumped.

Melissa picked me up at 6:30 and we drove down to the Salt Lake Fairground. I love the way it feels when we are about to start a big ride, I love having so many other people around that are dressed in the same dumb bike shorts, and their jerseys with advertisements printed all over them. There is a feeling of excitement, and I love that.

At the beginning of our ride we were keeping a great pace, we were averaging 18.1 miles an hour, and we were really cruising. We had decided not to stop long at the rest stops, so every 18 miles we jumped off our bikes re-filled our water bottles and grabbed a few orange slices, this worked really well at first. At the 72 mile turn around we were told that the causeway to the great salt lake was only a 1/2 mile down the road, so we decided to ride a little farther so we could see it. Apparently the person who volunteered this information didn't actually know how far away the causeway was, after 1 1/2 miles we still had a ways to go, so we decided to turn around and head back. The next 21 miles killed me, I hit a wall and I could get my head back in my ride. When we reached the last rest stop before our last 18 mile stretch, I really felt like I wouldn't make it back. Thankfully Melissa was with me and was able to keep me going, a few miles later I was able to overcome my negative thoughts, about not being strong enough, and about 16 miles later we were crossing the finish line. The feeling that you have when you cross the finish line, is definitely worth the $55 sign up. We ended up averaging 15 miles an hour, which means we rode 75 miles in 5 hours. Compared to our very first bike ride 2 years ago, where we rode 67 miles in over 6 hours, I'd say we're improving.

The Salt Lake Century is a fantastic ride, next year we are definitely doing the 103 mile ride. I just need to remember to wear sunglasses and chew gum, there are so many bugs around the great salt lake, and I've definitely eaten enough bugs on this ride to last me a lifetime.