And here I am crossing the finish line:
And here I am at the race end, along with my whole team:
We rode all night, which was when I had my hardest ride: 38 miles along the middle of nowhere on Highway 89 from 2:45 to 5:15 in the morning. I think the most fun part was climbing up the canyon from Nephi to Fountain Green.
Jennifer and the kids followed in real time (or at least nearly real time) online due to a satellite transmitter each team carried. I learned later that they cheered me all the way up that canyon. Jennifer, Eric, and Elena met me in St. George - it was great to have Eric come running up to give me a hug after I crossed the finish line! One of my teammates is also our kids' doctor, and he invited us to stay at a condo with him and his family in St. George overnight. It was so nice to have somewhere to go shower and sleep! I got very little sleep during the long night of riding - I was too excited, even when I wasn't on my bike.
We drove back Sunday morning, making it back for the afternoon temple dedication session (for those who are outside of Utah, the Ogden temple was rededicated this last Sunday, and dedication sessions were held all across the state). It rained hard most of the way back - I was very grateful that the rain didn't come until after the ride was over!
I really enjoyed the ride, and I'm already starting to think about doing it again next year.
Congratulations. This sounds really fun and challenging. I'm glad the weather worked out well for you. 110 miles is a lot of miles in one 24 hour period.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. That looks like a fun and challenging ride.
ReplyDeleteEveryone still looks pretty fresh at the end, like you are all ready to turn around and ride back home. I guess that is more likely the excitement of having finished temporarily overcoming extreme tiredness.
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks fun. I'm curious how it was determined that on an 8 person team, you would ride over 1/4 of the miles. Were some of the sections more challenging than your canyon?
ReplyDeleteTina, they rode in pairs always, so they each rode about 1/4 of the total miles.
ReplyDeleteOh, I should read more carefully. Did all the teams ride in pairs?
ReplyDeleteDifferent teams did it differently, Tina. Even on my team, some people rode alone and did fewer legs. However, I had a teammate with me on all of my legs, which makes it easier to go a long way because you can draft off of each other.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking it would be fun to do a four-man team too, though, and just ride ¼ of the distance by yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a lot of fun. I've never been in either a bike race or any combined group distance event. Sounds fun to try some day.
ReplyDeleteHow fun, We would have loved to have known, so we could have followed your progress in the race. Good Job
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