Cache Valley Century

Another great year at the Cache Valley Century.  As with the other two times that I have participated in the CVC, this ride was well supported.  They had great rest stops with plenty of food, Gatorade and water.  The best snack was certainly the raspberry bars in Preston.   Lunch was very similar to the last two years.  Pasta salads, chips, salsa and make your own burrito.  I had lunch at the end.  The hot food was hot and the cold food was still cold.  I thought the support team did a great job overall.

At the beginning of the day, the winds were calm, but as the day progressed, a stronger wind out the the southwest picked up on the west side of the valley.  The wind was certainly not as bad this year as in the previous years, particularly from Clarkston to Mendon.  The temperature in the morning was just right, but as the day wore on, the heat became a challenge however, even a hot day in Cache Valley isn't too bad.  I don't think we could expect any day to be a better day for a century.  

Because of the construction on 10th west in Logan they had to change the route this year.  We ended up going out to Mendon and then coming back on the same road for several miles until we could head east past the Benson marina.  No one likes to double back on a century ride, because of the increased bike traffic and challenges with traffic on country roads.  Fortunately there were not many cars and most of the riders stayed single file on both sides of the road.  Because the route changed, the ride was a few miles shorter.  My computer said 99.4 miles when I got back to Richmond.  However, I didn't feel cheated because I didn't really like riding along busy 10th west in Logan anyway.  The route they selected was lightly traveled and mostly good roads.  

Areas for improvement.  I only saw one support vehicle the entire day.  Maybe I missed the other ones, but I felt like there should have been a few more vehicles out on the road to help stranded cyclists.   Also, some help crossing the highway in Franklin would be nice.  That is a dangerous road crossing.  Fortunately no one was hurt.  

Overall a great day and a great ride.  It is still one of the my favorite all time century rides.  Hopefully next year we can get a few more Wheelmen to participate. 

LP

Getting ready for Bike the Bear

After a month of knee pain (IBT band) I believe it has subsided. Did a couple short test rides this week. One with Kris, my newest cycling partner and wife on Friday and then one on Sunday because the knee was feeling pretty good.

On Friday we left Roy to head out on a short 10 mile ride and ended up riding to Plain City from Roy (26 miles). No pain and very enjoyable on my Friday off from work. I concluded that I need to take more days off before the riding season ends.

Sunday's ride was pretty light and easy. Still have a fear of major pain creeping up. The previous ride before this was so painful I had walk home 9 miles.

The solution to all my knee problems have been stretching, low and slow miles when I can't stand it and two or three days between rides. I've also made some adjustments to my shoes and seat height (taking some time to adjust).

During Bike the Bear I hope to do 100miles, but I'll at least do 50 miles with the scouts and support them. I have a personal goal to finish at least three centuries this year as well as 2000 miles for the summer. I've only completed two so far. In St. George I failed because of horrible weather (snow), I completed the Salt Lake Century and the MS Bike Ride (where the knee pain developed).

Dwayne