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