Sunday, August 12, 2007

ULCER 100 .................and eleven

August 11th was the ULCER (Utah Lake Century Epic Ride)100. It's a quick jaunt around Utah Lake with 2000 of your closest friends.
There are 7-8 rest stops along the way supplying water, gatorade, advil, and sometimes food. At the midway point in the bustling metropolis of Goshen we were served lunch. On the menu; Build your own hogie sandwich. I passed on the sandwiches as in the past I have learned that there are only a few things I can eat while riding...... ham and cheese is not on the list.

This map will give you a good idea of the route going in a clockwise direction. Starting and ending at Thanksgiving Point.

I tried to stay at the front of the pack so I could "sit the wheel" of the fast guys in order to help my time. I could go on and on about the benefits of drafting and how well it works but it's pretty boring unless you ride.
I had a personal goal to finish in under 5 hrs. They bill the ride as 100 miles but as it turns out it's actually 111. For those of you without a calculator, I had to average 22.2mph to pull it off.
I arrived at the finish with 8 guys snappily dressed in matching kits from the well financed Franklin Covey Team and my Garmin reading 4:53 total ride time.


These are a couple shots I ripped from some guy named Phil's blog. Apparently he had time to take photos and didn't mind the extra weight. He says on his blog that it was his lifelong goal to ride a century. Mission accomplished Phil, you are now prepared to die.

I have a few things that I want to bring to your attention;
First, whoever is in charge of the road maintenance in Lindon, Orem and Provo should be fired. The road conditions on the surface streets of those towns is atrocious. It was like riding thru a mine field trying to dodge the pot holes.

Second, recumbent cycles are not cool. Tricycle recumbent bikes are even worse. Somehow one of these uber-dorks found himself in the lead group at the start of the race and proceeded to raise the anger of everyone by being unable to hold a line around a corner. The owner of one of the bike shops in St. George was cut of by the afore mentioned nimrod and went down at 20 mph instigating a 20 bike pileup, which is funny to every one except 21 people.

Third, why would anyone live in Saratoga Springs? And can someone from Happy Valley tell me what is that smell emanating from the lake?


I understand that a few people managed to stretch their finishing time out to 8 hrs. I wonder if they had fun? Self flagellation is not my idea of a good time.
There are two more century rides before the end of the year. One in Moab and the other is here in San Jorge. Both are absolute killers with a lot of climbing. I will let you know how I fare.

6 comments:

Lynette and Anthony said...

Good time and way to go!!! I would have passed out on mile 2.

Michelle & Steve said...

Wow, cool ride. What can you eat while you ride?

annebabe said...

congrats on meeting your personal goal! my personal goal is not to have my butt jiggle when i brush my teeth. a little different from yours. :) we all have something to work on, right?

B & J Weston said...

Great Blog Mark, I did not know until today that you had one. Great ride!! did you ride this last weekend?
Mom

Robyn Lamoreaux said...

Did 50 miles of that road in a couter-clockwise direction two times as a scout. the first time I swallowed a bee near what is now saratoga springs. the resultant swelling of the left half of my face was quite comical for the next week... really rough on an old mountain bike with 4 gears, and half a dozen scouts that get their exercise from playing in the jr. high band...

Gotto love that smell from the lake eh?

Stevezee said...

If there is anything worse than a recumbent its a recumbent trike that thinks he can hang. I have your recumbent on it's way ps.