The Barri (more than one Barrus): Goldilocks

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Goldilocks

Way back in February, I signed up for Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks, another women's only ride. This one starts in Provo, at the lake, and heads south along roads I bike regularly. They have various distances you can ride--20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 miles--and good support. It isn't Little Red, but it's good. Janie Rasmussen signed up to ride, and happily, her elbow has healed and she's been able to be back on her bike. We've done a bit of biking in preparation, including a long ride to the end of the Murdoch Trail and back. I know Janie has been happy to be back on her bike, and I've been happy to be riding with her again.

Today we met up with Katie (a soccer buddy of Mikayla's), Jessica, and Jen, who I've ridden with before. I had thought we were going to ride 60 miles, but shortly after we started, Janie said she wanted to ride 70, while Katie, Jessica, and Jen were opting for 80. Seventy miles sounded like a lot, but I realized that Janie had set a personal goal to ride 70 miles at Little Red, but then crashed at mile 68 and couldn't finish. She needed to go 70, and as it is always much better to ride with someone than not, I went 70, too. We rode the first 35 with Jen, Jessica, and Katie, as well as Katie's husband Lloyd (he was riding support and allowed us to draft for over 10 miles), then Janie and I turned around and headed back.

It was a beautiful day to be riding. We rode south and west, out to Lincoln Beach and around West Mountain, before flipping around. Last year is rained 47 of the 50 miles we rode, making for a fairly miserable ride. But today was perfect, not too hot, overcast, little wind. We did encounter a headwind as we rode through Benjamin and Lake Shore, but Janie and I took turns pulling, and we talked, so that broke up the monotony. I was glad to be riding, and I was glad to be done riding when we were finished. It was a great day and a great ride and I'll sign up to do it again next year.