ULCER 2009 - We Survived!

Dave, Paula, and I have been training for the ULCER (Utah Lake Century Epic Ride) for a while now. Actually Paula and I have been riding and/or spinning for almost a year. Paula and I ride several times a week, and Dave rides when he can. Paula and I were just going to do the ULCER together, but then I got thinking that it would be fun to have Dave ride with us, and he had kind of expressed a little interest, so I signed him up while he was at work, and then sent him a text message letting him know he was all registered. Thankfully, he didn't even get mad and just got busy training. He did talk me into a new road bike though. I guess I had that coming. He's a good sport, and it was really fun to have him with us. He kept us laughing the whole way.



Paula and I rode 63 miles back in June on the Little Red, and Dave and I did 70 miles last Saturday to train, but that was our farthest ride so far. The ULCER was 111 miles, so that was quite the jump in mileage.

We started at Thanksgiving Point at 8:00 on Saturday morning along with 1500 other riders. We were excited and probably a little nervous. Dave and I and the kids had driven the ride course the previous Sunday, so we kind of knew what to expect. I think that helped. Turns out the first 50 miles or so were pretty much flat with just a few little hills here and there. Very nice.

Dave was all excited for his first big event. He was pretty nervous before our 70-mile ride the week before, but after that, he felt better and was all pumped up for the ULCER. He did great! I think I've got him hooked on biking. He's always been such a runner, and he still is, but the problem is that I HATE RUNNING. I hate everything about it, and believe me, it hates me just as bad. So we can't do that together. So I had to bring him over to the "dark side" and now we can bike together. My devious plan worked! Turns out biking is slightly more expensive than running, but we both love it, and I love that we can do it together. We've got Paula working on Bret now and hopefully he'll be biking soon ... next year Bret!

See above and below - This is what happens when Dave has the camera for most of the ride. We have a lot of pictures from this angle. Thanks hon.



That's great Dave. Nice camera work. In this picture he made sure to get us riding past these people with the flat tire and not stopping to help them. So let me explain. Early on in the ride, when Dave was a little ahead of us, we passed a man and woman on the side of the road with their tire off and they looked frustrated, and nobody had stopped to help them. They do have support vehicles that come around and help with bike repairs and stuff, so Dave sailed right past them (he was worried about making the deadline for lunch). Nice hon. Actually, Paula and I sailed right past them too, but as we did the guy held up something and said, "Hey do you guys have one of these?" We still passed them a little bit and then we were like "Crap. No we feel bad." So we went back and it turns out they needed a pump, and Paula and I each had one. So we were glad we stopped. Dave finally noticed we weren't with him and stopped and came back, so he now wants to claim 2 extra miles on the ride, but I told him he can't because he failed the Good Samaritan "test." You really shouldn't mess with Dave when it comes to lunch.

It was really pretty riding through farm and orchard country in Southern Utah County and especially the lake. It was beautiful! I forget how green it is on the other side of the valley. We're hogging all the desert landscape out here in the Cedar Valley I guess.

The weather was nice and cool. It only got to about 80 degrees for a high ... in Utah ... in August! WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?!! It was so nice to not have it be closer to 100 degrees like it has been here for a few weeks. It only brought one problem ... WIND! More about that later ...
Nice self-shot Dave. He actually took like 8 of these, but this was the best one. I guess he was bored waiting for Paula and I to catch up.

I didn't hardly get the words "flex for the camera" out of my mouth before I saw this. Good think I'm so quick with the camera.

Man, who is that?!! What a show off! No hands and showing the guns?!! Holy cow.

Dave made me do this pose by the way.

And this one.


Still on the flat part. We were cruisin.

She looks happy! Nice and flat. Just had lunch. Not to the hills or the wind yet ... oh boy.

This is the lovely town of Elberta. We stopped here for drinks/bathroom/snacks before climbing up the west side of Utah Lake. We had been feeling some wind all day coming from the North, but we hadn't actually ridden into the wind yet, so WE HAD NO IDEA!!! Oh my gosh. The last 40 miles we rode into a 10 to 20 mile per hour headwind, and it was uphill, the hardest part of the ride by far! It was KILLER!

Still in Elberta taking a nice long rest, gearing up for the climb and the wind. Still smiling.

If you want to know how were were doing at this point, check out my face. We still had 25 to 30 miles to go. We just had to stop for a minute to catch our breath. You can only pedal into that kind of wind for so long. We had been averaging 17 miles per hour on the first part of the ride, and for most of this stretch, we were between 10 and 12 miles per hour. AAAHHHH!!!

Poor Paula ... her knee was dying! She hung in there and finished the ride. What a trooper! At least 30 miles with her knee really hurting. She rocks.

We managed a quick smile for the camera before getting back on those little teeny tiny bike seats. Anything to delay riding in that wind for a few minutes. Ha ha!

When we had about six miles left, our friends, The Stocks, rode by in their van and waved and smiled and cheered us on. That was so fun! And then they turned around and came back and drove slowly by us for a few minutes and talked and encouraged us. That was such a boost! We were so dead, and needed that. Thanks Stocks!

With about 3 miles left, Paula's husband, Bret, and her kids drove by and cheered us on, and then they drove by again. Yeah! It was so fun to see them! That was a great boost too. We were just do dead and so tired. They raced us to the finish line so they could get pictures of us crossing the finish line. Thanks Bret!

My mom and dad had our kiddos all day (and for a sleepover the night before!) and my dad brought the kids to meet us at the finish. It was great to see them! They were so impressed and so proud of us. It's a great feeling when you're kids tell you that they are proud of you. I'm lovin that!


THE FINISH LINE!!! WOW! I can't even tell you what that felt like. We had been on our bikes since 8:00 in the morning, and it was 5:15 p.m. We rode 111 milles total distance, and had about 7 hours 30 minutes of actual riding time. WHAT?!!! It was so fun to ride with Paula and Dave, and I am so proud of all of us for finishing and still being able to smile about it! I love the feeling of having a goal and working so hard toward it and then reaching the goal! What an amazing feeling! I couldn't have asked for better riding companions. Thanks for the encouragement and for the amazing day guys! Can't wait for next year!