Beth and I were so excited to ride in the Little Red Riding Hood bike race this year, they haven't had the race since 2019. Unfortunately, Beth and her kids got covid just a couple of days before the race, so she wasn't able to come. Luckily, this year has been a year of major self development for me, and I wasn't afraid of going up alone. It's so liberating to have the confidence and ability to travel, dine and stay in hotels alone, I am loving it!
We always book a room at the Anniversary Inn since it is the easiest place to get a reservation for race weekend, pretty much every other hotel in Logan gets booked months in advance. Checking in to The Anniversary Inn as a single person was a little strange... but I made friends with the cute girls running the desk.
The theme of the race this year is Ride Wild and is themed all around wild animals and safaris. So we had picked the African Safari room to tie into the theme of the weekend.
It was a pretty epic room!
Beth and I always eat at Tandoori Oven the night before race day. It is such delicious food and the perfect way to carb load. I kept the tradition going even though I was by myself.
After dinner, I wanted to go for a walk to help my food digest and to enjoy the beautiful weather. I don't know Logan super well, but I knew there was a little path that went around the temple.
When I got back to my room, my complimentary cheesecake and sparkling apple cider had been delivered!
I spent the evening out on my porch reading and I was joined by a furry little friend.
The next morning I got breakfast delivered to my room. I had a ham and cheese croissant and a raspberry cinnamon roll.
Then it was off to the race!
At this point I hadn't decided which distance I was going to ride. It was between 16 or 30 miles. I usually do the 30, but with not having ridden a bike in about 2 years, I wasn't sure if I would make it. I figured I would ride to the first rest stop and see how I felt.
The weather was cool and overcast, the PERFECT weather for biking. Being out on the road all alone with all the gorgeous scenery was so relaxing to me, I loved it so much.
When I got to the first rest stop, I realized they had changed the course. Normally our first stop is at a really nice park, but this year it was kind of in a random area on the side of the road.
The snack tables were just as amazing though! This race is organized so well and has the nicest volunteers.
Some riders dress up to match the theme, which is so fun. These ladies were all in my start group so we all kept passing each other on the road and would always say to each other.
The oreos with peanut butter are always my favorite rest stop snack. Usually they have a banana slice on top, but here they had gummy bears ... and interesting swap. It tasted like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
I was feeling great at the first rest stop, the first ten miles flew by. So I officially decided to ride the 30 mile distance, I wasn't ready to be almost done riding!
It was nice to be able to stop to take pictures whenever I wanted and not feel like I was slowing anyone down.
Another thing I really, REALLY didn't like about this new course, was it was full of hills. Big, long, steep hills. After one in particularly cruel hill, I passed a sign that said "Welcome to Weston Where We All Live on the Hill" And I thought curse you Weston, why would they change the course to include a town famous for its hill??
At mile 21 I got to rest stop number two. This one was a little big nicer and was at a petty, little park.
They made the peanut butter Oreos correctly at this stop.
There was always this sweet buddy, cheering on all the riders.
About half of the new course was in Idaho, which was interesting. In previous years I don't remember crossing over into Idaho. I forgot to stop at the sign we passed as we entered into Idaho, but I stopped to document when we left Idaho and rode back into Utah.
More stunning scenery.
This sign meant we were getting closer to the finish line!
I had ridden 31 miles and still wasn't at the finish line. There was an intersection where the signage was confusing and me and a bunch of other riders didn't know which turn to take. I was slowly riding around asking different riders which way to the finish line when I lost momentum and couldn't click out in time and took a tumble.
When I got back up, something had happened to my bike, one of the wheels was bent and it wasn't rideable anymore. My left leg was also hurting pretty bad. Luckily, they have lots of emergency vehicles driving the course so it was only a couple of minutes before someone was there to help me. They took a look at my bike and said they couldn't fix it with the tools they had, but the bike shop tent at the finish line might be able to fix it. So they loaded me and my bike up in their truck and drove me to the finish line. It was actually quite a bit further, so this new course strikes again, their signage and mileage was way off. But I had wanted to ride 30 miles and I officially rode 31, so I wasn't bummed about not being able to ride all the way to the finish line.
When I got home and took a look at my knee, there was a huge bruise that continued to get worse and worse over the next couple of weeks.
I was dropped off just before the finish line, so I was able to walk my bike across the line and receive my celebratory lime ricky and my bracelet medal.
The after race party is always so fun and festive.
Lunch is always included with our race entry.
This year's bracelet
Oddly enough, we have only ever raced on even years. Here are all the bracelets I have so far!
Such a fun weekend! I love riding the race with Beth, we have so much fun together and hopefully she will be able to make it next time! But it was such a confidence boost to do the whole weekend by myself, another adventurous growing experience for this year!
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