Goldilocks Century Road Ride

Janie, Kris Tina, and I rode 60 miles in the Goldilocks Century today. It was quite fun. This is only their second year putting on the ride and you can kind of tell. The rest stops only had a couple port-a-potties and one table of snacks so there were long lines for both. We also had to ride on some pretty busy roads throughout Herriman, Riverton, and Eagle Mountain. And even worse, we had to cross a lot of traffic and go through a lot of traffic lights. Plus the hills. Oh my the hills. There were so many hills. One of the hills was a couple miles long around miles 23-25 - I killed it. I found a sweet spot of energy and motivation and I passed so many people! Including Janie which is hard core! Janie is training for an Olympic Triathlon right now so she is in really good shape. Normally, my heart rate would be 30 beats higher than hers the whole time - that should tell you how good of shape she is in.

The three of us stayed together until lunch. The lunch - I will say - was divine and much better than Little Red's Subway lunch. Goldilocks had caterers with yummy fresh sandwiches. But after lunch my legs were shot from killing that hill and Kris Tina had lost some gas so Janie took off. Kris Tina and I kind of rode together .... until the last bit. Overall, it was pretty fun and the t-shirt and "finishing medal"- which is actually a cute necklace - were really cute. Good times! And the best part: good training for the full 100-mile century coming up on June 4th - Little Red Riding Hood - with Teri and one of my mountain bike teammates, Kendra.

One of the Last Mementos

It's gone. The last memento I've been carrying around for eight and a half years. I'm sure it's long out of fashion, plus my style has changed. I guess I thought I'd hang on to it just in case I got married quick enough to use it again. But I've also outgrown it - literally. I'm gonna need a dress that's a little roomier. :) I tried selling it - on Craigslist, eBay, KSL, and some random used wedding dress website. I even tried calling some clothing consignment shops to see if they would sell it on consignment for me, but they wouldn't. So I donated it to my friend's high school drama class so it could be used in their drama productions. For some reason I just felt the need to get rid of this last memento and in quick fashion. It sure does feel good to be rid of it and to have the extra room in my closet! So this is a day worth blogging about. :)  And it's worth memorializing.

Easter Tulips

My mom came down to visit me for Easter. So I took her to see the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Only about half of the tulips were open, but it was still beautiful to walk around the gardens! Overall, it was a pretty low-key weekend - we watched a lot of movies, went to church, made a small Easter dinner, and went for a walk in the blustery, cold weather. Thanks for the visit, Mom!

Europe Here I Come Again!

I just bought my airfare to go with some girlfriends to Europe in October of this year! I'm headed to: 

Prague, Czech Republic

Vienna, Austria

Budapest, Hungary

The King's Speech

Jen and I just saw the PG-13 version of The King's Speech. It was fabulous. Fabulous. The movie was originally released as rated-R for language, but they decided to re-release it as PG-13 with a lot of the worst language cut out. I'm so glad they did so I could see it! It was all about how King George VI overcame is stutter and just in the nick of time to become king and lead the United Kingdom through World War II. Colin Firth's acting in the King George VI role was Amazing - with a capitol A. If it is showing in a theater near you - go see it.... before April 19 which is when the movie is released to DVD. Although I think they are only releasing the rated-R version to DVD - which is kind of sad.

April Fool's Blizzard

Ha ha! This is what I woke up to this morning. Awesome! The April Fool's blizzard comes every year like clockwork around this time of year. Happy General Conference weekend everyone!

Second Race - Cholla Challenge

I raced in one of my favorite races - Cholla Challenge in Hurricane, Utah. I think there are several of my teammates that don't like the course because it has sand and some nasty gravel in washes, but I looooooove how there is hardly any monster climbs! It's mostly just short climbs, short descents, and quite a bit of flats. I love it. I also figured out my strategy during this race: let everyone in my category take off like shotguns in the beginning and then catch up to them when they hit the first technical spot and that's when I'll pass them. Some of the other beginner women can't do the technical stuff so I let them try it and by the time I get to them they are walking their bikes and out of my way so I can do the stuff. I passed two people in my category with that strategy! I was so proud of myself! And then . . . as soon as I started down a descent, I wiped out. But thankfully I was able to stay ahead of these two girls and get some distance between us by the end of the race. 

Kendra and I and a few other friends went for another ride afterward on the Jem trail. It's off the highway to Zion National Park and it's pretty dang fun! Kind a long false-flat climb, but a really fun downhill coming back. It's on this trail that I broke my chain and worked my front derailleur. Thankfully we had a friend with us who is a bike techy.

Oh and one more thing: every time I wear those white shorts I have to really "fake it until I make it" with my confidence! I hate those shorts! But they are part of our official 2010 team kit, so I had to wear them for our race, but hopefully not anymore! Our 2011 team kit is gonna be awesome! And the shorts will be all black.