100 miles in the cache valley

H signed up to do the MS Ride up in Logan, Utah, on Saturday.  The ride is technically two days and he'd thought he would ride 100 miles on the first day, then 50 miles on the second.  But the temperatures have been so beastly hot and dry that he decided to only do the century ride on Saturday and then come home so we could go MTBing.  He went up Friday afterwork and stayed in Logan at a work associate's house, a cool farmhouse built sometime in the late 1870s.  H was hoping that such an old house might be haunted but nothing materialized.

The ride started at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.  It was a huge event - 3,000 riders - and extremely well run, with the first wave of cyclists starting right one time.  Technically H was on a team but his pace was so much faster than any of his teammates (the team captain admitted to only having had 1.5 hours on the bike so far this year), that he rode on his own, hooking up with other cyclists from time to time to take turns drafting each other.  Although it was in the high 80s and very dry, the numerous rest stops were well-stocked (local grocery chain Harmon's is the event's biggest sponsor) with water, sports drinks, fruit, bagels, Slim Jims, chips, sandwiches, etc.

At the start, ready to ride

Despite a headwind on the return leg, H rode his fastest century yet, averaging 20.0 m.p.h. and finishing the ride in 4 hours 57 minutes.  I'm very proud of him.  I'm also proud of the fact that not only did he ride a fast century, he then drove home, went to the Porcupine with me for dinner, had a margarita at home and managed to stay awake until 10:00 p.m. ... with no naps - super-impressive!