Day 18358

The Cycle Salt Lake City Century ride was last Saturday. I have been kinda planning on doing the ride for some time. When it came right down to it, I didn't have anyone really to ride it with me. But, Cliff Lillywhite had registered and then his son was getting married that day. So, he offered me his registration.
A goal I've had for some time is doing 100 miles in under 5 hours. So I decided to try. This might have been easier if I had a fast group of friends to do it with. Anyway, probably within the first 5 miles or so I managed to get in with a fairly big group for the next 30 miles. The leader was a husband and wife on a co-motion tandem. I spent most of the time right on their tail and there were many riders behind us. I took a couple of turns pulling for them. But, they did most of the work and seemed happy to do it.
After the first feed station, I got a flat right away. So, I lost the small group I was with. It didn't take too long to fix it and luckily I had no more problems. It took another little while to hook up with some other people. One of the guys was on a Titanium Torelli. I passed him and then he passed me and I stayed on his tail.
Usually, the Antelope Island Causeway is just horrible. Headwinds both ways. But, you couldn't have asked for better weather for this ride. If there was any wind it was only a whiff. At the 50 mile point just before the causeway, my average speed was 21.7. By the time I had gone the next 20 miles it dropped to 21.4. I stayed with groups across the causeway and then we broke up going around the island because of the climbing. Then coming down the last hill leaving the island I hooked up with 2 other guys and soon a fourth joined us crossing back to the mainland.
I saw Jeff Barton and Teal Buchi at the Syracuse feed station at the 70 mile point. I left that point pretty much on my own and started to suffer. After a while, I noticed a guy on my tail for about 5 miles. He eventually pulled forward and we started taking turns pulling. It was just us two for the last leg. We began chatting a little. He was also 50 years old and was trying to make the same goal of better than 20 mph average. His name was Dave from Kaysville and he was on a Litespeed Tuscany. I'm glad I hooked up with this guy because on my own for the last leg, I'm not sure I would have made it. For the last 25 miles I just wanted to get off the bike. I finished 106 miles in 5:11 at an average speed of 20.45.