The Little Red bike race has been on my race bucket list for a while. In fact I was in high school when I first heard about it from a friend of mine that was doing the race. Ever since then I have wanted to participate. I didn't really get into riding bikes until a couple of years ago though so I kind of forgot about it. This year though, I finally did it!
I was also able to recruit Trista and Heidi to do it with me. We decided to do the 50 mile length of the course (even though it only ended up being 45 miles). This was a good distance for us.
The Little Red is an all women bike ride and the proceeds from the race go toward cancer research for women's cancers like breast, ovarian, cervical and other cancers. So not only was this a fun ride but it benefited things I am passionate about.
Riding with Trista and Heidi was so fun and made the miles go by quickly.
Of course we had to snap a few fun selfies of us along the course for Trista's Instagram followers. I'm glad she got some good shots.
The course was relatively flat and ran from Lewiston, UT through the farmlands of southern Idaho near Preston and then back to Lewiston. We rode together the whole way just chatting and catching up with our lives. It was so nice.
There was only one large hill we had to climb near Preston. When we got to the hill, I had to just get going. My momentum from going down the hill leading up to the climb was pushing me and I had to keep it up so I passed Trista and Heidi and told them I would see them at the top. I kept pushing and pedaling using my gears to get me to the top. I was able to pass a few people on the one mile climb. Finally I made it to the top and waited for the other two. I was excited to be able to climb that hill without a problem.
Finally we crossed the finish line to the cheers of my family. I don't really remember our time because it was not a timed race but it was somewhere around 2:45 or 3 hours. Averaging about 15 mph. We had made it!
After the race, we look advantage of all of the free food and products being given away. As well as taking a few more fun pictures.
My parents were able to come up and see me race as well.
There was so much free food that we stuffed ourselves. You could tell this race was organized by women because there was everything and a lot of it! There were subway sandwiches, cake, candy, fruit, veggies, cookies, ice cream, and more. We also got swag bags and stuffed them with more treats, arm warmers, bracelets, riding gloves, and t-shirts. Then we wandered around the vendor booths and learned about all the latest riding gear, tires, clips, and more. I was drooling over the puncher proof tires but couldn't let myself pay the $100+. Maybe next time...
After wandering, we sat under a tree and just talked for a few more hours. We didn't have anywhere to go so we just chilled. It was so nice to catch up. We talked about doing the race again but doing the 100 century course next time. I think I really want to.
The three of us entered the race lottery as a team so that we would all get in. We decided we needed to dress like a team as well. I ordered these jerseys and then had my friend, Onna, put our names and team name on them. They turned out so good! Our team name was "The Little Red MOB (Moms on Bikes)." We thought it sounded pretty cool. We also got a ton of compliments on our jerseys and a bunch of people asked us where we got them.
In all this was a great race and one I plan on doing again. The only bad part about it was all of my training for the race was done in the winter and spring so it was freezing most of the time. Thankfully though the race day was perfect.
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