Saints to Sinners

I have done 3 running relays and loved them, but never a bike relay.   So, when my mom asked me if I would join a bike relay team I thought it would be something fun and different.  The bike ride went from South Jordan to Las Vegas, hence saints to sinners.  It was a total of 530 miles and all the proceeds went to ALS (Lou Gehrigs).  There is a lady in my neighborhood that is suffering with this terrible disease, so it made the whole race even better to think about her.  Anytime I was in pain I thought about how little my pain was compared to hers. 

We where not a super fast bunch so our start time was 5:45 AM on Friday.  I was second to go, so I didn't start until about 8.  I took over in a little town called Alberta and silly me didn't even look at the map, so I didn't know where I was going.  I started with two other riders, but soon lost then because I had to stop to tighten something on my bike.  I was all by myself riding along, thinking I was going in the right direction.  I kept seeing signs on the road that said SS with arrows, so I thought everything was good.  Then all of a sudden the signs stopped.  That is when I realized I was lost.   I pulled into a little convenience store and asked to use their phone (silly me forgot my phone in our RV).  I called my mom and she sounded very relieved to hear from me.  They had been searching for me for about 30 min, I was about 20 miles off course.   I had to wait for them to pick me up and drive me to the turn that I had missed.  (Who knows what the SS signs were for, but not for the race I was doing)  I missed a crucial turn about 2 miles into my ride, so my ride went from a 30 mile ride to a 53 mile ride.

My second leg was the hardest leg of the whole ride.  It was only 20 miles long but you gained 2000 feet of elevation in 11 miles.  The hardest part was it started about 8500 feet and went to 10500 feet.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  It was actually fun!  The last part of the ride was downhill which is always fun. 

My last leg started just north of mesquite and ended south of mesquite.  It started at about 2:00 AM.  It is fun to ride in the night, until you hear things in the bushes.  It can freak you out just a bit!  I handed the chip off to my dad and I just got to watch for the last part of the ride. 

Overall the ride was fun!!!  I would totally do this race again.  We were one of the few 5 man Coed teams.  I did a total of 104 miles!