celebration of the century (get it?!?!)

as is becoming our custom, sallee and i threw ourselves a big dessert party the day after our successful completion of the little red riding hood. (have i mentioned it was 102 miles?) bringing a dessert was optional; showering us with praise and admiration was not. luckily, we have gracious and supportive friends who were willing to do both (i am still eating leftover german chocolate brownies... delicious!)

because it's always tricky to host a party and document it photographically, i left my camera on the coffee table and let other people handle the evening's picture-taking. this particular method, i learned, seems to encourage people to mostly take silly pictures of themselves (i'm looking at you, joel dayton), but we did manage to capture the evening's revelry. and, unlike last year, sallee and i could actually stand up, stay awake and enjoy it. hurrah for being hardcore!

sterling looks a little confused by all the lovely ladies...



nate loves pie! and i only spilled a little bit on his pants...





dave can hardly stand the brilliance of emily...



and amy can hardly stand to be without a coke. i totally understand...



these dolls took the party to the front lawn, where they made friends with our neighbor's dog, frankie.





dessert madness...



christian made sure i knew he doesn't let just anyone sit on his lap. i felt so honored...



this is joel, and the self-portrait phenomenon i was talking about.



carolynn's sprint thriathlon, which was scheduled for the same day as our ride, was cancelled. but she came to celebrate anyway.



cheers!



and, scene.

why yes, we are hardcore (the main event)

let me just cut to the chase and say that sallee and i rocked the little red riding hood. period. all 102 miles of it. we rocked it and we rocked it hard. and we rocked it hard even though i think it is safe to say that the elements conspired against us in a big way. for starters, the course went up to preston, idaho this year, and preston is not what you might call flat. there were lots more hills than last year's course. but, seeing as we are harcore these days, more hills were no problem for us. then there was the issue of the rain, but that didn't slow us down either. the real obstacle was the wind, which we were riding directly into for more than half of the course. but, even with all that, we finished in the same amount of time it took us last year in perfect weather, which i see as a major improvement on our part. plus, we only finished half an hour behind sallee's super-hardcore boss, who rides two centuries a month and usually finishes them in six hours or less. what's what you say? we're hardcore? why yes, yes we are.

and, most importantly, the ride was about one thousand times more fun this year. we knew what we were doing and we were better prepared. never once during the ride did we doubt that we would finish. and never once during the ride did it occur to me to kill anyone, including myself. i cannot say the same for last year. and, while last year i got off my bike and swore i would never do it again, sallee and i are already gearing up for our third annual century next summer. in the meantime, here's a recap of our second go-around.

we arrived in wellsville on friday evening, just in time for some carboloading.



and, delicious baked potatoes aside, we both got a little emotional when we pulled up to the park where the ride starts and finishes. there is something really tender about watching husbands and children and friends and family gathering around and supporting women who are about to do something amazing and wonderful and hard. it just brings a tear to your eye.

the next morning everyone was back at the park, bright and early, pumping up tires and pulling on leg warmers, getting ready to go.



in all the preparation mayhem, we managed to run into sallee's friend, emily, who had decided just that morning to do the ride. it was a sweet twist of fate, and we had a great time riding with her, all day long.

ten or twenty miles in and sallee is still all smiles. wanna know why?



because this year's course had twice as many bathroom and snack stops! though we still find the name "honey bucket" a slightly ironic choice for porta-potties.





and, before you know it, we're in idaho! there is something really awesome about being able to say, "i rode my bike to idaho last weekend." and you better believe i am working it into the conversation as often as i can.



lunch came around at mile 60 or so, and emdawg and keri (and hundreds of other bicycles and their riders) were waiting for us there. (jen and georgia came up to cheer us on as well, but they went running and got stuck in a rainstorm in the canyon, the same rainstorm that hit us a few miles after the lunch stop.)



we were showered with praise and food and every time someone pulled up after us em would say (hopfully not so loud that they could hear), "nice work, but not as fast as frances and sallee!" since we were bringing up the rear for most of the ride last year, it was nice to be in the middle of the pack this time around. it was also nice to sit down and eat delicious sandwiches for a few minutes.





millie enjoyed taking a rest as well.



but soon it was time to suit up and hit the road again. (those nifty leg warmers totally saved me in the cold weather. and aren't our biking skirts just darling?)







leaving lunch we got hit with some rain, and the wind was basically awful. but, we still managed to keep up with the pack and passed the time singing john denver songs and sending and receiving amusing text messages. (travis sent one around 10:45 a.m. that read, "so, are you done yet?" just for the record, the ride started at 8 a.m. and we did not find him very funny. but he was much more supportive the rest of the day.) i slowed down for a few miles around mile 80, as i seem to do every year, but our secret weapon got me through. we call it "liquid cocaine," but it's really just orange-flavored high fructose corn syrup, and it does wonders. the only real problem of the whole day came around mile 92 or so, when sallee forgot to unclip at a stop light, fell over and let out a loud curse word in front of some police officers.

officer (not moving, i might add): you ok?
sallee: i'm fine. and sorry about the swear.
me: can we get arrested for that? (because if any city has some weird public profanity law on the books, it's logan)
officer: i didn't hear nothing.

and off we went, to the finish line!







where there were hugs and congratulations from our very own cheering squad. it was probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, coming up to cheer us on like that, and it made all the difference to have those girls waiting for us at the end.





and, in a perfect end to an inspiring and wonderful day, standing there as we crossed the finish line was alice, who started the little red riding hood 21 years ago, and who has ridden in it every year since.



she and a friend got the idea after the friend had a fight with her husband and wanted to go away for the weekend, somewhere where he couldn't find her. she and alice loaded up their bikes and rode all around cache valley, and ended the weekend with the idea that all women needed a chance to get away and do something difficult and rewarding for themselves. i haven't always felt this way, but right now i couldn't agree more. i was so glad to give alice a big ol' hug and tell her that her little ride has changed my life. it might sound silly but i don't care, because it's true. a whole new me started growing when i started that ride a year ago, and it was a different me that crossed the finish line this time around. though, i still cried like a baby when we were done. i guess some things always stay the same.

who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

one year ago, sallee and i spent eight hours and 100 miles doing this...











tomorrow we will do it all again, this time with more ibuprofen and mini candy bars in hand. that big bad wolf doesn't scare us at all.

catching up...

i realize i have been a little absent from the blog lately, so thought i would share some of the many small things that are making up my life right now, just so we're all on the same page. you know?

1. i am moving. not until the end of july, and not out of salt lake, so no one panic. the final straw in a years' worth of housing annoyances, which included disconnected gas lines, frozen pipes, possible meth contamination and sketchy handy-men who left strange notes under our door, was our completely lame landlord announcing a few weeks ago that he was selling our house and not renewing our lease. the sad news is that, even with the aforementioned debauchery, we love our house and hate to leave it. the good news is that we found a new house that is equally charming and much more functional in lots of ways. not to mention that our new landlady is named lola beatlebrox. no joke. just say it out loud. lola beatlebrox. she may or may not drive a flying school bus and her husband definitely does drive a musical taxi in park city. briana has already settled in to the new digs, and ck and i will join her later this summer. you are all invited to help us move in. and then to help us celebrate when we are done.

2. i have a new phone. being technology-averse as i am, this is big news. i hated to give up my old phone, and i am still trying to figure out how to use this new one, but it was time to make a switch. my old phone was coming up on three years, which might as well be 300 years when it comes to these thinbgs, and it was never the same after i dropped it in the bathtub last year. plus emdawg always made fun of it. my new phone is red and slides open instead of flipping open, both of which are exciting new features. most importantly, i can still dance to my ringtone.

3. sarah was in town for a few days, en route from india to washington d.c., where she is starting the next chapter of her life.



i think each of us get a handful of really significant and important friends in our lives, and sarah is one of mine. it was so wonderful to curl up in my bed and laugh until our stomaches ached. i am glad that we are at least on the same continent now, even if not the same time zone.

4. i was elected to be president of my board at the ywca. it is definitely an adulthood-arrival moment to be the president of something that is not a young women's class, and i am petrified and thrilled all at once. my first major (but actually minor) responsibility has been to organize gifts for outgoing board members and it's gone well so far, so i am taking that as a good omen of things to come.

5. i have a new "lady doctor" and i adore her. incidentally, she is also joelle's lady doctor and will deliver her baby when that blessed event occurs. it's nice to like your doctor because otherwise i would get depressed by conversations that go like this:

marital status?
single.
sexually active?
no.
have you ever been?
no.
tobacco use?
no.
alcohol?
no.
drugs?
no.
do you wear a seatbelt?
yes.

could i seem like a more boring person?
definitely not.

6. i can't stop listening to the new weepies album. or to kings of convenience.

7. the team with whom i went to india presented about our trip today at the rotary district conference. this is momentous for a couple reasons. one, as the conference was in lehi, i had to break my usual "don't cross 3300 south" rule. and, more importantly, we got to see the team visiting here from india. so fun. i especially loved hearing sentences like, "i am being married" and "i am coming from kerala" and "i am basically a travel agent." on the downside, the crowd was pretty dead. the only thing that really went better than when we presented at the district conference in india was that no one hung an enormous banner over the screen where our presentation was playing.

8. sallee and i completed our final training ride today, and saturday is the little red riding hood century. 100 miles, here we come. i keep thinking that once that whole thing is successfully completed, i will feel like a more normal person. here's hoping i'm right...

sweet home sweet

since no one could remember the last time i had been in denver, it was about time i made a trip home. and even after a long absence, lots of things were the same. such as...

mom's delicious homemade tortillas...




dad refusing to have his picture taken. the only reason i got this one is because he was distracted from laughing about having given the camera the finger when i tried to take a picture a few seconds earlier...




dinner with steve and sarah, two of my most favorite, and their brood, including baby julia...








big baby brother...




afternoon thundestorms...




lunch with dad in downtown denver...



the mormon feminist rocky mountain retreat in winter park with mom (more on this later)...







and then some things were different. such as...

the cat.



mogli is not super new, but new enough that i sometimes still forget he exists. my family has never had a pet before, but they are completely obsessed with mogli. and i mean obsessed. they sit and watch him endlessly. my mom referred to him as "loquacious." my dad got me off the couch to take me into my parents' walk-in closet to show me where mogli had executed an amazing jump, every single detail of which dad could recount perfectly. my parents have been shopping for a new rug for the living room for more than a year and they finally found one they could agree on but didn't buy it because the cat wouldn't walk on it. i find all of this very bizarre.

massive deck/patio construction.






as with all my parents' home improvement projects, the deck renovation has spun slightly out of control. it is so big they have to display a building permit in the front window of the house at all times. but, the new patio is going to have a fireplace and a waterfall, and my mom already has a fancy new grill for the deck.

my room now = guest room.



the good news is there is a bigger, more comfortable bed in there than ever before. but, to make way for said bed, and other guest room acoutroments, i spent a large portion of my trip cleaning my stuff out. this involved getting rid of a lot of old clothes and sorting through hundreds and hundreds of papers, college notes and photographs, many of which ended up in the garbage.



a quick photographic perusal of my past revealed that i have made many a humiliating wardrobe and hairstyle misstep. an entire album of pictures from seventh grade went straight in the trash. but, i saved a few gems, which i just might scan into my computer and put up here some day for your enjoyment. keep your fingers crossed. this is all that remains of me at my parents' house. not bad, eh?




bike rack.




i would like everyone to know that baby brother ben and i removed my spare tire all by ourselves (i did the lug nuts) and attached this bike rack. i drove out to denver this time around so i could bring back some books and small pieces of furniture i had left there, and that meant i could take millie with me. which was good news because there are some awesome bike trails by my parents' house and i had a great time riding them.

and the drive wasn't too bad, either.