Tour de St. George!

So last Saturday, the 20th of October, I set out to ride 100 miles on my 5-week-old road bike. Dawn & John (Kurt's sister & husband), Kurt, & Ashley were all with me, but left me in the dust pretty soon after the start. A little after an hour into the race (about 13 miles), my chain fell off... soon after I fixed it and was riding again I crashed my bike trying to clip into my pedals. More irritated than anything, I got back on with only a little scrape. A mile later I noticed my back tire was flat. SERIOUSLY!?? I had no clue how to fix a flat, but some older guy helped me put my spare tube on... which popped while he was filling it with air. So the sag car came 30 minutes later and fixed my flat with a free tube. I was finally on the road again 50 minutes after I had stopped for the flat tire. By this time... everyone, I mean everyone had passed me. Including 10-year-olds on mountain bikes and older women traveling less than 5 mph.

This is a picture of me before the race (notice I am smiling without any pain).I had been trying to get the hold of drafting - which reduces the effort you need to make to go the same speed - but by this time anyone my pace was WAY ahead of me.

Here is the map of the ride:

Before this ride, the longest ride I had done was 38 miles. The total distance I had put on my road bike was almost 250 miles. So I wasn't sure I could even finish the race, but I knew I wanted to. Some of the only advice I got for the century was "get in a group." Since that was practically out of the question, I continued the ride and only drafted a total of less than 15 miles during the entire 100 miles. I basically rode the entire race by myself! I'm glad I did it, though. I surprised I am not more sore than I am.
Before I decided to sign up for the full century, I talked to Terrel about whether or not he thought I could do it. He actually suggested doing only the 65 miles. During the hardest part of the race (up Highway 18 to the top of Snow Canyon State Park - miles 70-80) I would think of what Terrel said and was determined to prove him wrong! The race was a lot more mental than I was prepared for, but I did it. I finished in 8 hours, 47 minutes and 19 seconds. They stopped the support at 9 hours, so I barely made it!
Ashley has some pictures on her site as well: click here