Anyone ride SL Century last week?

[mtnbiker310]

I thought I'd see someone comment about the SL Century, but seeing nothing so far, thought I'd give it a go.

The south breeze - maybe 8-12 mph - gave quite a push on the way out. At one point near the start, my wife and I just about fell off our bikes laughing when we overheard one guy exclaiming that it was 15-20mph. There were a few periods of gusty winds, but by the time we hit the Antelope Island causeway, the winds weren't a huge factor. Fortunately, the winds dropped somewhat on the way back.

Still, it's nice to have someone else pull for a while. Seems like I'm always pulling a crowd back to the fairgrounds. I try to keep a nice even pace that I know I can maintain for a long time, and people latch on. At one point, with maybe 5 miles to go, a guy finally swung past me and offered to pull for a bit. He lasted maybe a quarter mile until we hit a stop light. Never saw him again after the light turned green. I pulled out, my wife tucked in behind, and the guy just disappeared behind us. I guess it was tougher to pull than he realized.

Those popsicles at the tent are sure good after a long ride.

[bluegoose]

Sounds like it was a nice day. How strenuous of a ride is it? Is there much climbing?

So did you do it on the mountain bike or did you dust off the roadie and go? At the century I did last week I was amazed at how many big, heavy mountain bikes there were. They all had slick road tires on, but still when you have a lot of hills its got to wear on you.

[mtnbiker310]

Oh, it's almost totally flat. Just a bit on Antelope Island and another bit toward the end when it goes up into the low foothills of Kaysville and Centerville. It's kind of funny how flat the SL and Utah Lake centuries are, considering all the surrounding mountains. Come to think of it, there's very little climbing in the MS150 in Logan, too. I guess the Snowbird hill climb (which I've never tried), Park City 100, and other events balance that out.

I definitely rode the road bike. I rode the MS150 years ago with a guy who put slicks on a carbon mtn bike. The bike was light enough, but the gearing was low and he was dieing from lack of hand positions. I don't think many people on mtn bikes go the full 100. It's pretty much an out-and-back, so you can go 28, 68, 80 (skip the island and/or the loop north into Hooper), or 106.

[TheSizzle36]

That goes right by my house where I grew up.

When they started it, it was fine because I lived out in the country/farm part of Layton. Now the area has grown so much, there is a lot more traffic and not much more road space. This year was especially worse with all the construction they had going on Gentile Street, so traffic was routed an alternate way. I wonder how much longer they'll stick to that route, or if they'll have to change it up a little in the future.