Little Red Riding Hood 2008

Now that I've had a couple of days to recover, my tail bone is not causing me pain when I sit down, my welts from being pelted with hail have disappeared and I can walk without my legs rebelling, I can reflect on Saturday's ride and say without reservation that it was amazing! We had the best time and all felt extremely proud of ourselves. The scenery was breathtaking and it was the just the perfect girl's weekend. The only disappointing thing was that we didn't hit Cornish on time (we had to be there by 11:00 to ride the 102 mile route and we arrived at 11:15) so we were diverted to the 80 mile route. After a brief 30 second period of regret, we started up the next hill and I began to think I wouldn't miss those extra 22 miles after all. Here are some photos from the ride:

This is the night before the race at about midnight in the hotel room. Yup, we should have been in bed hours ago. We look so happy and full of energy don't we? We had no idea what was coming.

I have no idea what I was looking at here, but whatever it was, it shocked me.

Here we are all ready to go.

Kristina, trying to remember if she forgot anything.

John seeing me off before heading out to go fly fishing all day. Lucky duck.

This is an example of the scenery the entire ride. It was just beautiful--lots of open spaces and green fields. We took several photos by this field.

And here's an action shot:

This was funny. There was Red Riding Hood in drag running around at all the stops.

Kristina was never afraid to take candy from strangers.

Lisa's husband Greg was out biking around the same area so we got to hang out with him during the ride. He is AWESOME and his new nickname in my book is "The wind beneath my wings".

Lunch in Lewiston:

Second to last stop in Benson:

We had to laugh at the name of the port-o-potties:

And here we are at the finish, toasting our success with Martinelli's:

Kristina managed to talk the guy at the Martinelli's booth to give her a couple of unopened bottles to take home with her. Then she had to figure out how to ride back to the cars with them:

Here we are back at the car, tired, happy and proud of ourselves:

After a great dinner together at the Blue Bird Diner in Logan, we headed home, with one of the prettiest sunsets providing the backdrop:

Better start training for 2009's ride.