LOTOJA

 Need I say more?? 

No. But I will anyway, because it was such a great weekend!!

LO-TO-JA

Translation: Logan-to Jackson 

206 miles. 

3 states. 

1 day. 

Yes, the infamous bike race that I have had my eye on since a few years ago when I picked up this fabulous sport.  Lotoja is the longest 1-day sanctioned stage bike race in the US.  Starting at the crack of dawn in  Logan, and ending up in Glorious Teton Village in Jackson Hole. 

 It is a beast!!! 

I had my first experience with this race when I went to be on the support crew for my uncle 2 years ago.  My uncle is an animal on a bike and inspired me to want to be apart of this crazy feat!

SO- this brings us to this year.  I was lucky to be able to ride on a relay team.  Just a little background- this race is EXTREMELY hard to get into.  They have to cap how many riders are accepted, and they turn many, many more than that away.  thousands of riders, with several people there as their support crew.  There are literally tens of thousands of people along this whole route. For lack of a better term- this is a really big deal.  

But we got in! I was astonished! And a little freaked out because that meant that I had to train for this thing.... But ready or not yesterday came! We stayed up in Bear Lake (about an hour away from Logan) because all of the accommodations in Logan were booked. ALL of them. The smart cyclists book their hotels a year in advance... But we stayed in BL and it was fabulous. So also in Bear Lake we went to Pickleville Playhouse which is absolutely HILARIOUS.

We saw Juanito Bandito and laughed our heads off!! This is a little melodrama theatre that is an absolute blast.  I want to take all of my friends there!

"Who Choots Juanito Bandito? What the heck? That is like who punches Juanito Bandito in the jugular with an old rusty hammer!"

"And as they say in West Valley City..... Adios Amigos!"

If you are ever in the vicinity- GO to Pickleville. You won't regret it.  Oh and get a Raspberry Shake from Le Beau's.  Nuff Said. 

OK back to the Bike race. We stayed in a condo in Bear Lake, 17 people! We figured we probably had over $35,000.00 in bikes with just the people staying with us (7 riders)! Imagine how much money in bikes there was on the road that day!! 

Our wonderful support team was pretty awesome.  My dad and Brad are both Closet bikers... My dad knows everything there is to know about bikes, but for the life of me I can't get him to ride.  And Brad is chomping at the bit after this weekend to get on a bike, however if he does he will probably waste away from burning too many calories and his Basketball coaches probably won't like that too much.

We also had my Grandpa and Grandma, Janet, and Ryan and Jessie as Support crew too! I loved when they would drive by and cheer me on! Made me go just a little bit faster :) 

Before my leg of the ride, ready to ride!

A few other team members... My mom, Elissa, and Karlyn

Handoff from Rob- ready, set,

Go!

This is where the car passed me- riding up the King of the Mountain hill.  

We should really call it queen of the mountain now, if you know what I mean... :)

K, seriously it was hard. haha.  There are a ton of professional cyclists in this ride, so they just went around me, but for a non- pro I thought I did alright :)

Oh ps- it wasn't a bad view either...

Approaching Jackson Hole

And then for fun, I rode up this one. 

Not!

At the finish line waiting. I wish I got a pic of how many people were there! It was crazy! So fun though!

Moose Riders- finished in 12 hrs. and 11 mins. Not too shabby!

Our little fam! (PS- we're hoping we can do it again next year! We just need to convince Robbie...)

Such a fun ride! I got a little dehydrated at the end of my leg (flattest, LONGEST 5 miles of my life!) But other than that we had a wonderful day! Perfect weather, fun ride, awesome atmosphere!

We stayed in Jackson Hole Saturday night and got some really good sleep :)

And then we went to the most adorable "locals only" breakfast place with this as our view. Are you serious?

AWESOME.

Let's do it again!!!