Bike: ULCER (Utah Lake Century Epic Ride)

For the third time I have signed up to ride the ULCER. This is a killer ride for a couple of reasons. First of all it's in the beginning of August... in Utah. It can be super hot. It's not a super hilly ride but it's around a lake so wind can be all sorts of crazy. It's not a race per se, just a ride. It's still a 112 mile ride, that's hard no matter what.
The first time I did this ride was the summer that I got my bike and had a buddy to ride with. I trained pretty hard for a month and did the 67 mile version. I finished the ride and felt great. In fact I thought I could have done the whole thing but I thought I'd start slow because this was the longest ride I'd ever done. The night of that first ride I was playing soccer with a youth single adult group and almost got compartment syndrome playing soccer. That halted my enthusiasm and training for a log time. That's also when I got the nickname Lexi-hop-along.

The next year I did the 112 mile version of the ULCER. I didn't train as well, didn't stretch the week or day of the race. I attribute the fact that I finished the race that to a group that I latched onto in the last 40 miles of the race. However, I didn't really walk for the next week or so because I really injured my left IT band.

This year I plan to repeat the good things and leave out the bad from my previous experiences. On August 6th I will be giving this ride a third go-round so can't really slack off now. I've already started training and I'm implementing lots of stretching in the workout. The first few training rides were a little rough and I felt really out of shape - mainly because I was. The most recent rides have been much more encouraging and my endurance and speed have increased. I've included a couple of pictures from my rides this year. I will continue to update here and there about my progress and how the race goes. Wish me luck!