SR-67

About two weeks ago, I helped some friends move from Logan to Ogden. On my way home, I saw a billboard advertising something about a half marathon and a bike tour on Legacy Parkway. I thought to myself... "I ought to tell Kathy Jo about that." After a few days of it rattling around in my brain, I finally got around to telling her about it. She got on our computer and yahooed (she yahoos rather than googles too) "half marathon legacy parkway" and came up with this website. She looked around a bit, saw that there was indeed a half marathon, a 20 mile bike ride and a 2 mile fun-run all on Legacy Parkway which would be shut down for the event. She decided that she would like to run this race. I asked her if she was sure (hoping that she was because I thought a ride like that would be cool) because she has another race only a week after this one, and she said yes... She WOULD like to run. I was pretty excited. Last year a co-worker told me that she had the opportunity to ride her bike on the newly opened Legacy Parkway and it was sweet, flat smooth asphalt... a road biker's dream. After again having this new knowledge rattle around in my brain for a few days I realized that Legacy Parkway is a... ready for this?... Designated State Highway! Not only is it a state road, it is one of the state roads on my list of roads that don't allow bicycles! Needless to say when I realized this I let the information rattle around in my brain for a few days before registering K Jo and I for the event.

This one is pretty uneventful. It starts at I-215 in North Salt Lake, is 11.5 miles long, and ends at the I-15 US-89 interchange in Farmington. It's pretty flat as you can see from the elevation profile. This one hardly varies more than 20 feet in elevation for all but the last two miles. The last half mile is the steepest part of the highway only because that is where the interchange takes place. The mile and a half before that is pretty dramatic rising a whopping 40 feet, and besides the dozen or so road-killed raccoons and skunks, there is not much to see.

We got up and headed to Centerville to Parrish Lane where we met the Parkway and headed south, six miles to the start line at mile marker one. I dropped K Jo off and parked the car, got my bike off the car and met her at the start line to snap some pics and wish her luck. The runners left about 15 minutes behind schedule, and I meandered my way to the start line to try and get in front of the pack. There were a lot of riders there and I wanted to be able to start riding as soon as the horn blew, not 5 minutes after. They announced some of the rules, you must have a helmet, make sure we can see your bib, etc. and that there would be a state trooper riding a motorcycle at 25 mph and no one is allowed to pass him. Because of the nature of this one, being a freeway and all, I didn't get to ride the whole thing. The ride started at mile marker one, so to get my end sign pic, I had to ride a mile where it meets I-215, and the ride turned around half a mile from the north end. We took off and I pushed pretty hard to stay with the lead group. There were seven of us and we stayed about 10 yards behind that motorcycle. If you have been following this blog, you will have noticed that I have never averaged more than 18 mph hour on a ride. This is because all of the rides I have done have not been as truly flat as this one is. Also, I have always ridden alone. When you ride with a group, you can maintain a higher average speed because of drafting. It is AMAZING how much easier it is to ride with someone ahead of you. The effect becomes even greater when there are more people in the pack. You do however have to do your part to "pull" the pack. At around mile 12, I rode ahead of the group to do my part and after about a mile, I got tired and started to slow. Our little group rode ahead of me, and I fell about 10 yards behind and that was all it took for me to completely lose it. The wind hit me and I couldn't make up that 10 yards to get back into the draft. I went from averaging 25 mph to averaging 20. I rode alone for about five more miles where another group of about six overtook me and I was back in the draft. For the last 3 miles, I averaged about 21 and finished strong. I picked up my finisher medal, ate some complimentary food, put my bike on the car, changed and made my way to the finish line to wait for K Jo. After a while, I saw her and ran the last quarter mile or so cheering her on. She finished the 13.1 miles in 2:12:04. I am so proud of her. I was also pleased with myself riding the 20 miles in 52:01, averaging 23 mph with a top speed of 32.8. So far the count is 7 state roads, 190.9 miles total riding, 81.8 miles of state roads. Thanks for reading, blog fans.


Chris