Dawn's Report from Little Red

 

Little Red Riding Hood is an event that pretty much has to be experienced to really be described.  Forget everything you think you know about big, organized cycling events.  Little Red is more like a carnival crossed with a gay pride parade crossed with a midlife crisis and then thrown on wheels. 

     Started in 1987 by a widow named Alice Telford, Little Red typically attracts 4000 riders--all of them women. Last year the event raised $150,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation toward research on women's health issues.

     The non-competitive ride kicks off in 5-minute waves and women are encouraged to dress-up and/or decorate their bikes.  Since this year's theme featured a Mardis Gras flavor, the event jerseys and post-ride photo ops all featured boas, glitter masks, beads and various glam touches, including pom-poms attached to bike seats, foil streamers flying from helmets, and glitter tattoos.  Various white-fleshed paunchy men wore Vegas-style show girl attire and strutted around the vendor arena both during and after the ride, but except for them and a few other male volunteers, the gathering is definitely femme fatale in every direction you look. . 

     This seems to be a come-all sort of party which means you will marvel at the range and variety of female body shapes that can be crammed into Lycra bike shorts.  And if there are no limitations on the physics of enfolding flesh in tight cycling gear, then why should age be limited?  I saw girls as young as 8 or 9 and women as old as 80 cranking through the course, which is mostly flat and offers a lavishly stocked feed zone about every 10 miles. Another plus for the course is the pastoral beauty of the Cache Valley, where the route takes you through several picturesque farm towns where children cruise out on their own bikes to cheer you on.

     My friends and I rode the 100 mile option and finished with a 17.2 average--not bad for us.  Check to see if you are a girl.  If you are, consider this very-well-organized ride.  The route offers several length options and the party-like ambiance is sure to bring you back.