When Susan and I first drove across the country to move to Logan for the year, we stumbled upon Bear Lake which happens to be just on the other side of the Bear River Mountains to the East of us in Logan. Since then, we had talked about going to the lake for a getaway and finally got around to it this past weekend. Of course, with Ironman Louisville approaching, I am always on the lookout for long training opportunities and it so happened that a century ride was taking place Saturday morning just north of the lake, so I was able to check the lake weekend and training weekend boxes simultaneously.
Friday evening we drove through Logan Canyon along with a parade of other vehicles heading either to Bear Lake or to camp at various outposts throughout the canyon. The drive usually takes just about an hour, but was a little longer given traffic. This combined with us running errands on the way out of town led to us not arriving in Garden City until around 7PM.
Bear Lake from the car
We stayed at a rundown motel that was basically one step above camping, but was pet friendly, had ample space and a mostly functional kitchenette so met all of our requirements. With the bike ride looming Saturday morning, Friday night consisted of a short walk down to the lake shore before dinner, gear prep, and an early bedtime.
Susan & Derby by the lake 
The lake from our motel
Saturday I woke early and left Susan and Derby to sleep in as I made my way north to Montpelier, ID. At 7AM, I took off on my bike along with a couple hundred others to tackle the Bear Lake Monster Century. The first 50+ miles consisted of a long out and back to a canyon climb before returning to Montpelier. This was the featured climb of the ride and had a strict cut-off time for completing it since the road also leads to a cave that would be opening for tours later in the morning. I easily made the cut-off and was rewarded with a green bracelet (Livestrong style) that I could redeem for a race logo shot glass at the finish. The first half of the ride went by quickly and was completed before the temps came up (it was in the 30’s at the start).
Leaving Montpelier again, the ride headed east this time through a pass that is used in the LOTOJA bike event. It was a longer climb than it looked on paper and mostly exposed to the sun. However, I was mentally prepped for it by the warnings at the previous aid station. That combined with great roads through this stretch made it an enjoyable cruise through mile 70. The last 30 miles were when things got tough. There was only one more substantial climb but the whole of the rest of the ride was on highway shoulders exposed to sun and wind and lacking in scenery. By the end, I wasn’t spent which is a good sign for my fitness level, but I was definitely glad to be done. The ride was 99.8 miles with over 3300ft elevation gain (1.5x the amount on the Ironman Course) and I finished it in around 5 hours 20 minutes while only using my own nutrition, so all told it was a success. The biggest letdown was that my point and shoot camera I was planning on riding with had dead batteries, so no pictures.
When I got back to Garden City around 1:30, a couple of our friends from the USU internship had arrived and were hanging out at the motel. After some cleaning up, we ventured out to the main strip of Garden City to pick up a raspberry shake. The Bear Lake valley is famous for its raspberries and the shakes (which are actually more like Blizzards) are sold at all the cafes in town. It seemed like all the shake shops were busy too.
Mesmerized by the raspberry goodness 
The shake shop we decided on
Saturday afternoon was not exactly lake weather...it was sunny, but only in the low 70’s with a chilly breeze. Instead, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing board games and sitting lake side where Derby, Susan and I waded into the very shallow water. In the evening, we made dinner at the motel and played more games before our friends drove back through the canyon.
Sunday morning we slept in. As with most small towns in Utah, Garden City had closed up shop for the day so only the gas station convenience store was open (and busy). We checked out, grabbed coffee and left town for the canyon. Before driving all the way back to Logan, we stopped for a nice 4 mile hike to Swan Peak that turned into a much larger undertaking than we had anticipated (and will be covered in detail in a separate hike report post).
Susan climbing 
Some white pines & Wildflowers with a view
Jeff & Derby with the lake behind them
The hike was beautiful and we were mostly successful in completing it, but were beat by the end and returned to Logan in midafternoon with another nice weekend behind us. The next couple weeks are busy with visitors coming Friday and the 4th of July holiday the week after.
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