Ride Report; 71 Miles, 763 Total Miles, 14.0 Avg mph, 2,868 Ft. Climbing, 5,926 Calories
Well readers, today made up for all those fun times I reported in previous posts. If you're the kinda person who not only can't look away from a train wreck, but has to stop and watch for a while, read on. If not, stop after the next paragraph.
The Reader's Digest Condensed version goes like this. Find a busy highway (in this case US 95), ride into a 15 mph wind ALL FREAKIN DAY, climb over yet another mountain, arrange for trucks to blare air horns at ya, collapse in RV periodically to eat Oreos and consume copious amounts of water and Diet Pepsi, repeat as necessary until you've ridden 71 miles. God I love Oreos...
Seriously, that was it. I knew the day would be tough as soon as I saw the forecast. I mean, 71 miles into the wind is a big deal in just about anybody's book. But throw in the mountain and Yowza! I find this interesting because just yesterday I was talking to Susan about how my perspective on riding has changed. Formerly the amount of miles I rode in one setting (more being tougher than less) dictated my view of how difficult the ride was. Such is no longer the case. What I told her was that at this point miles are just miles, its the obstacles contained within those miles that drive the nature of the ride. It might be mountain(s), wind, traffic whizzing by all day, cold, running out of water, treacherous descents...something. So far every day riding has had its own difficulties. So now when I look at the next day's route, the first thing I look at is the elevation chart, the second is the weather - assuming we have cell service and I can open "Accu"weather. Speaking of which, their prediction for today was winds constant at 5-8 all day. Liars, the lot of 'em.
And before we get to today's ride pics just let me warn ya that the pickings are a bit thin today. That's cause I was too #!#^*! grouchy to take many. This is not to say that there weren't some bright spots. I mean, even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then. So let's get on with the (brief) show. I need extra time tonight to work the grouchiness off...
Oh - and somebody call Susan and console her please...
Opening shot of the day - when optimism still reigned and the wind was still at the predicted 5-8 mph. That thin, dark blue line you can barely make out on the horizon is the next mountain range thru which we have to pass. I had a hard time getting the Sequoia out and on the road today. He said he'd rather hang out with "Mom" in the RV all day. Good Lord. I'm gonna have to explain the bike birds and bees to him.
Once we snuck a little closer to 'em I snapped this pic. Things are coming into focus. BTW - it was chilly again this morning. Note the winter weight U/A top I have on under the bright green jersey. Oh yeah - and note the bright green jersey. It approximates the god awful color that highway workers wear. Given what I'd read on the ACA map about traffic on 95, I wanted to be as visible as possible. We're gonna spend a lot of time on 95 this week. This jersey may be a little stiff by weeks end.
The Sequoia took this shot at the base of the climb. I needed a short break here to ditch some of the cold weather gear I was wearing. So I called Susan (who was still behind me in Council, ID) in order to have her stop and pick it up as she went by.
This is a bunch of bee hives. They were located maybe 50 yards away in the field next to the pullout where I had stopped to meet Susan. Unfortunately, I rested the Sequoia up against a mailbox there and when I turned my back for a minute, he must have gone over and irritated the bees because I had some bee visitors. I was glad when Susan showed up. It was time to go while the bees were still marshaling their forces. He can't stay in the RV and goof off all day so he's apparently determined to make life difficult. But it was an opportune time to explain to the Sequoia that Susan isn't his Mom. I told him the truth: that the bike stork delivered him to Pathfinder in Manhattan in a box. Oh - and that we were all very glad that the stork did so because he was just the bike we'd always dreamed of. He bought it. Don't you dare screw this up for me...
About a billion miles later (wait - lemme check the Garmin - yeah - a billion) I ran into this guy. His name is Oliver Sevil and he's from around Sydney, Austraila. We chatted for a while and he gave me some tips on riding thru Yellowstone. (Its very busy. Once you get to the road that goes South out of the park, just hog your entire lane. If you move off to the side the RVs will never let you back on the road.) I didn't tell him that my lovely bride is an RV driving Teamster. They prolly don't have teamsters in Australia, it being civilized and all...
Word has gotten back to the author that some readers suspect that not everything the author puts into print is the God's Honest Truth. As a result, I proffer this pic as proof of my story about meeting Oliver and to disprove the conspiracy theory that I just snag pics off the internet and use them in my posts. As it happens, this also proves my trustworthiness, reliability and honesty. Side bar: the day sucked. I didn't feel like smiling but wanted to put on a good face on behalf of 'Mericans everywhere. You're welcome.
Somewhere on the mountain I ran into this. It's one lane with one of those temporary stop lights to control the flow of traffic. So let me get this straight... It cycles every three minutes (Susan timed it, God bless her.) and I hafta make it thru before a logging truck comes thru going the other way. If that doesn't motivate a guy to up his wattage I don't know what will. (The uninitiated should Google cycling wattage.) BTW - this was one of three such construction sites on 95 today.
As we neared our destination for the day we followed the Little Salmon River down to the RV park where we're entrenched for our rest day tomorrow. It's in the middle of nowhere, but has laundry facilities. We're good to go. The middle of nowhere with nothing to do sounds good right about now.
This is me - also along the Little Salmon River. I saw a bunch of people fishing as we descended to the RV Park. I can't figure out why. If it was me I'd fish on the Big Salmon River. Who wants to catch a bunch of little salmon? I sometimes just don't understand these people here in Idaho...
Another shot farther down along the same river. Very scenic - which is what I'm attempting to capture here. Honestly, what with the last 10 miles being downhill (even if it was into a roaring wind) this was the best part of the trip today. Well, that and meeting Susan for frequent breaks from the wind. On one such occasion she bought huckleberry pie for me at a local store - WITH ice cream. That alone was worth 500 ft. of climbing...
As I said earlier, a short post today. Sorry to disappoint, but past caring. I'm just outta energy and will call it an early night.
Till next time.
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