On the Road...Again

We met up with Jen at Will's house, and she shuttled us around town in his truck to grab the necessities- coffee and donuts. She drove us out the highway, which was what Adventure Cycling recommended. I'm glad we rode and walked Rocky Canyon instead.

Jen dropped us off right where I got my mechanical, and we were off again! We really only lost a few hours, despite the setback.

The day was long and gorgeous. We followed a reservoir and the river that fed it. Temperatures climbed and the scenery became more and more dramatic.

It was barely noticeable at first, but we rode at least 40 miles on a slow incline. They're not as grueling as big climbs, but at least with big climbs you get a big descent.

Instead we rode until my legs were jelly. The goal was to make it to Granite hot spring right before the next big climb, and we succeeded.

The surprise was that the hot spring itself was scalding, like so hot I thought we might get burned. It flowed right into the river, which was freezing. The best we could do was sit in the convergence of the two flows with one cheek in the hot spring and one in the river and hope for the best. But it wasn't a bad way to end a tough day.

We met our first fellow tourists as they flew by, three guys who kept riding even though the sun had set over the ridge. But I was so tired I was losing higher level cognitive function. I wouldn't figure out how to unpack things or put up the tent, and my eyes were puffy and closing. We set up camp on a blocked off ATV trail above the river, and I fell asleep at 8:30.

On the Road!

Our host Jen took a look at the Adventure Cycling route and suggested we take Rocky Canyon Road instead of the busy highway out of Boise. Travis of course loves to take any off-road detour that the locals tell us about, even if it has a little "hill" towards the top. Jen ran a half marathon up the hill and down into the next valley, so how hard could it be???

The pavement disappeared as we made it further up into the canyon. Very dramatic scenery again, but hoo boy. That hill.

We are unfortunately not super prepared for this grade. Both of us are only running one gear up front, and Travis only has 9 gears in back. He was out of the saddle riding uphill, which worried because there just weren't any easier gears... He is strong though so I guess he'll be ok.

We walked the good half mile to the top, and summited just as we ran out of water. And then the downhill!

There was a cute park at the bottom of the valley, and I never would have guessed that 30 minutes after being at the top of a baking, dry mountain we would be swimming in a little river.

I was pretty pooped after that climb-- let's remember that the most I've ever ridden before this is 33 miles in Florida. But we still had a ways to go before dark so we kept pedaling along a reservoir. High of 96.

And then tragedy struck. Well not tragedy but major mechanical setback. I got a flat tire. A thorn poked through and I was slowly leaking. No problem, I had a tube and tire levers. Except..... we couldn't get the tire off. It was fused to the rim of the wheel, and even despite Travis struggling with the tools we had available. Like the tire levers wouldn't budge the tire, and the little screwdriver we had still wouldn't make the tire budge. We had to hitchhike back into town, in hopes of finding a bike shop that was still open and could service my bike before the July 4th weekend. There was a very real possibility that we'd be stuck in Boise for the next three days.

Luckily, the first pickup truck that we stuck our thumbs out for stopped for us, helped us load up the bikes and dropped us at REI. THANK YOU SO MUCH FRIENDLY IDAHOANS!!!

Then is was Mechanic Mike's time to shine. He dropped everything he was doing st the REI shop, and both he and Travis had to wrestle with this dumb tire. Totally fused. They had to use a screwdriver and the most intense metal tire lever I've ever seen, and it finally popped off.

We switched both my tires over to tubeless, which means instead of having a rubber tube inside the tire that inflates, the tube comes out and you fill the tire with gel that seals all the air inside. Then when I run over another thorn, the gel will squeeze out and plug the hole.

It was too discouraging to ride the hardest 35 miles of my life and end up at the same place we started, so we stayed at the RV park, right next to the most lit minor league baseball game I've ever heard. We're talking stadium-wide singalongs to Take Me Out To The Ballgame and Sweet Caroline. We ate about 10,000 calories of Panda Express, and then fell asleep.

Jen our Super Host borrowed Will's truck and we met her the next morning and she drove us right back to the spot where I got my flat. Like I said, I don't want to give any of her future guests too high of expectations, but how wonderful is she. Thanks Jen!

So yesterday was a good test run.... right? 

Boise!

I will tell you that the road to Idaho was a long one.  I liked the idea of taking a bus from Utah, it picked me up from my hotel and drop me at the airport where I could meet Travis. But this regional transit bus took FOREVER, like 10 hours forever. There were multiple connections, and an unnecessary hour delay waiting for a connecting bus that never came. Utah plains are dry and scrubby and all look the same so I was not inspired to take any photos, sorry.

I finally arrived in Boise around 7pm, only to discover that the motel that Travis booked would not let me check in, even though I had the confirmation number!!! What a day I tell you. They let me in around 9 when they caught him on the phone, and when he arrived around midnight we finally went to sleep.

Morning in Boise! Everything turned around from here. It's the capital of Idaho, a speck of blue in a sea of red, and the largest city between Portland and Salt Lake City. And really cute!

We met our Warm Showers host, Jen, who made us feel at home immediately.

She has a Rhodesian Ridgeback names Rooster, who is enormous and was bred to hunt lions in South Africa. Ridgebacks were crossed with wild dogs and still retain this little Mohawk down their spines. They are supposed to be able to run forever and go 24 hours without water. Wellllll Rooster is big and intimidating but he doesn't handle the heat well, and he has to be tucked in a blanket at night or else he'll whine and Jen will have to get up and re-cover him. Rooster!

Travis still had grad school work to do somehow so we set up at Big City Coffee and started errands.

I picked up my bike from the shop we shipped it to, and then I got groceries and camping fuel. Travis finished his paper, we checked out the Capitol and headed back to Jen's.

We were Jen's first Warm Shower's guests, and she gave us the royal treatment. I don't want to raise expectations too high for any future guests, but damn. Her house is really beautiful, like the shower in our room had two shower heads! Two!! She invited her buddy Will over and we grilled out, drank beer from her kegerator and hung out till the sun went down. Which is like 10pm up here.

We arose early, packed up all our stuff in the backyard, got an enormous breakfast and left Boise for our first day of tour.

Fyi I am writing on my iPhone now, so I feel like I'm writing the longest text ever.  Posts might be shorter and less elaborate.

Mountain Biking Round 2

I still had the mountain bike rental for the next morning, so I took advantage of my inability to sleep after the sun comes up, suited up, and left the hotel at 7am. The bike shop dudes told me about a mountain bike trail that's accessible from the River Trail, so I hopped on the River Trail in town and followed it as it wound up the canyon.

I think we're pretty lucky in Gainesville to have the Hawthorne Trail, a rail trail that takes you from downtown Gainesville to Hawthorne, a little town 15 miles east of us. It winds through Paynes Prairie State Park, through a hardwood hammock, native grasses, past sinkholes, connects with La Chua Trail, all with no cars. Well I will say that the Logan multi-use trail is a little more epic.

I shared the gravel trail with some joggers, mountain bikers who rose even earlier than me, and some casual cyclists who were enjoying the morning before the temperatures rose 30 degrees. It is shocking how much cooler it is in the morning-- a flat 60 degrees that turns into a scorching 90 as the sun comes into full force. We'll have to remember that when we start our tour.

I was lucky to get some outdoor time in, but I started to go stir crazy as I realized that if I wanted to leave this conference center I'd have to pay way too much money on cabs or bike rentals. It was my birthday yesterday, and I had plans to climb a mountain or something, but didn't really want to pay $35 in cab fees. 

And Utah. UTAH. I've never spent any time in Salt Lake City-- it must be cool because so many people are moving out here, but man Small Town Utah is just too much for me. I will say that the locals I met here were very nice, and I had a decent experience here all around. But. There are three bookstores here, and they're all Mormon. When I got dinner the other night, I had to clarify with the bar tender that all the beer on tap was indeed 4% ABV. An African American woman attending this conference reported that someone in a pickup truck yelled a racial slur at her as she walked down the sidewalk. Sooooooooo. I was supposed to stay here for one more day, but I changed my bus ticket and I'll be meeting Travis in the bustling metropolis of Boise this afternoon, and soon we'll be off!