After a rest day, everyone is raring to go this morning. We have an uncharacteristically late load time of 8:00 because today is a short day. We leave Boise on the rough bike trail – see photo. Once again, we have great weather with the temperature probably in the low 70’s The profile of today’s ride is one long hill – 25 miles up and 25 miles down. There is more up than down because we will end at a higher elevation than we started. But the grade is so slight (except for maybe a mile of 2%) that you don’t know you’re climbing. This is especially true from mile 13 to 25; we’re on Interstate 84 with a nice tailwind.
We ride about 35 of today’s 50 miles on the interstate. The main problem is the junk on the shoulder; I’ll bet I saw 6 or 8 flats caused by garbage on the road. I did my good deed by stopping to help 80 year old Professor John change his flat. (Actually I did it for him and even gave him a tube when his spare was faulty.) He said,
- “Thanks. I owe you a tube”
- “I’ll settle for a glass of wine.”
- “I’ll give you a tube AND a glass of wine.”
- “Such a deal!”
After a week the group is really coming together, although many of us still have difficulty with names. I’m getting better about that. We’re joined by two riders, Maureen from New York city and Dennis from Lawton, Oklahoma. Dennis has several flats today and I stepped on Maureen’s bare foot during the luggage unload process. She was probably barefoot because she is wearing road cleats – which we are advised NOT to do.
After today’s easy day (Jeanie called it a “cupcake day”.), tomorrow’s ride is 97 miles. Then 38, 110, 34, 88, 88, 79 and 120 (longest day of the ride). None of these involve a lot of climbing, other than the two 88 mile days – to and from Jackson, WY.
This blog will probably not get posted tonight since I can’t log on to Best Western’s wireless router. Another person is having the same problem. 49 of the 50 nights we’re supposed to have WIFI; only the Best Western in Chamberlin, SD doesn’t have it. By the way, we’ve had three incidents where the motel has bottles of very cold water waiting for us. The Best Western here in Mountain Home also had fruit and granola bars in a conference room for us.
One of the real characters on the ride is Shuresh “Sarge” Kurjah (photo above) from Trinidad. He is the group comedian as well as social director (He had everyone sign cards for the two gals that left after segment 1.) Yesterday in Boise, he purchased an expensive mountain bike and had it shipped home. ‘Turns out that today was his birthday and someone provided a cake.
Day 10, 51 miles, 925 feet climbing, 3.4 hrs
40 days to go, 710 miles so far, 2,966 miles to go
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