This long day of riding was none of my doing. Katie and Steve came up with the plan to make today a long day while doing laundry a couple days ago in Baker City. It seems both beer and laundry lead to decisions to ride 80 mile days!
I think all this riding is catching up with me. Not only do I wake with dead legs in the morning, feeling all my muscles ache as I take my first steps out of bed, but they hurt really bad when I start riding too, particularly if we take on a hill too early on before my legs have warmed up. It seems muscle memory has kicked in though, and now they just make that circular pedalling motion all by themselves with very little instruction from my brain asking them do so. It's as if my legs know that when they're on the bike they just have to keep spinning of their own accord, no matter how tired or sore they feel. It's a good thing, because my legs have not failed me yet in getting from Point A to Point B.
A fellow cycle tourer told us that the first 2 weeks are the hardest and most painful, then by the third week, you start to feel good again and start feeling like you could just go all day. I am hoping this is the case, because I don't feel so great right now.
Also, I am now inhaling food without really tasting it. Put anything in front of me and I'll absolutely smash it! My body is processing and digesting food so fast, it seems it just can't get enough. For example, you'd think that chocolate thick shake I had yesterday before a big climb would make me feel sick. Well, I also had half an egg and bacon sandwich to go with it and didn't even notice I'd just eaten and drunk all that dairy as I slogged my way up to the summit.
Today, we stopped at a real country diner in New Meadows for lunch and my plate came out with a massive chicken fried steak covered top and bottom in sausage gravy, along with golden potatoes (yes, we are in Idaho), two poached eggs, an English muffin and jam. Naturally I smashed virtually the whole thing and proceeded to ride on straight away into the headwind of the afternoon without noticing all that food in my belly.
I have also perfecting the art of pulling a banana out of the back pocket of my riding jersey while grinding up the mountain, peeling it with my teeth (because I need to have that other hand on the handlebar while climbing), chowing it down in about 3 bites without even tasting it and soldiering on. These are the things you do to get the day done.
Katie seems to be able to survive on snacks and protein bars. I don't know how she does it. Me - I need a real meal to get me through. Steve seems to not get that hungry. I do wonder if it is because I am pushing around a higher percentage of my body weight than they are that I am so ravenous and burning through food so quickly?
Today's ride was through a lot of rolling terrain as we gradually gained some elevation. The dry landscape eventually turned green and forested again as we rode along the Weiser River. Our descent at the end of the day along the picturesque Little Salmon River was once again ruined by the strong headwinds. It's no fun having to pedal hard down a relatively steep descent because if you didn't, you'd actually be blown backwards.
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| Weiser River |
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| Little Salmon River |
Idaho roads are not as well maintained as Eastern Oregon's roads. Highway 95 heading north has been my least favourite road of this trip and I can't wait to get off it. There is often no shoulder, and if there is it is cracked and lined with loose gravel which virtually means you can't ride on the shoulder any way.
A lot of the drivers are not very considerate of cyclists either on these narrow, windy, single lane roads, preferring to overtake us with a car coming at them from the opposite side of the road rather than slow down behind us and wait for a clear opening to overtake. Or they just pass us in their lane leaving very little gap between us and them.
The scariest moments of the ride so far happened twice at the end of today. Once when a rig, minus it's semi trailer, decided to overtake a car on an uphill bend in the road by crossing onto our side of the road against oncoming traffic. It felt like he was coming straight at us at 100 miles an hour. This happened a second time shortly after, but this time by a moving van.
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| Camping at River Village RV Park |
After this stressful ride our reward is a nice (but expensive) campsite on some soft, green grass in the River Village RV Park in Riggins (Idaho's Whitewater Rafting Capital), right on the banks of the Salmon River. Tonight we will fall asleep to the sound of Rita's Raging Rapids right outside our tent.
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| View of the Salmon River from our campsite |
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| Riverside bike parking |
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 775
Overall Fastest Speed: Steve (39.9 miles per hour) Mandy (35.3 miles per hour)
Bonks: nil
Dog chases: 1
Dummy Spits: Steve (1 - Day 10 because it rained)
Flats: Katie (4)
Wrong turns: 6
Beer of the day: Teton Brewing American Pale Ale
Lesson of the day: some Idaho drivers really suck!
No. of our luxury items that Katie has used: 4 (duct tape + rope + pliers + a confused cup/bowl)
No. of days with no shower: 4
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
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