At 3:00 AM this morning I awoke and, unable to go back to sleep, I decided to drag this sack of bones out of bed, have an early breakfast and prepare for our ride in a relaxed manner. You know, southern style. So I dillied and dallied for a couple of hours and finally stuck my head out the door. Cool and windy- but since I was unsure of the direction of the wind, I drew no conclusions about our ride today- other than I'd be wearing arm and leg warmers. The morning broke in the mid 40's and only climbed into the mid 70's by afternoon. After being out in it for a few minutes, I decided that a jacket was also in order. The ride today was a mere 62 miles with only 1,500 vertical- child's play for us.
After we loaded luggage, a dandy group began to form in the parking lot- The Miller Train, Uncle Bob, The Three D's (Jen, Brett and Russell), Joel and Allison and assorted others and we immediately formed a pace line and then just as quickly shut it down for the obligatory state line crossing photo- i.e., "Welcome to Idaho".
It's amazing to think that it has taken this kind of time and effort to ride across one state. But Oregon has been a beautiful companion-a really magical place that's been on its best behavior during our entire stay. I believe that the ride stats so far are around 550 miles ridden and about 24,000 vertical feet climbed and every bit of that's been on Oregon soil.
So after a quick start and stop, the Miller Train regrouped, someone called "All Aboard" and the twin teen diesels slowly pulled a pace line with 15-20 riders up our first short hill as we began our initial probe into Idaho. The morning remained cool with brilliant sunshine and little wind of any consequence. We ripped along nice, flat two lane country roads, occasionally picking up a rider and maintaining a
comfortable pace through a primarily agricultural area that became suburban, then finally became the "artsy-fartsy" area that Mike Munk promised us. No one was in the mood to break anyone's legs today as we were all eager to get to Boise and start our day and a half off. Still, spirits were high and the group spent the next hour and a half spinning our big rings, making up songs, laughing and, at times, just being silly.Somewhere after our sag stop, I suggested that we start a double, rotating pace line and Mike Miller was happy to oversee the effort. Soon enough he had us charging down the road in a reasonably well disciplined group. Granted there were a few that would not/could not ride off the wheel in front of them, but for the most part everyone got it and I thought it was really fun.
The ride today was generally flat, with maybe 2,000 feet gained- an effort that most people thought was like a day off. I don't think I broke a sweat the whole morning. The one bit of excitement was when Derek's front tire began to delaminate (isn't that what they call sheep giving birth??) and the group stopped to generally mill around and pretend to help. Shortly thereafter we reformed and motored into our hotel- a very nice Courtyard by Marriott.
I was thinking about how to spend a day off and concluded that I may get a massage, but probably will spend most of the time doing absolutely nothing- and I'm darn good at that- just you watch.
Today's ride brings our total miles ridden to 614 and our vertical feet climbed to nearly 26,000. I am noticing a deep fatigue setting in and decide to call for "lights out" at 7:00 PM. Twelve hours sleep sounds about right and then I'll make a call on what tomorrow will look like. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...........
