day 1 (short video version here)
starting in owyhee left a few options for an early start. Fortunately, I have a wife as dedicated to my craziness as I am. She was willing to wake up hours before Dan to haul me down to the starting point before things heated up too much. She patiently waited while I double and triple checked all my gear and also joined me for a pleasant reservation breakfast.
in the first 5 miles I found out that desert farm dogs can run about as fast as I can bike for short distances. I was worried as he was nipping at my hills that he was going to get a leg caught in a spoke and send me flying. Fortunately, his endurance gave out before mine.
the next 5 mile chunk included a small herd of about a dozen cattle ranging from calf to bull. The bull laid claim to the middle of the road, separating me from the rest. I winced as I peddled past him waiting for him to make one Swipe to the right with his head. He would’ve won that fight.
The next excitement came with my first foothills descent. This was a nice introduction to what I have ahead of me. The turns were relatively generous, and the grade wasn’t As steep as some of them, I’ll be facing in the coming days if I make it that far. Right around 45 mph, I was about as unsteady as a five-year-old kid who just had his training wheels pulled. It’ll take some getting used to, but it is a great place to make up some time.
it was crazy to see all the burnt land along that empty desert stretch. It also got a little tougher as the headwind came out and the hot desert reached full power.
the first gal that stopped to talk to me during one of my breaks was super sweet thinking she was the hundredth person to stop. Nope, she was the first. She wanted to make sure I wasn’t dying of thirst or broken down. I thought it was a good reminder not to assume other people will reach out and help.
the next gal that stopped to check on me told me she was sure I was OK but she just had to double check. Apparently she had passed by me assuming I was OK but the doubt just kept nagging at her so she turned around to verify. She had her kids in the car with her and I’m sure it was A good exposure to caring for the people around us whether they seem like part of our in group or not.
I’ve had several people tell me that Idahoans aren’t kind to cyclists. I found the opposite to be true today. Everybody treated me super well and I got a load of waves and thumbs up. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that I’m loaded down with gear and have Shoes carabinered to my back.
Day, one was the easy day. My butt hurts my feet hurt but I’ve got a good amount of time to rest up for tomorrow. I enjoyed a really lovely dinner And company with my folks. The main purpose of these journeys is to Get down to the essentials and spend time alone, but it is also to connect with people along the think it’s cool that this journey can include some family members that helped lay the foundation for where I’m at now.
day 2( video short here)
the first part of the day was fairly demoralizing as I started off on carryover soreness from yesterday and was trying to power up a long elevation gain. Fortunately uphills don’t last forever and are typically followed by a decent descent.
the highlight of the day was passing through Marsing where my wife grew up. She brought her family and our kids and met up for lunch. We had planned on eating a pizza place that was down at the bottom of decently steep hill about a half mile off route. As seems to be tradition with my journeys this was the place that took their annual vacation that they only post on the door and not Google. so we scooted up the hill and ate at the burger joint that Kari used to work at. As a crazy case of small town serendipity, we ran into a guy who used to have a crush on her and went into her work so often to see her that he got her canned. I love small towns.
I had a pretty dark spot around mile 90 today. My heels, my toes and my bum cheeks were all screaming at me. I was just rotating through different positions to try and take pressure Off of them one at a time. Luckily in doing so I think I figured out a few things I can do early on to delay the pain cave.
I had issues with my front derailleur early on and had to get off my bike at least six times to put the chain back on. It probably needs some adjustment, but it did help me learn some more efficient ways to move through the gear sets. I assume if I weren’t a three months cycling rookie, I’d probably know these things by now.
As I started getting close to Payette, I went to grab my phone to check directions and figure out that it was so hot outside. My phone was in overheat mode. Fortunately, I was able to get it cooled down before I took the wrong turn missed the Eating spots.
Day 3 (video short here)
man, I thought the first Climb was bad. 6% grade for 3 miles just as scary going down as it was hard going up.
Then I got a flat tire.
Change the flat then I realized I purchased the wrong CO2 cartridges. I bought non-threaded ones, and have a threaded tool. So I got a ride out the rest of the day on a squishy tire only as full as I could get with a hand pump. Apparently I need a better hand pump. I thought hand pumps were just all difficult to get high-pressure with, but tonight when I wandered around a trailer park looking for somebody with a bike to ask for a Floor pump, I got introduced to a hand pump at least twice as good as mine. Before I got to that, though, I had a giant mountain to climb… at least it felt that way. Everything was cramping and the end was nowhere in sight. Also, it rained on me so anytime I got downhills, I had to stay super conservative on speed.
Things were slow going. I was thinking through throwing in the towel. At 5 o’clock I still had over 40 miles to go. I talked to myself through continuing onto each next stretch and not stressing about the time. Fortunately, the last 25 miles were cruiser downhill into Riggins. I grabbed some pizza, did my laundry in the sink and I’m enjoying staying in a tiny home. Tomorrow I get to face white bird and the Lewiston grade.
I also had a cool experience with a random person. I didn’t even meet in council ID. I was looking for bike shops and came across a listing in Google for elf bikes.. When I called there, the guy seemed surprised because he doesn’t actually have a bike shop. He just assist with biking events. I told him my situation and he asked me to hold on while he dug through his gear. He found one lone old threaded CO2 cartridge and left it on his driveway for me to pick up as I came through. He never met me and will probably never meet me, but was still willing to donate to my efforts.
Day 4(video short here)
nothing like waking up to a flat tire. I guess I’d rather have that than 2 miles frown the road. I changed the tire and went down to my trailer park friend i made last night and woke him up to borrow his pump. He was a super good sport about it.. i was suspicious about the tire so i changed the tire and the tube.
1st up for the day was white bird hill. It feels like 70 hills. It was fun to climb this one because i remember going over this pass as a kid when we would have thanksgiving with my cousins in grangeville. It was fun. Type 2 fun but fun. The ride down was super wobbly and sketchy and my map tried to send me on a shortcut down a dirt road. I opted for the long loop around grangeville.
it was kind of crazy today. I got stopped having to wait behind the lead car in one lane construction situations coming out of Riggins and grangeville. I also had to ride my brakes coming down into Lewiston for several miles so i wouldn’t rear end the car train going through there . Who would’ve thunk traffic would be holding me up rather than the other way around?
i intended to lunch in Craigmont but was in the struggle bus and opted for an early stop in cottonwood. So glad i did. I pulled over in front of a small restaurant called cest la v. I couldn’t get my search to work so i texted kari for suggestions. Cest was on her list so i figured it was meant to be. It was a cute place where a grandma and grandpa run it and make all the food themselves. They had a special of the day that was a new lasagna recipe they wanted feedback on. I obliged and also tried their pie. It was all delicious and felt like home. They got talking to me about what i was doing and when i was walking out, they asked me to wait. The grandpa went and got some friendship bread he had made and put it in a to go box for me. I had no idea how i would transport it, but i got creative. It was such a kind gesture.
The ride down into Lewiston was super fun. The road was newly paved, and it was a steady downhill for miles. I even had to ride my break so that I wouldn’t rear end the cars that were going slower than me. As I approached Lewiston, I realized that there was a bike shop open that I could just make if I could make if I got lucky. It was 18 miles away with an hour before closing time. I made it with three minutes to spare. A lot of that was a big thanks to a super friendly construction guy who waved me into a newly paved road that they weren’t letting cars on yet. He hollered to me that it was the luxury bike path.
day 5 (video short here)
starting off with the Lewiston grade 1st thing in the morning is pretty rough. Also, forgetting my eye protection at the Airbnb and not realizing it for a mile and having to backtrack was not the greatest start. I also started the walk app on my watch. Some days, especially toward the end of journeys like this, I can fill my intelligence and dwindling.
while I was going up the grade, I had a mobile home come within 3 inches of me. I don’t know if the driver was just that confident or we all lucked out, but that was probably the scariest and closest call yet.
Between the heat that felt unrelenting and the rolling hills that stopped me from building momentum, it felt like a rough day. That being said, there were some really fun climbs and descents, some beautiful scenery, and some wonderful people.
The first set of wonderful people were the folks working at the pizza shop in Tensed. It’s supposed to be a takeout joint, but they let me hang out inside with them in the air conditioning and we just chatted for a while. Plus the pizza was really good.
The second set of really cool people were my aunt uncle and cousin who drove Rove over from Spokane to take me out to dinner. The restaurant we chose to meet at wasn’t quite what we had enVisioned, so they helped me disassemble my bike and loaded into the car so we could go somewhere else.
We enjoyed swapping stories and eating delicious food. It is just as cool to have family out of their way to connect with me on this as it is to connect with all the random strangers out there with good hearts. On this trip, I got to see my folks my wife and kids, and then my aunt uncle and cousin.
when I was about 30 miles outside of Coeur d’Alene, I pulled over in a shady spot to rest like I have done since I began the journey, but between the different people and the extreme heat, I had a dozen people stop and ask me about my well-being in less than five minutes. They were so persistent, I couldn’t get a decent rest in. There was one gal who was a little over the top. She called a medical unit that came in and checked on me. They told her I was fine, but she didn’t believe them. She told me she was sure I was dehydrated and going to get run over. I of course, thanked her for her concern and once I realized it was beyond the normal, I told her I would hurry on my bike and move along, so she could relax. Apparently that wasn’t good enough and I soon found myself pulled over by the cops and two ambulances. I had a good time chatting with them and they told me it was the strangest call they had to deal with. They agreed I was OK and let me move on.
Coeur d’Alene really is a pretty sight to roll into
Day 6 (short video here)
no surprise but i felt quite fatigued today. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the lack of sleep, or maybe just a few miles of riding prior. It was great that there were no big climbs today and beautiful scenery.
in my first stretch of road, i was having issues with my rear derailleur staying in the right gear. Fortunately after i stopped and cleaned things up, it behaved for me.i had a hover fly that must’ve been attracted to my orange short thinking it was a flower. It kept me company the whole time. I can’t believe the smell didn’t give away my disguise.
there were several dedicated bike paths today and i could not get the selection right. The ones i did take shot me off into town in the wrong direction. The ones i skipped were ones i should have taken which led to me annoying many motorists.
there was a big explosion in what looked like a quarry of sorts that woke me up pretty good.
when i got to the border, i messed up the customs process and the Canadian border patrol chased me down and lectured me before they let me take my pictures and go. Maybe if they want to be such sticklers in the rules for cyclists, they should include a sign for them as well.
It’s always interesting coming to the end of these journeys. It becomes the thing and the focus and then it’s done. This one had a bonus chapter. We got our timing off for aligning for my pickup so i rode back an additional 17 miles to meet up with Kari and the kids. They saw me and pulled off in a random driveway. I was loading up my bike when the owner got there and had to wait to pull in to their driveway. Turned out they were from Waseca, MN and had moved out there to be in the mountains. It was a fun bit of serendipity to end on.