June 27
Wednesday, June 27
Mountain Home, ID to Twin Falls, ID 98 miles
2,790 feet of climb
Today was a mixed
bag of the mental and physical on a merry-go-round. Got up this morning at 5 AM and stepped outside to see what the
weather was like. WIND! I guessed it to be 25-30 mph. This early and a wind that strong – and we
were going to be heading right into it – would probably get worse.
My roommate Nancy and I got our luggage
on the truck at 5:45 and we headed out. 98 mile ride, with the
threat of possible rain, into the wind and near 90 degree temperatures
predicted. I didn’t want to waste any
time. I didn’t go next door for the 6
AM scheduled breakfast, I had some fruit and a protein drink and took that for
energy to start. SAG was on the route
at 28 miles, I would eat again at that stop.
I really struggled for the first 35-40
miles. The scenery and terrain was
mostly flat and really barren and desolate.
Houses or signs of life were miles apart. The land was sandy and rocky.
There were fields of hay growing, but everything had to be irrigated
with water. Learned from some locals
last night that very few potatoes ate grown here in this valley. It was almost entirely hay crops. Many horse ranches. The lady who spoke to a group of us said hay
is very expensive now – costs her $10 a bale to feed her horses.
Gradually
things started to change and we descended into a canyon down to the Snake
River. Before we started down we could
look over the rim of the canyon and see green fields way down below.
Up to this point I was really feeling
discouraged. Riding into the wind for
so long and going only 8-10 mph, I felt like giving up. I couldn’t jump on any pace lines that
passed me – just too fast to keep up with.
There are some guys that can go 19 mph into the wind if they do a
good pace line formation. So I trudged
forward – slowly.
When we got to the canyon the wind
switched and life on the bike got much better.
Several stopped for lunch at a grocery/deli store in Bliss. Not much of a town, just a couple of open
stores. Everything else was closed or
boarded-up.
It stayed overcast
almost until 4PM. I wasn’t very smart
riding without long sleeves on. I had a
sleeveless jersey on and got a nasty sunburn on my shoulders. Usually I apply sun screen every couple of
hours – but didn’t today. Even my legs got burned today.
We
had some wonderful views of the Snake River Canyon coming in on the North edge
of the city of Twin Falls. There were
several places we stopped at overlook locations. The bridge that spans the Snake River and the canyon is the same
one that Evil Knievel jumped across on his motorcycle. Unbelievable when you
see the span he had to go over from one side to the other.
No flats today. Fred from Madison holds the record so far –
eleven flats. Last night, after having
five flats yesterday, he bought a whole
new wheel.
Oh, we passed
through a five mile section of dairy cattle.
The one feed lot was a whole 2 miles long. Never saw so many cows at the feeding stations. Phew!
That silage they feed them smells really rank!