Holly's Idaho Adventure

Below is Holly's recap of her recent bike trip through Idaho:

First and most important, thank you all for your understanding of my need to ride so freaking much before this trip and THANK YOU for your encouragement!  I did make it through the whole trip!

Let me give you a little information about my days on this 6 days of bliss...

Saturday morning, I woke up and started driving at 5:15 am with my bike.  Sweet Caroline and I arrived 650 miles later at the high school in Carey, Idaho at 4:45 pm (including the 1 hour time change).  The elevation was 4787'.  Went to registration, luckily bumped into Nancy and Mike (my brother's next door neighbors) and went about setting up my tent, took a shower in the shower truck, and went to bed, a bit nervous about the coming week.  Mike and Nancy and their friends, Tim and Linda were on tandems so I knew they would leave me in the dust!  Hard to sleep as the rodeo was going on right across the street.

Sunday morning, woke up at 5:30 am Mountain Time!  Figured out quickly that I brought the wrong air mattress, oh well.  Packed up the tent, breakfast, and on the road.  Climbed slowly to 6000' and back down to 5300' over 50 miles viewing all kinds of lava flow feeling like I was in Hawaii not Idaho.  Part of the ride was a loop through the Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Who knew Idaho had volcanos under ground?  Had to have my bike checked out at the rest stop, tightened up the crank thingy and much better!  Thank goodness for the gear truck and Sunnyside!  I felt good after the ride.  Nice weather too though a bit hot for me.  Carey to Arco done!  We stayed at a little park and I ran into Jackie and Ken, a tandem team from Seattle that we met on a different ride.  5 hours!  Whoo hoo!

Monday morning, woke up at 5:00 am Mountain Time to pack up and get on the road for the LONGEST day of the trip.  82 miles from Arco to Challis.  Tim and Linda left the ride because of the heat.  It was sad to see them go and luckily Mike and Nancy and I got along pretty well.  We started the trip with a really annoying head wind which even if it stopped, you wouldn't be able to tell.  So, for the first 31 miles I slowly climbed with a headwind, but I knew the climb was coming so I just went slow.  2 rest stops.  We went past Mt Borah, the highest peak in Idaho at 12,662'.  I was grateful for not having to climb that!  Elevation change went from 5300' in Arco to 6100' at first rest stop at mile 32.  Then I climbed to the 2nd rest stop at Willow Creek elevation 7165' at mile 57 with some rain, mentally very hard because it just kept going and going.   Lots of folks took the sag wagen to the top, but not me.  Of course there were only 4 people behind me when I got to the top.  Yes, I asked!.  I missed all of the rain and had pure sun and heat on the sweet descent all the way down to the Salmon River elevation 5000' at mile 78.  Then a few more miles and 200 feet back up to camp, which did not follow the directions on the sheet.  I made it!  Nevermind I was riding for 8 hours!  Thank you to Mike and Nancy for setting up my tent for me!  So kind!

Tuesday morning, woke up at 5:30 am Mountain Time to pack up, breakfast, and hit the road.  Challis to Stanley, 60 miles.  We climbed the whole way following the Salmon River upstream and passed numerous hot springs (remember the lava flow).  It was great following the river because you could hear it gurgling and the birds doing their thing.  Traffic was pretty good and the roads were much better than I expected.  We started at 5200' and ended up in on top of a little plateau above the town of Stanley at 6373' with AMAZING views of the Sawtooth Mountain Range.  The last little bit was a gravel road, which we had to ride or walk down to get to town, breakfast, dinner, etc.  The walk was not my favorite part, but the views were awesome!  Thanks to my paparazzi (remember all of those who pass me multiple times), I should have some pics of me riding coming.  Thanks Dave and Brian!

Wednesday was a layover day in Stanley and I decided to take it easy.  No riding, no major activities.  COLD morning, reportedly 38 degrees.  Brrrr.  Breakfast, laundry, a massage, back down to town for lunch and some shopping.  Nancy and I caught a sag wagen going down, but then got caught in the rain a bit.  Storm clouds were passing by most of the day until... dinner time.  I got drenched walking back up the hill from dinner.  Luckily my tent is pretty great and I fared much better than many whose belongings were totally drenched.  Hard rain and hail, hit us about 3 different times, but the views were still pretty!  Shower truck stopped because of all of the standing water and electrical cords.  I thought it would be colder, but it was just a bit cold, 40s.

Thursday morning before the second longest day of the ride with the biggest climb.   Tent was soaked outside with complete fog.  Because of having to climb down the gravel and the small community center where they were trying to feed 260+ people, Mike, Nancy, and I didn't rise until 6:00 am Mountain Time.  I was on the road at 7:30 am.  75 miles starting at 6373' with heavy wet fog for the first 9 miles.  I was cold and wet and alone, well, without everyone passing me.  Funny statement I overheard by 2 guys who didn't wait long enough before passing me: "sure wouldn't be fun to ride this all alone" or something like that.  Little do they know, I was hardly ever alone, people passed me and said hello because of my name plate.  And then they passed me and said hi the next day, etc.  I was okay though did miss my dad especially when it was hard on the 2nd day.  So, the fog cleared and it was a beautiful day.  I felt good and actually saw Mike and Nancy at the rest stops, never mind they were usually leaving.  First rest stop at 27 miles was at 7362' right before the big climb up Galena Pass.  Only 5 miles, but we climbed up to 8701'.  Another strong descent to the rest stop at 6900'.  Here is a funny story, my chain is making all kinds of noise because of all the rain washing away my chain oil.  I ask the gear truck to help me out.  Turns out I went to kindergarten through high school with the guy who helped me out.  Mike Schindler.  Too hilarious!  Such a small world.  Continued on down to 5900' with a headwind and I loved it.  Threw it in the big gear and cranked it.  20-22 mph and passed 6 people.  At 5343' we rode through Ketchum on a great bike path and I had a buddy to ride with which helped me keep going.  Finally got to Hailey and our park campsite.  We were camped right by the massage tent again so after taking a pic with Mike I spent another hour with Nova working out my right knee and rotator cuff.  Ow!  Lots more mosquitos because we were right by the river.

Last morning.  Bittersweet and beautiful!  And a tailwind.  I was keeping up with Mike and Nancy on the tandem, well, I'm sure they weren't really trying, but I was.  Averaged 16 mph over the 30 miles back to Carey.  More bike path, which really is nice.  Big climb of the day was only 200 feet and into Carey.  I was packed, showered, and on the road by 10:30 am.  I arrived home about 8:30 pm.  Great ride!

Amazing week for me, thank you, Dad and everyone who supported and encouraged me!

Holly