Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The long and winding road!

Remember I said I was going to go for a bike ride. Well I did. Monday morning I loaded up my bicycle and headed off with 8 friends. We drove out to Challis and unloaded the bikes. That day it was 60 some miles into Salmon. We spent the night there. Now I have not ridden my bike even once this year. We had to take turns driving the two vehicles with us. I volunteered to do a lot of it as I was not at all prepared to ride. I did somewhere between 15 and 20 the first day. Pretty fun to get out and ride in such a pretty area.

We stopped at North Fork for a little break. One of the bikes had a flat tire. Charlene Walters is always our bike mechanic. She is great!

I was doing car duty and stopped to wait for the group when I spied this sign.

It is a lot of work to be the support vehicle for 8 women on bikes. They spread out along the road for a couple of miles. You need to ride back and forth checking on them.

The second day was another 60 some miles. I rode in the morning until we came to the pass. I was no way going to ride over it. It is 27 miles uphill. The six that rode up it did a great job. Very impressive. They were all exhausted but champs. We encouraged them all the way up.
I was ready to ride again. Got all my gear on and oops, my front tire was completely flat. So I gave up riding for the trip. One thing I discovered is that all of the friends have upgraded their bikes to road bikes. My mountain bike can not keep up with them. So I will be saving up for a new bike next year. I am going to really study up on what will be the best bike to buy. We spent the last night in a little blip in the road called Wisdom. There was no cell phone service, no internet and no anything now that I think of it. Dinner was underwhelming, the rooms very very basic. We did go to a hot spring pool to soak.
Finally today they rode another 35 miles to Wise. It was cold and rainy so the bikes were loaded up and we drove back to Rexburg.
Notice the sign below welcoming everyone to Wisdom. Famous for HAYSTACKS! There was a notice up that this weekend is the annual weed whacker ball. So if any of you are looking for something to do head on over to Wisdom. Sounds like loads of fun.


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10 comments:

The Clark said...

good to see you've reconnected with the mothers of nature. looks super fun! glad you got away from work and enjoyed yourslef too.

MZ said...

Oh hey I forgot about the Mothers of Nature! Now we are the Grandmothers of Nature. We did talk about how some of us were your age when we started doing out doors things.

Jonna said...

HOW IMPRESSIVE IS THAT!!!! You guys are incredible. Kenny & I also like to bike, and it is tough here in Comore Loma..lots of hills, but nothing compared to that. You need one of those new Kelson bikes that Heathers husband builds. (Are those mountain or road bikes?) I'm proud of you all. You are inspiring to all of us. You sure don't let the grass grow under your feet!!

Jonna said...

Oh yeah....I could apply for that Harley position! I have the leathers, but certainly not the boobs!!!

Rasmussens said...

I admire that you guys did that. My mom said that is was so much fun. How fun are you ladies.

MZB said...

What a fun trip!

suzan said...

Wow! You ladies are so inspiring! That's great!

The Clark said...

who is that standing next to sherry?

barbchuck said...

Wow! What an impressive feat! It inspires me to dust off our bikes and get some exercise. Do those ladies train for a ride like that? I agree with Rachel. It is nice that you took some time off work to spend some quality girlfriend time.

Leslie said...

Wow, good fer you, mother. Even for getting a "short" part of the ride in. But seriously, some of those ladies are total animals. It is truly inspiring!