Living Well With Diabetes

I rode 95 miles today! Early in my tour, I rode from Twin Falls, Idaho to Mountain Home, Idaho in two days. Now, on my return to Salt Lake City, I reversed that Twin Falls to Mountain Home route and did it in one day instead of two. Tonight, I’m staying in a KOA just outside of Jerome, Idaho which is about 7 miles north of Twin Falls. So, I didn’t do exactly the same route, but pretty close. I’m tired, but pleased to know my fitness level seems to have improved over the course of the tour.

Near Bliss, Idaho today, I met some people in a support van for a fund-raising bike tour which was taking a similar route as I was today. The ride, in its second year, is raising funds for something called the Genesis World Mission. All proceeds from this ride go towards underwriting dental care for the less fortunate in the Treasure Valley (essentially, the Caldwell, Idaho area) and launching a dental center in Kenya, Africa.

They invited me to lunch, but no offer of free dental care. Oh well. I guess that means my biike tour hasn’t been too taxing on me…or my teeth.

Lunch was just outside of Hagerman, Idaho, where they were spending the night. They seemed like a fun bunch of people. It was a small tour (maybe fifteen riders), but people from all over the country had come to Idaho to participate. Being a free lunch and a free lunch with cyclists enjoying the great outdoors and working for a cause they believe in, I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t stay long though because I still had about 35 more miles to ride today.

Here are some photos from today:

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I had just arrived in Mountain Home, Idaho when a pickup truck pulls up behind me and starts honking at me. Not really knowing what was going on, I pulled over and stopped. I thought maybe the driver was trying to get my attention because I dropped something.

The driver got out of the pickup and walked over to me. He asks me “How far do you go on that thing in a day?” I was a little annoyed that he had stopped me on a busy street with no shade (I don’t like standing around in the sun these days) just to have a friendly conversation, but I tried to be a good bicycling ambassador.

“Well, it depends on the conditions and today, with the tailwind, that’s quite a ways. I started in Caldwell this morning, so I’ve covered 77 miles now.”

He wasn’t really interested in these details. He interrupted me.

“I saw you near the rest area on I-84 when I was on my way to Boise this morning.” He said this as if knowing it might jog my memory and I would then recall having seen him. (His white pickup would probably be one of a hundred or so white pickups I’ve seen today.)

He went on. “That was two hours ago and I’m just getting back from Boise. Now you’re in Mountain Home? There’s forty miles between where I saw you this morning and here!”

“What can I say? There’s a good tailwind today and that really helps.”

That was basically the end of our conversation. He asked where I was from and where I was headed. I asked him where he was from and whether he knew of any good campgrounds in Mountain Home.

I’m not sure what motivated him to honk and get my attention and insist that I speak with him. Maybe he thoguht I must have hitched a ride and by stopping me, he could get me to confess? Maybe he wanted to warn me about going too fast on a bicycle? I’m not sure, but clearly, my presence in Mountain Home had impressed him.

And, actually, now that I think about it, I’m impressed too. I averaged 14.2 miles per hour over the five and a half hour ride from Caldwell to Mountain home. Usually, my average is more like 11 or 12 miles per hour. In between Boise and Mountain Home, I could feel that tailwind pushing me along and it seemed like I was cruising along easily at close to 20 miles an hour. That’s the power of a tailwind. Doing it in moderate temperatures (highs in this area are in the mid-80’s) allowed me to do it without feeling drained.

Here are my favorite photos from today’s ride:

The one second from the right titled “Trucking for Jesus” cracks me up.

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The last two nights, I’ve been camping. As a result, I haven’t had internet access. Tonight, in Caldwell, I checked in to a motel for some relief from the heat (it reached 103 in Caldwell, Idaho today). It also is a chance to catch up on posts to the web site.

Besides the heat I’ve been experiencing for the past week of riding (ever since I left Leavenworth, Washington), I’ve had a headwind on my ride yesterday and today. I think this is a good thing. Actually, while I was riding in it, it wasn’t such a good thing, but the 15-25 mile per hour winds from the south today is a sign that the weather is about to change. Sure enough, they’re saying tomorrow (August 19), the high temperatures in the Boise, Idaho area will be about 15 degrees cooler than today and the winds will be from the northwest. Both of those are very good news to me.

Last night, I stayed at the Farewell Bend State Park in Oregon. I stayed in the “Hiker/Biker” campsites which was $5 a night instead of $15 and up for a full service campsite. I woke up several times at night to see a full moon and to hear coyotes howling and yipping in the hills around the campground. It was worth the $5 admission.

As I was unpacking in the motel today, I found half a dozen or so moths had stowed away in my panniers. I hope they like Caldwell, Idaho better than they liked their old home at the Farewell Bend State Park.

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Today’s ride was mercifully flat. Only a thousand feet of up and down over the course of 58 miles instead of the 4400 feet of climbing over the same distance yesterday when I rode from Pendleton over Cabbage Mountain to La Grande.

Today, with the flat roads, I was able to pull into Baker City at about noon. With it being so hot, I was tempted by the sight of several major chain motels, but I felt it was still early enough that I could spare 30 minutes or so to explore camping possibilities.

There ended up being two options. The second one I never checked out because the first one, the Trails West RV Park, had an ample supply of cool shade. I picked out one of the completely shaded spots — perfect for a hot, tired bicyclist. Then I went inside to register. There, I filled out the necessary form, paid my money, and then they told me I was assigned to tent site number 1. I told them about the wonderful spot I picked out myself and they told me that was “overflow” for RV guests. I didn’t think too much about it until I saw the meager shade offered in tent site number 1. Holy crap. You’d think tent site 1 would be “overflow.” It certainly made clear who their customer really is: it’s an RV park.

Still, I managed to make it work. I didn’t put up my tent until late afternoon after I had had a chance to observe the way the shade was moving as the sun moved. While I waited, I found myself a temporary spot in some shade and took a nap.

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