Less Than A Century and a First Snowshoeing

Having missed "Corrie's Challenge" (a century each calendar month) last year, I was eager to get back on track to meet the challenge in 2011. Not having ridden a century since 10 Oct and with a total of 41 road miles in Nov and -0- in Dec my confidence in my ability to complete one was suffering, but the weather forecast was finally positive- sunny with high's in the mid 40's.

A light fog and 38 degrees were a bit disappointing as I rode off at 0800, but it was above freezing and I was counting on that mid 40's high. The fog got thicker as I dropped to downtown. With about 10 miles of city riding in, I thought I was on track to meet the LT out in Middleton at 1030. I leaned into E. Hill Rd turn off Castle Dr and turned, the bike continued straight, fish-tailing, and wobbling. I thought I'd go down on ice at about 12 MPH in the middle of a significant intersection, but decided to try straightening out the wheel, ending the lean, and darting between two cars stopped at the stop sign. If that sounds like I had the situation under control, it's a poor description. Fortunately, the maneuver worked- but it was not classy maneuver. My fear slowed me down as I moved toward Middleton. I pushed the bike up the steep hill into Dry Creek Cemetery when I felt the first useless spin of the wheel. My eyes continued to study every passing puddle for water or ice, and I could not force myself to speed even on the flattest spots.

I arrived in Middleton about 15 minutes late to see the LT standing beside the Bianchi in the fog awaiting my late arrival. He said the morning forecast predicted the fog would lift shortly, and he thought we should proceed with his first road bike ride. There was no more spinning or visible ice, so my confidence began to build. The fog made the climb into the Emmett Valley imperceptible, so I'm sure the LT didn't know he was climbing. We took the customary break at the Leatha Country Store, and rode on to Emmett for lunch. I believe for the first time ever I looked forward to "Old Freezeout" Grade- a chance to warm up. I told the LT it was only about 1/4 mile away. At one mile he began to question my knowlege of the topography- as we still couldn't see the hills. Ah, there it was, and the climb warmed us both. At the very peak we escaped the fog. Since the LT doesn't care for riding in traffic, I was a bit concerned about the next section- 4 or 5 miles on highway 16. Fortunately, he had no problem with the moderate traffic on a 4 ft shoulder. Then it was back to rural paved roads and the fog. He said he was tired at mile 46, but I think there were more miles in him. I was a bit concerned about getting in after dark, still afraid of ice, and a bit tired, so I loaded my bike into his pickup with 81 miles for the day. Corrie, maybe next weekend I can get that January century.

The LT's Recreation
We'd planned for snow shoeing for Monday. I know the LT loves mountain climbing, so I should have known we'd be climbing something instead of snowshoeing down some pleasant forest lane. The route he'd shown me showed climbing a ridge from the highway above Idaho City. Unfortunately, the snow was piled high on both sides of the highway where we wanted to park, so we drove on just a bit. Rather than hike back down the highway to the ridge, we decided to climb the hillside. I thought I was on some awful exercise machine that forced me to raise one foot as high as I could, pull myself up, and repeat the process with the other foot. After we climbed about 200 ft, we met the ridge, and the climb became more moderate - and fun. We climbed 2,800 ft in 1.9 miles where the ridge looked a little dangerous- deep snowed drifted on a narrow ridge. We climbed one last obstacle, the LT fell into a hole, and we decided to have lunch and turn around.

The LT climbs the last obstacle


Steve climbs the final obstacle

Is this the ledge my friends advised me to avoid?

Is it lunch time yet?

Lunch at the top

It begins to snow on the descent

The descent was fun and quick as long as we were on the ridge. A storm moved in briefly, but the only real obstacle was the bottom section after we left the ridge. I think my legs are tired from the long steps down!

Year to Date Mileage: 23 After This Night Ride

Nov and Dec's snowfalls have held down my bicycling to only 72 miles in December and -0- in January. On the positive side the snow is nearly all gone; LT Klein and Chief Winn are both back in Idaho; SGT's Bullard & Schumacher are finally complaining about the lack of winter exercise; and we had finally had a forecast high for above freezing daytime temps for the first time in 2011. I thought the planets had lined up for a perfect 5 Jan night ride.

LT Klein, SGT Schumacher, & I met at Ann Morrison Park and headed up the bike path with the temperature at 30 degrees. They each had small LED pixel lights that provided a small bright spot on the road- just a little better than a 2.4 watt halogen lights of yesteryear. Of course, if we stayed close together, they could use the light from the MiNewt 250. We all wanted a decent workout, so we turned to ride up E. Shaw Mountain Road to the end of its pavement. Before we reached the top the SGT, who generally loves a good hard workout, was complaining about what?- steepness and tiredness? We descended to the fork in the road where we might have gone to Table Rock and where I suggested we also climb Table Rock. The SGT wasn't as enthused as I'd expect, but I was sure it wasn't much more than 2 miles of gradual climb, and he never declines a challenge. The SGT grew up near Table Rock and knows it, but I, who've never been there, thought it was his imagined tiredness that made him exaggerate the distance and climb. In retrospect, he didn't. The climb didn't require use of granny, but there were no lower gears available on my 2nd sprocket. Where the pavement ends at a gate, we went over the gate. Most of our riding had been on the South side of the mountain, but we were now on the back side of Tablerock- the north side where snow and ice were. Soon I noticed the spinning of the wheel on the ice pack and and was thinking it was fun and a bit challenging to control the bike, but the SGT soon mentioned we'd have to ride down. How did we miss the glare of the ice that would make excellent sledding but not so good cycling down? We ditched our bikes in the sagebrush and hiked the ½ mile to the top. The descent on the ice would have been treacherous on a bike.

Although the SGT had the weakest headlamp, once we reached the pavement, he decided to bring his average speed up by speeding down the hill leaving the LT and me behind. I don't know what he could have seen at those speeds with that little light, but he made it down in one piece. It was a long descent which made me cold after the sweating of the uphill. It was only a couple of miles back to Ann Morrison, near where the LT lives. I was eager to get warm, so I went in for a hot chocolate and to hold the warm cat in my cold hands. With the temperature now at 20, it was up a couple moderate hills which kept me warm before reaching home with 23.3 miles and riding time of 2:53.

The LT and SGT are both eager to go again. I’m envious of my Lewiston friends who can plan weekly Wed night rides a year in advance and have to skip maybe 1 in 4 rides because of weather. Weather will likely make us skip 3 of 4 planned rides, but I’m looking forward to more night rides here in the cold of the South of Idaho!

Happy Cycling for fun, fitness, and transportation!

Steve