Diary

Mileage:  62.70 miles (101.59 kms)

Elevation Change:  1551 feet (473 meters)

Weather: sunny, hot

Morale:  Glad to be here!

Incidents:  Two flat tires

Daily Summary:

Pay no attention to that altitude graph above, or if you do, read the scale very carefully.   We only climbed 1500 feet over 60 miles, so it was very flat.  We crossed into Idaho a few miles into the ride today.  We rolled through very lush farmland.  Lots of cattle, lots of crops, at one point a field of mint which smelled so good!  We got an early start so had most of the ride done before it got hot.  Morale was great.  Unfortunately, we had two flat tires which slowed us down a bit.  We had a small wire work its way through the tire around the halfway mark and the rear tire went flat.  (Truck radial tires leave wire debris on the roadway.  Idaho roads seem more full of debris than Oregon roads.)  We fixed it, but couldn’t determine why it went flat.  We figured it out ten miles later when it went flat again.  So, the last hour was in the heat, and it was amazing how quickly your energy gets sapped when the mercury is over 95.  Today was Raymond’s day to shine, as he is our chief navigator.  We had two pages of complex directions to follow today, and he did it perfectly.  Christopher also did an outstanding job as chief hydration officer.  His watch beeps every ten minutes to remind us all to drink—very important with the current weather!   We got into town for lunch, had some good pool time, and got to see the Ukraine/Swiss world cup game.  We have a father/son Swiss team on the trip, so they were disappointed.  There’s a great bike store down the street, so we replenished our flat tire and hydration supplies before dinner.   Well deserved rest day tomorrow! 

 

Below you see us crossing our first state line in the early morning light.  Then some shadow play in the farm fields of western Idaho.  Why isn’t that middle guy pedaling?!

 

Thanks for all your encouraging emails!