Day 6 (6/10): Idaho grinding

Morning came with the screech of an unknown animal off in the distance. It was probably a dog howling but in my half asleep head it was something spooky and maybe dangerous so sleep was over and it was time to get underway. Took a bit longer to get everything stowed on the bike; bivvy would not pack down to the size I needed it to get to and so it took a couple of tries to get it sort of right.

I slept decently but was feeling a bit groggy with a little bit (maybe more than a little bit) of fatigue. My coffee habit/dependency was not being fulfilled despite bringing a full pack of Starbucks instant packs. The packs are really handy for a quick pickup; put one in a water bottle (make sure it's water of course... probably not delicious with Gatorade, etc) and shake well - instant caffeine. However, I drink a lot of coffee on a normal basis and while these helped it was not quite enough. Oh well, coffee can't be too far away, right?

Wrong...coffee was still miles and hours away up and over a long and tedious climb. I ground my way up through the seemingly endless switchbacks...miles of forest with little variety or visual items of interest. It wasn't that the scenery was ugly or had nothing to offer, it just was miles of the same scenery that was coupled with high effort for not a lot of payoff in terms of distance traveled. Compounding the issue was the complete lack of cell service which was causing problems with my music and audio books. I had apparently not downloaded the latest audio book that I had purchased which rendered it inaccessible without a data connection 😕.

At one point I spent a minute looking at my Garmin which had a downloaded copy of the route on it (prior planning prevents...). As I looked at the contours on the map, I noticed a point where the road hooked to the right and appeared to head back down the climb. This bouyed my spirits - climb was almost over! I kept eyeing the map, noting my position relative to where I thought the climb would end and as I reached the hook I looked...up...the...road and realized that although on the map the road sort of looked like it was going downhill the grade only eased a bit...still going up. As a consolation, I apparently got line of sight with some cell tower somewhere and my phone sprang to life; text, FB, and email notifications came flooding through. I took a few minutes reviewing and replying as needed and then called home to let everyone know I was still alive - had been out of cell service for over a day. 

A few miles more and the climb leveled out. I again didn't take near as many pictures as I should have...climb kinda wiped me out and I was noticing an increase in the discomfort from my saddle sores. There was a weird burning sensation that I don't normally get from saddle sores but decided that I'd figure that out later...needed to crank up and get to Cambridge.

I made it into Cambridge about an hour later, starving. As my planning was off a little bit I only had a Clif bar left in my supplies when I started riding this morning and that had been used up on the climb. In doing my planning I had identified a couple of food sources in Cambridge that I could refill the tank and so I rolled on into the "downtown" area to get a decent meal before heading on.

Here is where the phrase "no plan survives first contact" decided to rear its head and say "hi'. Its also where the phrase "don't trust Google" reasserted the accuracy of that statement. The town, at least this part of it, is decidedly in decline economically and both the burger place and the cafe were closed permanently, despite what Google had to say about them. My options were reduced to "roller food" from the Sinclair gas station or whatever I might be able to get at a drive up espresso shop. I chose the former and ended up with one of the more... interesting breakfasts that I've had in a while; pizza wrap, chicken tenders, and a payday-like peanut candy bar 🙄. Oh well, it was food and after sitting for 20 minutes or so I felt recharged and ready to roll on.

breakfast view

yum....

Rolling out I got back into the now-familiar pattern of spinning and coasting, spinning and coasting until I made it to Council, ID. At the Shell station I actually did a fairly long stop - battery packs and other electronics were a bit low from the previous day's lack of resources. I had saved the pizza wrap from breakfast and having found a power outlet on the outside of the gas station I propped myself up against the wall, plugged in, and chilled for a bit. 

It was my son's birthday and so I cranked up Google Duo to place a video call to him. I was feeling a bit guilty; it was his 18th birthday and here I was, not there to celebrate with him...will have to make that up to him at some point. Had a nice 10 minute conversation with him - he and his girlfriend were on their way out to goof off and so I didn't keep him too long. Once I hung up I pulled up Track leaders to see what everyone was up to. Now, I wasn't super interested in where everyone was placed...had known from the get-go that I had no chance of being competitive. However I was curious to see if Stuart had moved on from Baker City (he had been having some knee issues). I was also interested in how Rodrigo and other guys I saw at Richland were doing. Everyone was moving along and Stuart was not far behind me...guy is strong.

As I was leaving I saw a cyclist buzz right by me and I thought it was Stuart. I called out to him and he glanced in my direction but sped on. Well, it is a race after all and I knew that if it was Stuart he would be trying to make up for time lost in Baker City. I mention this because it is important in setting up one of the few moments of fear that I had during this ride. Leaving Council, the road turns narrow and heads up again... climbing another couple hundred feet over the next few miles. Drivers, while mostly polite through this section, didn't have a lot of room to work with when dealing with cyclists. As I ride in rural NC I am used to situations like this; tight roads, big vehicles and as such would weave off the road as necessary to allow the bigger vehicles (Idahoan's love their RVs and travel campers) to pass. About 1/2 way up the climb I saw a Council EMS ambulance running hot (lights/siren) coming down the grade. A quick look in the cab showed only a driver...which based on my time as a Paramedic indicated that his partner was in the back with a patient. A chill ran up my spine...I hadn't seen the racer I thought was Stuart and I didn't think that I was far behind him. The road is tight and there is a lot of traffic. What if.....

As it turned out my fears were thankfully unjustified. The "racer" that I had thought was Stuart was not and probably was not even in the race. As I stopped near the top of the current climb Stuart rolled up behind me. "What's up?" he said. I was glad to see him...glad that my fear was just imaginary. We shot the s**t for a few minutes and then he headed out. I followed a few minutes later after dealing with a work email...no rest (from work) for the weary. 

Riding on and on through the Payette National Forest i found myself again in attractive but repetitive forest scenes without much variety, no cell service, and not much else. A rest area/campground appeared on the right and I stopped to spend a minute off the road. As I rolled in I noticed a dude sleeping on one of the picnic tables - Stuart! He had decided that it was nap time and was chilling out right there on the table. It was tempting to take a longer break but I pressed on to try and make up some time.

There is an island of respite in this remote section of forest - the "Huckleberry Bakery". 6 miles west of New Meadows, ID this little county store and bakery just pops up out of nowhere and with its porch, chairs, and various "Americana" scattered about looks like it could have been transplanted from anywhere in the NC or GA mountains. As I rolled up the folks sitting on the front porch called out "you made...just in time!". As I got off the bike (noting more burning down below...) the owner, "Bear" asked what I needed. "Coffee, if you have any...that would be great" I said. Bear disappeared for a bit while I poked around the shop... mixture of food, knick knacks, and...guns (it is Idaho...). Soon, I had a big, steaming cup of coffee. I found out, after the fact, that he had gone and spun a fresh pot just for me - great guy. There was ice cream too...and while I was tempted to try the huckleberry I settled for a tried and true rocky road 😋

We sat and talked for a while...Bear was originally from Southern California but had been in ID "for a while now...". He and his wife (I think) were TransAm enthusiasts and while they had never ridden it were very supportive of racers and tourists alike. After 30 minutes or so Stuart rolled up and like me got a cup of coffee. We all sat there, eating, drinking, and generally having a good time for a bit...was a relief after the day's riding/climbing. Bear had a "TransAm" book that he had visitors sign and basically enter their "5 W's" of their TransAm experience. I did my best to write in it but as my hands were already getting weird from long hours on the bike my writing was even more illegible than normal. 

Bear at the Huckleberry Bakery

On a whim I asked Bear how far it was to New Meadows...the next town. He told us that it was about 6 miles of "mostly flat" to New Meadows...and then about 23 miles of downhill to Riggins. That was probably the best news I had heard all day and after a brief look at the map Stuart and I headed out towards New Meadows. At NM, we got some food and decided to take the plunge towards Riggins. 

hee-hee... institutional toliet in park bathroom at New Meadows 

tourist (Chris I think) on a 4 month western US tour

Now usually when a local has said "it's all downhill" you have to take it with a grain of salt...it's usually not. However, to my absolute delight we were treated to exactly what Bear had told us...almost 23 miles of 2-3% downhill all the way to Riggins, ID. Unlike the morning's climb where there was not much to keep my interest the descent into Riggins followed a swale between ridgelines...lots of rocky structures and various flora to break any monotony that might pop up. A cold, rapidly flowing river ran parallel to the road and anywhere it got close to the road the air turned cold...brrr cold until it moved away from the road. While there were not too many cars we would have to move to the shoulder from time to time for passing cars. On one occasion a pair of overcompensating yahoos in dually trucks sought to "coal roll" us - attempting to gas us with dark exhaust smoke out as they passed us. Their attempt was rather unimpressive and I commented to Stuart that it seemed more like the trucks were out of tune 😆

The descent ended and we found ourselves in Riggins. While the first motel was full a second one just down the road had rooms. As it has rained on us a couple of times and as my backside situation had gotten a bit worse I grabbed a room and set for the getting kit cleaned and dried batteries charged, etc. A shower and then into bed - morning would be here soon enough and with it... Whitebird.

not the best day, mileage-wise but still pretty good.