This was the originally-scheduled 80+ mile ride that we truncated to
just over 60 by carrying the previous day's ride an extra 20 miles, to
White Bird. And a good thing, too -- it was hot at the end of the day
(upper 90's again), and I'm not sure I had another 20 miles in me.
For the first 30 miles we rode south, upstream along the Salmon River,
through some wild and amazing canyons -- not quite the Hell's Canyon
of the nearby Snake River (so I'm told), but pretty spectacular in
their own right (see yet another inadequate photo; you can maybe make
out some of the riders in the distance).
Other than the beautiful scenery, a highlight of the morning's ride
was a great fruit stand about 25 miles in -- delicious cherries,
especially, but also peaches, blackberries, and melon. We (I was
riding with Hugh) loaded up, gorged ourselves on the spot, and packed
in some for later. There wasn't a trace left by the end of the day.
Shortly after the fruit bonanza, we left the Salmon -- or, more
accurately, we continued south and it left us by veering 90 degrees
east -- and continued on up the Little Salmon. Also a lovely ride. And
much easier than anticipated -- the elevation profile made it look
like we had some big climbs, but they never materialized.
All morning I had been planning a coffee/food stop about 40 miles into
the ride, mostly because the other stop possibilities were either too
early or too late. And there it was at mile 41, 4 miles past the town
of Pollock, in the middle of nowhere, just as indicated on the
Adventure Cycling map by a little knife-and-fork-on-a-plate symbol (a
symbol to which we've all become highly attuned) -- the Pinehurst
Trading Post, a motel/resort with a restaurant. So we pulled in. Hugh
decided to eat his lunch outside, with Kath and Clive; I went in. The
waitress said the pie was apple raisin. "Is it with fresh apples, or
out of a can?" "Well I don't know -- all I know is that my dad made it
this morning." Sold. I don't believe I've had apple raisin pie before.
I might again, though -- it was very good (even though it was obvious
that the apples weren't fresh).
I left Hugh and took off from the restaurant pretty much on my own,
because, as I mentioned, the elevation map suggested that we had some
steep climbing to do over the last 20 miles -- 2000' of climbing, in
fact -- and among Hugh's many many strengths climbing hills on a bike
is not one. He gets there, but at a pace that is ... let's just say at
a pace I'm not comfortable with(*). We'll just leave it at that;
there's no need for any value judgment.
But my zipping away was all for naught, or at the least unnecessary,
hill-wise -- the big climb simply wasn't there. The route just
continued to head pretty gently up the Little Salmon valley,
eventually emerging onto a high plain, where we found our lodgings
(tent space, actually) for the evening at Zim's Hot Springs, a few
miles shy of New Meadows. Zim's was serious about their hot springs --
*all* the water was hot, including that which emerged from the faucets
marked "cold," and that used for flushing purposes. The range of
temperature possibilities in the showers was: hot. Even though it was
a hot afternoon, and hot wasn't really what I was after, I partook of
the *actual* hot springs, which were more like (a) a very hot wading
pool (about 3 minutes max, for me), next to (b) a body-temperature
swimming pool, in which I could languish, and did, quite pleasureably,
for an hour or so.
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(*) I.e., TOO DAMN SLOW! HOLY CRAP IS HE SLOW UP HILLS! YOU COULD TIME
HIS PROGRESS WITH A [level c] CALENDAR! TO CALL IT "GLACIAL" WOULD BE
KIND! HIS BEARD IS NOTICEABLY LONGER AT THE TOP OF A HILL THAN IT WAS
AT THE BOTTOM! Pace on a long bike ride is surprisingly important.
Everyone has a zone that they're comfortable in, and it's hard to
spend a lot of time outside that zone. Of course, on the faster/harder
end of the continuum it's *physically* hard to ride outside your zone;
on the slower/gentler end the difficulty is more mental -- it's
uncomfortable, it just doesn't feel right. (Another issue for me,
personally, is: for a laid-back kinda guy in general, I'm pretty
impatient when I've got two wheels under me. I need to MOVE.) There
are other factors that influence who rides with whom, of course, but a
reasonably matched pace is a big one. Hugh and I are pretty
compatible, except when there are significant "ups" to contend with.
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