Trip End- From the guy who didn't make it

Okay, so I'm Tallahassee waiting to get an audience with one of the local orthopedic gods. Apparently, if I hadn't seen an orthopedic specialist in Boise, I would have seen somebody a week ago. But, since I did. they have to "review my case" before scheduling an appointment. What, are they trying to get their stories straight? It's frickin' broken, I'm guessing anybody can see that from a cell phone picture taken surreptitiously in Boise. Do they think I photo shopped it?

So far, all my research (high quality Internet, of course), leads me to believe that surgery is the absolute worst solution because, it seems like 9 times out of 10, they screw the plate into a nerve. So, unless somebody tells me without surgery I'll never play lead guitar again (does it matter that I can't play it now?), I'm prepared to live with one shoulder a couple of inches shorter than the other (Hunter's words of wisdom: "You don't have any tailored clothes")

Day 12- Last day back to Idaho City

The boys take the short ride in to Crouch. From Crouch into Idaho City is the least scenic of the route, with two steep climbs on good, but dusty dirt roads. The boys are hot and tired reaching Idaho City after climbs of 1,800 and 900 ft. And so the boys most excellent adventure comes to an end.

Herding Sheep

 Jorge Hiking

 Placeville, ID

 

Day 11- Boiling Springs to Tie Creek

 Leave Boiling Springs and tackle the first, and toughest, of today's two climbs, up to an unnamed summit at 5,500 ft. Some more downhill and then back up to Trail Creek Summit at 5,019 and back down to the last camp at Tie Creek about 7 miles short of Crouch.

Jorge Fishing (We don't need no stinkin license!)

 A sad sight, Johnny's empty bottle of Sailor Jerry

Day 10- McCall to Boiling Springs

As planned for revised finish, the boys SAG from McCall to Cascades, then start riding from Cascades to Boiling Springs. The route starts along Lake Cascade and then across the flat Cascade Valley.

Cascade Lake

 Cascade Valley

Another climb of 1,500 ft, brings them up to East Mountain at 6,200 ft. Then a nice downhill to camp at Boiling Springs at 4,000 ft.

The Boys contaminating Boiling Springs

Day 9- Warm Lake to McCall

Morning at Warm Lake

 

The boys leave Warm Lake after breakfast at the Lodge. Alan and Bill climb 1,300 ft. to the top of Big Creek Summit at 6,594 ft. then take the SAG to McCall and a very upscale Holiday Inn Express. Alan adds a little drama to the day by leaving his Dopp Kit in Warm Springs, having to drive back to retrieve it.

The plan for tomorrow, Thursday, is to SAG the 30 miles to Cascades and then ride the 34 miles to Boiling Springs campground. (Have you noticed how everything in this frozen tundra is either "warm" or "hot" or, now, "boiling"?) Then, divide the 60 miles remaining back to Idaho City between Friday and Saturday. And then the long drive home to Tallahassee begins Sunday. They should be off-grid until Saturday and even Idaho City is not much of a grid as they only get cell service because of the two repeaters at the Visitor Center and the hotel.

 

Day 8- Deadwood River to Warm Springs

Another cold morning, another late start, though I suspect the boys are getting fatigued, since the temperature is a little warmer but the start a little later. Start the day with a moderate climb up and over Deadwood Summit at 6,840 ft., followed by some downhill and then a brutal climb to Warm Lake Summit at 7,290 ft. They are rewarded by a descent of 2,500 ft. over the next 6 miles to Warm Lake. They have a late lunch at the North Shore Lodge where they are told the route they are supposed to take from there is closed by road crews digging culverts. They decide to spend the night at the lodge and then bike/drive to McCall the next day.

Warm Lake

Day 7- Frozen Florida Boys

Again the boys awaken to temperatures in the 20's, forcing another late start. If you're wondering about the desire to get an early start, it is to maximize the amount of daylight you have to get to the next camp. Just in case. To double their pleasure, there are two climbs today: Cape Horn Summit at 7,306 ft. and Deer Creek Pass at 6,483 ft.

After 48 miles they camp by the Deadwood River. Bill and Jorge, apparently having higher standards of personal hygiene than Alan or Bubba, clean up in the icy cold river, Bill submerging himself on purpose, Jorge accidentally. If Billy were there, he would have been happily floating in it.

Day 6- Pole Creek to Sheep Trail

It may be hard for us southerners to grasp, but it is already freezing in parts of Idaho. Real freezing, like in morning temperatures in the 20's at elevation. Not only is it really hard to get up out of your little goose down cocoon, it's even harder to add more wind chill by getting on the bike. Because of this, the boys get a late start of 10:00 and head towards Redfish Lake and Stanley.

Redfish Lake

 Bubba on the road to Stanley

After lunch in Stanley, Bubba and Alan head off in the truck to pick up Jorge in Idaho City, were he headed after dropping me off at the airport in Boise. Bill heads up the trail by himself, but manages to take a wrong turn and is now headed the wrong way up the mountain. As a Sloth, this is not "getting lost" but just wanting to add miles to get a "real workout". He swallows his manly pride and asks directions of a couple in a pickup truck, who very kindly take him to camp. I'm sure he rewards them by sharing my rum. At least I can be some good in absentia.

Day 5- Big climbs and nice lodges

The boys head north on State Road 75 out of Ketchum for 8 miles, then catch the 19 mile well groomed Harriman Trail to the Galena lodge for lunch.

Good thing they got a hearty lunch, as there is a hard climb up an old wagon trail toll road which is now basically single track to the top of Galena Summit at 8,703 ft. The first picture shows the natural beauty of the surrounding area:

On closer examination, we see that small yellow dot on the right side of picture is Hunter engaged in the advanced mountain biking techniques mastered by all Sloths!

And the final shot shows the triumphant Sloth, master of his mountain home. 

 I'm assuming they make the scheduled camp at Pole Creek.

 

Day 4- From the riders

Continuing the blog from the point where I fly home to recover and the boys continue on. These entries are edited to enhance Hunter's "concise" narrative style. While I recover in the Lift Tower, Bill and Alan clean their bikes and get massages. Bubba elects to not clean his bike, since he hasn't used it yet, so he and Jorge decide to hike the 4.5 mile Bald Mountain trail which climbs 3,400 feet to the top of 9,150 Bald Mountain. They opt to take the chair lift down to save what's left of their knees.

While Bill is cleaning his bike, he discovers a chain link that is broken on one side, so rides into town to get it fixed. Also, he sees a doctor and gets an x-ray of his arm, since he had run in to a cross rail on the way into Ketchum and is experiencing sharp pain with some movements of his left arm. Everything looks okay. He may have hit the rail after seeing this moose sighted on the way into Ketchum:

After coming to no agreement on dinner, Jorge and Bubba head into town for Mexican and Alan, Bill and I have pizza delivered.

 

 

Day 2-6: Headed Home

Jorge and I meet up with the riders in Ketchum Thursday, 9/4, as planned and find this rustic hotel, the Lift Tower, run by a wonderful character named Betty. She is brusque and opinionated but genuinely concerned about my well-being. She puts us off of the over-priced, over-rated restaurants recommended by the people in Boise and on to some excellent local spots. The lift out front was built in 1939, found in pieces in 1987 and reconstructed and restored. It was the fourth chairlift in the world.

 

 

After a remarkably painful night, I start to re-think my plan to continue the trip. I’ve discovered one of the more painful things to do is get in and out of Jorge’s car, something I realize I will be doing repeatedly over the next several days. I’m also imaging the fun of sitting in said car as it traverses miles and miles of back-country washboard. It slowly dawns on me that the prudent thing to do would be to fly back to Tallahassee, although the thing that weighs heaviest is that this leaves Hunter to drive my truck the 2,400 miles back home solo.  He tries to assure me this is no problem.

So I decide to fly home from Boise on Sunday as, obviously, there would be no one available to pick me up at the airport on a game-day Saturday. Jorge and I head back to Boise Saturday morning as the remaining boys head north towards Stanley. Turns out that Boise State is playing Colorado State that night so Jorge drops me at the hotel and goes off to witness that gawd-awful blue field himself. I try to occupy myself with some football on TV, the Noles on the smart phone and some opiates.

Jorge drops me off at the Boise airport the next morning at zero-dark-thirty and heads back to the hotel to sleep some more before hooking up with the truck in Idaho City and then the riders near Smiley Creek. I take a one hour flight to Salt Lake City and change planes (the wheelchair bit is kind of nice) for a 2-1/2 flight to Atlanta and then the fun begins. After 4 hours of sitting on airport chairs, wheel chairs and airplane seats, I finally make it home so I can sleep in yet another chair.

So my journey ends appropriate to its start. From here on I will try to facilitate postings from the boys as I get them.     

Day 2- An Inauspicious Start

Tuesday morning was a chilly 40 degrees, clear and spectacular. Walked to a nice little breakfast spot where the waitress hadn't shown up yet so the regulars were filling in. Great breakfast and more than even a Sloth could eat. We get on the bikes finally and head up towards Rabbit Creek Pass, good gravel surface and the climb is "manageable". When we reach the top, Jorge and Bubba show up in Jorge's car, not the support truck. They can't get it started. I send them back down to find the portable jumper battery in the truck bed.
Alan, Bill and I now head down the mountain, again what appears a manageable decent. So roughly 17 miles into the first day, I hit a small patch of loose gravel in a turn and slide out, going down hard on my left shoulder, hip and head. Let me stress yet again the importance of helmets, as I might not be writing this now without one, as it is seriously cracked. Thankfully, Hunter is behind me (usually nobody is behind me!) and gets me and my bike off the road. Its obvious that things are not good. Hunter is worried about a concussion, but I can remember things okay (which is also unusual). Also fortunate, a nice retired couple appears in a Jeep and agrees to take me back to Idaho City to meet up with Jorge and Bubba. We find them in the truck (at least one problem solved) and Jorge and I take his car to Boise for medical assistance and Bubba heads back up the trail to find Alan and Bill.
We find a great urgent care place and the end result is the X-ray Tech saying "That's one of the best clavicle breaks I've ever seen!". We get referred to an Orthopedic Surgeon for the next morning, some pain meds and a hotel for two nights.
Orthopedic guys give two options: non-arthroscopic surgery to put a plate on it or do nothing and let it heal on it's own. After much discussion, it seems you would only do the surgery if you were young and really active, or if you care that you will likely end up with a bump on your shoulder. Due to the fact that none of those apply to me and my fundamental aversion to surgery (not to mention my even more fundamental cheapness), I opt to do nothing. So we load up on more pain meds an decide to meet up with the boys in Ketchum on Thursday to follow them on the remainder of the course with two support vehicles, one for me and one for the boys. Speaking of support, I want to give a big shout out to my man Jorge for his above and beyond support the last two days. The picture below speaks volumes!

Day- 1: Idaho City Lodge

Well, after two 12 hour days through Texas Utah and Idaho we finally arrived at the Idaho City Lodge. The place is rustic, to say the least. Team Cube was late, so things were hectic. In the morning we have breakfast and head up Rabbit Creek Pass. will be off the grid for probably 3 days. weather is cold but spectacular

Final Pre-Trip BNO

Every Sloth event, however insignificant, requires meticulous and detailed planning. This effort always culminates in a pre-event BNO ("Boy's Night Out") that generally resembles Congress in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness. It all starts with several pitchers of whatever high gravity beer is on tap and roughly 100 wings of various flavors (manly-ness scale runs from 1-teriyaki to 10-chernobyl). Amazingly, no matter how many Sloths are in attendance or how many wings or pitchers of beer are consumed, it always comes out to $25 each. The results of this trip's final planning session are that we need to bring more coolers and Bubba wants to bring a rake. Over the course of the evening, we also developed our own variation of the Ice Bucket Challenge, as Dick calls it, the Sloth Chicken Choke Challenge. Basically, it involves eating the last of the 100 wings, swimming in Buffalo sauce, grease and ranch dressing, and then dumping the sauce over your head. We just invented it, we didn't actually do it. Well, I did eat the last wing. 

 

Okay, landslides are worse than soft sand.

So, we were following the weather out in Idaho City, and we're a little concerned about the flash flood warnings a few weeks ago. Not to worry, we figured, as surely it would be finished by the time we got out there. Well, the rain did stop, but not before it caused landslides and river re-routing over 15 miles we were supposed to ride the first two days. Originally, they reported on August 7 that the work would take "several days to weeks". Okay, still 3-1/2 weeks before we start. Following the Adventure Cycling blog, we see this post on August 19th:

"The Boise National Forest just called to let me know that the Middle Fork Rd./268 is still closed, and probably will be for the remainder of the riding season. They are going to be moving fast to get this fixed before winter, as it is the main (only) supply line to Atlanta during that season.

Also, there has been some logging around the junction of Phifer Creek Rd./156 and FR 129. Please use caution as it seems a cyclist was almost hit by a falling tree. This was not the cyclist's fault as there were no flaggers out blocking traffic - something I told the FS the loggers need to do. They agreed, and were going to talk to them, but regardless, still use caution."

Okay, so Cat 1 climbs, washed out roads and falling trees. What else you got? The good news is we can re-route a little to the north and actually get to Ketchum in 3 days instead of 4 (assuming we can make 54 miles with 3,500 feet of climbing on day 3). And just to make things more interesting, it's apparently now raining cats and dogs on the northern part of the route.

Soft Sand Sucks!

Hunter and I did 49 miles today on a combination of roads and dirt. Well, not technically "together" the whole time as he kicked my butt! I can't figure out whether he just a better rider than I am or the fact that I had 3 rum and diet cokes last night to his one beer. I choose to believe the latter. Most of the dirt was good, hard packed red clay, but one short section of Norias on the way to Metcalf was soft sand. Again, it sucks even on a 29er with big fat tires. Bill at least managed to stay upright through the whole section. It's even harder to get going in it than it is riding through it (damn clips). But I was fine until the last 5 miles of dirt on Old Centerville to Bradley's. Without the sausage dog, I wouldn't have made it home (which was still 15 miles away). If there are patches of soft sand on those climbs in Idaho, I am toast!

Change of Plans

Well, we (meaning me) decided we should get closer to Arlington on Friday so we could get in some more tailgating time with all our (again, my) Seminole friends there. The downside is that we will be in Monroe, Louisiana Friday night instead of New Orleans. Not quite the party atmosphere. Also, we will miss all the bacchanalia of Southern Decadence (and I'm sure there will be some trannies there that will miss the big, strapping Sloth boys). If we can keep our Heisman-winning quarterback out of jail, we should whoop up on the cowboys and begin our juggernaut to a repeat championship. Then two 12 hour days to the metropolis of Idaho City (choosing a motel was easy since there is only one). We are down to five Sloths, so logistics should be significantly easier.
Minimal training continues: I'm up to about 100 or so miles a week, but I just can't stomach the "session IPAs". The problem is, in the back of your mind, you know if you wimp out one day, there's a SAG wagon that'll take you to an ice cold beer.

Alpineophobia

Not to be confused with acrophobia, alpineophobia involves a fear of mountains. This malady is quite common among old, out-of-shape, cyclists from the swamplands of Florida. Thus, the one thing we do not want to see during trip planning is a Day One profile like this:

Okay, so it's not an HC climb, just a measly Cat 1 of 15 miles at an average 4.2% grade. Starting a half mile into the ride. Did I mention it's the 1st day? Unfortunately, it doesn't get much better the 2nd day as the ever playful bike gods save the climb for the last 8 miles of the day.

Well, of course, they made it shorter so it could be a lot steeper. I don't know about the math, but I'm pretty sure elevation grade is logarithmic. Keep in mind that, last trip, we decided we were getting a little old for all this physical exertion. Of course, we couldn't just face our own mortality and stop doing it, so we just added one or more SAG (Support and Grub) vehicles. If you have six riders and one SAG, everyone gets to drive once every six days and that becomes their rest day. We decided to chose by drawing straws (not yet able to determine if drawing the short straw and driving is considered winning or losing). We allowed for "volunteers", or as we identify them, "wussies". I'm guessing for the 1st day we will have multiple wussies and will have to draw straws to see who actually has to ride.

The Holy Grail

As mentioned in a previous post, part of the training regimen involves a diet scientifically designed to provide the complex nutritional demands of an endurance athlete. After many grueling rides and thousands of hard miles, we have discovered that the perfect balance is provided by the Breakfast Sandwich (or colloquially, "Brefas Samich"). Nothing is better after riding for a couple of hours than finding some hole-in-the-wall in the middle of nowhere that serves a great breakfast sandwich. So, this morning, on a 43 mile loop through Monticello, I continued my demanding training schedule by consuming one at the Brick House Eatery. Oh, the sacrifices we endure.

PS to Yesterday's Post

Anybody need a rare, vintage, full-suspension Woodstock 770 MTB? Hand crafted by a small internet-only shop in Woodstock, GA, in 2008, that went out of business shortly thereafter. Only been ridden on segments of the Great Divide and the frame has only been welded twice.

Well, it's new to me

My Dad (or somebody’s Dad, I forget) always said “You don’t need to be rich, you just need to have rich friends”. How else could someone of my questionable standing in the community and limited means get to watch FSU football games in a skybox? And so it is now with my new (to me) bike. Luckily for me, Alan has always got to have the latest and greatest equipment and technology. So when he built a Trek Project One 29er on line and picked it up at the LBS, he had to get rid of his 5 year old Gary Fisher HiFi Plus 29er. I guess I can’t legitimately claim that I couldn’t afford this bike new, just that it would never occur to me to spend that much on a bicycle (I’ve bought serviceable cars for less). My primary reasoning, other than having parents that lived through the Depression, is that a rider of my ability is not capable of knowing, or more importantly, taking advantage of, the difference between a $5,000 bike and a $500 one. An expensive ride can obviously save you several pounds. But I could theoretically (emphasis definitely mine) lose several pounds easier and cheaper than buying a better bike. So, anyway, now I have this bike that is way beyond my abilities. The biggest downside for me is that I won’t be able to use the bike as an excuse for my poor performance. Having run and ridden for many years, I have a vast repertoire of other excuses.  

Introduction

I guess I should explain a little bit about the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route, since that's, ostensibly, what this blog is supposed to be about.. The route is a new one just developed by Adventure Cycling and entails a 517 mile loop through central Idaho starting in Idaho City that passes through over 50 hot springs. The Adventure Cycling link provides more details at http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/idaho-hot-springs-mountain-bike-route/. I'm being relived of the oppressive responsibility of planning this trip, that task being assumed by Bill Hunter. I can not express what a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It appears that, since I am writing this blog, I am still the CIO of the Sloths, about all the responsibility I can handle. So far it looks like about 40-50 miles per day with a couple of rest days thrown in (unfortunately, Mac is not going on this trip so he wont be around to complain about rest days being for wussies). I suppose I should also talk about the incredible preparation required for a trip of this magnitude. Basically, this is broken into two primary regiments: diet and training. My diet will consist of primarily switching from real IPAs to "session IPAs" (beer snob question: isn't a session IPA an oxymoron? isn't a session IPA just a Pale Ale?). My training will consist of increasing my weekly ride mileage to 100 miles a week from its current zero. As we invariably say when starting these rides, we can always just "ride into shape".

Blog Creation

Okay, so the background photo is a complete misrepresentation, so sue me. Yours truly has decided he must go on another one of these bike rides because he won't be able to go on them much longer. Plus, other than me having to buy a new mountain bike, my wife encourages it because she enjoys the quiet, clean house and being able to enjoy chick flick marathons without the juvenile sexual background banter. So at this point, I'm not even sure who's in (Sloth motto: "I'm out"), other than me, Hunter and I think, Alan who will just mysteriously appear from points west like Ted Kaczynski coming out of the woods.Of course, the trip out involves a stop in New Orleans (and, yes, I guess it coincides with Southern Decadence again. Coincidence? I think not.) And then we get to head to Arlington, TX to see the Noles begin their juggernaut to National Championship #4. (what could be better than Cowboys and Indians in Texas?)  From there, a couple of boring days to drive to Idaho City (Hunter says: "Kansas is why God invented flying - though we will actually avoid Kansas and go through Colorado, which may actually take longer since pot is legal there but we wont care). I'm guessing Idaho back woods doesn't have great cell coverage (Verizon: "When cows have cell phones, we'll put towers out there"), so updates will be spotty, as usual. Stay tuned...