July 13, 2024
To Cascade, ID
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Today I am full of questions. What is the difference between a pass and a summit? Google says a pass connects two valleys, while a summit is the highest point for the surrounding area. I think more summits need a name! I work hard to get up there. While I'm being needy, I'd also like a sign to take my photo!
I was up early again, and out the door by 7 AM. I could hear big trucks passing our room at all hours of the night. I was imagining the traffic on the road. Ugh.
At 7 AM on Saturday, I had the road mostly to myself. It was 60 degrees and brisk. Perfect climbing weather. I knew mile 8.8 was the top of the climb. I appreciated the flat warm up, but then I started to get concerned. If the road didn't head upwards, it was going to be a tough 1,500 feet elevation gain when it did start. Just to make things fun, let's add in some road construction. Idaho has been doing a great job in paving and widening the highways we are on. That must be some of the build it back better federal money. In Colorado, I read complaints that all of the money is being spent in the Denver area, and none where I live. There are sure many road shoulders in Colorado that could use widened. Mountains make that difficult.
The construction workers were taking a break today. An automatic stoplight was sending traffic one way through a narrow section of the canyon. I think it changed about every five minutes. I didn't wait long. There were 5-6 vehicles waiting with me. I let them go first. I had been climbing mildly up to that point, but in this narrow spot, it really steepened. I tried to aim for one mile and stop, but reduced my goal to a half mile and stop. Then I changed it again to, whenever traffic is on my side, I stop. I knew I didn't have far to go. I could make it two miles of this steep stuff, but I was surprised how steep it felt! Mile 8.8 came soon enough. I had a 5.2 mph average at the top. That was better than I expected. I was happy! The rest of the day would be basically flat, get 'er done kind of miles.
We had looked at the route carefully last night. Komoot said some back roads were paved that RWPGS said were dirt. We checked the google guy and satellite view. It was somewhat inconclusive, but Komoot is usually better with updated road surfaces. We went with that. It added a couple of miles, and a little climbing, but we would be off of Highway 55 for half of the day.
At McCall, I did not enter town at all, but turned onto a freshly paved road with a giant marked bike lane. That took me around to Norwood Road, which also had a bike path for a short distance. I was liking this back road riding. I eventually turned onto Lakeshore Road and crossed Highway 55. There was a convenience store at that intersection. I did not go in. After I crossed the road, I stopped for a photo and realized that there were a bunch of bicycle riders huddled in the shade of a subdivision entrance sign. It seemed really odd. At first I didn't realize they weren't part of the landscaping. It wasn't too hot. It was early. Why were they gathered up like that? I didn't go over and say hello, but continued on my way.
Some miles later, they passed me. It was a group of high school age kids with a couple of adults. All were outfitted for bike packing. A mile or two later, here came another group. I asked the last adult what they were doing and who they were. He said the are Idaho something something Adventure Club. They do 3-4 bike packing trips a years to introduce kids to the sport. This four day trip was their longest one. I think he said they had 20 kids. Casually, I think I saw two girls? Maybe three? As they passed me, many said hello, have a nice ride, cool bike, etc. They were camping at a lake today. The man said all of the places they were going, but I'm not familiar enough with the area to recognize them. It's nice to know that some young blood is being nurtured. Cycling seems to be an older persons sport.
At mile 30 I was back on Highway 55 for the remainder of the ride. It had been freshly paved also, and had an ample shoulder. But, darn, there was a lot of traffic, and it was moving fast. I said a mental thank you a number of times for the wide shoulder. I was also moving along fairly well, but I knew there was one more climb coming up. I rode over a few rises, wondering if conditions were good enough that this was my climb. No - no such luck. I saw a chain up sign. Heck. That means there's a serious climb. My legs thought the serious climbing was done back at the ski area. Here we go. I ate a Perpetuem tablet in preparation. There was a passing lane the entire climb, which took the traffic away from me. The climb lasted a mile. A 3.8 mph mile!
Now there was only three miles to town. I saw a convenience store, and stopped for a drink. This was a busy, busy place. There were two men stocking the ice machines outside. They had two entire pallets of bagged ice that they were loading inside, stocking up for the weekend. I could see vehicles had trouble parking, and I had trouble finding a bicycle parking spot that wasn't in the way. It was wall to wall people inside. I could not find a V-8. I did buy a Salted Nut Roll for $1.99. Eeegads! Jacinto says I've been talking them up too much, and I've made the price increase.
I went back outside. My original intention was to eat my snack and kill a little time, but this was not a relaxing place. I put my gloves and helmet on, turned on my lights, etc. and took off. Only to cross the street! Had I realized our lodging was that close, I would have walked over.
We are at the Cascade Lake Inn - a cute little place. Probably a 50's motel that's been remodeled. I had called in the morning and left a message asking for an early check in. I looked for the cleaning lady's cart, and went to ask her. She said she was cleaning my room, and I could have it in 20 minutes. We chatted a bit. I understood her to say that the last climb before town was Little Daughter - but she didn't know why it had that name. When I asked google, it turns out to be Little Donner Summit (which led to my question about the difference between a summit and a pass). It also said that if the Donner party had crossed there, they would have made it. Thus the name?
I called Jacinto and checked up on him. He is taking the back roads route and upping the game. He turned onto a dirt road that is going to hopefully lead him to a paved road around the lake. He will get ten extra miles and have to head north back into town. If the dirt is too rough, then he's going to turn around. I'll put an update from him when he gets in. I don't know where we are having dinner. If this little corner of town is an example, it's a zoo out there.
Jacinto's report - he rode 54 miles - about half of it was dirt. Komoot is usually reliable on information about road surfaces, but not today. Jacinto was planning to turn around if it was too much dirt, but he went far enough to be committed. His most exciting moment was passing a Tom turkey. It puffed up, and fluffed up it's feathers and started chasing Jacinto! Jacinto yelled, it would stop momentarily, and then start chasing again. Finally Jacinto parked his bike, and chased the bird, yelling while he did. That made the bird turn back. Jacinto couldn't see any females around or any other reason for the turkey to be chasing him. Jacinto thought perhaps he passed too close to the turkey and scared it.
Jacinto said mostly the road was in good condition, but some of it was sandy and he had to walk short stretches. He said it was a good ride, but way more dirt than he likes to do and that's enough dirt riding for this trip. He arrived to town with everything covered in dust. His shoes were new before the trip. He got soaked a couple of times (remember the drying them in the dryer experiment?) and now they are tan colored from the sand. They sure aren't new anymore.
We've been to dinner at Palooza Basecamp. I had the bison meatloaf, which was good. Jacinto had a bison burger. Service was very slow. I was ready to start eating the napkins!
We stopped by the Dollar Store on the way back. They had Payday candy bars for $1.40. No Salted Nut Rolls. I bought some off brand fig newtons. That's another one of those bicycle touring only foods. They are little calorie bombs - 50 calories each.
It looks like we can take an 8 mile side road tomorrow and the rest is on Highway 55. I hope the good shoulder continues. Town is quiet tonight. Everyone must have mean heading to the lake and made it there. The convenience store now has parking.
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Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 1,443 miles (2,322 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 7 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 9 |
You converted me from Payday bars. The Salted Nut Rolls are much more tasty.
The only downside: Unlike Payday bars, they do melt a little in a hot handlebar bag.
1 month ago
Wayne Estes is on tour right now. He tried one. He didn’t say I made a convert though.
They are another one of those tastes good when touring items. Fig Newtons are another one. Those are little calorie bombs.
1 month ago
1 month ago
1 month ago
I hope we already passed the narrow canyon you are talking about.
1 month ago