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48 miles by bike, 52 miles by car. 

Cabin of warmth and recovery, somewhere in Idaho

Note to self, investigate possibly of ridiculous weather in the Sawtooth on Memorial Day Weekend. 

We started out early today, as we had 100 miles to go, with the lure of a cabin with food and beer. We also wanted to try to get over the pass before potential afternoon thundershowers. We failed. The first 45 miles wasn’t bad, gradual ascent towards Banner Pass around the Sawtooth range in Western Idaho. Some decent climbs and a sprinkling of downhills as we wound along the south fork of the Payette River. We saw gray clouds in the distance and it started to sprinkle, so we suited up in our rain gear and got back in the road. For about 15 minutes. And then the skies opened up. A full onslaught, high elevation hail and lightning thunderstorm. The hail started out small then got bigger and started to hurt as it pelted us. So we went off the shoulder and ducked under some pine trees until it let up a little. We went back to the bikes and tried to walk them up the road. There was about a 1/2 inch layer of hail on the road. And then it started coming down heavy again. We pulled off the road again and covered ourselves with the rain covers for the bikes and tried to stay warm, hoping it would pass soon. Our upper bodies were drenched (ps, buying new raincoats soon). We crouched for about 1/2 hour and it started to let up and clear. We walked back out to the road and there was a good 2-3 inch layer of hail with water gushing down the tracks where cars had driven through. We had 2 choices: set up the tent in the rain and change clothes and make something warm to drink with the camp stove or flag down a truck to help us out. Jon decided the latter was the better option. We saw multiple cars and vans, but no pickups for about 10 minutes. We were literally dancing/jogging in place trying to stay warm. A truck finally came along and stopped and Jon asked “Can you give us a ride? We’re on bicycles and about to freeze to death.” Allen and Beth were incredibly kind and piled our bikes and gear into the back of their pickup. They had been planning on going for a day hike near Stanley at the edge of the Sawtooth Range, but maybe reconsidering given the conditions. Heat cranking to warm us up, they drove us the 50 some miles to our destination for the night, a cabin owned by one of the people in the Warm Showers network for bicyclists. We were still chilled when we got there and shivered as we unpacked our things and heated up the cabin. We made some hot tea, took a warm shower and curled up under some blankets for a couple of hours as more thunderstorms rolled through. What a crummy day for biking. Allen and Beth, and this cabin truly saved our lives today.