Day 14 --Fourth of July!

July 4, 2004

We thank those who have given their lives for our independence...and to those who are serving today to protect it . . . God Bless.

ROUTE:  Blackfoot to Idaho Falls ID             
DISTANCE:  34 Miles                  
WINDS: Breezy from the rear!

WEATHER: Rain in the area?  It never rains in this part of the country this time of year!                  TERRAIN:  Easy
TOTAL CLIMBING:  500 feet somewhere.

MIKE'S RIDE OVERVIEW: Happy 4th!  With such a short day, we again adjusted our schedule so we would leave a bit later.  We scheduled our breakfast for 7:00 (Yippie!  Sleep in!!!) and our loading for 8:00. But as luck would have it, the skies again were threatening as the caterers were setting up the buffet line for an outdoor eating experience. The riders again took it in stride as they started to pile on the food and mosey back to their rooms to eat.  By the time the last people were going through the line, they had set up tables under the drive-through in front of the lobby...by that time, the rain had really let up and was a very pleasant. With the ugly skies, we decided to move loading back another hour to let it clear out...good decision because when we started to load, the sun had broken through and the dark clouds were well past our route. 

The riders and staff (Josh, right) were in full regalia this morning with it being the 4th of July.  We all wore our stars and stripes jerseys today and many decorated their bikes for our contest at the first SAG.  At the time I'm writing this, we haven't released the results of the judging, but I'm sure Susan will post the standings in her section. 

When we pulled out, the sun was shining and the winds were at the riders' backs ... OBSCENE!!!  A 34-mile day with brisk tailwinds . . . what a life!  Hopefully, we can keep the tailwinds for tomorrow when we trek over the passes and into Jackson.  But right now we'll just take it a day at a time and enjoy it while we've got it. It was nice to have a good active rest day to prepare for tomorrow. It was basically a non-eventful day . . . just like I like it. Everyone got in by noon thirty in spite of the late departure.  I wish we had more days like this. It even gives us staff a little time to catch a breath.

We did have some interesting sights today, at one point about 8 miles from the motel, I found a few riders admiring a mechanical contraption in a small corral.  They couldn't figure out what it was, but it looked like a steer and it didn't seem to require much hay. I explained how the cowboys in this area use this mechanical steer for roping practice. It's on a sled, and they pull it behind a horse as other cowboys try to lasso it.  This one also had a battery pack that makes the rear legs fly up so they can use it for team roping practice. Team roping requires one cowboy to lasso the head and the other cowboy to lasso the rear legs.  Now this is quite technical and considered quality entertainment to people out west ... and for us greenhorns who've never seen it.  Seems to me some of the early cowboys had too much time on their hands to come up with this form of entertainment.  But this mechanical steer saves wear and tear on the real steers who most times have better things to do than run around the corral and be a target for roping practice.  Now they even have

another one that a person can drive That's got to be the epitome of progress ... now they have eliminated the pull horse.  If they can figure out how to eliminate the roping part it would be a banner day for the steers to the right.  They are really glad to see the new "roping dummy" in the corral.  The pen also included a chute for bull dogging practice, but from the looks of all the baseball size rocks that were lying around the arena, it could be a pretty bruising sport.  The cows probably don't like falling on them either.

Farther down the road we came upon a cool tree house in a tall cottonwood tree (left) owned by Garth and Patsy Harker.  They live so close to the river that if they stumbled getting their mail, they might just fall in.  Last year I spent several minutes taking pictures of the tree house from the ground, but after a short discussion with Ms Harker, she agreed to let me climb the stairs and take some pictures from the top.  As I was climbing to the upper level, I wasn't sure if I was overly thrilled she let me climb up there as I'm a little shy around this type of heights.  I can get on top of our vans in a strong wind and handle bikes with ease, but I was a little nervous up there 40 feet off the ground in a cottonwood tree! I think they were flattered that all the cyclists were stopping to take pictures and that I was getting photos from the top.  She wanted to come on the ride as a support person...we meet some of the nicest people on these rides.

Tomorrow we ride to Jackson...it will be a tough day with our steepest climb on the trip...no late breakfast tomorrow.  I think several are worried about the climbs tomorrow, but as ride leader, I'm more worried about the descents.  Tune in and see how we do.  See you then.     Mike

SUSAN'S BIKE SHORTS: 

• Short ride and short Shorts today. It was beautiful pedaling alongside the Snake River and through the potato fields.
• Our motel, a Red Lion Inn with tower rooms, is right at the falls on the river. A storm rolled through in the evening and I took a photo of the ominous front from my 8th floor balcony as it approached.
• The winners of the July 4th Bicycle Decorating Contest were. . . ta, da!  First place--Judith (right), who sported two strategically placed pinwheels that were whirling their little hearts out as she approached the SAG Stop; Second Place, Gerard (see first Photo of the Day) whose fairing was plastered with patriotic decals, and Third Place, Carrie-Ann who was running large flags off both handlebars.

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

• "Love these laid-back days."  
•  "A day like this sucks all the stress out of me."   
• "Zippity doo dah, zippity ay, plenty of sunshine coming my way..."   
• "That was a world class breakfast."

DUH! OF THE DAY:  This prestigious distinction goes to staff Susan.  Seems she got swept away in the pageantry of the morning, so when Patricia asked to start out with her, Susan willingly agreed. The two were first out of the parking lot and 5 miles down the road before Susan realized she was Sweep.  Oooops!  She pedaled back three miles to the rear of the procession and took up her broom.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

Second Place winner, Gerard with his bowsand decaled fairing. 

Third Place Winner, a masked and flag-bedecked Carrie-Ann.

Josh even wrapped his handlebars in stars and stripes tape; that's White in the background.

Dan's broken several spokes on this ride so far and he's always on the lookout for a set of sturdy
wheels . .. wonder if these come in 700c?

In response to Team Estrogen's challenge, some of the members of Team Clydesdale show they DO have matching jerseys...should that count?

Team Estrogen did it up right but complained about the wind resistance . . .
everything has it's price I guess.

No, Susan did not have a breakfast burrito...she settled for
shooting stars, but really wanted bubbles . . . tiny bubbles . . .

The jersey thing having been answered (sort of), Julie set out to pose the next challenge to Team Clydesdale.  I'm anxiously waiting for their response to this one