ROUTE: Twin Falls to Burley, ID
DISTANCE: 38 grueling, leg numbing miles, yeah, right.
WINDS: Light headwind
WEATHER: Holding at perfect
TERRAIN: Easy
TOTAL CLIMBING: Climbing? 1,400 ft
RIDE OVERVIEW: Yawn...we slept in this morning and didn't load luggage until 8:30. I got up at my usual early hour and even managed to get a load of clothes washed and dried before ride start. Riders were bright eyed and bushy tailed in contemplation of an easy, laid back 38 miles to our destination of Burley. Boy were they in for a surprise. At ride start, the temperatures were mild, skies were sunny, and riders formed teams and held pep sessions over breakfast in preparation for the cutting edge competition of the scavenger hunt. Who would win? Team Ill-eagle? Team Stinky? or Team Cliff & His Bars? Tension was high.
But a little about Burley, our destination, and the the day's ride first: Burley is a small farming community off Interstate 84. Its only "claim to fame" is that three cows traced from the Canadian mad cow herd were found here. After arriving in Burley, the day was still young, so Mike M gave a group riding seminar in the shade trees behind the motel. Karen, not satisfied with a mere 38-mile day, put in 70 by riding some of the miles on tomorrow's route. Riders had a headwind all morning but by the time Karen turned back toward Burley, the wind had shifted so she was faced with a headwind in both directions. The 3-Hs (Heat, Headwind, and Hills) are traditionally the cyclist's major challenges. None of them phase Karen, however.
Our route today followed the Snake River Canyon for about 9 miles. Then we broke away and followed I-84 on frontage roads. It was quite a lonely route except for the sound of interstate traffic and the pulsating sounds of the watering systems that were virtually everywhere. There wasn't much climbing today either unless riders opted to ride down to the Snake River (and many of them did--Matt climbing in and out of Shoshone Falls three times), but the rougher road surface and the heat, which rose to 95F by 1 am, surprised some riders who at ride's end felt as though they'd put in a regular 80-mile day. But, everyone got in early and got a good rest before tomorrow's 112 miles.
Before potatoes in Idaho, there was gold! Many took a side trip to the Twin Falls area which was a beautiful descent into the Snake River Gorge where, in 1869, gold was found below the falls. As you can imagine, the word of gold led to an influx of miners (you wouldn't think hordes of people would flock to this area if someone yelled, "Potatoes!"), but it didn't take long for the mining to fizzle out, so potatoes won out in the end. After the bust of gold mining by 1870, the mining camps turned to agriculture which is still the main activity today. Lake Bonneville, the bigger ancestor of the Great Salt Lake, flooded this area 15,000 years ago and formed the two cataracts that spill onto the rocks below. The power dam at Twin Falls supplies enough power to provide electricity to 31,900 homes . . . .
I set up SAG on this short day at a dirt turnout along the route near some wheat fields. Josh was driving Box to give Barb a day to ride, so when he got to the SS, riders enjoyed some tunes from his MP3 player for a bit and then entertained themselves by watching two small yellow crop dusters come and go. We also saw a small flock of white pelicans circling above. Val told me that they had seen a large flock (100s) of white pelicans the day before and that the experience was nearly surreal because the birds spiraled up on the thermals and then their shadows moved over the group as they were cycling. I set out a Pepsi can of yellow clover and milkweed--the only flowers I could find in this area--and found two beautiful iridescent blue beetles on the milkweed. Photographer Paul took a close-up photo of them. On my way in, I once again found all along the route the open hives of bees that the farmers use to pollinate their crops. This year I remembered to take a photo (above).
All along the route, riders searched for the items on their scavenger hunt lists. That evening after a fine meal set up in the hotel's banquet room, Team Cliff & His Bars, Team Ill-eagles, and Team Stinky, pulled out all their creative stops to convince the panel of "impartial" judges that their finds were the best. When asked for the Gov. of Idaho, for instance, Team Cliff & His Bars produced a document purportedly signed by the governor who met them on the road just for this purpose. Not to be outdone, Team Ill-eagle produced the governor in the form of an artful rendition of the governor as a potato head. The team of judges weren't buying it even though the players pointed out that we were in Idaho, the potato state, after all. When asked for a pretty stone, Tim displayed a small stone and claimed that it was pretty in three ways: it was pretty small, pretty ugly, and pretty rough. The judges didn't buy that one either and gave Team Stinky's, Linda the points. We won't go into how Carol of Team Ill-eagle produced the state bird, a mountain bluebird--suffice it to say that she painted her middle finger blue and placed it on her shoulder.
I think that all had a good day today. Most fueled big and have already gone to bed. I must too as I am riding Float tomorrow . . . 112 miles. See you tomorrow.
HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:
- "Did we ride only 38 miles today? It seemed like 80!"
- "Boy did this day ever beat me up!"
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| Sonia doesn't need to go to the hairdresser for the most expensive new do. She's patenting this helmet . . . guaranteed to create the new spiked look in only 38 miles. |
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| This was the sign before the narrow road down to Twin Falls. A similar road wound down to Shoshone Falls, and Matt smoked up and down both three times. Ah, youth! |
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| Gary was assigned the task of carrying the "Bicycle" sign on his helmet, but cyclist's ahead of the sign didn't realize that they should be on their bikes so walked to the Shoshone overlook. |
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| The license plate (BABE) says it all. Jill and Carol decided to throw in the towel and become motorized Biker Chicks on leaving the hotel this morning |
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| Mike found a whole nest of eagles en route . . . they hitched a ride to Burley with him and later became helmet ornaments for his Scavenger Team, The Ill-eagles |
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| Our SS today was set up about 1 mile from this crop duster fill-up depot. We got to watch two of these small yellow crop dusters dusting fields of wheat and potatoes. |
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