After an exciting Saturday on the ride – our first press interview on Fox News 12 Boise News at Nine –Sunday was our day to make it out of town and off towards our next destination – to meet an old friend in Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho . But first we had a choice to make…
There were two ways out of town – one taking me south around the outskirts of Boise, in a big arc towards Mountain Home, the next big city along the way. And the other – riding through Boise and down along the frontage road along the highway, Route 84. Both roads got us to Mountain Home, but the frontage road route had two benefits – 1) it took us through Boise (after all, Boise was listed on the route map, so I did want to be able to say that I rode through) and 2) it cut about 27 miles off of the trip.
There was only one problem – the frontage road didn’t run all the way along Route 84 – and I wasn’t allowed on the freeway with a bicycle. And the only way to connect up with the frontage road was along this odd windy loop to get me from where the road through Boise (Kuna, Idaho) stopped, and the frontage road began. A 7 mile stretch by freeway, but about 18 miles around this weird loop. And to make matters a bit more unnerving, the loop appeared to go up into the hills surrounding Boise – and nobody had any Idea what the road would be like once I got there.
But I decided to risk it – like I said, I wanted to make sure I rode at least part of the way through Boise – so off I went (the short road) for a lovely Day 15 ride.
And lovely it was indeed, all the way up to the dreaded loop. As I started along the loop, I learned that my fear of the hills was unfounded. I met a car load of hunters coming down from the hills, and stopped to ask them what lied ahead.
A nice bunch, these hunters. The first thing they did was offer me a cold beer (I respectfully declined – you know, riding a bicycle and all), and then they told me stories about their hunting trip… Well, actually, the guy telling me the story hadn’t actually been hunting – “Not allowed to have a gun,” he shared, “Convicted Felon.” Lovely. I wanted to ask…, but thought better of it and just bit my lip, starting to wonder if it wasn’t time to move along…
But not before they told me a bit about the road ahead. Nah, it wasn’t hilly hardly at all… Nah, it was just made of “dirt.” That’s right – only about 10 of the 18 miles were actually paved – the rest hard packed gravely dirt.
Now I don’t know what type of bicycle you ride around on – but mine is a lightweight racing bicycle, with really thin, and really fragile wheels. Really NOT, conducive to gravely dirt roads. The road ahead was NOT going to be fun. But by then it was too late – the choice had been made miles ago, and there was no turning back. So away I went – leaving my convicted felon hunting friends behind, to face the dirt road ahead.
All in all, I managed to survive the dirt with no major problems. It wasn’t fun – and it was slow going and required lot’s of concentration to steer around the worst of the gravel – but there were some pretty views and it was certainly quiet and peaceful in the Idaho back country.
Still I was grateful when the road turned back to pavement and the loop returned to the freeway – ready for me to finish the trip to Mountain Home on paved roads. But for today I’d had enough, and gratefully met Ian and Nikki for the ride back to our hotel. The rest of the journey to Mountain Home would have to wait until tomorrow.
Bye for now from the paved portion of the roads near Boise, Idaho.
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see YOU down the road.
Good night.
- Ted
