Wow. As good as our luck was back in Oregon, choosing beautiful country roads – finding nice tailwinds – and staying out of the nasty weather for the most part – that’s how BAD our fortune has been riding through Idaho.
And today took the cake.
The official “Route” for Day 17 of The Dog Cancer Ride Across America – which was supposed to read “Mountain Home, Idaho to Fairfield, Idaho (69 miles)” – instead actually reads “Mountain Home, Idaho to… Mountain Home, Idaho – 13 miles) .
What a day. As we chose the route from Mountain Home to Ketchum/Sun Valley (our next major stop along the ride) I decided to take Sun Valley road across the valley southeast of Boise and over to Ketchum. On the map, the first few miles looked like they would wind through some hills and be a bit of a challenge – but after that it would be straight and smooth sailing – all the way to Fairfield and beyond.
And while we’d heard some rumors of some bad weather coming our way, when I hit the road it was a cool day mixed with sun and clouds, but nothing much to worry about. Or so I thought.
As I bundled up with extra layers of clothes, I realized that I couldn’t find any of my windbreaker jackets – so I decided to take off without them and just bundle up for extra warmth.
Mis-take. While I was warm enough as long as the sun was out, as soon as the clouds and wind came along, I could feel the chill roll through me and I wished that I had taken the extra time to find my windbreaker jacket.
And then it happened – the Sun Valley road took a sharp left into the hills – and after my experience with the Road to Nowhere yesterday, I decided it was time to stop and check things out before I continued into the hills. I happened to meet a road worker in a truck near the side of the road where I’d stopped, and asked him if I was on the road towards Ketchum. He confirmed that I was, indeed, on the correct road (so far so good), but asked me how far I expected to go. When I told 69 miles, he shook his head and told me I’d be lucky to make it 25. And then he explained why.
I was indeed on the right road. But what I hadn’t realized in mapping out my route was that the first part of the road didn’t go up into the hills – it went up into the mountains. And that over the next 25 miles I’d be climbing over several tall passes – including one that would take me to 5,400 feet.
Great. Here I was, already underdressed, chilled, watching the clouds build and the winds pick up, and now I was getting ready to climb to 5,400 feet. I like to tell people that I may be crazy, but that I’m definitely not insane… And this was rapidly starting to look insane.
So after consulting with my team, we decided it was time to get me off the Sun Valley road and back to someplace where I could get and stay warm. But there was one minor problem. My support team was off running an errand – 40 miles away – and it would take them 40 minutes to get back to where I was. So I spent the next 40 minutes, literally huddled as low as possible alongside a mailbox post – using the wooden post to shield me from as much of the (now constant) wind as possible, and wondering how, and when I was going to make it out of Mountain Home and out towards Ketchum.
Blog Update: We figured out an alternate route that will take us where we need to go, but keep us south of the 5,400 foot mountain passes. It means some redirection of the route map, but it makes a lot more sense. Especially since the weather forecast for Ketchum and the mountains tomorrow is “High of 47 degrees, with a slight chance of SNOW – in June” – yeah, I think I’ll be avoiding the mountains this time around – at least until we hit the Rockies and no longer have any choice.
From my hotel room (back) in the town of Mountain Home and (still) a bit chilled from my cold and windy ride earlier today, this is Ted Schneck from The Dog Cancer Ride Across America saying good night, and I’ll see you (hopefully) down the road.
Bye for now.
- Ted
