Day 12 Twin Falls-Burley, ID

Miles:  42.71              Terrain: Mainly flat
Depart:   8:48 AM      Arrive:  1:01 PM
Riding time: 3:20:47
Average Riding Speed: 12.8

            Today’s Garmin Download  and Map (for cycling data junkies!) 

Today's Ride

After yesterday, a short riding day on the first day of July could not have come at a better time.  And the short detour off the route to Shoshone Falls a bit east of Twin Falls, ID was well worth the climb back up.  With the Snake River having a high water volume, the view of the falls, known as the Niagara Falls of the West, was tremendous.  Here are a few pictures of what we saw.  Nobody who went down to the lower viewing area minded the 400-feet of climb (at up to a 10% grade) back to the top.  It was well worth it.

The rest of the short ride to Burley was done primarily on frontage roads adjacent to I-84 with relatively little traffic and little change in elevation.  After yesterday’s battle with the headwinds, everybody seemed to be in a mellow riding mood, taking their time, yet most everyone still arrived at the hotel in Burley by about 1:30.  The relaxed pace that seemed to be the theme of the day suited me well as I was feeling better, but still trying to get over the effects of my cold.

During the ride we were all occupied with finding items for the evening’s ABB scavenger hunt. What were we looking for?  A photo of our scavenger hunt team (lots of selfies shot today), a church key, a band aid, something you would find in a toolbox, state quarters representing the states of the ABB staff members, a room key from the hotel in Boise, a pretty rock, a photo of a cyclist not traveling with us, a bottle cap, something interesting found along the road, a feather, a popsicle stick, a receipt with Burley noted, a flower, and a new health or safety tip.  The ABB staff served as judges.  There was lots of creativity shown, lots of laughs, and in a close race the team I was on finished second.

Unfortunately we lost one of our riders today, at least temporarily.  Fred from New Hampshire, the oldest rider on our tour at 71 years old and one of the guys I shared a car with on the trip over from the Portland Airport two weeks ago, had to return home due to a medical issue.  He’s hoping that it will be taken care of in time enough that he can rejoin us for at least the last week of the tour.  We all hope so too.

Tomorrow is a long day again—85 miles to Pocatello.  Relatively little climbing like today, and winds are going to be somewhat strong, but they’re SUPPOSED to be tail winds.  We will see. Nobody wants a repeat of yesterday.