Today is Saturday and we are riding from Burley to Pocatello, ID. The forecast is hot (90 degrees plus) with a headwind. After 3 days of Idaho tailwinds, none of us want a headwind. When you are going East, you don't want any winds with an E in them, i.e. NE, SE or E, because those are headwinds and they will slow you down. We want are W's, as in NW, SW or West winds. Oh well, on the bright side, a NE head wind is good air conditioning. Maybe it will cool the day off.
Before we start.......a card from Lila Holiday! What a nice way to start the day. Take a look at this little rock star! And she says ride fast and be safe! That we will do.
So, after this nice message from home, here are some Day 13 highlights:
Mike and Barry's Bike Seats (Colin walking over to get in the pic). This first pic is in the parking lot as we are leaving Burley, ID. Here you can see my bike seat in the foreground (the black set) just in front of Barry's taped up bike seat. As you can see, Barry is having some seat problems (sore butt) and has taped a towel around his seat with electrical tape to provide extra padding. My bike seat (a Specialized Avatar) is a little more comfortable. I have a spare seat for Barry to try out later tonight. Hopefully it will be an improvement. Bike seats are the most important part of the bike.
Our morning Peloton takes an early break. To beat the headwind, we decided to form an 8 person peloton (a line of bikers), and use the principle of "drafting' to break the wind for the trailing riders. This will make today's ride much easier. Since this is Day 1 of the Tour de France where the peloton is a daily occurence, we thought this would be most appropriate. As it turned out, we averaged between 17-18 mph into the wind (pretty fast). In this pic, the peloton is taking a morning comfort break after some 20 miles of riding.
Back from from picking wild flowers. The riders are coming back from the sage brush. I reminded them that anybody that gets bit by a rattlesnake is not going to get any help sucking out the poison, so all be careful.
A wild orchid in the sagebrush. Here's a wild orchid one of the riders found in the sagebrush - very delicate.
The peloton reassembles.......and gradually moves out heading east. The riders actually tighten up into a line about 1 foot apart. This is a tough picture to take when you are one of the riders.
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| Here's the peloton.....what a ride across Idaho! |
The Oregon Trail along the Snake River and I-84E. We are once again following the Oregon Trail along the Snake River. Here is a view crossing over I-84. Not much traffic on a Saturday.
Registry Rock Marker. The Wagon Trains stopped here. Here we are coming in to Registry Rock after 45 miles of riding in the Peloton. This is the spot where westward bound wagon trains took refuge in a small oasis along the snake river. At this point, young JJ Hansen at age 7 carved a picture of an Indian Chief in the rock. In 1908, after becoming a sculptor, he returned again and dated the rock under the Indian carving.
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| The Indian Head on Registry Rock |
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Text on Registry Rock
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Registry Rock (protected by a chain link fence). Here is the actual registry Rock, with hundreds of signatures of the settlers that passed through this
Hundreds of signatures on Registry Rock. Here are signatures on the rock by the many settlers that passed through enroute to the Oregon Country.
Our Cyclists Signing in at Registry Rock (Terry, Damien, and Barry). Here are 3 of our bikers from other countries, Terry Alston (from England), Damien O'brien (from Ireland) and Barry Lucas (from Australia), all enjoying the history at Registry Rock.
The Oregon Trail. Here is a view of the old Oregon Trail leading down to Registry Rock. Can you picture the Covered Wagons making their way down this gorge?
Back on I-84. Here is Barry checking out the distance to Pocatella. It's 32 miles and we are ready to beat the heat and get to our Motel.
Blazing into the Best Western
We had a strong finish and and cruised into the Best Western in Pocatello at 3 pm. My odometer recorded 86.8 miles. There were a lot of sunburned riders. We took a quick ice bath and then had a great dinner at the Golden Corral (a very popular Idaho buffet), then got ready for Sunday's ride to Idaho, Falls. We are now 5 days in Idaho (starting with Boise, Twin Falls, Mountain Home, Burley, Pocatello). Tomorrow we will ride 65 miles to Idaho Falls. On the Fourth of July, we will cross over Teton Pass into Jackson Hole Wyoming. This is one of the best of the trip. We are all excited.
More Tomorrow,
Love to All,
ME
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