July 30, 2008
~ hate me, but I'm still right ~
Cover story on today's newspaper, The Valley Crosses Ozone Line delights me. And I quote:
The day of reckoning has come for air pollution in the Treasure Valley. Levels of ozone, the colorless gas that causes lung and heart damage and is the main ingredient of smog, crossed a key threshold Friday - all but guaranteeing the state will have to take painful new actions to reduce air pollution in the coming years.
Another thing that absolutely delights me is
the price of gas. It gives me great joy to see all of those single-occupancy SUVs driving around town, knowing that they're paying over $4 a gallon to power their ridiculous vehicles. Hah!
I've been walking around lately saying all kinds of pompous things about how the recession hasn't been affecting me - - except, of course, lowering the interest on my savings account - - GAR! Gas prices can go up to $6 a gallon for all I care - - since I fill up the gas tank in my car MAYBE once a month, but more like every five or six weeks, it's not a big deal to budget for gas. Hah!
But yes, air pollution, as with all pollution, really pisses me off, especially since I feel that I have a very low carbon impact on the world, I don't see why I should have to breath in everyone else's SUV fumes.
The air here has been pretty crappy - - it's always crappy in the summer because the entire West is always on fire (exaggerate...me?). So crappy, in fact, that it has sometimes been impossible to see much of the foothills. Gar. Anyway, on Sunday Joshua and I went on a road ride. I haven't been riding all that much (because of both the heat and the air quality) so it was nice to get out and pedal...sorta. I did not have the opportunity to look up what the local Air Quality Index was for Sunday, but my guess is that it was pretty bad. About half an hour into the ride, I developed a screaming mad headache. I've actually been getting a lot of headaches recently that I attribute to the bad air. Anyway, eventually the headache went away and was replaced by various migraine symptoms: dizziness, nausea, tunnel vision, disorientation. These symptoms took over my entire being during the last 15 minutes of the ride when I was peddling home, and it took all of my concentration to not fall over. What is noteworthy is that this has never happened to me before in all of my life. And I place full blame on all of those assholes who continue their single-occupancy SUV driving.
Yesterday, however, I went on a road ride and it was wonderful. There were a bunch of high clouds in the sky blocking much of the sun's rays. And the Air Quality Index showed the area to be in the green. I made full use of the opportunity and took my bike out for a spin. I was under some time constraints, what with a lovely scheduled social interaction with Leah, but managed to put in exactly one hour on a glorious bike ride. Besides the fact that I really really enjoyed myself, I suppose it's worth noting the little game of chase that I tried to play with another cyclist on the road. At some point during the last half of the ride, I had turned a corner and noted that way far ahead was another biker. I decided to try and catch up with him. Several times, I put in a huge effort and would get really close to him, but would then feel so pooped out that I dropped way back. Once I caught my breath and energy, I would resume the chase. I felt pretty accomplished whenever it was clear that I was gaining on him - - as it was evident by his sculpted leg muscles that he was in much better shape than I. I should also mention that I suspect he wasn't on a very serious ride - - (lowering my eyes in shame), as he was carrying a large backpack and appeared to be commuting home from work. BUT STILL, I totally caught up with him (sorta) several times. At the end of my final chase, I did catch him and was riding right behind him, drafting to rest my legs and lungs. I couldn't decide if it was psychotic to draft a total stranger, so I 'let him go' and mosied on home.
September 10, 2007
~ some cycling related adventures ~
The weekend before last, I had the opportunity to go on two very awesome road cycling rides. The first one was that Saturday, when I rode out to Hidden Springs and back. This is one of my favorite road cycling routes...sure, the hill up to Hidden Springs can have a bit of traffic danger, but it's scenic and I absolutely LOVE the hill climb. I enjoy climbing the hill and then descending into Hidden Springs, and then I like to turn around and do it in reverse back into Boise. Anyway, on that Saturday when I did this ride, I was feeling so amazing...so amazing that my amazing-feeling is worth writing about. I even passed five people on the hill climb - - sure, two were mountain bikes, but two others were road cyclists (a male and a female) and the final one was a fit-looking dude on a cross bike. Also, no one passed me, which is a feat in and of itself, especially considering the phenomenal numbers of road cyclists out on that day. By the end of it, that is exactly a 20 mile ride which I averaged about 15mph on - - which is pretty good considering the hill climbs.
The next day, Josh and I went on a road cycling ride. We rode out to Hidden Springs, but instead of turning around or of continuing on and doing the Dump Loop, we took a left at Hidden Springs and rode on a gravel road several miles out to the highway. Once at the highway, we rode south for a bit to Beacon Light and then rode north on Eagle road through all of these horse pastures. It is also worth writing about how amazing I felt. There were quite a few hill climbs, followed by fast descents, and I had such an amazing amount of energy and felt so good. I even passed Josh a few times, whether or not he 'let' me pass I do not know, but regardless, I was a rockin' and a rollin'. After we got to the end of the pavement, we went a bit further, until I decided that I was done with road biking on gravel, and then we turned around and did some more hill intervals on one of the side streets. The whole ride was about 40 miles, but I think that it should 'count' as a longer ride because of all the hills. On the way back, at about mile 30, I suddenly went from feeling amazing and riding fast to feeling utterly crapped out and riding about half the earlier pace. I did not initially recognize that I was having a massive low-blood sugar attack, which is why I delayed eating an energy bar. But a few minutes after I got some more calories into my person, I was feeling pretty good again.
Yesterday was my first opportunity to have fun and go for a bike ride since then (been pretty busy since), so Josh and I loaded up the mountain bikes and drove out to the Owyhees and spent the whole day exploring. We initially went out to the area behind Barking Spider and spent about three hours riding all around. It's such a neat area - - there's so many little rocky canyons and ravines, buttes and plateaus. It's a designated off-road recreational area, so all of the hundreds and hundreds of ATVs and dirt bikes have done a good job of tearing apart the landscape (which I feel rather sick to my stomach about) but they have also carved some fun trails to ride a mountain bike over. After our Barking Spider adventure, we got some lunch at a gas station, and then went out to the Wilson Creek area to find its alleged singletrack. All in all, it was a fantastic ride. The terrain was completely different than the Boise foothills. Whereas I have all of the trails in the foothills memorized, I had to ride in a much more alert and agile way in the Owyhees because I never knew what was going to be around a corner or over a hills. And it was great! I think that if I rode in the Owyhees more often, there would be a dramatic increase in my skill set. If only because there was a much greater offering of technical aspects to the trails that is just not to be found in the Boise foothills. Some people have made the point that the Boise foothills are too well maintained and that they are only good for exercise. And while I think the foothills are loads of fun, I also understand how having access to unmaintained, rough and rugged trails with all kinds of technical obsticals can be a great time as well. There were a few points on the ride in the Owyhees that I weenied out on, but overall, I am quite enthused about how much I did not weenie out on. One section, in particular, was when the trail became crazy rocky (and not just small rocks, but big rocks across the trail) winding through this rocky ravine area, and I rode right on though it. By the end of the ride, I could not stop exclaiming about how much fun I had. It was wonderful.
August 18, 2007
~ cornfields ~
Day One of my VACATION was wonderful. Thursday evening, Josh and I celebrated by going swimming at Barclay Bay right when I got off work. I was rather disappointed by the lack of water in left in the Bay from the dam and could not jump off of my normal jumping off spot because the water was a good thirty feet below my preferece. Also, the water was cold, too cold, and unfortunately, by "swimming" I mean that Josh and I acted like big weiners as we inched our way into the water. I made it down to my waist when I decided that it wasn't worth it. Josh was the brave one and fully submerged himself. I occupied myself by snapping some photos of the brave man. Soon after that, we decided to go swimming in the pool at Josh's apartment complex. And there we had a grand time splish splashing around!
Friday morning, we met up for coffee at the Flying M and had our Saturday morning on Friday. We then wandered around downtown. I pondered some expensive footwear and some expensive jeans, being most interested in the former which were on sale. Josh pondered eyewear. We decided to have lunch someplace where we had never before lunched, which was a difficult decision as we have mostly exhausted our downtown possibilities. Finally, we remembered The Milky Way which I can't believe I have never been to before. It was wonderful!
Then we got all organized and headed out on a road bike ride. We drove past Caldwell, parked the car on Weitz Road, and rode along the zig zagged Boise River Road. Weitz wasn't very great, especially since it has just been chipsealed, but once we got onto the Boise River Road section, it was great. We were riding through all of these different farmlands, cornfields, hopsfields, mintfields, and maybe some people don't understand the aesthetic beauty of these areas, but I found them quite lovely. Also, the day was not too hot - - the stars must be aligned perfectly on my vacation, for the temperatures are only supposed to be in the 80's during this time, which is WONDERFUL.
WARNING: The next paragraph contains details on something very GROSS. Depending on your sensitivity, you might want to skip to the following paragraph or refrain from eating and drinking.
There we were, about ten miles into our ride, when all of a sudden I get a little rumbly in my tumbly. I patted my stomach and said to Josh, "...hrm, all of a sudden, my stomach feels a bit off." About ten seconds later, I realize that I am experiencing MASSIVE gastro-intestinal distress and that I needed a restroom IMMEDIATELY. Which was convenient, considering that we were MILES and MILES from civilization. It was the sort of pre-diarrhea GI pain that sent me into excruciating paralysis. And I found that the actions involved in riding my bike and riding up and over little humps and bumps in the road only served to aggravate my symptoms. I litterally thought that I was going to shit myself. And I was so upset about this, unless you have experienced something similar, you have no idea what kind of stress and anxiety I was having. Josh, being a big map person and having a good sense of distance and direction, was certain that there was a town a few miles up the road, IF ONLY I COULD WAIT UNTIL THEN. And I wasn't sure that I could, but I wasn't fond of the alternatives. One alternative, shitting my shorts, wasn't appealing for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I didn't want to ruin my brand new grey cycling shorts. The other alternative, shitting in the cornfields, also was not appealing. I gave careful consideration to that alternative, however, as it was an incredibly desparate situation. As I was imagining the logistics of that alternative, I became overwhelmed with anxiety as I was imagining the possibility of a corn farmer CATCHING ME IN THE ACT of having explosive diarrhea on his cornfields, and I wasn't sure that I could survive such embarrasment. Additionally, it took me a bit of time before I realized, apparently I wasn't in my proper intellectual state, what with the serious diarrhea situation on my hands, that cornfields grow FOOD that humans including myself EAT. And I was having difficulty with the ethics of causing diarrhea to be on these fields. Sure, perhaps there's plenty of other types of crap on the fields, and pesticides, and the corn is high up in the air and engulfed in husks, so maybe my diarrhea would not have damaged that crop, but I wondered if I would ever be able to enjoy the taste and texture of corn again if I went diarrhea on a cornfield. SO CLEARLY, that alternative ceased to be an option for me. Which implied that if I did not find a restroom soon, I would return to option number one. FINALLY, we arrived at the town of Roswell, a town so small that I couldn't find any information on it in the US Census Data website. It was about two blocks long and I did not have much hope that there was a public restroom available. There was, however, a single convenience store and the relief that began to spring into my heart was palpable as I realized that it was open, despite the outward appearance. I threw the door open and calmly asked if they had a public restoom. At hearing the affirmative, I RAN AS FAST AS I COULD, and it was wonderful. Actually, it wasn't entirely wonderful because as I was struggling to lock the door, I noticed that there was a big gap in the door allowing all kinds of noise and airflow directly into the shop, so I was a bit self-conscious about the obviousness of my emergency, but as they say, beggars can't be choosers, and it wasn't really the time and place to be upset that the people in the shop might know that I was having a catastrophic diarrhea emergency. Afterwards, I was a bit hesitant to get too far away from the only known restroom for miles and miles, so I suggested that we take a bit of a break and have a snack from the shop. I ate a bag of Cheetos, which probably wan't the best thing for my stomach, but wow, I sure enjoyed them! Before we left Roswell to continue our ride, I contemplated stealing an entire roll of toilet paper from the convenience store, because they did not sell anything portable, and I almost offered the store clerk a dollar for a roll, but didn't think that I had room in my jersey pocket to carry it. Josh ended up swiping several squares of tissue just in case. And so we continued our ride...
The rest of the ride was wonderful. I was feeling like an entirely new woman, between that and my knee being fully functioning, I kept exclaiming about how great I felt. We rode up onto a plateau and had great fun on some rolling hills. One of the rolling hills I got a bit freaked out on as I approached what appeared to be a crazy steep drop off before me, with the bottom not visible because it was so steep, but it was loads of fun! We did have a couple of run-ins with some dogs trying to chase us - - seriously, I do not approve of these rural folk not restricting their viscious dogs' ability to chase unsuspecting cyclists. Another wonderful aspect of the ride was the fact that, despite being in goathead and thorn territory, we did not have a single flat tire.
That evening, we went swimming at the pool again, and I felt so relaxed and wonderful.
November 4, 2006
~ Hiking the 8th Street Interpretive Trail, Drinking and Riding to Wineries, and costumed parties ~
This past Saturday was a great day for me. On Friday after I got off of work, Josh and I hiked the 8th Street Interpretive Trail. It was a beautiful fall evening. We spent the majority of the hike brainstorming what we wanted to be for halloween. A few months ago, I came up with the idea of being an activist for planetary rights, protesting the demotion of Pluto to less than full planet status. I thought I'd wear a garbage bag fashioned into a dark orb, spraypainted gray, with leggings and a protest sign proclaiming "Pluto is a planet, dammit!" No one seemed to think this as brilliant as I and the idea withered along with the fame and fortune of the once glorious Pluto. At about the time that I had this flash of brilliance, Josh decided that we should go dressed in Mormon temple garments which are not all that attractive. The plan went so far as to investigate the distributor of these elusive underpants, but we discovered that one needs one's Mormon identification numbers to even register one's garment size, so that idea was out the window. On our hike, we threw out hundreds of ideas. We were focusing on couple costumes, like Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin, Pamela Anderson & Kid Rock, and once he came up with the idea, Josh simply would not let go of the idea of going as Mr. Rogers and the Cat. And I found his manner of persuasion most unconvincing; he kept turning to me and articulating several "mew, mew, mew"s. I dunno, I feel very OVER the whole "going as a cat" thing, even if it's the Mr. Rogers cat. Me, I was obsessed about going as our pre-cool selves. By the end of the hike, we disagreed on the matter as though we were disagreeing over the quantity of some lifesaving elixir to administer to a dying person. Which was kind of ridiculous. Here's some photos of the hike.
And then there came Saturday.
I had been looking forward to the possibility of sleeping in on Saturday morning as a person wandering the Sahara would crave an oasis...my bed, the warm little nook tucked away from the street and city noise, where I have all my sweet little dreams and snuggle in my bundly pillows...yet there was to be none of that on Saturday morning. Somehow, the chi wasn't there. I couldn't find that spot of amazingness that I get lost in every morning when I need to get out of bed to go to work. It was something of a travesty. So I just got up and got ready for my big day.
At 9:30, I picked up Josh and we drove out to Nampa for a coffee at the Flying M coffee garage, which is a very quality place for a morning coffee experience. What makes it super satisfying are the TWO wonderful yarn stores and the THREE great used book stores within walking distance. That downtown Nampa, seriously, people need to appreciate it.
From there, we drove out to the St. Chappelle winery and had a good sampling of their wine selection. I didn't say anything at the time, but I felt that the wine pourer was being much more generous with Josh than with me. Neverthehoo, it was fantastic. Once imbibed, we changed into our cycling gear and set out on a bike ride. I have no sense of direction and didn't consult the map, so I don't have a clue what our route was. I know that we rode for a good distance. After maybe ten miles, we turned onto a dirt road that was difficult for me to ride my road bike on. This led us to the Sawtooth Winery, where we bumped into some folks that we had had an interaction with back at St. Chappelle (they took our photo) and they said that they had been cheering and toasting our cycling up the dirt road. At this winery, the wine pourer was extremely generous, pouring us a third of a glass of each wine...and I think we may have had about seven wines??? Granted, that is not all THAT much wine, but since we were on a bike ride, I feel that my blood stream had opened itself up to all liquids that I delivered to it, in the hopes of remaining hydrated. So the wine quickly made me tipsy. Speaking of tipsy, somehow I fell in love with this silly wine bag with a woman named Tipsy, described as a happy lush. I dunno, had to have been there. We spent some time at this winery outside, where there were some lovely roses that we stopped to smell.
As we mounted our trusty steeds, I was giggly and smily, clearly drinking and riding. We set out down the road and I found it quite a challenge to direct my bicycle straightly. At least it was a vacant farmroad. Oh yes, the scenery! It was beautiful. Farmland, but near to the Owhyees it was stunning, as is evidenced in my photos. At some point, we pulled over for a bio break and I became extremely alarmed when I realized that there was a bunch of idiots on the cliff above us firing shotguns. A dude in a truck pulled over and we all had a conversation about how horrid that was, but yawhatever free country bit, so they assured me that we were too far away for the bullets to hit us, but I was totally freaked. I mean, they were SHOOTING GUNS IN OUR DIRECTION!!!! Yea, I had something of a cow. 
As we were driving back into town, we remembered having seen a sign at K-Mart for 40% off on Halloween costumes. We stopped at the K-Mart in Nampa and selected two cheap standard costumes. We then spent some time seperately resting up and then united once more to get ready for the evening. We donned our costumes and makeup and hit the Balcony Dance Club for hours and hours of dancing. I became utterly intoxicated over my vodka redbulls and was a dancing feind.
July 6, 2006
~ 50 Miles from Emmett to New Plymouth ~
Because I am still catching up on my blog writing, I still have a backlog of stories to recount. This one centers around the longest bike ride of my entire life (but, hopefully will not remain such). On Saturday, Josh and I got up early and drove to the town of Emmett, which is not all that far away, but is on the other side of a big overpass which makes it seem like a completely different part of the state. We pulled into the parking lot of an Albertson's grocery mart and utilized their restrooms for our wardrobe changing. From there, we rode our bicycles along a meandering route via empty farming roads. It was pretty early in the day and the ride to New Plymouth was under a pleasant temperature. I felt as though I had so much energy and was just having the greatest time. When we arrived at New Plymouth, we located a market and purchased some food items, which we ate under the shade on the grass of a local religious establishment (apparently, they have no parks in New Plymouth). Having refueled, we set out for the ride back to Emmett. It had become early afternoon and the temperature was begining its ascent into the 90's. The ride back seemed to me much longer in duration than the first part. We basically rode a loop around the Emmett Valley. The second part of the loop, rather than going through farm lands and cattle pastures, took us through cherry orchards, which I found much more aesthetically appealing. It also had a lot more "rollercoaster" sorts of roads which, instead of being long and flat or steady mild inclines, went perpendicular to the rolling hills. I found it great fun. There was an unfortunate incident which we aren't talking about in which we were confronted by an angry dog. But since we aren't talking about it because we have agreed to disagree, I shan't say any more. By the time that we were riding into the Albertson's parking lot, I felt that my body could have ridden many more miles, but my butt was kinda tired of sitting on a bicycle seat. Plus, it was really mutherfucking hot out and my front tire had gotten some kind of flat. Here are a few photos of the trip. As always, there are more on my flickr thingie which you can access by depressing the link to the right. I would link it directly right here, but there is an issue with me accessing such things as flickr right now so I'll leave it up to your own internet prowess to figure it out for yourselves.
June 12, 2006
Corner of Floating Feather & Linder
After spending over an hour at the bike shop yesterday morning procuring for myself some bike flat repair accessories & skills, I went on my longest solo road ride to date. Thusfar, I've only gone on short solo road rides, as I try to become accustomed to an entirely new bicycle riding experience. The bicycle is much different than anything I've ever ridden, that it's taken me about three rides to feel comfortable. Also, I'm still traumatised by Josh being hit by a truck on my first road biking experience, so I haven't felt confident about branching out very much. Josh is still out-of-service which has meant that I am alone on bicycling adventures. What is more, on Saturday, I went on a short mountain bike ride and broke off the derailer on my mountain bike. That was something of an adventure trying to test out my utter lack of mechanical abilities. At least I wasn't "very far" from home. Something that became apparent to me while I was walking my broken bicycle down the mountain and towards my home was how very very slow the act of walking compared to biking is. At the bottom of the mountain, a friendly mountain biker dude stopped to try to help me, but his efforts failed. I had a brilliant idea which I gained from perusing one of Josh's history of bicycles books...I used an arm warmer to tie the broken derailer against the frame (so that it wouldn't swing into the spokes), lowered my seat all of the way, clipped one foot into the peddle and held it away from the other leg, and utilized my free leg to push the bike along. This proved to be WAY faster than walking, and much less anoying. And even kinda fun, albeit very silly. SO, with that derailer broken, I had no choice but to go on a road ride yesterday to satiate my bicycling desires.
I'm not sure on how many miles I rode. I think it must have been between 25 and 30. And it was without any breaks and by the time that I was done, I felt that I could have kept riding. I road out Hill Road and then went up Old Horseshoe Bend Road to the end where it merged into a windy climb through some farm houses. When I got to the top of that, I road back down it and went out Floating Feather, past Highway 55, past Eagle Road, past Beacon Light, until I got to a road called Ballentine, which I took a right on and road all the way until Homer, then took Homer to Linder, and made a loop back to Floating Feather.
I was particularly aware of how much faster I was able to ride on my road bike. This is apparently an obvious feature of road bikes that everyone knew about except for me. What is more, I was able to spend the duration of the ride thinking about all of those important topics which have been on my mind recently. By contrast, with mountain biking, all of my energy is focused on mountain biking. Yet it was an almost meditative experience on the road bike. Plus, how satisfying to cover such distance! I also felt that my energy expenditure was streamlined and that my groove more balanced and grounded. I understand now the appeal of road biking...
June 5, 2006
My Birthday!
"I chose this road because it was the safest for us." - - Josh, 2006.
Today I am celebrating another revolution about the sun. I do this after a weekend of ups and downs, mainly ups, a big down, and no dull experiences.
Saturday was fantastic. I got up early and met Josh for coffee before he had to do to work. After he left, I had a quality journal-writing experience and then wandered home where I went on a cleaning rampage. Some time before the noon hour, I walked to the downtown music store to do some research on some musical groups. Then I walked to Satchel's for some lunch. While I ate, I read a story from my science fiction anthology of 1981. It was about a distant time in the future when humans have achieved immortality, but the immortality had to come at the price of losing their need to be immortal...losing the ability to be creative. A few hours later, I went to the Art Museum with Devlyn and afterwards we enjoyed some beverages on the patio of Gernika, where Sara later joined us. That evening I played a hardcore version of badmitten ("smashmitten") with Josh at the Fort Boise Community Center.
The next day, I met Josh for coffee at our favorite coffee shop. By the time that I arrived, he was waiting out front for me. I noticed that his bicycle was propped against a pole unlocked. "Why is your bike unlocked?" I asked. "Because I'm using it to lock up another bike," he responded. Jumping the gun, I assumed that he was referring to a birthday gift for me. I was standing next to the tree to which I always lock my bike and saw an ugly crap cruiser locked to it. Mockingly, I gestured to the ugly bike and said with a big smile, "Is this for me?" Almost laughing, Josh came over to me and the ugly bike and said, "Yes, do you like it?" I fingered the torn grips and stroked the chipped paint and said, "It's beautiful." Then Josh said, "Seriously, do you see a cool bike anywhere around us?" And I scanned the area, and off in the distance, I saw a beautiful white glow shimmering in the sunlight. And it was the most beautiful bike in the world.
After we had coffee, we drove out to the Sawtooths to go on my very first road ride. Josh decided that we would go riding on what he considered to be the safest road for us. It was a long open stretch, with a wide shoulder, and no turns with blind corners. Plus, the Sawtooths are amazing. It was beautiful and so much fun. I've never ridden a road bike before so it was quite the experience for me. I was kinda wobbly, but glowing about riding such a beautiful bicycle. Ultimately, we rode about 30 miles.
At some point nearing the last 10 miles of our ride, we were struck by an unfortunate incident. I was riding behind Josh, in his draft, and after getting some energy back, decided to pass him and take the lead. I looked back to verify that there was no motorized vehicle that was going to hit me. I saw one far off in the distance and determined that it was safe for me to pass Josh. About two minutes after passing Josh, that vehicle that I had seen, a large utility truck, sped past me, less than five inches away from my person, clearly having crossed the white line. My life flashed before my eyes and I screamed. I also heard Josh scream. I turned my head and looked back. I saw Josh lying in the gravel along the side of the road. I realized that he had been sizeswiped by the truck and I had a heart attack. I pulled my bike over, unclipped my feet from the peddles, and ran over to him. His bike was off to the side a few feet away, his belongings were strewn everywhere, and he was propped in an awkward position. He was saying that he was alright and I was panicking over all of the blood. His legs and arms were all scrapped up and his hip and left buttock looked like they had been shredded by a cheese slicer. Here is an unpleasant photo of his road rash. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The truck had stopped and a very old man came over to ask if Josh was okay. Josh asked the man how he couldn't have seen us, "I chose this road because it was the safest for us." The man just said he was sorry. I noticed that one of Josh's leses for his glasses was right next to my shoe and I picked it up and began hunting around for the rest of his glasses, which were conveniently the same color as the gravel. I asked the old man twice to give us a ride to our car and he said that he would have to reload the equipment in his truck, indicating that it would be a hassle for him to provide us with such assistance. As I was gathering Josh's belongings which were strewn everywhere, the old man gave Josh $50. Josh said, "Well, thanks but these cycling shorts were $80 and it's going to cost me over $100 to replace my helmet." The man shrugged as if it wasn't his problem and walked to his truck. I was still in a state of shock and wasn't understanding where he thought he was going. As I saw him start up his truck, I made a point of memorizing his lisence plate.
Josh and I then had to ride 11 miles to get to the car. To me, it seemed like a million miles. I felt so shaky on the bike, because I was still not used to riding a road bike but also, you know, because my boyfriend had just been hit by a truck. When we got to the car, I drove us to Stanley, where I purchased a variety of items for his injuries (hydrogen peroxide, non-stick gauze, a spray-on bandage thing, etc.) and while Josh cleaned his wounds, I called the police. We spent an hour making our police report, which was probably pointless because other than filling out some forms, I doubt that anything will be done about it.
We decided to drive over to Red Fish Lake to have dinner at the Lodge. We wandered along the beach, sat on the dock, admired the scenery, used the $50 the old man gave Josh to buy dinner, goofed off in the gift shop, and then drove back to Boise.
I've had constant anxiety since 1:45 yesterday because I keep replaying everything in my head. I've got all kinds of thoughts, anger, anxiety, that just won't go away. My stomach is in knots over this. I haven't spoken to Josh yet today to find out how he's feeling, but it can't be good. Anyway, today is my 26th birthday.
