~ Race Report: Bogus Basin Hillclimb ~

This past weekend, Josh and I participated in the annual Bogus Basin Hillclimb road bike race, both finishing mid-pack for our respective age and gender groupings.

While there may be nothing particularly glorious in finishing mid-pack, personally I was delighted with my performance, what with shaving off ten minutes from my best time of previously riding the course. In addition, as I am not a serious racer, but rather a serious enjoyer of the cycling, my approach to this race was casual. My goal for the race was primarily to have fun and secondarily to ride as strong and with good strategy as I could.

Leading up to the race, Josh and I only realized a few days in advance that the event was scheduled for this past Saturday. I had sorta been contemplating racing, but I had neither taken the time to find out when it was to occur, nor engaged in 'training'. With a few days lead time before the race, I decided it wasn't going to benefit me by starting up a training program (particularly, because for two days before the race, I had to go out of town for a work thing). Fortunately, my cycling has been very consistent these days. I have been trying to ride my bike on most days and I go to spinning class at the gym several times a week (where I do very strenuous intervals). Essentially, while I am not in racing form, I am in good 'seriously enjoying the cycling' form.

On the morning of the race, Josh and I got up early enough to go to the coffee shop and enjoy a coffee and morning treat. We then moseyed over to the race zone to pick up our ankle timer dealies, and then casually warmed up by riding around the neighborhoods. We also made certain to use the restroom prior to the start. Everyone else made sure to also use the restroom, so we stood in line for several minutes. While waiting, I enjoyed looking around at everyone and joking with Josh. I noted that most everyone appeared professionally dressed, wearing their most expensive gear, whereas I was wearing an old jersey that I selected primarily for comfort and my seriously ratty and torn up cycling shoes. Even Josh, for example, was wearing a pair of brand spankin' new S-Works shoes that must have cost half a fortune. Cycling gear aside, I was looking amazing, wearing my favorite earrings and a lovely shade of eye makeup.

As we lined up for the start of the race, I was all smiles with excitement! Then the race began and everyone became focused on jockeying for position. Considering that (1) this was my first road bike race ever, and (2) that I don't have much experience riding among a lot of other people, I started the race with insufficient assertiveness to get into a good position for advancing quickly. Instead, I got stuck amid a group of riders going at a much slower pace than I was ready to go. By the time that I wiggled my way free, the faster racers were well up the road. As I left the slower riders behind and tried to catch up with the faster riders, a big gap opened up between me and everyone else. For approximately the next 12 miles, I rode pretty much all by my lonesome, with no one off whom to draft. I always kept a close eye on the rider in front of me, usually spotting them well up the road, and felt continuously motivated to try to catch and pass the rider. This proved to be sufficient motivation and provided me with adequate adrenaline that I was able to catch and pass a lot of riders.

I will write that Josh's race experience was significantly different than mine. As he has considerable race experience, he was sufficiently assertive at the start to get out of the maze of riders and found a team of racers to ride with. He spent most of the race with them, and they all drafted off of each other and were able to maintain an awesome pace.

Despite riding most of the race alone, I had a wonderful time. I was feeling particularly strong and spunky, and I had put together a brand new music playlist that I was really enjoying. There were several times when I actually caught myself humming along to my tunes, existing in a musical euphoria.

The last several miles of the race were fairly eventful for me. It was at this point that I had advanced sufficiently that I was actually among other riders, which made my excitement and energy for the race increase. When I first found myself among other riders was, fortunately for them and unfortunately for me, when I was about to blow a big snot rocket. On bike rides, I tend to get a lot of mucous buildup and have only recently embraced the snot rocket, or farmer blow, rather than using tissues. This is sort of off topic, obviously, but the fact that I can blow a snot rocket while still riding my bike, coupled with the fact that I don't have to carry around snot-filled tissue paper for the duration of my ride, has convinced me of the utility of this mode of mucous management. I am, however, extremely conscientious about the circumstances under which I blow my snot rockets. I ensure that I do not hit anyone with my snot rocket and I also prefer for no one to see me blow a snot rocket. While riding with Josh, for example, I usually wait until he is in front of me, or I inform him of my plan and instruct him to back off and look away.

So anyway, there I was, racing along, when I decided to attempt a snot rocket. In compliance with Step One of snot rocketting, I looked around me to make sure I was not going to hit anyone. To my utter surprise, I discovered that there was a man drafting off of me! How long he had been there, I was unsure; how long he would remain there, I was also unsure. In any event, clearly I would not be blowing a snot rocket at that moment.

In hindsight, I believe that I may have been enjoying my musical playlist so much that I temporarily became unaware of riders behind me. Once I realized that someone was drafting off of me, I realized that there were more people around me than I had quite acknowledged. At this point in the course, I was well in the treeline and the road curves around so that I was not able to see riders very far ahead of me. With the man drafting off of me, I rode around a corner and saw another rider ahead of me, and my competitive instinct kicked into high gear as I began my 'silent attack' to catch and pass the mofo. Said "mofo", I realized upon my approach, was a boy of about 12 who I had seen earlier with his father while standing in line to use the restroom. The child was going at a good pace and seemed to be putting in a huge effort. (Note, in looking at the results, I have determined that this boy placed 17th in the 18 and under category, coming in a few seconds after me; and that his father placed 28th in the 50-59 category, coming in a few minutes after Josh). Based on that previous sentence, you may assume that I was able to catch and pass the boy, but not without considerable effort on my part, and with no assistance from the man (who I shall call Ronald) who continued to draft off me.

Exerting so much effort to pass a pre-pubescent boy had a somewhat deteriorating effect on my confidence and, once I passed him, felt mentally and physically exhausted. Sensing a drain on my energy, Ronald behind me moved up in front and allowed me to draft off of him. As he rode by, he complimented me on my pace and I made a sarcastic remark about how I left the kid in the dust. I drafted off him for several minutes until we came to the portion of the course just before where it levels off. My anticipation for the level portion right before the finishline had been growing and I was very excited about sprinting to the finish, particularly because at this point, Ronald and I had caught up to several other riders. One rider, I will call Ralph, made a hastily executed dash to create a gap between himself and everyone else... which might have been a nice strategy if he had waited a bit longer before executing his dash. Because of Ralph's timing for his dash, rather than creating a gap and dashing well ahead of anyone, he merely created a good opportunity for all of us to draft off of him and save our energy for the final sprint. Having watched countless hours of Tour de France footage with Josh, and listening to the commentary about riders' strategy, I felt that I had a good plan for my final pedal strokes to the finish.

After drafting off Ralph and really saving the energy in our legs, Ronald and I broke away from Ralph during the final few turns in the course and sprinted ahead. I tried so hard to stay on Ronald's wheel, knowing that he'd probably be a faster sprinter than I, and just as I was starting to lose him, we came around the corner of the finish line and I saw Josh standing there, and was so excited! I finished in an hour and 27 minutes, shaving ten minutes off of my best time, and had an incredible amount of fun. Josh finished in an hour and eight minutes and likewise felt good about his time. Ralph finished a few seconds behind me, followed by the boy. Once I fully came through the finish line, Ronald gave me a high five and told Josh that I had 'carried' him up the mountain. Josh and I lingered at the top for a few minutes, waiting to see some of the preliminary results come in, before riding down the mountain and back to home. Josh and I have agreed that it would be interesting to see how we might do in a race for which we actually trained...

Click here for my Garmin stats.
Click here to view the official Race Results.

Posted by jennifer at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Three Summit Challenge ~

Saturday was the Three Summit Challenge bike event near Cascade, Idaho. As I wrote in my previous entry, Elizabeth and I decided to start with the long distance riders and to challenge ourselves to see how far we could ride. Having done no training for the longer distance, Elizabeth having only gotten her road bike two weeks prior, and me having ridden hardly at all (due to the heat and horrible seasonal allergies), we had no clue how we would fare in what was advertised to be a ride of 65 miles and almost 6,000 feet of climbing.

According to the schedule, the ride was to start at 8:00 that morning. Unfortunately for Elizabeth and myself, mornings do not always go according to plan and we did not arrive at the start venue until 8:10, by which time everyone had departed approximately 10 minutes prior. Being somewhat significantly behind the group, Elizabeth and I raced to catch up with everyone, at some point drafting off a group of three big dudes who seemed to also be late and also trying to catch up with the pack. Little by little, we caught up with everyone and began to quickly pass lots and lots of people, partly a result of drafting off the strong dudes and partly a result of our own awesomeness.

By the time that we felt sufficiently caught up with the middle of the pack and slowed down to a more manageable pace, I had not even put on my cycling gloves. I had been holding them precariously in one hand during the entire 'catch up' portion of the morning. Relaxing some, I put on my cycling gloves and noted that the temperature, which felt completely freezing on my bare skin when we had left the motel, now felt extremely pleasant. Myself, I was wearing a sleeveless jersey and I noticed that a lot of people were wearing arm warmers or jackets. I then pondered how most everyone seemed a little more prepared for this event than I... (though, having just raced hard to catch up with everyone, I felt little need for arm warmers or a jacket.... unfortunately, a little while later I would lament my lack of extra layers).

The below photo is Elizabeth sometime during this first climb.

The 17 mile climb to the top of the first summit was incredibly pleasant and fun. Elizabeth and I had managed to insert ourselves in a large gathering of riders who would toggle for position. I would identify certain riders, mainly by their jersey or something quirky about them, and would keep my eye out for them for the duration of the ride. For example, there was a guy wearing a funny Cat in the Hat jersey, another wearing a New Belgium brewery jersey, and a guy wearing a distinctive all white kit, and we rotated positions throughout the event and even exchanged a few words.

When we arrived at the food station at the top of the summit, Elizabeth and I felt great and had no doubt about continuing further. At the food station, I had half a banana and some electrolyte drink. I also used the restroom and relieved myself of approximately four pints of fluid.

Then we continued on.

As a sidenote, I should mention that I have many strengths, but understanding the elements of topography is not among them. When I recounted this story to Josh, he had great difficulty understanding what I am about to articulate (as, he had no idea that I really am a topographical ignoramus). This "three summit challenge" was an event that I understood to have three summits. Me, without looking at a map or doing any research at all, I assumed that the event topography would look something like the following drawing, which I have expertly composed in Paint.

As you can see, one starts off on the right and goes up one "summit", then up another "summit", and finally up a third "summit". During the course of the conversation in which I was trying to explain to Josh what I had expected the ride to be like, I realized that I could not explain this without a visual aide. And so I composed the above artwork to truly enhance the telling of this story. Last night, I showed off my artwork to Josh and he had two things to say about it. First, he said that it was backwards. Second, he said that I had drawn a "three plateau" ride. So now it all comes out.... I apparently do not know what a 'summit' is. Topographical ignoramus.

An important point about my assumption regarding what the topography would be on the ride, however, is that I thought we would be climbing up and up and up, and then descending all the way down. I thus convinced Elizabeth that we really ONLY had to climb a little over 30 miles and then we would be able to relax for the whole rest of the way.

For a more accurate representation of the route's topography, I submit to you the elevation graph from my Garmin cyclecomputer.

You'll note that it is quite a bit different and that it does not afford the 30 miles of relaxing downhill that I was assuming when I dragged us into the ride. ...heh, heh.

So, as I'm sure you have gathered by studying the above elevation graph, after we departed the food station at the top of the first summit (by the way, since I am a topographical ignoramus, I'm not sure if the phrase "top of the summit" is redundant) we rode around a corner and instantly went down down down. I had so much fun descending that it didn't really occur to me that I would have to later ride up up up. Also, earlier in this post I wrote that I would at some point lament that I had not come prepared with warm layers on this ride. During this fast descent (where my cyclecomputer registered the temperature at 52 degrees), I was FREEZING.

Also, by studying the elevation graph, you will note that after the first descent there is a fairly easy section before the second summit. It was during this section that I snapped the following photo.... little did I know that I was admiring the agonizing second summit.

After riding at a fast, fun, and fairly easy pace for several miles, I began the climb up the second summit. At first it was okay and I felt strong. But then my cyclecomputer started registering 10-12% grades and my legs were hurting as I struggled to keep up the power. At some point, I lost the will to live and just kept the pedals turning over so that I could eventually get to the top of the summit, where I expected another food station. Those food stations were an effective motivator. The below photo is one I took when I stopped on the way back down. It shows the switchbacks and the grueling elevation of the second summit.

Elizabeth and I did make it to the top of the second summit and spent some time at the food station. I had another half a banana, two Oreo cookies and some electrolyte drink. And again, I used the restroom and eliminated another four pints of fluid from my system.

We lingered at the food station for a while before beginning the descent back down. The energy among everyone at this food station, having climbed to this summit, was amazing. Everyone was so excited and having so much fun!

The descent was spectacular, both in terms of scenery and also in terms of fun. It was at this point that I hit my max speed (39.4 mph) and I could have gone even faster if there hadn't been a headwind.

Ahh... the headwind. It had not occurred to me that perhaps one reason for my feeling so good on the way out was the tailwind. The top of the second summit was essentially the halfway point, as we were to turn around and descend the summit we had just ascended and then climb that first fun descent. At the halfway point, I was tired, my legs hurt, and my sit area was saddle sore. After the fun descent down the second summit, the distance back to the first summit seemed to have gotten considerably longer and harder, and the headwind made it seem particularly difficult. As we climbed the final summit, the road up seemed to never end. I watched the mileage on my cyclecomputer relentlessly, calculating how much further we had to go until the top.

Finally, we arrived at the top and the joy I felt at my physical accomplishment was comparable to my desire to be done wtih the ride. At this point, it was mainly my sit area that really, did not want to sit on a saddle any more. We descended the final portion of the ride into a headwind which limited our speed and then the final ten miles of almost straightaway (into the headwind) was ironically cruel; it should have been so easy yet it was so difficult.

At last! We completed the ride and enjoyed the post-ride BBQ. I do not recall a time when food tasted so good. And this was wonderful food! I also enjoyed a few beers from a local brewery. The food also seemed to instantly absorb into my system. In reflecting back on my food intake during the ride, I realize that I did not eat very much - - I had lots of the electrolyte drink, two halves of a banana, a few Oreo cookies, and two energy gels. While I did not feel at all bonky or low-blood sugar on the ride, my body appreciated this consumption of food a great deal.

Ride Summary:
Distance: 67.82 miles
Elevation Gained: 5,689 feet
Moving Time: 4 hours 48 minutes
Average Moving Speed: 14.2 mph
Max Speed: 39.4 mph

Click on the below ride summary to view the details.

More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Cascade / McCall road riding adventure ~

This past weekend, Elizabeth and I went to Cascade/McCall for some road riding. It was this weekend that we participated in the "Three Summit Challenge" road bike 'gran fondo' or cyclosportive (as they say in France), which I will write ALL ABOUT in my next post. For this post, I wanted to articulate somthing about how excited I am to do some road bicycling in the Cascade/McCall area.

Elizabeth and I drove up to Cascade on Friday afternoon and checked into our illustrious motel, for $68 a night. We relaxed and wandered around for a bit before going on a road ride in McCall.

I proposed that we ride up Warren Wagon Road, which is a stretch of smooth asphalt that I have often thought would be ideal for a road ride. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera along on the ride and was unable to take photos of the beautiful scenery. The road was mostly shaded by evergreen trees and was parallel to Payette Lake for a long while.

It was, quite simply, a fun and relaxing ride. We focused on spinning our legs and trying to get them warmed up for the next day's ride.

After the ride, we went into McCall and ate dinner (of shredded beef mole enchiladas) at a Mexican restaurant. It was so delicious and satisfying!

While making our way back to the motel, we stopped by the gas station and picked up some beer and then tried to go on a little evening walk before bed. Unfortunately, near our motel, there seemed to be no good place to walk. We strolled around the few blocks of the RV park next to our motel and then crossed the highway to walk up what appeared to be a promising road for a walk. Then an unpleasant smell overtook us and we realized we were walking to the sanitary landfill, so we turned around and were attacked by (as Elizabeth repeatedly phrased it) "bird sized mosquitoes"!!!

We finally made it back to our modest motel room and sat outside of our door drinking beer and chatting. One of the main topics of conversation was the next day's biking event. Earlier that day, we had picked up our event packet and asked the volunteers how many people were signed up for the event - - to which they replied "about 400". We also learned that most everyone had registered for the longest distance, the three summits.

For some backstory.... Elizabeth and I registered for the bike event months ago, before Elizabeth even had a road bike. We decided to do this event because it sounded fun (and because there was going to be a BBQ and beer-garden after the ride). Since she didn't have a road bike, we agreed to ride it on our mountain bikes and it seemed only 'logical' to do the shortest distance (35 miles) because it would take forever to ride on mountain bikes. HOWEVER, two weeks ago, Elizabeth purchased a road bike and the plan of riding our mountain bikes became null and void.

It was when we picked up our packets and learned that most everyone had registered for the three summits that we began to consider riding the full distance. (As a sidenote, the registration fee for each distance was the same - - so we would not have been being unethical by registering for the shortest distance and then riding the longest distance). We also asked if it would be okay if we showed up to ride with the long distance riders even though we registered for the shortest distance, and they said that would be just fine.

... And so, the seed was planted and we began to consider the challenge of riding all three summits, which was advertised to be about 65 miles and almost 6,000 feet of climbing. Neither of us had done any training for such an effort, but we decided to give it a try and see how well we would be able to do.

Posted by jennifer at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Bogus Basin Climb ~

In my previous entry, where I described going on a road ride with my bike club up Bogus Basin, I neglected to mention that, in all of my years of cycling, I have not yet ridden up Bogus. This fact is rather shocking, considering that Bogus is one of the most popular road biking opportunities around Boise. Be that as it may, the prospect of riding Bogus on my road bike always seemed rather daunting to me... what with its almost 4,000 feet of climbing in 16 miles. Ironically, it was not the climb that I had found daunting, but the descent. It has been only fairly recently that I have developed sufficient confidence descending on a road bike, that I have been able to enjoy the experience.

And enjoy the experience I did! But first things first...

Click on the map to view the ride stats.

I realize now that this would be a good ride to use the "lap" function on the cyclecomputer, which would split the ride stats into different groups. For example, I would be interested in the stats specific to the climb and then specific to the descent, separated. Having the climb and descent grouped is okay, but it would be more meaningful to track my average speed climbing to the top, and then my average speed bombing down the mountain. Here, my average speed is 13.7 mph, which combines the ascent and descent and I don't find it particularly meaningful. Secondly, I also know that when people "time" themselves climbing Bogus, they start the timer at the stop sign at bottom of the hill. I had started my timer as I left my apartment. So while my moving time was 2 hours 49 minutes, that includes commuting through town.

That said, I do actually have specific stats for the climb. The display on the Garmin cyclecomputer is very difficult to read while riding, and so I've continued to use my old cyclecomputer (which has an excellent display) in addition to the Garmin. Because of this, I know that it took me an hour and a half to climb from the stop sign at the bottom of the hill to Bogus and that my average climbing speed was 9.9 mph. Not too shabby! I did the ride with Josh, and he has articulated that I was pushing a very good pace. If one considers last year's race results for the Bogus Basin Hill Climb, my time is nowhere near a winning speed, but everyone knows that race pace is significantly faster than recreational pace on a ride that one is doing for the very first time. The female who won last year's race did the climb in an hour and three minutes. And while I cannot fathom shaving off half an hour on my time for this year's race, I think I'm definitely mid-pack material.

Anyway, once I had climbed to the top, I felt very accomplished. I insisted that Josh take a photo of me holding my bike up, in victory, next to the Bogus Basin sign. In the photo at the beginning of this post, you may have noted my fashionable black cycling bolero....

Before leaving on the ride, Josh instructed me to carry along a windbreaker because descending from a mountain elevation of 6,000 feet during a cool evening is apparently freezing.

At this point in your reading, you may be confused by the fact that a fashionable cycling bolero is not the same thing as a windbreaker, wondering why I disobeyed instructions.

I'm sure we've all had reason to pause and wonder about why I do (and don't do) various things. Knowing that I have no ability to regulate my own temperature and am always either freezing or so hot that I'm going to pass out and die, you'd think that I would be a little smarter about having the optimal clothing choices. ...but no.

According to my cyclecomputer, it was 51 degrees at the top of Bogus, which is somewhat chilly. Now, imagine being covered in a layer of sweat at 6,000 feet, in the 51 degree temperature, the wind is blowing pretty strong from the west, the sun is setting, you're about to descend down the mountain (mostly in the shady side) at speeds between 20 and 34 mph, and you neglected to bring a windbreaker. But you are looking fashionable in your awesome bolero!

Needless to say, I was humbled by my failure to follow instructions.

Josh offered to let me wear his windbreaker. And at first, I declined the offer, reasoning that I had made my own mess of things, Josh should not have to pay for it.

But I was completely freezing.

And Josh is a big man with lots of insulating muscles. And he affirmed that he would be okay without the windbreaker. And I think that maybe he was concerned about my ability to navigate the descent safely if I was going into hypothermia.

So I accepted his windbreaker, very sheepishly.

Then I took off down the mountain.

And it was AWESOME!!! Why I was wary of descending this mountain on a road bike is now beyond me. It was so awesome and fun. The turns were super flow-ey and I got so many speed-induced adrenaline rushes. I was all smiles!

Of course, my feet went completely numb. So numb that it hurt to turn the pedals.

After we descended below the tree line, we pulled over to stomp the circulation back into our toes. Remarkably, only my feet were freezing - - the windbreaker had worked wonders for my core temperature. At this lower elevation that was more on the sunny (even though the sun was setting, it was a little sunny) side of the mountain, it was much warmer and I thought I would be just fine for the rest of the descent without the windbreaker. So I gave it back to Josh and got on the bike.

Not long into this part of the descent, my core temperature plummeted and I started shaking. Visibly shaking and Josh later said that he could see me shake.

We pulled over again and I regained possession of the windbreaker.

I felt like such an asshole for taking Josh's windbreaker. But he kept saying that he didn't need it. He's a trooper, and very wonderful.

The rest of the descent was awesome! I got my top speeds coming back into town and I was so excited about finding my new favorite ride.

I was also starving. It was past nine o'clock and I hadn't eaten dinner. I did that whole ride without having eaten. Certainly, I had consumed a sports gel on the ride, and Josh and I split one at the top of the mountain. But I had not eaten solid food in hours as was STARVING.

We dashed home and made microwavable pizzas and watched Iron Chef. I also decided to register for the race in a few months. And made plans to train climbing Bogus regularly. The end.

Posted by jennifer at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Emmett Loop / Cherry Festival ~

On Saturday, Josh and I took Elizabeth on a road ride around Emmett, her first time on a road bike. Considering that Elizabeth and I are scheduled to participate in a road bike race in about a month, we figured it was time to actually get Elizabeth on a road bike. The bike is a loaner from a female who works at the bike shop with Josh, who happened to have a spare road bike lying around.

It took a little getting used to the shifting and the brakes as well as the lightness, what with being about 15 pounds lighter than her mountain bike. But we were off at lightning speed before we knew it, cruising around the Emmett orchard roads.

It was a glorious day; the temperature crested into the high 80s and it felt wonderful to be spinning through the orchards of Gem County.

If you click on the map at the beginning of this post, you can see details of our ride, where we rode and how fast.

We coupled the bike ride along with going to the Emmett Cherry Festival, an annual event that we all had assumed was a celebration of the local cherry harvest.

... ah, but we had assumed wrong!

The Emmett Cherry Festival is an ordinary carnival, with ordinary carnival rides, ordinary greasy carnival food, and opportunities to participate in ordinary carnival games. We had all gone to Emmett with the specific desire to harvest and enjoy some local cherries, to nibble on some delightful cherry pastries, and all kinds of other cherry-focused activities. We were so disappointed!

After Josh, Elizabeth and I finished our ride, we went to the Cherry Festival and realized it was just some lame ass ordinary carnival and instead of munching on cherry delicacies, we all wolfed down some greasy carnival food because we were STARVING after our bike ride. While the greasy carnival food was good, in its own way, it was still disappointing because it wasn't what we had wanted.

Adding to the disappointment was that I had invited our friend Amy and her dog Lebowski to drive down and meet us at the Cherry Festival after our ride. It wasn't until after Amy had driven all the way to Emmett and found us at the festival that we noticed the NO DOGS ALLOWED signs and it was too lame and disappointing for words.

So instead, we walked around Emmett and eventually made our way to a park where we hung out and chatted for a while. After leaving the park and before returning to our automobiles, we walked to an ice cream parlor and enjoyed some delicious s'cream.

Posted by jennifer at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ why we ride ~

I wrote a stupid post a while back in which I suggested that it would be both good and realistic for me to go to the gym every morning at 6 o'clock before work. I've done the morning workout routine for extended periods of time in the past, so it seemed reasonable to think that now that I've completed school, I will be able to pick it up again no prob. Thing is, I hate working out at the gym. I don't know if this aspect of my personality has come across at all (rolls eyes), but I am a really really picky individual. I like things just-so. And if they are not just-so, then I get annoyed. And sometimes go away in a huff.

So, me at the gym... has ended in me going away in a huff more times than I am able to count. Usually because the other human beings at the gym fail to read my mind, and do not act as though the world revolves around me. HUFF! For example, at the gym, I like specific machines, and if I go to the gym with the expectation that I will workout on a given machine but it is occupied by another human being, that is a huff! situation. Or, if the person next to me has bad body odor. Huff! Or, if there is a loud conversation occurring and I cannot drown it out with my music. Huff huff!

Unfortunately, I am a big enough person (metaphorically-speaking) to admit that all of these excuses I blame for my inability to workout at the gym are lame. I mean really, Jennifer... leaving the gym in a huff because the dude next to you smelled like he could use a shower??? It is a gym, after all. And in gyms, people sweat. And not all of us smell like roses and mango deodorant when we sweat. HUFF!!!

This is all to preface my recent thoughts about possibly canceling my gym membership and just focusing on riding my bike and doing yoga at home. One, I get a better workout by going on a bike ride than I EVER get at the gym. Being as torturous as the gym is, I consider it greatly successful if I can pull off 45 minutes of cardio at the gym; whereas 45 minutes I consider a short bike ride. Also, the intensity of real biking is significantly greater than at the gym - - for example, if there's hill, that serves as a tangible goal for me to conquer by riding my bike over it as strong as I can. There are no hills at the gym, and no matter how vivid one's imagination is or skill in the resistance level, it's just not the same.

Then there's the fun factor of actual biking versus going to the gym, which goes without saying. But seriously, I have never had a huff on a bike ride over someone's body odor. The gym is not fun even with music and a kindle, and the guy next to you might smell so bad that you want to vomit.

One of the primary reasons to ride a bike, however, is the satisfaction. I never come home from the gym with this amazing feeling of satisfaction over my effort. I never come home from the gym excited to tell the world all about my wonderful workout. I don't post Facebook updates about the rad gym workout I just had. Conversely, it is rare that I go on a bike ride and do not come home with a feeling of awesome satisfaction. This is why we ride.

Anyway, I had an awesome ride this evening. I did the Dump Loop. I can only assume that there was some special sauce in the yogurt I consumed prior to the ride, because there is no other explanation for how strong and great I felt. In fact, my feeling strong on the bike was not a mere feeling, it was evidenced by my actual performance - - in particular, how I passed five other fit-looking road bikers. Passing other cyclists is definitely something that happens to me on occasion - - on the mountain bike, it is not uncommon for me to pass other fit-looking mountain bikers, as I feel that I am a strongish mountain biker - - on the road bike, however, I rarely pass other fit-looking road bikers. Yeah sure, if I'm riding with Josh and I can draft off of him... but on tonight's ride, I was all by my lonesome with no one to draft off, and I passed FIVE fit-looking road bikers, three of whom were male. I felt so rockin'! And I wasn't just going a little faster than they were, I was BLOWING by them.

Tangent story... at some point, not long after I had passed the final male fit-looking cyclist, I realized that he was right behind me, drafting off me. At this point, my confidence waned and I wondered if I had prematurely passed him, that perhaps he was just taking a breather when I BLEW BY HIM and that he was actually WAY faster than I. Seemed very likely. So, not wanting to look like the fool I felt, I put the pedal to the metal and ramped up the speed, maintaining a high cadence and a decent speed for a good while. I kept wondering what he was doing back there - - was he just drafting me or was I in the way??? Assuming that I was in his way and that he hated me, I kept pushing my effort, spinning fast yet trying to be graceful and not look like I was putting in as much of an effort as I was really churning. I was also feeling awkward that he hadn't said anything to me. When I BLEW BY HIM, I called out a friendly "Hey" as per what I understood to be road biking etiquette. And so after a while, I was a little weirded out that he was drafting me for so long without saying anything. Several miles into this, we came to an intersection and I turned to him because I could no longer stand the stress of a silent stranger drafter and he asked me if I minded that he was back there. I said no, but then when I got back on the bike to continue riding, he pulled up next to me and started chatting. He chatted about his squeaky handlebars and also mentioned how well I was riding... Little did he know that I am possibly one of the most introverted people on the planet and chatting with strangers is not one of my strong points. In fact, usually when I feel awkward in a social situation (which constitutes approximately 43% of my existence), I run away. Which is what I did. When it became apparent that he was going to do the Dump Loop as well, I quickly decided to ride to the Veteran's Cemetery and dawdle for a while.

And so I avoided a potentially awkward situation by acting totally weird...

/ End Tangent Story...

Anyway, after dawdling at the Veteran's Cemetery, I went back to finish riding the Dump Loop. For those not familiar with this ride, you ride up one hill, descend the other side, ride for a while, ride up another hill, ride for a while, up another hill, descend the other side, and ride up and over a final hill and descend. Climbing is something I find very satisfying. Spinning my legs fast is nice, but after a while the satisfaction wanes. Climbing, on the other hand, feels amazing. Incidentally, the photo at the beginning of this post is one I took of myself the other day when I was doing hill repeats over at the Mesa. I've been doing this thing where I pretend that I have a single speed bike and I try to not shift my gears as much. On tonight's ride, I did all of the climbs several gears higher than ever before. To keep myself going, I did silly things like pedal for ten revolutions sitting down and then stand for ten pedal revolutions... and I repeated that all the way up the climb.

Descending was likewise awesome. In many ways, I consider myself a novice road biker. One way in particular is descending... it's taken me a long time to become comfortable descending at sort of fast speeds on my road bike. The main reason for this is developing a sense of stability. I could write an entire blog post about this subject - - but suffice it to say that being a 110 pound person has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to biking. While I have less weight for the climbs (advantage), having less weight for the descent means that it's hard for me to go as fast (just by the force of gravity, which provides that heavier items go down faster) and it's harder for me to feel stable on the descents. On the mountain bike, this is generally a non-issue because of the fat tires and handlebar position, but on the road bike... it's a bit different.

Anyway, my point is that I had an incredible sense of confidence and stability descending the various hills on tonight's ride, and touched my brakes less than I normally do. I descended consistently faster than I usually do on my road bike, topping off at 40 mph, which is faster than I've ever ridden on my road bike. I know that 40 mph doesn't seem like a big deal to you more seasoned road bikers, but for me it was unbelievably awesome.

Posted by jennifer at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Weiser Mini-Vacation ~

This weekend, Josh and I took a mini-vacation over in Weiser for some relaxation and road riding. While I realize that Weiser might not be a popular location for weekend vacations, we had a wonderful time. We had been considering taking a weekend mini-vacation for a while and had mulled over various small Idaho towns. Our decision criteria included: limited driving time (1-2 hours max), scenic road riding opportunities, cheap motel, and that the town have a few options for dining. Our first choice was actually Hagerman, which is the cutest small town, nestled in the scenic Hagerman Valley, and rich with road riding opportunities. However, as I was calling around to hotels in the county, there were no vacancies anywhere because of a Cowboy Poetry Festival going on that weekend. As a result, it was at the 11th hour that we decided to go to Weiser.

Weiser is a little over an hour drive from Boise. It is situated in an area with rolling hills and is at the base of some larger hills, with winding country roads ideal for road riding. While it might seem like a dive motel from the outside, on the inside the rooms of the affordable ($50 a night) State Street Motel had THE MOST COMFORTABLE BEDS, plenty of hot water, free wi-fi, and room to stash two road bikes. As for the food, Josh and I ate well throughout the trip - - and each dining experience was a memorable adventure.

We arrived early Friday afternoon and spent the first few hours wandering around town. We had lunch at Fawn's - - Josh had a French dipped sandwish with horseradish and I had a grilled shrimp sandwich with tomato basil soup. Both were extremely delicious. After lunch, we continued to wander around town, eventually exploring the area around the railroad tracks. We went into each downtown business, where we put some dollars into the local economy.

Later that afternoon, we set out on our road bikes and pedaled along some country roads heading west. There was a significant wind blowing from the Northwest, making the ride feel slow and difficult. The ride was 20 miles, and we were chased by four different dogs. The being chased by dogs bit is the primary reason that I have withheld some love for road biking, particularly along these otherwise delightful country roads, where dogs are left un-fenced and free to chase road bikers.

That evening, we had dinner at the Homestead Cafe and then got drinks and played darts at a local bar.

The next morning, we had planned to get coffee and a morning treat at the Huckleberry Cafe. When we arrived, however, we discovered that they were hosting a funeral service and we felt obliged to seek our coffee and breakfast elsewhere. And it was back to the Homestead Cafe.

Having felt that we have canvassed Weiser on the previous day, we decided to drive south for 12 miles and explore the town of Payette.

We had lunch at a local pizza establishment and then visited the Payette County Historical Museum.

That afternoon, we went on a truly amazing road ride. We headed in an Easterly fashion before ultimately hitting Mann Creek Road. The ride was 36 miles total. Mann Creek Road was a glorious country road winding through ranches and farms, at the base of some larger hills. If you look at the satelite imagery, it is a sliver of green.

View Larger Map

We were having too much fun riding to stop and take photos - - the photos that we did take do not do the ride justice. The road was perfect for riding, little traffic, glorious scenery, and rolling hills. Josh and I had a spectacular time sustaining speeds over 20 mph despite the side/headwind.

Josh said that it was one of the best road rides he has ever done, and we agreed that it would be worth going out there again. In particular, farther north across the highway, is a reservoir, and it might be fun to try and extend the ride.

That evening we had dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant. While it was far from authentic Chinese food, it was delicious. We returned to Boise the next morning, after a fun and affordable mini-vacation. More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer at 8:54 AM | Permalink

~ Lake Lowell/Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge

Weather never ceases to amaze me. Take, for example, today. It's the beginning of February, and was absolutely glorious. I don't know the exact temperature, but I'm guessing it was around 50 degrees. And absolutely glorious. Josh and I had planned to go to some museums, but when the day started exhibiting signs of gloriousnitude, we had to take advantage of it.

We took our bikes out to the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge and circumnavigated Lake Lowell. I'm pleased to report that I managed to put together a chilly-weather cycling outfit that kept me comfortable throughout the ride (never too hot and never too cold, but just right).

We started out at the visitor's center where a friendly guide told us a little bit about the national wildlife refuge and the sights. Josh mentioned that he used to work at Lake Lowell, with the Youth Conservation Corps. The two noted that, unfortunately, litter is a problem on public lands. We then perused some of the wildlife learning exhibits before getting all saddled up on our bikes.

This was a very enjoyable ride. It was lovely to be outside enjoying the sunshine, and the route took us along some interesting scenes, one of which was a bison ranch. I managed to attract their attention as I was attempting to take a gu out of my pocket, becoming frustrated at the cumbersomeness of my pocket. Josh later said that I had a cow in front of the bison.

We stopped on the bridge/dam and took in the view. The lake was frozen over, with long cracks stretching through the ice.

The ride was about two hours. Except for a brief moment or two when I experienced a low blood sugar attack, hence the having of a cow in front of the bison when I was unable to extract the gu from my pocket, I felt really good for the duration of the ride.

Photos on my photoset

Posted by jennifer at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ the pros and cons of bartering ~

Now that the weather has finally decided to cease being winter, I have some outdoor recreation fodder for all of you. Before I get into that, I would like to consider the weather for a moment longer. Roughly one year ago, some friends and I participated in a cruiser bicycle parade to celebrate the 27th anniversary of my birth. On that day, one year ago, it was HOT. Like, really really HOT. So hot, that we were in fact, OVERHEATED. I feel inclined to state that it was near to 100 degrees hot, but I am not certain if that figure is fact or fiction. At any rate, HOT is what it was. This year, the same time of year as last year, it has been the opposite of hot. And while 100 degrees is too hot for me to be entirely comfortable in my skin, I also am not a fan of cold. Especially cold when you're expecting it to be hot because you live in the high desert and it's supposed to be hot during the summers. Anyhoot, this weekend the temperatures soared into the 90s and it was lovely not being cold for a change. /End rant about the weather.

Sandhollow to New Plymouth

On Saturday, as the temperatures were expected to be in the HOT zone, Josh and I got up early-ish and headed out for a road ride adventure before the heat set in. I might mention that the day before Saturday, Friday actually, we went on a road ride after I got off work, and I found myself feeling uncomfortably hot in the 95 degree temperatures - - which is what compelled us to get out on a ride while it was still cool on Saturday morning. As we were hankering for something of an adventure, we loaded our crap on the car and drove out to Gem County for some rural riding. At some point, my bicycle computer was acting strangly, and so I am not entirely certain the distance that we covered, but I am confident that it was somewhere around the 30 mile mark. We parked at Sandhollow (which I believe is just a gas station and general store, not an actual 'town', amid lots of ruralness) and meandered over to New Plymouth. I appologize that this post is so much about the weather, but yea...so as we were riding to New Plymouth, an incredibly strong headwind was making the ride significantly slower and more difficult. I had become to feel a bit less confident in my fitness as a result of this wind, the peddling was so strained.

We stopped for lunch in New Plymouth. I'm sure you all remember the Emmett to New Plymouth ride we did two years ago. Well, the deja-vu I experienced when we rode into New Plymouth this weekend was something else. And when we left to complete our loop back to Sandhollow, we passed by some of the roads that we took two years ago and the memories of that ride came back to me very strongly.

One memory of that ride, in particular, that I do not reserve a special place in my heart for was when we were chased by some dogs. If the memory serves, one of the dogs even bit Josh on the ankle (or was it the bike wheel?). Ah, the trials and tribulations of road riding in a rural state! I believe that I have previously articulated my disdain for some people opting to allow their dogs run free. I understand that dogs love running free and love chasing cyclists and scaring the crap out of them, but for me, it is unpleasant. Anyway, I was to experience quite a bit of deja-vu on the ride this weekend, as we had a number of encounters with dogs chasing us.

In other biking news, I've taken Elizabeth out on a few more mountain bike rides lately. I must say, she's a natural! We continue to ride the same loop as before. As I keep mentioning, this is the area of foothills trails that I found my love of mountain biking on. They're wonderful because they're so scenic and interesting, with a good blend of hills and flat sections. Also, they're an amazing amount of fun to bonzai on the downhill.

We rode on Monday evening the first time. Elizabeth seemed to think that I tricked her, but really, I just did not provide her with all of the information. We rode to the base of the Reserve area to wait for the others. I had mentioned "the others" back at my apartment, but she seemed to think that I was proposing a group ride at some point in the future, not that very evening. Essentially, after I had arranged to go mountain biking with Elizabeth, Josh called to say that he and another dude he works with wanted to join us for the ride. While I understand why Elizabeth might have felt not enthusiastic about riding with two dudes on her fourth mountain bike ride ever, I was familiar with the riding level of the other dude and was confident in Elizabeth's ability to surpass him. So anyway, Elizabeth seemed a bit offput at first while we were waiting for the dudes to arrive.

And so we set off! Right from the start, it was apparent that we were all just there to have fun and that it didn't make a shred of difference that there were a variety of ability levels present. And soon after we started, I was quite proud of Elizabeth's effort on the intermediate level hill-climb. This was her second time on this hill, and it is a not at all a beginner hill, and she made it up sections that she walked before. It was awesome. After this hill, there's a nice flatish section and then another big hill. Josh and the other dude were chilling at the intersection before this second hill, and Elizabeth just rode right on by them and put in a big effort on the steep hill. Again, it was awesome. After this hill, there's another flatish section. Then we turned around for our downhill. Let's see...we met up with the dudes around 8:45pm (because it was too hot earlier in the day) and there was a glorious sunset in progress during our downhill. I love mountain biking in the evening! Anyway, Josh and the other dude led on the downhill, followed by Elizabeth and then me. And I will refrain from beating a dead horse on this next point, but the awesomeness that was Elizabeth's downhill is beyond words. She totally kept up with the dudes and rode faster than ever before. Gosh, it was awesome. After the ride, Elizabeth and I hung out on my stoop drinking beers, which is the only way to end a good ride.

But then, yesterday (Tuesday) we rode the same thing again. It was cooler yesterday (the temperature), so we were able to hit the trails around 7:30ish. The ride was very similar to the one the day before, except no dudes. I have to say, I think that it was good to have Elizabeth ride with the dudes - - because no matter how much of a stern drill sargent I try to be, nothing compares to a person trying to keep up with other people. And so on yesterday's downhill, even though she wasn't going quite as fast as when she was trying to keep up with the other dude, Elizabeth was going so much faster than ever before and I was very impressed. If you consider that fourth photo of Elizabeth, you'll notice a huge smile on her face while she bombs down a trail. What fun!

Posted by jennifer at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ 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.

Posted by jennifer at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ 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.

Posted by jennifer at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ 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.

Posted by jennifer at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ 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.

Posted by jennifer at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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...

Posted by jennifer at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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.

Posted by jennifer at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)