Posted one day late

Sea-to-Sea NA Day 11 Today I’m not going to tell you it was 95F+ or that the sun was hot, none of that you all know that by now. I am going to tell you that the nights get nice and cool, in the low 60sF. I’m not going to tell you when we get up but that we go to bed around 10 give or take a half hour depending on your age. The food we get on the tour is tops in both quantity and quality and it is usually on time, 6:00 PM. In fact some of us are eating less because of the short riding days we have most of this week. Today was a mere 70 something ride; mostly with a tail wind and all but the first ¾ hour downhill. We took it easy averaging about 24kph on the flats or slight uphill. On the downhill, about 50km of some up but mostly down, we ranged between 45 and 70kph for an average speed of about 34kph. Part of today’s route took us back onto the I84. There was a lot of debris on the shoulder, so I’m sure the flat tire count will be high for the day. At two places the road narrowed to one lane with only a 3ft wide shoulder, with barriers on both sides. They allow 3 trailer trucks here and when one of those goes buy you have to make sure you have the bike under control. As far as I know everyone made it thru this stretch OK but I’m sure there were a lot of nervous riders. The scenery was mostly sagebrush and there was only one small town along the way. This is reportedly the poorest county in the state of Oregon. The little town of Huntington has a population of 500; mostly retired and 70 kids attend the school from K to 12. While waiting several hours for the gear truck to arrive, most of us stopped at the local pub for a soft drink or coffee since it was only about 10AM when we arrived. We met a lot of locals and shared many laughs together. After the drink and an early lunch we waited around the school for a while then I finally rode around town doing some old car spotting. Tomorrow is another short ride. These rides are short so that we will be in Boise for the weekend. I hope it is worth it because sooner or later we have to make up the distance we are loosing on these short days.