Day 44 Twin Falls, ID -> Sun Valley, ID

Saturday 3 September 2011 The 2'nd day of the 7'th week. Day 41 on the road.

The crew was on the road by 7:30AM and headed north for Sun Valley. It was a chilly 50 degree morning but sunny and without wind.
As we came up on the bridge over the Snake River Canyon we spotted a couple of base jumpers getting ready to leap off the edge.  These guys either are CRAZY or have balls the size of watermelons!!!  It was real cool to watch them climb over the rail and take the plunge into the deep canyon.

It was soon obvious by our pace on the windless flat plain that we were all still weak from the past few days of illness.
It was almost impossible to get the bikes up to what would have been considered a reasonable speed for the conditions.  But at least we were riding and making forward progress.
We made a stop for a needed rest after only 30 miles and wondered how long it would take our bodies to get back the horsepower we had 5 days ago.
It always goes away much faster than it comes back when you get out of bike shape.

The flat plains turned into a steady gradual uphill towards Sun Valley. We were told as we head north we will be in “rich man’s country”.
When rode past the Hailey airport there were more private jets parked on the tarmac then cars in a Super Stop & Shop parking lot. Hailey only has a population of 6000 people too.  It looked like almost every family had a jet or private plane parked on the tarmac. Actors like Bruce Willis and others own land in the valley we were told.

By afternoon it felt like the power was coming back to our legs once again and the pace picked up.
We will need all the power we had back for tomorrows climb to Galena Pass at almost 9000 feet! Ouch!

We were lucky enough to come across a great Rails to Trails bike path called "The Wood River Trail" that took us the last 12 miles of today’s trip. 

It was loaded with cyclists and more like a bicycle superhighway than a trail.

We stopped at a nice picnic table by a trout stream to rest when a fisherman walked up to us.
He quickly corrected Ken when Ken called what he had in his hand a fishing pole.
It is a “fly rod” not a “pole”. He had a beautiful saying we cannot remember when he corrected Ken.
If your reading this blog let’s hear it again….text us.
A great guy and a serious fisherman who even offered us all a place to sleep at his house if we wanted. How cool is that?

When we arrived in Sun Valley a staged Wild West shootout was happening on Main Street for us to watch.

Dinner was real tasty and after a few days of not eating we filled our faces.  Ken had native trout, Joe elk and Tim salmon.  All the meals were delicious.

The forecast at this elevation is for sun but only 39 degrees in the morning.  That is going to be a nasty way to start the day.
80 Miles
3210 Feet of Climbing 
Temperature 50-80 degrees

Day 43 Twin Falls, ID still

Friday 2 September 2011 The 1'st day of the 7'th week. Day 40 41 40 on the road. Day 3 off the road.

Knowing Tim would still be very weak from the same uncontrolled vomiting and diarrhea that plagued Ken the decision was made the 100 mile trip to Nevada would not be possible.

We hate to not tag the state as planned but Ken and Tim’s bodies have taken a beating with this mysterious sickness.  Ken is feeling better and even for Ken who has had an extra day to recover the 100 mile journey would be difficult.

Time and money are running out so Nevada is now off the list of states we will ride to. We all miss home and have commitments to families and work that have to be considered. Both riders are still dehydrated and have lost weight from the ordeal and are having trouble eating. Again plans and routing had to be changed. This is the Labor Day weekend so booking a motel is not easy.

We decided to only ride 50 miles Friday and then tie back into our original route. At least we would be making forward progress to complete our tour.  The rerouting took a couple hours and a room was booked. While this was going on.  Joe who had felt fine for the past three days ran to the bathroom and vomited.  He blamed the salad he had the night before and assured the others he felt better after throwing up and was ready to ride.

We packed all the bikes and prepared to get on the road when Joe said maybe he was not feeling as good as he thought earlier.  It did not take long to see he was going downhill quickly.  Ken reminded him once we leave he is committed and if he is sick it would be an ugly ride.  Unlike the northeast there are no trees to hide behind if Mother Nature calls.  You will be taking a crap in the wide open spaces or puking with an audience of holiday passerby’s.

Everyone was dressed and ready to go as Joe pondered his fate. He decided to go and take a test ride on the bike to see how he felt. Tim and Ken stayed in the room and only had to wait a few minutes for his return.  Joe returned and said he was feeling too crummy to ride even 50 miles. Again we would be sidelined and condemned to the motel room for at least another day.  Tim was happy because even 50 miles would have been difficult for him.

Joe was spared the constant uncontrolled vomiting as it seemed the illness was not taking aim on him as hard as it did for Ken and Tim. Regardless we were shutdown for another day in Idaho.

Even though Joe was spared the worse of the sickness by midday he was still feeling weak and in bed. We had made the right decision because it was clear he would not have been able to ride 50 miles in his condition.

By the end of the day Froday both Tim and Ken were able to eat small amounts of food and it seemed to make them feel better.  Joe sipped Gatorade and ate some yogurt. We will try again Saturday morning to leave Twin Falls.
0 Miles
0 Feet of Climbing 
Temperature was easily controlled by the room’s thermostat again.


Team Recovery in progress.


11:45 AM EST Breaking News!


The team is on the road headed slowly north!  Nevada will be for another day.

"Houston, is it a GO?"

7:00 AM here, 5:00 AM there, should know shortly, could probably gage it by the room's H2O usage..

"Cape Canaveral, looks like we have another "BUG" Hold"  "Stand By"

10:00 AM here 7:00 AM there (maybe 8 not sure) looks like we have another new stricken team member..

Day 42 Twin Falls, ID Forever??

Thursday 1 September 2011 The 7'th day of the 6'th week. Day 40 on the road. Day 2 off the road.

And another one bites the dust! Wild West Tour rider Tim Picard succumbed to the dreaded 24 hour grip that took out fellow rider Ken Silvestri the day before. Uncontrolled vomiting and the Hershey Squirts have sidelined the crew for another day in Twin Falls Idaho. Our bid to add Nevada onto our list of conquered states has been put on hold once again.

Because this is the holiday weekend it is imperative that we find book our rooms in advance which we did.  When Ken fell ill all our plans and booked rooms had to be changed. Joe handled the 2 hour process of rerouting and rebooking accommodations for the crew.  Now that Tim has gone down the plan has to be changed again. Joe and Ken spent time in the lobby reviewing the route options and motel availability. 

Yesterday (Wednesday) while Ken was held up in the motel room recovering Tim and Joe went to the site where Evil Kinevel made his failed attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. On the way to the memorial launch site Tim’s mirror clipped a traffic cone and before he knew what happened he had crashed hard onto the ground. His road rash will heal but the bent front rim will not recover so easily. Ken and Joe took the twisted rim to a local bike shop Cycle Therapy for repairs.  A great bike shop with all good people saved the wheel.
“IF” rider Tim recovers by morning and “IF” rider Joe does not fall ill we should be able to reach Nevada by noon on Friday starting the final leg of our long journey.
0 Miles
0 Feet of Climbing 
223 Trips to bathroom
Temperature Perfect…..once again inside the motel with A/C


Just received word that the Team is back on the road with the required accommodations!
Go Team Go!!!..I mean - Ride Team Ride!

Day 41 Twin Falls, ID to Twin Falls, ID

Wednesday 31 August 2011 The 6'th day of the 6'th week. We stay at Day 40 on the road.  Day 1 off the road.
The wagon train was shut down today as one of the riders picked up a food borne ailment.  Team rider Ken went down hard and fast after eating a delicious dinner at a local restaurant. It could have been an apple or some other tainted fruit he ate earlier in the day as the other riders were fine.
This was a VERY ugly situation that came on around 7:30 PM just as they were getting ready to retire for the night.
The team had planned the Twin Falls to Jackpot NV run scheduled for the morning.

Ken's New Best Friend

It was serious enough that Ken was considering a trip o the local medical clinic if there was any way to get there. One thing Ken figured out as an experienced and well trained plumber is that you cannot puke and (excuse my French) shit at the same time on a toilet.  It will only accept one nasty thing at a time.  So when bent over the bowl to vomit you are in serious trouble if your rumpus cannot hold back the brown tide.  No need to get into the fine details I am sure you can figure out the rest.  Unlike at home when he can yell “Debbie” for help calling for the other bikers to cleanup would be a waste of time.

Still weak almost 24 hours later he is improving and should be able to ride in the morning.

The riders are still concerned about the situation of no power and roads shut down at home.  It is the main topic of conversation all the time. What is hard for us is we cannot do anything to help and that is difficult for us to deal with. Hopefully the next storm will stay out at sea where it belongs.  You know it is bad when the National Guard is on the town streets helping with clean up. Our Families did what they had to do and did it well.

Now if everything goes as planned we will be in Nevada by noon Thursday and finished with the tour 10 days after.  Our bicycle boxes are being readied for shipping.  Capt. Joe at All Quality Spares will help us with that issue. Thanks Joe!

0 Miles

0 Feet of Climbing 

Temperature Perfect…..inside motel with AC

Day 40 Arco, ID to Twin Falls, ID

Tuesday 30 August 2011 Day 5 of the 6'th week. Day 40 on the road

We were up and out the door early to try and beat the afternoon winds.
The forecast for the Arco area ( Atomic City) was for 25-30 mph winds while Twin Falls was only 10mph.

If we could get 50 or 60 miles south before noon the heavy winds may be avoided.  Well the plan worked and we covered today’s 112 miles quickly.

We passed a place that is called Craters of the Moon National Monument. It is a huge expanse of cooled lava flows that looks like the surface of the moon.

When we arrived in twin falls we crossed the Snake River Canyon not far from where Evil Kanevil made his failed jump. The canyon is absolutely beautiful and deep.
 Once on the other side Joe spotted a guy folding what looked like a parachute. We walked up to him and found out he was a base jumper.  We had just missed his jump off the Snake River Bridge.
Here in Twin Falls it is legal to base jump off the bridge or any of the cliffs.  According to the jumper people come here from al over the word to make the leap into the canyon.

To all of us it looked truly insane to jump off that bridge.  Imagine driving up in a car not knowing you have entered the base jumping capitol and see a person leap off the bridge hand rail!

Tomorrow we will make a round trip run from Twin Falls to Nevada and back.  This will add the 1th state to the tour.  A suggestion was made that we could strip the bikes of our heavy wind catching saddlebags to make this 100 mile blast to Nevada. We have trained and rode for over 3 months with a heavy bike.  Pull off the bags and for a few days we will be Super Riders on light weight machines. We could blast off the run to Nevada in record time.  It would be great!!  BUT it would also be “cheating”.  The decision was made quickly.  We will ride to Nevada fully loaded.

112 Miles

2246 Feet of Climbing

Temperature 85-95 degrees

Day 39 Rexburg ID to Arco ID

Monday 29 August 2011 Day 4 of the 6'th week. Day 39 on the road

I have said it before, and I will say it again…Wind is a 4 letter word.  And it is a dirty four letter word to a cyclist.
We were fooled early in the morning when the sun was shining and the wind was light.  It sure looked like a nice easy day was in store for us.  By noontime the fantasy was over as the wind turned on like a light switch. A steady 20 to 25mph wind became a 40mph wind in your face torture session by 2pm. This kind of riding really sucks and is no fun at all for any of us.

Giving it all you had on the flats would only develop 7mph against the wind.  It was a battle just to keep our bikes on the road as higher gusts blasted in making you wobble into the soft shoulder.

Days like this make you wonder who’s idea was it to ride across the country anyway??!!

The Idaho we entered in the mountains was beautiful. Trees, rivers and beautiful scenery.  The Idaho we rode today in the plains was terrible.  The plains in any state are not made for cyclists.  We are back to the same old view of scrub brush, weeds and unrelenting wind. No place to get away from the sun or howling wind.  Give us the mountains any day no matter what the climb.


As we did for most of this journey the roads we picked were nearly traffic free and that was a positive on a negative day for us.

To add to our enjoyment, huge dust storms were forming all around us.  Some of these were miles long and miles wide.  Passing through one of these dirty brown clouds will suck the breath right out of you right after it coats your eyeballs with dust blinding you.

Arco, ID is a tiny town that has some history.  It was the first US city to be illuminated by nuclear power. It was also the area where the first “meltdown” of a nuclear reactor took place.  I is also the only place in the US where people died from a meltdown. Team rider Herb Petersen may know more about this as he is in that field.

The first thing you notice when entering town is the conning tower of a submarine!!  Just outside of town is where the reactors for all our modern warships was developed.  They still have an 850 square mile top secret site here with Homeland Security making their presence everywhere.

Tomorrow will be another day in the plains and of course that means another day with the wind.
Our plan is to get out early and log in as many miles a we can before noon.  The locals say the wind always picks up around noon and blows until dark. The trip between Arco and Twin Falls is over 110 miles. This will stage us for our out and back trip on Wednesday to Nevada to tag the state.

Once we leave Twin Falls and start heading north we should be protected from the wind by the mountains.  We will not complain that for the next three days we will be regaining all the elevation we gave up when we left Yellowstone. Like I said give us the hills any day over the wind.

87 Miles

3212 Feet of Climbing

Temperature 85-95 degrees

I was able to fire up the generator to crank up the DSL modem to let all know the team is well and puttin' down the miles.
They are in the good stuff now.

Day 38 West Yellowstone to Rexburg, ID

Sunday 28 August 2011 Day 3 of the 6'th week. Day 38 on the road

Knowing everyone is safe and damage is minimal was a big relief to all the riders. Being 3000+ miles from home knowing we could do nothing to help was hard for us to deal with.  In our minds we fabricated all types of scenarios of what we could do if disaster struck.  None of the options we had were very good or productive.  We had to rely on our family and friends to do what we should have been doing. Lucky for us all these people handled the situation very well and bailed us out. THANKS!!!!

Today we crossed into Idaho the 17th of the 20 states we will enter during this tour.  The weather out here sunny and high 80’s  was much better than what was still happing in New England. 
Not soon after crossing the border we started on a long steady downhill was fun going down but we all know the old bicycle saying…. “what goes down must go up”.   We will give up even more elevation as we head due south towards Twin Falls Idaho just 50 miles north of Nevada.
In our quest to “tag” as many states as possible on this tour we need to get our wheels into the state of Nevada. This little deviation will cost us almost 300 miles and thousands of feet in elevation which we will have to regain.
Tomorrow we will ride to Arco the first city to ever be illuminated by nuclear power.
86 Miles
2212 Feet of Climbing  We lost almost 4000”!
Temperature 70-85 degrees