Today Felkerino and I had a hard time getting our bike touring act together and ended up leaving Riggins at 9:30 a.m. Gasp!
Not to worry, we had a 50-mile day ahead so how long could that possibly take? I’ll say that it depends on the terrain ahead of you as well as how many times you stop to take photos of sunflowers and any other scenery that catches your eye. So that’s just shy of 7 hours for this tandem crew.
Our terrain was mostly uphill, with the exception of a big swooping descent the final few miles into McCall, which I believe is a pretty big ski town in the area.
We stopped so much today. Pedal for five minutes, stop for 20. Pedal another five, stop for important bike tour photos.
Somehow we still made it. Maybe all that randonneuring is paying off. Ha ha ha ha!
We stopped in New Meadows for lunch, and I was again reminded of Idaho’s matter-of-fact way. We overheard a woman discussing some intimate details of her life, and after she finished her rather sad tale, the man she was talking to responded, “$*#* happens.” Oh Idaho, you’re the best.
We pedaled our way up the big hump to McCall, where road construction was happening in a couple of places. Unlike earlier on our tour, the crew here thought it was just fine if we rode our bike through. They even held back traffic so we’d have clear passage, which was quite nice.
It was a slow-going day in cool temperatures with frequent cloud cover. I’m not going to complain about that when the alternative is a heat emergency at home. I’ll enjoy the cool breezes while I can, and put on a wool base layer to celebrate.
Chasing Mailboxes 