MS150 Ride – Day 2: Bridge Trolls

There had been a light rain during the night. Clouds hung in the sky with a hint of rain still in them. Steve and I were undeterred in our quest to ride that day. We got dressed and headed off to Camp Pinewood for breakfast and the start of the second day of the ride. We went in to get our breakfast only to find a couple of bowls of oatmeal awaiting some attention. We pondered the bowls for a moment and somebody else grabbed them. I guess breakfast was not to be for us that morning. Being the resourceful people we are we would just have to forage for food along the route. I of course realized that I had forgotten my Leatherman, so skinning something would be difficult. Then I remembered that there would be rest stops along the way that had snack stuff and water.

We got on our bikes and headed to the starting area for the ride. We listened to some last minute instructions about some dangers along the route. We then got into the main pack for the start and headed off down the road past the cemetery. We headed on out to Highway 55 to get to Elo Road (used to be called Farm to Market Road). Steve had already gone out ahead of me. We approached the first hill that wanted to make us regret doing this ride. It failed in the attempt to persuade us to give up and go home. I got caught in a slow moving group but finally made it to the top. The other side of the hill was a chance to get going a little fast. The next hill came up and tried to do the same thing to me. At no time did I think of being back at the house in bed. The hill fell at my wheels and I conquered it with a vengeance.

After making it to the top I knew that it was pretty much level ground the rest of the way to Tamarack. I made my way towards the first rest stop at Jug Mountain. I saw Steve coming down the road out of the rest area and he told me that it was not setup yet. I turned around and hit some gravel and laid my bike down. I got the bike back up and noticed that I did not scratch my knee up even though it did hit the pavement. I caught up with Steve. We rode together the rest of the way to Tamarack. Several places during the ride added some interesting points to the conversation. There was the road construction in Donnelly that made the road a little impassable for road bikes with all the gravel that was laid down. We stopped at the rest stop in Donnelly to get our “breakfast” to eat along the way.

There is a metal grated bridge over a part of the reservoir that they put somebody at to tell you for the riders to go down the left side. I can tell you that with the wide tires I have it really doesn’t make a difference. This time however it was locking of brakes time as the guy practically wandered out in front of us to tell us to go down the left side. I was thinking about just running him over but the brakes on the bike worked the way they should. We went around him and continued on our way.

We finally made it out to the turnaround point of the ride. We grabbed a few more things to snack on and started on the way back. Steve and I rode together all the way to Donnelly and a few miles beyond before I fell back and just let him go. It is nice to ride alone for me since it gives me time to think about different things. I do enjoy riding with people but there are times when it is nice to just have free moments.

As I approached the old Finnish Church I felt a bug on the back of my knee and shook it off. After it flew away I felt a little sting in the area where it had been. I stopped for a moment to look at it and noticed a spot where it stung me at. I went ahead and got back on the bike. It hurt but I was not going to let it stop me from getting to the Jug Mountain rest area. I was going to have somebody there look at it just to make sure that it was all right. I made it to the rest area just fine and one of the volunteers checked it out and saw that there was no stinger in it.

The rest of the ride into McCall and to the area where the lunch was being held was pretty nice. Steve was at the lunch waiting for me. He had already eaten but waited around for me to devour the pulled pork sandwich (without the bun), coleslaw, beans, brownie, and Fat Tire beer. Oh, boy did that taste good. This was a well earned lunch after the 50 mile plus ride.

I will be doing this again next year for sure.

Thanks go out to everyone that supported me on this ride. Your generosity really helps to further the assistance and research that goes on.