MS Ride - Day 1 - Part 3 of 3

Joe Vandal’s Perspective – I think I can – 25 more miles is all

We got to the house and Bill got some extra food and water to take along just in case. Bill said that if he sat down he probably would not want to get back up again so we just kept on going. Back onto the bike and heading out to go around the lake.

We did a loop to start out to add a little mileage since the route around the lake is about 20 miles. The wind had actually died down a bit so the start of the ride went a little easier. We connected into the same route through Spring Mountain Ranch from earlier in the day. We continued out around the lake. This time we did not need to turn around at the condominiums because no one was standing there telling us to turn around. Gravel road was going to be our friend for the next few miles. If gravel is our friend then dust was going to be our enemy. Cars sure can create a lot of dust when they go by. I could hear Bill hacking every so often when a car went by. It was hard on my eyes to see as we went. When there were no cars the scenery was very nice this way. There is one downhill section that is makes your hair stand up straight. Of course Bill does not have an issue with that. The bottom of this section curves left but slopes right causing the tires to slide to the right. Can’t go to fast through here since you really need to stay in your lane to keep from missing cars.

The north end of the lake was busy with activity. Boats and other watercraft parked with people having a fun time. No time to stop for us since we had to finish this ride. The river that feeds into the lake had a lot of canoes and kayaks on it. We got to the 10 miles to go mark and Bill started to ponder turning around and going back. I mentioned to him that it really didn’t matter since we would still have to bike the 10 miles to get back. He just shook his head and kept on going. After 6 hours on a bike he was getting rummy.

From gravel to paved road was a nice transition. We headed towards McCall on Warren Wagon Road. It seemed like we had been this way earlier. Not much had changed since the last time here so it was just peddle, peddle, and peddle our way along the road. Finally making it to downtown and then to the house. Almost 7 hours and 100 miles on the mountain bike was quite the feat.

The only things on Bill’s mind were getting taking a shower, getting a massage, eating dinner, having a beer and going to bed. He was not very sore but the shower and massage would help relieve the muscle tightness. The meal and the beer would just be icing on the day. Sleep would be good since Sunday brings 50 miles of road biking. I hope I am ready for it. I will be hanging on for dear life again.

Day 2 on the way …