MS150 Ride – Day 1 – Part 2 of 3

Joe Vandal’s Perspective - Into the Wind

We stopped about 200 yards up from the "Y" so that Bill could take a couple of pictures. The wind was blowing kind of hard at this point. We started up again and the wind was making for some slow going. It did make it easier to see things as we rode along. A couple of miles after the turn we saw Steve heading down and Bill told him that we would meet him back up at the top of the summit. The climb was not that bad. Riders were yelling excitedly as they came down from the summit and a guy that was passing us said that they still had to ride back up with the wind blowing on them. When we got to the rest area Bill got a Payday bar and had a couple of pickles. One of the other riders told Bill that pickles help when riding.

Steve made it back to the top and we chatted for a little bit. We never did see Deb at the top, so we went ahead and started down towards McCall. Steve went out ahead and we just coasted down the road after him. The wind made the trip down a little slower than when we went down the other side. Bill told me about the deer that ran out in front of him on this part of the ride a couple of years ago. After he told me this I kept my eyes peeled for any movement on both sides of the road. The upper lake came into view and I marveled at the colors. The burned out trees are starting to have more and more smaller trees and bushes growing among them. This area was pretty well devastated several years ago from fires that came through and it is nice to see more and more vegetation growing.

We finally made it to the rest stop where Deb and Steve were waiting for us. Deb had actually made it to the summit but it was a couple of minutes after Steve had gone down the back side. They got more fuel for the ride in and headed off towards the big long gravel part. Everyone made it through just fine and started the trek toward McCall. There were a lot more cars driving on the road now. This was making it a little scarier for me to be on a bike. Bill didn’t seem to mind and I think he actually liked having the cars and trucks driving by. Deb and Bill stayed with Steve for a little while but then Steve started going at Steve-pace. Before he started off they decided that they would meet at Deb and Bill’s Dad’s office to walk over to the McCall Brewery for the after ride lunch. Deb and Bill plugged along getting closer to McCall as the seconds passed. Finally they reached the turn onto the main road and Steve was waiting at Lardo’s to ride with them across town.

The ride across town was not very eventful. They basically acted like they were lost as they went this way and that. I was thinking that somebody had been drinking something other than water on the ride. They finally made it to the office and put their bikes inside before walking to lunch. Bill took me off of the Camelbak and carried me over so that I could watch them eat. They had a potato with fixings and a make your own salad. Pretty good stuff and Bill said that it tasted good. After they finished up lunch they went and got the bikes and went back to the house. Deb and Steve decided that they did not want to do any more riding for the day. Bill said that he would go ahead and do a loop around the lake to get 100 miles for the day.

To be continued ...