Sunday - second day of the ride - Rash of the Road

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

We did not have to get up as early since we were going to eat at Camp Pinewood. Deb, Steve, and Bill had to redo the Superman logos on their calves since the logos got washed off the previous evening. The breakfast was pretty good and it gave the riders the energy they would need for the first part of the day. After eating, Deb, Steve, and Bill got their bikes and headed to the start line.

We followed the first part of the route from the day before until we got to the turn at Spring Mountain Ranch. Steve and Bill rode out in front of everyone and made the turn to go up Bethel Hill. As we headed down the backside of the hill, Steve rode out ahead of us. Another rider caught Bill and passed us at the second turn. Bill stayed on his rear wheel until we caught Steve at the second hill. Steve slowed down to go up and Bill passed the other rider and Steve. About two miles down the road Steve caught Bill and they rode on to the first rest stop of the day.

Just a flesh wound.

Steve and Bill rested for a little bit and then they headed towards Roseberry. Steve started cruising along and Bill had a hard time keeping up. After Bill took the turn at Roseberry to head to Donnelly we finally caught up with Steve. He had slowed down to chat with Gordy (has MS and rides a hand crank bike) and Michelle (has MS and was riding a cruiser bike). As Bill came up behind them he got his camera out of his pocket and turned it on. He had placed both hands back on the handlebar but had slowed down too much at this point. That and the fact that the bike had drifted too far to the right of the road into some gravel made him over-correct to get back on the road. A very slow motion crash ensued that caused major scrapes on several different areas of Bill’s body. One of the support trucks was right there and the support people asked if he was okay. He said that he was fine and that he could make it the rest of the way. A waiver had to be signed before he was able to continue riding. Bill got back on the bike and cruised on towards the next rest stop in Donnelly. When he got there he did some cleanup on the scrapes, waited for Steve, and got some snacks.

After Bill got cleaned up and ate, we headed towards the third rest stop at Tamarack Resort. Steve and Bill got into a pace line with another group of riders. Everyone was taking turns at the front of the pace. When Bill got to the front, the leader of the other group of riders started to drop back. All of the other riders including Steve slowed down to stay with the dropped rider. Bill kept going and Steve finally caught and passed him. Bill finally arrived at the rest stop. He had some peanut butter sandwiches and cleaned up his knee a couple more times. Steve and Bill got back on the bikes and headed towards Donnelly again. On the way there they saw a helicopter coming in for a landing near a spot that had a big pool of water for loading the bucket that it was carrying. Bill stopped and watched it land. After it landed he caught back up to Steve. They both rode into Donnelly and Bill stopped to clean up while Steve kept going.

Bill got back on the bike and after making the turn at Roseberry he caught up with Gordy and Michelle, again. He ended up riding with them to the place that they were getting picked up near the Finn Church. He then stopped at the last rest stop and headed on towards McCall. We were sure glad that we finally made it to Camp Pinewood after this road rash adventure.

Megan Nettleton told Bill that when he had wrecked the support crew had told them that rider #8 had crashed. She looked at her list and saw that it was him. She told everyone that he would be alright since he had done 100 miles the day before. Bill was glad that she had confidence in him that he would finish the ride. It was another successful MS Ride.

Bill would like to thank all those that supported him in his efforts to raise money and awareness for MS. Every little bit helps and that is why he is so passionate about this cause.

Saturday - first day of the ride - Long ride

Saturday, August 18th, 2012

The overhead light flashed on early. Bill’s dad was looking for the cats in the dark. I think it was the outside light that was supposed to turn on, but it ended up being the living room lights.  No cats wanted to come in so it was off to making breakfast. Nothing like sourdough pancakes before a long bike ride. After breakfast, Pam started putting the Superman logo on Deb, Steve, and Bill’s calves. Steve had made some pretty cool templates which made the job of putting the logo on really easy using body paint. The logos looked pretty sweet and turned out very nice. Bill taped me to the front of his bike to give me a front row seat on the ride. Superman ended up being zip tied to Bill’s helmet in a flying position. We headed over to Camp Pinewood a little before 7:30 to get ready for the ride. While we waited for the ride to start, Deb, Steve, and Bill got pictures taken of them all decked out in the logos, spandex, and mascots. 

Riding on the front of the bike

After the usual announcements and pre-ride safety talk, we embarked. The path was very familiar to us since we have ridden it for several years. We rode past the airport and saw one of the heavy-lifting helicopters waiting for any signs of fire in the area. After crossing the highway to head towards Spring Mountain Ranch subdivision we saw a dead fox in the road. We were not even out of the limits of McCall and we had already seen roadkill. The ride through the subdivision was very nice and at a pretty even pace. Everyone was trying to get warmed up as it was just a little nippy out, and riding on the front of the bike was even colder for me. As we turned onto Lick Creek Road the pace picked up a bit and we made it to the turnaround at Tamarack Condominiums in no time. Bill was out ahead of Deb and Steve all the way to the turn around and back into McCall. We stopped at the first rest area at Gravity Sports and waited for Deb and Steve to show up. The rest stops are a great place since some of the volunteers have MS and they appreciate all of the riders for their commitment to riding for this cause. Some have had the disease for over twenty years. 
Deb, Steve, and Bill headed towards downtown after fueling up and saw Pam, Victoria, and Bill’s mom and dad by Legacy Park. We headed through town and on towards Warren Wagon Road to begin the assault of Sesesh Summit. The lake was pretty calm and there was not much activity going on. Deb fell behind as we got near North Beach and Steve and Bill kept up a pretty good pace. As we got closer to the second rest stop Steve decided to sprint out ahead to beat us. Pam and Victoria were already there taking pictures of all of the riders that stopped or passed by the rest stop. Steve and Bill waited for Deb to arrive. 

After refueling, we were ready for the assault of the summit. Deb, Steve, and Bill headed out at the same time. Once we got to the climb Deb fell back. Bill stuck with Steve and then passed him. A few more riders became easy targets for Bill as we climbed. The chip seal and the gravel on the sides of the road made it a little tough going. With the top of the summit and the third rest area in sight Bill had renewed strength to do a little sprint. Pam and Victoria were waiting and taking more pictures. Peanut butter sandwiches were on the table just waiting for Bill to attack and he did so with great enthusiasm. While we waited for Deb and Steve to arrive, Bill took the bike and me over to get a picture at the summit sign. After Steve and Deb arrived we all got our picture taken at the sign. Bill got some more food for the road and Deb headed out ahead of Steve and Bill. They caught up and rode with her for a little while before cruising out ahead towards the Burgdorf “Y”.

Steve and Bill waited at the “Y” for Deb to show up. After she arrived they allowed her to rest a bit before all of them headed back to the summit. They all rode together for a little while before Steve and Bill rode out ahead. They finally made it to the summit and stopped at the rest stop to wait for Deb. The pit crew from Performance Bikes got in their van to go see how far Deb was from the rest stop. They came back soon after leaving and let us know that she was not far down the road. As soon as Deb was in sight we started cheering her on. 

We let her rest up before we headed towards McCall. We rode down the hill at our own speed with Steve in front, Bill in the middle and Deb playing caboose. Bill finally caught up with Steve near the bottom as Steve had stopped to help out another rider on the side of the road who was having problems with sore feet. She finally got back on her bike and headed towards the summit while we resumed our ride towards McCall. We finally made it to the next rest stop and waited for Deb. After she arrived we rode together most of the way to McCall. We arrived at Camp Pinewood where the day’s adventure had begun. Deb and Steve decided to go to the McCall Brewing Company to have the after ride meal while Bill and I headed off to get 100 miles in for the day. We started off by riding out to the Tamarack Bay Condominiums, back through town, and out to North Beach. We ended up riding a total of 103 miles in a little over 6 hours.

Riding for MS and motivation

Motivation is what I need to write this. I am motivated to ride the bike for this great cause but writing to me is a strain. Writing was not one of my best subjects in high school or college and it pains me sometimes to come up with the right ways of expressing the details of the ride. I guess Joe will start with the cast of characters and I do mean characters:

Bill – The crazy bike rider
Victoria – his daughter
Joe Vandal – Faithful mascot of the University of Idaho, kind of likes to ride a bike with Bill
Deb – Bill’s youngest sister, semi-crazy bike rider
Steve – Bill’s brother-in-law, married to Deb, another crazy bike rider
Pam – Bill’s sister, the middle one, photographer of all things MS
Chris Nettleton – MS Champion that Bill signed up to ride for at this year’s MS Ride. Each champion had a logo and Chris’ was the Superman logo.
Megan Nettleton – Chris’ wife, MS Coordinator for the ride
Superman – Helmet riding super-hero, rode along in support of Chris

Tuesday, August 14th, before the ride - On the Road

Victoria, Superman, Bill, and I drove from Moscow to the gas station outside of Winchester. Bill got on the bike and rode about 39 miles to the Grangeville side of Whitebird Hill. Victoria, Superman, and I drove to there to wait for him. He said that the ride was very nice. He had thoughts of riding up to the top of Whitebird Hill and then down the other side. The thoughts subsided really quickly once he got the bike loaded onto the car. We stopped at Hoots Cafe to have some ice cream and French fries. Bill said that it sure did taste good after all of the miles on the bike. We loaded back in the car and made our way towards McCall. It was pretty warm all the way along the Salmon River.

Wednesday, August 15th, before the ride - Relaxation

Bill had a very nice ride in McCall before we all traveled down to Boise to go shopping and then dinner at Deb and Steve’s with Pam. Steve made a very good meal of tacos for everyone. We hung out at their house for a while and then headed out to the house in Nampa. It was time to get a good sleep, for Thursday was going to be a busy day of riding for Bill and Steve.

Thursday, August 16th, before the ride - Dump and Time

Dump Loop - The Wall

This was the morning of a dump loop for Steve and Bill. After Steve finished some work, they loaded up all the bike stuff and headed out to suffer. The climbs on this route are pretty hard and Bill wanted to pace himself to keep from bonking like the year before. The new bike rode very well and he was able to go up the inclines fairly quickly. He was able to even pass and stay out ahead of Steve on several of the climbs. On the descents he was no match for Steve’s speed but was able to keep a pretty good pace with him on the flat stretches. After making it to the car they went to the bike store to do some shopping. They even made a quick dash through the McDonalds drive thru to get lunch and then headed back to Deb and Steve’s to rest up for the Time Trial that evening.

Deb arrived home and we had a little snack before we loaded up and headed to the Time Trial course. Bill’s goal was to get below 26 minutes for the 9.7 mile course. He was pretty excited and felt really good since he had put quite a few miles on the new bike. After going out for a quick warm up ride he got into his spot at the start/finish line. Each rider would go out at 1 minute intervals to allow for good spacing on the course. The starter has an assistant that holds the seat to allow the rider to have both feet on the pedals to have a good start. Bill felt like he was going to fall over the whole time that the assistant was holding onto the seat. He was sure glad when the starter told him to go. Once he was out on the course he rattled through the gears and built up speed. It felt like he was riding at a pretty good pace. As he got near the turnaround, he noticed a car turning onto the course and made a decision that he was going to get in front of the car before it actually got onto the course. The course is not closed to cars so he was glad that the driver took some time turning as he was able to get going back down the course to the start/finish line. He finished up with a time of 26 minutes and 5 seconds, the same amount of time that he had got almost 4 weeks earlier.

Friday, August 17th, before the ride - North to McCall

We drove back to McCall in the morning and hung out at the house. Bill rode a little during the day. Deb, Steve, and Pam arrived in the afternoon and that evening we all went over to Camp Pinewood to get signed in for the ride. While we were there we got to meet Chris Nettleton, the MS Champion that Steve and Bill had signed up to ride for. Chris works for KBOI TV in Boise and is the sports anchor. He was out at the playground watching his son play on the slide. Bill had brought along a Superman figure to show Chris. Chris was really happy that Steve and Bill were riding for him during the weekend. After getting checked in, we all went back to the house and spent a relaxing evening before going to bed.

Surprise!

Wow! This month has been an interesting one. The Tour de France was fun to keep an eye on and I was glad that Bradley Wiggins won. The time trials sure put him out in front and kept him there. I should be rooting for one of the US racers in the Olympic Men's Time Trial tomorrow morning but I sure hope that Wiggo will  do it. I am rooting for Kristin Armstrong to bring home the gold in the Women's Time Trial.

The MS Ride is getting closer everyday and I am so pumped up for it to start. I changed my goal to $1200 a couple of days ago. I want to help so much by raising money so that those with MS have a chance for a better life. This years ride will be quite interesting in several different ways. The ride will be done on a new road bike that my sisters and brother-in-law got for me when I was down in Boise for several days. I was so surprised that this happened. I am still giddy about the whole thing. Joe will be riding again this year and he will report on the ride in future postings. Since Wiggo won the Tour de France and everyone is now sporting sideburns like him I will be growing out my sideburns in honor of him when I ride for MS. I am still going to write the names of those that I know on my legs again but I would like more names. If anyone knows of family or friends that have MS please let me know their first name and I put them on there. This makes it more personal for me. There is still time to donate at my MS page.

The first ride I did on the new bike was a time trial. I ended up riding 9.7 miles in 26'05". I couldn't believe that I rode it that fast. I was thinking that I would probably get a time in the 29 minute range. Total miles for the month of July ended up being over 750. I am hoping that I can break the 800 mile mark for August.

Here is a pretty cool quote I found today:
Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work


Keep the shiny side up.

Halfway July and the MS Ride

July is halfway done. Summer is flying by and so are the miles on the bikes. I entered a challenge at the beginning of the Tour de France to ride a total of 544 miles during the 23 days of the tour. It has been a pretty fun time so far with several days of kick my behind riding. I am currently over 400 miles on the challenge with 7 more days to go. All of this riding is hopefully going to pay off when I do the MS Ride in August.

One of the killer rides was with the group of college racers that do a Wednesday night ride. We did an over 40 mile ride that included about 6 or 7 miles of gravel road. The road had been watered down during the day for some construction and it made some nice mud patches to ride through. The Vandal Bike needed a good cleaning and some oil and grease that next day.

On this last Saturday I rode to Troy to meet my sister (Deb) and brother-in-law (Steve) to ride to Moscow and then back to Troy. It was a very nice time and I was glad to have them to ride with. They are going to be participating in the MS Ride this year and I am really glad for that. I have missed their presence in the ride.

This coming week I am also going to do a Time Trial. Basically it will be me against the clock in a 9.7 mile ride in Boise. My goal is to do the coarse in less then 30 minutes and not throw up at the end. We will see if that works out. The morning before that Time Trial will be spent doing the Dump Loop with Steve. This is going to be a nice little workout. Hopefully it does not end up like last years ride where I really bonked at the  one climb they call the Wall.

The MS Ride will be here in a little over a month and I am really getting excited to go meet everyone and ride for a great cause. This will be my 5th year doing this and every year has been more of an eye opener for me. If you would still like to donate then you can go to my MS Page. I would like to thank of those that have donated this year and for all that have donated in the past.

Hey, biking June.

Last day of June has come at last. What a bicycle rich month it has been. Riding no matter what the weather has been. This has been a month of going on a couple of Wednesday rides with other riders here in Moscow. We meet at the old Tidyman's parking lot at 5:30 and ride for a couple of hours. The route is usually decided at the meeting place and sometimes changes during the ride.

The first Wednesday ride was me mostly playing catch up with the others. We did some climbing, and some gravel road riding. I felt pretty good on the climbs and the gravel did not bother me to much other then trying to go up a gravel road. The others would wait for me to get where they were at so that I would know where we were going next. The next Wednesday that I rode with them was pretty fun. I finally made it to Genesee on a group bike ride. I would usually get dropped on the first or second hill and end up meandering back to Moscow. This time was a day of not giving up even when I was unable to see them. I did manage to catch up to a couple of the them. My legs felt great during the first part of the ride but they started having issues on the second part back to Moscow. I made it back to Moscow a little after 8:00 that evening. Sure am glad the sun is still out at that time.

I sure have enjoyed this month of biking. I have even collected some fun little statistics for the month:

• 755.58 total miles
• 52.8 total hours
• 32214 total calories used
• 29 days of riding
• 26 miles average per day
• longest ride was 58.95 miles
• 1984 total miles for the year (should have probably done 2000 but I had to work around the house today)

Weather Riding

So far the month of June has been a very interesting month for weather. Today was the warmest day but the wind was blowing 15 to 30 mph all day long. Riding a bike during that is very interesting indeed, especially if you are riding into the wind.

There was all sorts of interesting weather last Saturday. I finally rode in the "Just for the Hill of It Challenge". It was a pretty rainy trip down to White Bird and we were wondering if it was going to even be nice for the ride. As we got to the top of White Bird Hill it was slightly snowing and foggy. Would it be time to just turn around and go home or should we press on and plunge into the foggy depths? We were there to ride no matter what so down we went. Turns out to be partly cloudy and 46 degrees at the starting point. Now to get psyched up to bike 12+ miles and ascend the old grade of White Bird Hill. 

Switchback after switchback, higher and higher out of the canyon we rode. Finish line only a mile ahead and the road is still going up. Feeling pretty good as the finish got closer, I figured that a sprint was in order and then there would be cookies to consume. This was a great ride because I needed the challenge to see how I would do on a climb. I went in with the expectation of really hurting when I got to the finish. I actually felt really good and am really looking forward to doing it again.

Going back down was amazing. Hitting some pretty good speeds and then having to slow down to go through a switchback. Making sure that nothing was coming from below. Having to be ready at all times just in case. The views were amazing as I meandered back and forth on the face of that hill.

The End, Almost.

End of the Latah Trail.

May is slowly coming to a close. Bike month has been a great biking month. Since the last post I have put almost 200 more miles on the bikes, with almost 100 of those miles occurring during this Memorial Day weekend. Two trips to the end of the Latah Trail in Troy have really made me feel good about riding. The wind has slowed down and the temperature has gone up a little.

I have seen some interesting things while biking the past few weeks. One day while commuting to work there was a mother duck slowly walking seven little ducklings across the trail. I came to a stop and let them go across while she quacked at them all the way. What a wonderful sight to see.

On Saturday at the 1 mile marker outside of Troy there was a wild turkey walking across the trail. It is so cool to get to all of the different things along the Chipman and Latah Trails.

A different pair of shoes has helped the ball of my right foot a lot. It has turned out that a harder sole is needed to take most of the force of the pedals.

With the end of Bike Month comes the pledge to keep riding and raising money for the MS Society. I am so excited about riding in McCall again this August in support of those with MS. You can donate online at the National MS Society site. Thanks for supporting me in this great cause. If want to help but do not want to do an online donation then please get in touch with me. We can work something out.

May and MS Ride

Been a great May so far. 200+ miles on the bikes and it doesn't look like it is slowing down. I figured out why the ball of my right foot was hurting. Seems that I need to move my foot forward when starting out on the Vandal bike before I try to get it in the toe clip. Took a ride out to Robinson Lake Park yesterday evening. I am glad that there was not that much traffic on that road.

I finally signed up for the MS Ride in McCall. It will be a great two days of riding in late August. Deb and Steve are going to be back at it again this year. Deb is probably going to kick my butt this year from all of the training and racing that she has done. If anyone would like to donate to this wonderful cause you can go to my MS Society donation page. Joe Vandal will be tagging along again this year. Thanks to all of those that have supported me in the past.

Happy Bike Month! Back to the Blog

It has been a little while since this was last updated.

So far for the year I have ridden 94 days out of 124 days. 77 of those days were commuting back and forth to work. The weather has been pretty interesting all of those days that I commuted. Rain, snow, hail, cold, warm, clear, overcast, windy, and any variation of those at one time.

The longest ride I have taken was a 27 mile ride to Pullman and back in March. It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon for a ride.

On April 21st and 22nd, Philip and I got the opportunity to watch the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships here in Moscow and the surrounding area. The road race, a 23 mile loop, was held in the neat little town of Palouse, WA. I got to drive the lead car for two of the races that started in Palouse, went out on Highway 27 towards Pullman, turned onto Clear Creek Road, turned onto Highway 272, and went back into Palouse. Philip rode along and did a great job of being my co-pilot during the race. It made it easier to keep an eye on the road with him keeping an eye out for the cyclists. That evening was the Team Time Trial that started just outside of Genesee, ID on the old Highway 95 road. It was a blast watching all of the teams head out and then come back in full speed. On the 22nd, Philip and I went over to campus to watch the Criterium cycling race on the roads around the Law School. I have watched this a few times in the past but this time I got to stay to watch all of the races and from different areas of the course. These cyclists fly when they do these races. I get scared just watching how close they come to each other as they through the different turns.

I think the most interesting part of that weekend was the group of guys from Seattle University that we had staying at our house. It was a lot of testosterone and bike talk. Would have loved taking the Vandal bike out for a ride on the trail with them but they had to save all of their energy for the races.

Happy Bike Month!

February is here

Six more weeks of winter. What winter? I think we have had about 20 days of actual snow on the ground this "winter". Sure has made riding the bike pretty easy to do. Did have to walk to work two days during the hardest snow time. Did 24 days and over 180 miles for the month of January. I ended up missing 7 days due to a busy weekend or way to much snow on the ground.

Riding sure makes me feel better when I arrive at my destination. I am even in a good mode if the people in cars are total nitwits. Riding allows me to really notice how distracted drivers can be.

New year, new stuff

With the new year comes plans for keeping fit. Only have a few things that I want to accomplish on the bike(s) this year.

1. Ride every day of the year.
2. Ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alene twice during the summer (140+ miles out and back).
3. Ride 3000+ miles for the year.
4. Ride in the McCall for the MS Ride again in August.
5. Ride a little bit in the mountains again, especially with Philip.

A few other things that need to be done this year are:

1. Watch what I eat. (I tend to like a little bit of the chocolate stuff)
2. Keep playing basketball at least three times a week.

I really enjoy commuting to work on the bike. There are so many different routes to take and they all lead to the same place. Some routes give me more miles and some have more difficult terrain.

I added another blinking light to the trailer to allow for people to see me better. Another thing that I need to do with the trailer is replace the cover. The trailer is 18 years old and has been really well used. I finally replaced the tires since one of them had developed a slow leak over several months and the other one went flat one day. I figured it was time to get new and maybe these will last another 18 years.

The first ride of the year happened about 10 minutes after midnight on the 1st. Rode out on the trail to the start of the Chipman trail and then back home. It was a very nice ride and I did not meet up with any drunks along the way.