Riding and more riding

The rest of June was spent mostly commuting to work. Did get a few longer rides in but nothing too crazy. Ended up with almost 500 miles at the end of the month. I did encounter one problem with the Vandal bike that needs attention. The rear wheel had the axle break on it sometime during the month.

July started with the usual heat that made riding not very fun. We did go down to McCall and Warren over the 4th and I was able to get in some good riding with the mountain bike in the dredge ponds and one of the old jeep trails. Steve and I had a pretty good ride on the Schissler Creek Trail. We were heading down the backside when we realized that we would need to climb back out to get back to the cabin. We turned around and headed back up the trail to get to the cabin.

I have ridden the MS Ride in McCall for the past 5 years and we have always turned around at the Burgdorf “Y”. There has been a yearning to keep going and make it to Warren every time I have done the ride. This year I rode from the cabin which is located near the dredge ponds just a mile away from Warren to the Burdorf “Y”. It was a nice 17 mile ride on a pretty good gravel road. There were a couple of good climbs that made me work pretty hard.

Rode with Hector Picard on the 13th of July from Pullman to Spokane. He was riding through to help raise funds for a young boy who needs prosthetics. Hector is a double arm amputee who has done 3 Ironmans and over 70 triathlons. He is a neat individual and it was real fun to be able to ride with him. He had already travelled almost 3100 miles by the time he got to Pullman since he started in Florida. After we got to Spokane I turned around and rode back to Colfax where I met Wendy so that she could take me home. My tush was very tired from the 135 mile ride.

Got the Vandal bike back up and working after replacing the axle. Philip's bike had the same thing happen so he needed it replaced too. I am really enjoying learning how to work on the bikes.

I will be doing the MS Ride on the Trail of the Couer d’Alene this year since the ride in McCall is no longer being held. I just signed up for the ride and if anyone wants to donate to you can do it at my participant page. The ride is the 14th and 15th of September.