Our 95 mile ride today
was actually 102, but hey what's an extra 7 miles, we got to add another
century to our summer. The ride started off ice cold at about 35-40 degrees,
from lodging we had about 10 miles most of which was up hill until we reached
just over 7,000 feet at the top where we crossed the Continental Divide and
crossed back into Idaho to head to Driggs. This was the first day, and
hopefully last, that I actually dreaded going downhill. It was so cold that the
lower half of my face and toes went numb and my fingers felt like ice. After a
long stretch in the cold and up another hill we felt like we were about to
freeze solid on the bike and luckily ran into a crew stop and dropped our bikes
and jumped in the van to warm up. Once we got feeling back in all our limbs and
grabbed an extra layer we jumped back on the bike for another short downhill
and as we came to the bottom it started to warm up over the next 10 miles,
after that I got a lot more happy about the ride. We turned off the main highway
onto a smaller scenic byway that was gorgeous, it felt like we were just on
this little road wondering through the woods, that was all we could see, we
passed a waterfall and river before we came out on the other side and it
quickly turned into rolling hills and farmland with mountains surrounding us.It
stayed like that all the way to our roadside lunch which was provided by our
hosts for the next couple days. Grilled steak tacos and salad was a nice change
from white bread with meat and cheese with chips and a cookie. We rode the last
18ish miles from lunch to stage up for lodging and the weather was looking grim
ahead of us but my pace line got the best of it. For the whole last stretch we
were riding just on the edge of this storm cloud, on the left of us your could
tell it was pouring not to far from us, on the right it was beautiful blue
skies and light fluffy clouds. Some people got rained on a little, others got
hailed on but we just rode through, felt just a few drops and then turned
toward the blue skies and we were out of it. We staged up at the Driggs
Courthouse because the road to lodging turns into a dirt road leading up to
Pete's ranch where we are staying.
We have heard rumors
about these two days in Driggs being a couple of the most amazing days and the
second we get to his ranch I realize exactly why. Pete and his family have
owned this ranch for 37 years, he cycled North Route in 1999 with a few of his
chapter brothers. They have all stayed really close and go up to the ranch with
him on vacation and they came out too. When we pull into the ranch the main
house is up on top of this big hill, we drive up there past a beautiful pond,
horse stables and a putting green that they hit balls onto from behind the main
house on the hill. From all sides of his house you can see mountains or
beautiful hill sides and the Tetons from his side deck where we ate dinner.
Other than how beautiful the views are and his houses are, including the bunk
house in the back, the guest house down the road that some of us are staying in
and the main house he is giving us so much to do. We can go canoeing or fly
fishing on a river through his property, we can go shoot guns, skeet shooting,
hit golf balls onto the green, hot tub, pool, horseback riding, hiking,
lounging and watching the world cup games. This place is incredible and it is
amazing that they are letting us stay here and giving us all these awesome
things to do. I went horseback riding for an hour and we got to wonder around
his 2,000 acres of land to some areas with amazing views of the rest of the
valley and the mountains, it was definitely the fasts I have gone on a horse
too, they got us up to a good little run for some parts of the ride which was
cool, I wanted to go faster but the ranch manager guiding us wasn't sure if
Pete would be ok with it. Maybe tomorrow. Once we got back we watched some of
the Ivory Coast vs Japan game before dinner was served which was by far the
best meal we have had, giant platters of amazing grilled chicken and this bean
and rice mango salad with some sides, it was delicious.
After dinner they had a
surprise for us, they were shooting of fireworks in the front yard, it was so
cool, we were all laughing, the dog was trying to chase the fireworks so we had
to hold him back. Pete and his friends are hilarious, we have already talked
about how we hope we stay as close of friends as these guys and are banking on
one of us making millions so they can buy a big house and lots of property and
toys like Pete has so we can come hang out and do fun stuff. After fireworks
most people went to bed but I went out back to hot tub with a bunch of guys,
talked about getting JOH tattoos and random stuff.
Tomorrow we have the
whole day at the ranch to hang out and do whatever we want, my goal is to try
skeet shooting, I will be a happy camper if I can shoot just one of the clay
pigeons but I have a feeling I won't even come close. Other than that, just
hanging out and relaxing, more pool and hot tub time, canoeing and maybe give
fly fishing a try.
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