In honor of my first real bike trip with Sky King and The Bike Hermit, I give you stuff bike touring chicks say…
Seriously, is this headwind for real? Is it always uphill? I hate bike touring. I should have trained more. That cheeseburger was a bad idea. Does that sign seriously say “chain up area”, sh*t. Pedal 1,2,3,4, pedal 1,2,3,4. Okay my legs aren’t working. My butt hurts. Do I have a flat? How much sugar is in these shot block things anyway? Was that guy cute? Do I look cute? Wow, it’s like so pretty out here. Oh crap, I’m in the middle of the road again. Oh crap, I almost went off the road again. I swear to god if the bike hermit says “you’ll have this in bike touring” one more time, i’m pushing him off his bike.
In 2010 The Bike Hermit took his first bike jaunt in Texas. Titled Texas Buckaroos, his adventure is well chronicled on crazyguyonabike.com. Since then, I have heard about his trip pretty much Every Single Day; how amazing this part of Texas is, how friendly the people are, how we need to move to Texas, how Boise is actually hotter and colder than Alpine – you name it, I’ve heard it. Being who I am, my initial reaction was there is no way I am moving to Texas. Those who know me know that I tend to balk when others rave about certain places or things – yes even when The Bike Hermit is the one doing the raving :). After a few years of his pushing Texas I finally let the brain crack open and began to soften to the idea of at least going for a visit. It took a few years to line up all the stars but suddenly the idea was becoming a reality. Originally we planned to go in early 2015 but with everything slipping into place we decided we’d planned enough and we’d just go for it. Again, to those who know us, this should come a no surprise.
From the start of our Texas Bike Ride I vowed to have no agenda, no expectations and to allow each and every day unfold of it’s own accord. A little self congratulations are in order as I think I came pretty darn close to achieving that goal. (okay there may have been a few moments and there were some very choice words thrown around on a particularly nasty section of Glenn Springs Road in Big Bend National Park) But as always when riding, it got better.
Everyone approaches bike touring in their own way. We all have our little rituals and habits. One of mine is to make up songs as I ride. My theme usually involves what ever I see or experience on the the ride. During our 3 weeks in Texas I wrote a great little riding ditty. My singing is totally restricted to riding my bike with Jim either way out in front or somewhere behind me. I can carry a perfect tune, as long as no one is listening. Here are the words: (the tune is The Heart of Saturday Night by Tom Waits)
Little Yellow Flowers growing by the road, tucked in with the cactus and a flowering yucca plant too.
Bike riding in Texas, having a marvelous time.
Got the wind at my back, the sun in the sky, riding along with my favorite guy.
That’s why I like Texas, have a wonderful time
So, what do I think of Texas? I will answer that with, we are busy planning the next trip. As the standard response from a certain someone. “Just listen to the Bike Hermit and all will be fine.” West Texas is a country unto itself. I am a lover of wide open spaces and certainly got my fill of beautiful, quiet, rugged country.
Are we moving to Texas? Well that move, if ever, is certainly a longs ways off. I look forward to doing quite a bit more Texas bike pedaling and have many more places to explore. The isolated beauty, while amazing to visit, may become a bit tarnished if I were to experience it day in and day out.
You can never go back – a mantra of mine for sure. I believe one will never have the same experience twice so when we do go back, I will once again embrace the adventure with no expectations and just look forward to enjoying the beauty Texas has to offer. Have a wonderful time.
When asked how to get between Boise and Mountain Home on a bicycle without riding on I-84 and without riding the Old Oregon Trail, which is dirt road, I haven’t been able to give a good answer. Until now.
From Bike Touring News to the eastern most exit off of I-84 it is 14 miles. Take Federal Way south past Gowen Road to Memory Lane and turn right to the freeway Exit 59B. Actually, this route does mean about 8 or nine miles on the freeway, but the shoulder is wide and smooth and rumble strips divide it from the traffic. Ride to Exit 71 Mayfield Road. Turn left across the freeway to Desert Wind Road. Turn right and follow Desert Wind as it becomes W. Tilli Road. Turn right on Ditto Creek Road which crosses I-84 to the junction with Old Oregon Trail Highway. Turn left and parallel the freeway into Mountain Home. This is not the most scenic route in the world, but it will get you to Mountain Home and from there Old Highway 30 takes you to points East.
As the Bike Hermit is deep into his remodeling project, Sky King jumped at the chance to do some great slow pedaling with the ladies. This turned out to be a perfect way to enjoy spring weather, work in bird watching and be reminded that life is about the journey, not the destination.
Pelicans In Flight
Lisa, Julie and I spent hours exploring the Snake river along State Highway 30 just south of Hagerman, Idaho and then more hours at Bruneau Sand Dunes. Our only goals were to have fun and enjoy the abundance of waterfowl. Spinning along we never passed up the opportunity to stop, grab the binoculars and take in the views. We took advantage of soaking in the pool at Miracle Hot Springs – even admired the alligator.
Waking up to the sound of Thousand Spring’s waterfalls made for a delightful start to our ride.
Thousand SpringsFashionably dressed bird watchers
Being open to meandering lead to sweet surprises. One of my favorites was observing the Heron’s working on the nests in the rookery. There were at least two dozen birds nesting in a compact group of trees. Would be fun to come back and watch “hatchling” flying lessons.
Heron Rookery
Riding anywhere in Southern Idaho in early spring, means laughing at the yellow bellied marmots and their insatiable curiosity.
soaking up some sunchecking us out
Finally no birdwatching trip would be complete without the harrier hawk in the sky, a few ducks in the pond and the beautiful wax wings.
Marsh Hawk at Bruneau Sand DunesHold still so we can take a picture
Okay, I must confess that when Kurt stopped in the Cave in January to fill us in on the planned adventure we both thought he was nuts. Of course some people think we are nuts as well so that is fair. Kurt and his 9 year old daughter are traveling cross country riding a Recumbent Trike and a recumbent tag-a-long. Check in with them on their blog. Send them best wishes and encouragement as the weather gods have been blessing them with quite a bit of rain 🙁
If it looks like they will be passing through your neighborhood, consider offering them a place to stay or good ideas on things to see.
Customer and friend Wendell came in the other day with his new Salsa Fargo “adventure” touring bike. As we were talking about places to go with such a bike he mentioned the Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway (which sounds much better than the local name of Mud Flats Road).
Here is a mostly dirt road on mostly Bureau of Land Management real estate connecting Grand View, Idaho and Jordan Valley, Oregon through the Owyhee Uplands, one of the largest areas of un-fragmented sagebrush habitat in the West .
The Byway can be reached through Jordan Valley, Oregon 80 miles southwest of Boise or through Grand View, Idaho 70 miles southeast of Boise. It is 103 miles between the two towns, 74 of those miles on unpaved surfaces. I’m sure it could be ridden in one grueling day but that is not the point. Experiencing what’s out there is the point. Three days and two nights one way seems reasonable.
2 or 3 options present themselves:
1) drive to either Grand View or Jordan Valley, leave a car and drive to the other end. ride the Byway and shuttle back to the start.
2) drive to one end and do the roundtrip.
3) start in Boise and ride the loop.
There are no services between Grand View and Jordan Valley. There is water along the way but it is best not to drink it without boiling it or treating it first. If chosing the first option above it might be possible to stash a cooler loaded with extra water and food and other refreshment at some point along the route and retrieve it when shuttling back. If taking the second or third options provisions will need to be made to either boil or filter or otherwise treat enough water for drinking. Carrying enough for even three days would be awkward and heavy.
Wide, stout tires will make the loose, rocky washboarded sections more comfortable. I’m thinking 700c x 42 or 26″ x 2.3 or 650b x aswideaspossible. Of course a fatbike such as the Pugsley or Moonlander deserve serious consideration. 4 to 5 inch wide tires inflated to 10 or 12 psi would float over the rough stuff and track straight in the loose gravel and sand. Then they could be pumped up to 20 or 25 psi for the paved sections.
Above Shoofly Canyon. BLM photo
Camping is allowed in non-designated areas on BLM land. But if you choose to do this, please remember to stay on established roads and trails, “leave no trace,” and “pack it out.” Along the Byway there are parcels of private land and the BLM recommends purchasing one of their surface management status maps available for a small fee from the BLM (208)-373-4007) Ask for the “Triangle” section. Respect private property and avoid trespassing. There is one developed campground at the North Fork Recreation Site about 32 miles from Jordan Valley.
The road is sometimes impassable from late November through March due to snow. The surface will also be slick and messy if it is wet and that would be no fun. Daytime temps in the summer can reach triple Fahrenheit digits and the nights in the high desert can be cold anytime of year. So, plan accordingly.
With all those caveats in place I can say that the more I have researched this, the more excited I am to ride in and explore this area. We have lived in Boise for over twenty years and, until we got touring bicycles, never made the effort to see some of the amazing, remote areas in our back yard. The byway overlays several different vegetation zones – riparian zones along the rivers, the sagebrush steppe, salt desert shrub landscape and juniper woodlands. The Owyhee Canyonlands are home to one fifth of the world population of native California Bighorn Sheep. There are over 500 thousand acres of designated wilderness areas in the Owyhee Canyonlands. One half. million. acres. You have some ‘splorin to do, Lucy!
In October of last year (2011 that is. I know it’s over 3 months ago) We received an email from Grace Johnson who is publishing an online bike touring magazine called Bicycle Traveler. She sent the following about the September, 2011 issue:
About Bicycle Traveler magazine:
Bicycle Traveler is a free international magazine on bicycle touring. It’s full of entertaining stories and inspiring photography which will have you dreaming over new destinations, as well as information over cycling gear.
In this issue:
Articles in issue #1 September 2011 include Checkposts & Magic Letters Long distance cyclists Hiromu and Peter Gostelow cross into the Central African Republic. Riding high in the Dolomites the Cycling Gypsies pedal over Italy’s Passo Giau with the help of their dogs Paco and Jack plus Tibet a photo story inspiring photos from Nathalie Pellegrinelli as well the short stories Small town America and the Hungry Cyclist.
The magazine contains no advertisements and can be downloaded for free at the bicycletraveler website
Their plan is to publish an issue 3 times per year in January, May and September. That means a new one will be coming out soon, so go to the site and download a copy and sign up to be notified when the new one comes out. Could be good reading while dreaming about your 2012 tour plans.
Ian Hibell was a British bicycle tourist who spent the better part of 40 years traveling by bike. At an average 6000 miles per year, that is ten time around the equator. He wrote a book called “Into The Remote Places” published in 1984. Hibell was killed by a hit and run driver in Greece in 2008.
Guaranteed on any bike tour, you are going to sweat. Ending the day with a shower is one of the ultimate rewards on a bike trip (ranks right up there with a cold beer). On our recent tour on the Olympic Peninsula we spent each night at a campground but still ran into unexpected issues with using the showers. Many campgrounds have “pay as you play” showers so be sure to tuck quarters into your pannier. We arrived at one site “afterhours” and discovered they didn’t take quarters but used tokens that needed to be purchased from the camp host… Well hell, what to do. From previous trips we have devised a great technique for impromptu showers, we call it the two water bottles and a camp towel trick. Simply heat water, pour into two water bottles. At the campsite that had the shower but needed tokens, I took my water bottles, Dr Bonner’s liquid soap, my camp towel and my bike shorts into the shower stall. I wet my hands, applied a small amount of soap and lathered all the priority body parts that need attention. Then I used my two water bottles of warm water for rinsing. While not as deluxe as a 3 minute shower, it takes the sweat layer off and I can sleep comfortably.
Why the bike shorts in the shower? We travel with two pairs of shorts and every night apply a small amount of diluted Dr Bonners to the chamois of the shorts worn that day and rinse well. The shorts hang off the hammock for the night and if still damp in the am are securely draped over my sleeping bag for the days ride.
As noted we travel with hennesey hammocks so no tent for a private spit bath, No worries, the rain fly makes a nice shower curtain for the two bottle shower.
A rainfly can double as a shower curtain
In addition to the camp towel and Dr Bonner’s, two other must have items I tuck into my pannier – Nutrogena Face Towelettes and baby wipes. Both have travel packs. It is nice to grab a face towelette and get the grime off and baby wipes … well let’s just say what did we do without them.
Sky King snapped this after crossing the Agate Pass Bridge. The bifurcated "shoulder" doesn't leave room for a cyclist. One option would be to walk across on the elevated portion, but there is not much room even for that. The other option is to "take the lane" as though you have the right...which you do.
Riding across the Agate Pass Bridge between Bainbridge Island and the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State on a fully loaded touring bike is one of the most frightening experiences I have had on a bike. The “shoulder” of the road way is divided by elevation, half is at road level and half is raised about 8 inches. So what is left is two unusable strips about 18 inches wide.
As I watch my wife ride over I choke down my fear of the unimaginable. She actually timed it perfectly by starting off just in front of a big box van which would have difficulty passing her with the heavy traffic in the opposite direction and “took the lane”, in other words, she rode in the depression the right tires of innumerable cars have left in the pavement. So every vehicle behind the box van just had to take a deep breath and use the big pedal beside the gas pedal.
Expert that the bike hermit is, he decided he could ride on the elevated part. Which was no problem until a gust of wind almost blew him off the curb and into oncoming traffic. When his heart rate slowed sufficiently and there was a break in traffic he continued across….. taking the traffic lane.
Sometimes you have to hold up traffic to avoid dying. Just remember, you have as much right to use that section of the road as an automobile does. And remember that most people are not psychopaths and they will not run over you. If you act predictably and make sure that motorists see you, without being obnoxious, then you can co-exist. Just assume that the motorist doesn’t see you and ride very defensively. Every state has different laws governing bicyclists and a tourist can’t be expected to know all of them, but I think common sense and riding with confidence, as if you belong, can go a long way.
Of course, this was a relatively short bridge and I don’t recommend this for every situation. You should check local conditions and if a road or bridge appears to be too dangerous then find another route or another way across.
But as always when riding, it got better. 
West Texas is a country unto itself. I am a lover of wide open spaces and certainly got my fill of beautiful, quiet, rugged country.
