I've ridden two days for a total of 6 hours in Boise so far this trip and I have yet to pass a person riding a bike that hasn't either waved, nodded, smiled or said hello to me in passing. In fact, even the triathletes down on their aero bars have made an effort to show some sign of acknowledgement.
You might think that I've encountered relatively few riders and that those I've seen just happen to be of the friendly type. Well, that hasn't been the case as I've spent the past two days on some of the most popular routes in the city: Hill Road and Bogus Basin Road. It's been a nice surprise and if there is such an award I hereby nominate Boise as the friendliest cycling city in the west. And keep in mind that I have yet to ride my mountain bike so these are, generally speaking, roadies. I know - crazy.
While the trip has thus far been quite enjoyable I did manage to leave one very important item at home: My legs. I don't know why but I've had nothing on the bike. This morning I left the house at 8:30 AM and while it was significantly cooler than yesterday, I still had no snap on the climb to Bogus. However, this time I started much slower and was able to make it up to the top. It's a great climb with an even better descent.
I'm really enjoying riding tubeless and seem to notice the biggest difference (besides the fact I'm not fixing flats) on the downhill. Like yesterday I was again carrying more speed through the corners than I have in the past. It's been a lot of fun and almost makes me forget how slow I climbed up.
After the ride I decided to take my cold bath to a new level and added most of the contents of a 10 pound bag of ice to the tub. It made for an uncomfortable first 1-2 minutes but hopefully it will result in my having a better day on the bike tomorrow. Speaking of which, those of you racing the Boise Twilight Criterium will want to have a good hydration plan as it's forecast to reach 104 degrees! I will probably be spectating with a CamelBak filled with ice water!
Friday's Pie Tracker: Raspberry
Catskills and Poconos for the Win
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Looking for powder? Head east to the Catskills and the Poconos. Some
decent 24-hour totals out there, including 16.5" near Delhi.
It's a bit of a str...
1 hour ago
4 comments:
Sounds like fun. Erich and I are headed up to Galena Lodge. Depending on how much painting I get done this weekend we will either head up Wednesday or Thursday. It was hot last year so I am hoping it will not be too bad this year.
I moved to Boise about 4 years ago from Santa Barbara where cyclists do not acknowledge any other cyclist. As a road cyclist, if you waved or nodded to a MTB rider or, worse yet, at triathlete you could be made fun of. However, in Boise all cyclists are very friendly; everyone waves to one another!
Ice baths? Are you serious?
I guess the idea is to reduce inflammation...and as good as that might sound in theory, you need blood flow to recover, and a cold bath would retard blood flow, not aid it.
So I'm curious to know if you think the baths help. I think I'd go with some Tiger Balm or Icy Hot instead...
You have to be friendly here in Boise these days. You better wave while you can, or you may not see those other cyclists again, based on the sad rate at which they're being picked off:
http://treasurevalleycycling.com/node/348
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