Deby kicks in

August 28th/09 - Montpelier, Idaho
Mileage: 107.84 km
Total mileage: 1380 km
Ride time: 5:18 hrs

Cycled south, still on Hwy 89 to Afton. Large valley now. Still agricultural. Since Alpine we have been south bound in Wyoming and we will return to Idaho closer to Montpelier.

At Afton we were directed to take another hwy which parallels 89 as they were chip coating a long stretch of the hwy. I have learned the hard way and the person who redirected us already know that chip coating and bicycle tires do not get along. We were very appreciative.

We entered the Bridger National Forest and climbed the Salt River pass to the summit of 7,000 and some odd feet. Deby was just minutes behind me when I topped out. She seemed to be keeping up really well today. I would pour it on for miles in a stretch only to look back and find her right there. Scared me on a couple of occasions.

Then it was down, down, down into Geneva, Idaho. You'd think Geneva is a town because it's on the map, but it isn't. We were in dire need of water so we asked a fella on the hwy if he could help us. He invited us into his house and we filled our water bottles.

Then it was up, up, up to the Geneva pass summit at 6,900 feet. It was a brutal grade and long. Every time you'd go around a bend the climb would continue and get steeper. I went up without stopping for fear I would never get going again. When I reached the top I only waited 3-5 minutes and the little Polish Princess came into view. She hadn't stopped either.

Met Dan at the KOA. A fellow cyclist. He was travelling from his home in Nebraska and en route to the Washington coast. Dan has been retired for 16 years and has cycled everywhere in the US. He had also cycled to Canada on a few trips.

We talked cycling and he assured me that the problems we were having with flat tires was not unusual. He said that in one day in Kansas he had had 9 flat tires. We both agreed that years ago it was never this way, but chalked it up to more traffic and road debris, and also to the modern trend of chip coating.

Also met Merlin who used to be a police officer and requested a Saskatoon Police flash. Merlin now owns a restaurant at Garden City, Utah. He hangs police flashes from all over the world inside the place.