Eagle, ID — To finish off this long week I rode with some of my teammates to Big City Coffee to join our club’s weekly ride. It looked like a beautiful, sunny day. But out of the windows of a nice warm house, looks can be deceiving! It was actually quite chilly and windy out there. The wind was out of the northwest blowing cold air the whole day. We rode from Big City to Hwy 16, where most of the club riders turned on Beacon to head back. Then it was just three of my teammates and myself who continued on to do the Emmett/Horseshoe Bend loop. I did an interval on Hwy 52 towards Horseshoe Bend. My legs burned the whole time, but my power was good so I stuck it out.

We stopped in Horseshoe Bend for some water and a bathroom break and then headed up Old Horseshoe Bend Rd. This used to be one of my favorite loops until they ruined the Old Horseshoe Bend Rd. This road was bypassed when they built the new highway so now it is not fully maintained. You actually have to ride on dirt in a few spots, but it’s not too bad. The main thing is that there’s hardly any traffic on it. Much better than getting buzzed by vehicles going 60MPH on the new highway, breathing diesel fumes and brake dust the whole way.

What ruined the old road is that they chip-sealed it early last year with the worst chip-seal I’ve ever ridden! The chip-seal they used has rocks the size of golf balls…they don’t look like “chips” to me! So now climbing the hill is always slower and definitely more fatiguing. It seems the faster you go, the more the rocks slow your momentum. I did another 20-minute interval from the first cattle guard to near the top, but it was hard. I waited for my teammates and then we just slowly rode up the rest of the climb. By the top of the hill, my legs were feeling the ride. I was glad it was almost all downhilll from there to my house. In the early miles the pace picked up and I rode in the wind pushing some good wattage for about ten minutes. So I really ended up doing three FT intervals today. Total ride time was 4 hours and 20 minutes with 50 minutes of threshold work.