I’m still being cautious with my training, but with the weather so nice lately it’s hard to resist doing some longer rides. So to keep myself from going too hard, I planned an easy-paced ride and invited some recreational-rider friends. I also knew UTRider was in town for the weekend and that he’d at least join Heather and me.

As the sun rose through slightly cloudy skies this morning, when 7:00 AM finally came around, it was just four of us: UTRider, “LotoJa” Dan, Heather and myself. We headed out while it was still chilly, due to some high clouds towards the east. On Beacon Light Rd, UTRider noticed a slow leak in his front tire. We decided to fix it before we hit Hwy 16. After chatting for a few minutes while he changed his tube, we were back on our way.

Once on Hwy 16 we rode single-file at a nice pace. The sun was coming out of the clouds and it was becoming a beautiful day. We made the right on Substation Rd and took it easy as we jogged our way to Black Canyon Rd. We made a brief pitstop at Wild Rose park by the dam then headed east on one of my favorite stretches of road. We had a slight tailwind and I couldn’t help but get into upper tempo range during my pulls. It’s hard to resist going fast on this road when you have a tailwind!

After one of the sweeping left hand turns, I was at the front while a big 18-wheeler cattle trucked passed. The truck came really close when it passed me and then I felt a “spray”?! I noticed the cattle truck was full of cows and came to the realization of what that liquid probably was….ick!! A few moments later, a couple more cattle trucks went by, but those gave us more room as they passed. Dan mentioned that they were probably moving the herds to better grazing areas.

Aside from those trucks, there wasn’t too much traffic. We were then able to enjoy the great scenery as we wove along the Payette River. We made another pitstop at Horseshoe Bend and then headed through town towards the Old Horseshoe Bend Hill Rd. Just past the cattle-guard, marking the beginning of the true climb, there were three donkeys standing by the side of the road! They just stood there and watched as we rode by, seemingly staring at us with the same curiosity we did at them!

We just rode up the climb at a leisurely pace, chatting most of the time. There was a headwind up the climb which was both a positive and negative. The breeze helped keep us cool, but it also made the climb that much harder. With the steep grade and the rough chip-seal, the climb was already hard enough!

At the top we re-grouped. We took a couple pictures then headed down Hwy 55. The descent was fun and the wind changed a bit so we had a tailwind on the false flat by Avimor and Shadow Valley Golf Course. Dan kicked it towards the end with Heather on his wheel, while UTRider and I just rode easy. We met back up on Floating Feather and made it home in 3:22.

It was a fun ride. It was nice to be able to enjoy the scenery and just ride easy most of the time. That’s a change for me as usually on those length rides I’m doing intervals then padding the last half of the ride with as much Tempo as I can manage. It was also great to have the ride done by 11 AM so Heather and I had the whole rest of the day open.