Today was one of those super-clear days you only get once in a while. With foothills still a shade of green I just had to take some pictures. So I went up to the roof to take some shots (I also had to adjust the skylight cover, so it wasn’t the only reason I climbed up there!). But as you can see, the view was amazing. You could really see Shafer Butte and the surrounding mountains at Bogus Basin.

So with such a picturesque scene right out my office window, I was giddy with excitement to go on my one o’clock ride. I managed to get a couple teammates to join me; Todd and Jim. The route was Emmett–Horseshoe Bend and my plan was to ride it as I usually do: LT up Hwy 16, Tempo through Black Canyon and then leave anything I had left on the climb up Old Horseshoe Bend Road.

I pretty much managed to stick to that plan but I ended up pushing harder than I wanted up Hwy 16 with a 24-minute interval at 311 watts! Then when we started rotating through Black Canyon I knew I was in trouble. The road was awesome with very little traffic but the tailwind we had seemed to die toward the end. My legs would hurt quickly during my pulls and I wonderd if I’d even make it up Horseshoe Bend Hill!? We stopped at the Chevron to fill our bottles with some much needed ice water; it was getting downright hot! And, no, that’s not a complaint…just a statement of fact! Remember, I love the hot weather! BTW, this pic is of the north horizon from Eagle. It shows (in the distance) the direction we rode. That peak to the left is Sqauw Butte, just north of Emmett. We rode right in front of as we entered Black Canyon.

Then up Horseshoe Bend Hill I started out okay, but about halfway up ran out of gas. The first fifteen minutes I averaged 276 watts, then the remaining 14 minutes I only averaged 256…for a slowish time of 28:53. We re-grouped at the top then finished it off strong with some good rotation the flats. By the time I reached home I was cooked! As I stopped at our mailbox to get the mail I clipped out with my right leg and it immediately cramped! Yup, that first long ride in the heat always seems to bring on the cramps. Fortunately I was able to stretch it out and keep it at bay. It helped that I had no more riding to do. Poor Todd, he had to ride back to Boise making his ride about 20 miles longer than Jim’s and mine.