Our Bike Ride

Last Thursday, in the middle of the night, Stanzie woke me up. "Hey. Dianna... you awake?" "Wha?" "I know what we should do on Monday. For Memorial Day." "Wha?" "We should rent bikes. And then bike to Idaho Falls." "..........okay. Sure." "It's gonna be awesome!"

For the record, Idaho Falls takes about 30 minutes by car on the highway to get to. It's not fair to make me agree to things like that in the middle of the night. Stanzie says it's okay, though, since once I woke her up to tell her that it was warmer in Anchorage, Alaska than it was here in Rexburg (this has since happened numerous times, including yesterday when it was a nice 70 degrees in Anchorage and less than 40 degrees here with a wind chill on top). In my defense, this fact totally disgusts me, and I thought Stanzie should know.

But I digress. So yes, yesterday Stanzie and I went to the ORC and rented bikes. And then we rode. And rode. And rode.

We prepared well. We printed the directions on Mapquest so we wouldn't be on the highway. We told everyone where we were going and when we'd be back. We checked the weather and saw the rain in the forecast so we dressed appropriately. I used a lot of ziplock bags and packed towels and such in them. We also packed snacks like fresh veggies and peanut butter. We brought plenty of water, of course. We were soooo prepared. 70 mile bike ride, here we come!



Neither one of us had ridden a bike more than the typical bike riding years of childhood. It had been two years for Stanzie and about four for me since either of us had been on a bicycle. We walked to the ORC and got everything we needed. The first five miles were by far, the hardest. In fact, after the first one or two miles I was wondering if this was going to happen.

On miles 5 through about 20, I felt great! I thought for sure this would happen. This was also the most interesting and fun filled part of the trip. For one thing, this was the sky we were looking at and riding into. We planned for rain in the forecast. But about two minutes after I took this picture I felt something coming out of the sky, but it was definitely not rain.



"Ouch... ow!... OUCH! Stanzie... is it seriously hailing on us!?"

Yes. Indeed it was.

It only hailed for a little while and it wasn't totally terrible. It mainly just stung my face. We both found it more amusing than anything. I mean, seriously. Hail?

Then there were the dogs we had to deal with. The first set of dogs were tiny little yappers. I don't have pictures because despite how tiny they were, we still rode away fast because they were aggressive to the point that I didn't want to learn how aggressive their owners were.

We had actually made a wrong turn for those first dogs. Or, should I say, failed to make the right turn. I was the navigator. In my defense, roads in Idaho all have two names. They have their "number" name, like 4200 South, and then their "real" name, like "Miller Street." Sometimes, my directions would only say "4200 South" and the street name would say "Miller Street" so I just had to guess for the most part. But I will say we didn't go more than two miles out of our way due to these problems. I'm proud of this! There were a LOT of turns.



Anyway, we went back and found the correct road and went down that one. The scenery was gorgeous.



And then we saw the next dog. He was much bigger and actually stalked us. We saw him stalking us. At first we thought he might not attack and then he was right by my tires barking and growling. I was scared out of my mind and pedaled as hard as I could. We rode down about a mile and the road was named "400 South" or something. We were looking for "Archer Highway." However, this road was about where it was supposed to be. Stanzie wanted to ask someone for directions, and I wanted to go back the way we came and look again. We compromised and did both. As we rode back we realized we'd have to cross the evil barking dog again. We pedaled as fast as possible and sure enough he came to attack again. My legs were getting tired and I was wondering how many more dogs we'd have to out run and why owners would let their evil little dogs run wild.

Just past the evil dog's house we saw a little old man by the side of the road. As we got closer, we saw he was picking asparagus. He didn't look too creepy, so we pulled over to ask him. I asked if he knew of the road we needed and he said that the road we were just at (400 South or whatever) was the one that would take us where we wanted to go. Then he started telling us about how he met his wife ten years ago and asked if we wanted some cinnamon. "I've always carried cinnamon in my pocket, just for times like these!" He told us with a smile. Such a cute old man. I still have my cinnamon candy he gave us. There's no way I'm eating it. I'm keeping it forever as a memento of the coolest bike ride EVER!

We told the man our fears about the horrible outdoor dog and he explained a different route we could use that would mean we wouldn't have to go by it a third time. So we did, and shortly thereafter we were in Ririe!



The scenery reminded me a lot of Virginia (except for the insanely ice cold air, disgustingly gray mountains and lack of rolling hills). The things that were similar was the wide stretches of beautiful farmland, green grass, cows, numerous tractors, and farmers out working. We even saw some llamas and a camel!



We rode and rode some more, stopping every now and then for water or to look at something cool. The final turn we made was a bigger "highway" (it had a bike path) that would last 10.8 miles. Then we would be in Idaho Falls. The first few miles were fine. Then, suddenly, it just got harder and harder. My butt hurt more and more, mainly. And the wind on this road was unlike any wind I've ever experienced before. Stanzie and I agreed that had we not been pedaling forward, we'd have been moving backwards. It was soooo hard.

I actually enjoyed it when the cars went past literally two feet away from me because their wind would pull me forward for just one second and it felt sooo good. We stopped for some breaks and the main issue was that of our butts hurting from the bike seats. Neither one of us have biker pants and those seats we tiny!



We knew we were close to the end of this insanely long stretch. My bum couldn't take it anymore so I got off and walked while Stanzie went ahead. She waited for me in a chair at an old antique shop by the side of the road. I caught up to her and sat beside her and we began eating. This is when I told her there was no way I was going to make it all the way back to Rexburg. My bum just couldn't take the pain and the wind was extremely painful both in my ears, and in freezing me. I knew she was in pain, too.

I knew we were close to the Mall (which was our ultimate destination). We were definitely in Idaho Falls. We talked about our options and I eventually made the call to my friend's dad to see if he could come get us. I didn't know the names of the roads, but as I described what I saw around me he knew where we were. Fortunately, he's lived in this area his whole life.

I wanted to go all the way to the Mall and get picked up there. Stanzie wanted him to just drive us back to Ririe so we could bike home from there. Both of us could have gone more miles. I could only go probably about 5 more. Stanzie could have gone 10 or 15 more maybe. But it was ultimately easier for us just to stay put. Kelly's dad doesn't have a cell phone and he was worried about the weather since it was pouring in Rexburg. Plus, if we had gone to the Mall it would have been farther for him to drive. We later found out we were literally two blocks from the end of our 10.8 mile stretch and less than five miles from the Mall.

We had ridden over 30 miles on our bikes in five hours (8:30am until almost 2pm). I, for one, have never been so proud to accomplish half of a goal in my entire life.

As we entered Rexburg the rain was absolutely pouring. Craig drove us not only to return the bikes, but then drove us home. I paid him for the gas and his time. I couldn't even say in words how grateful I was for him. He's so stinkin' sweet!

Neither one of us was tired, or even sore... yet. Our butts just hurt and I was absolutely freezing. I had been frozen the whole time, actually. But I kept telling myself that riding would warm me up. Unfortunately, I think it was the wind, but I never, ever was warmed up. In fact, when we used the bathroom at a gas station we found, I lifted my shirt and saw that the front of my stomach had this blueish/redish splotchy rash on it and when I felt it, I realized it was because it was so cold. Crazy!

Later when I got home, my legs from the knees up were purple as I got into the shower. Purple! I couldn't tell if it was because I had worked them more than they had ever been worked before, or if it was because they were so stinking cold. The purpleness lasted for a couple of hours, though.

Some of the purple color never left and I have random bruises on my knee. Stanzie says it's from that one time I fell off my bike. Yes, I fell off once. Or maybe twice. But it was mainly on purpose. Those were the worst bikes to get on and off in my life and they had these horrible little stirrup things you had to slip your feet into that held them in place. I hated them!

Anyway, we got home around 3pm. We took our showers and I stretched for a while. Then we crashed on the couch and watched Disney movies. The longer I sat still, the more my legs started to hurt. More and more... and Stanzie's too. By the end of the night we were both in so much pain. It was unbelievable and I was even happier I decided to quit when we did.

30 miles is one heck of a bike ride! And what made me feel better was that in the school newspaper today, there was an article about the school's biking team. They do 8-10 miles for beginners, and 20 for the advanced riders. Sometimes, they go up to 30.

Yep. The Stanz and I are pretty much amazing. :)