Tuesday, August 4, 2009

White Bird to Kooskia, ID

Via Hwy 95 (mostly Old 95) to Grangeville, then Hwy 13 to Kooskia. miles. 48.2 miles.

We had hoped to go farther today, but it was not in the cards (so to speak). It was hot again and Penny said she just felt like she had "no legs" (cyclist talk for "I'm just tired"). Perhaps the 12-mile climb right out of the chute (White Bird) had something to do with that, although the grade was generally pretty forgiving and there was almost no traffic* and no one else around. In fact, at one point we heard a pack of coyotes howling up a storm.**

While taking a rest at the top of the climb in front of a ranch house, a woman came out and yelled something at us. At first I thought she was upset that we were blocking the driveway (which we certainly were). But then I heard her more clearly - she was asking us to come on into the kitchen if we wanted to refill our water containers. We declined, but thanked her anyway. It was simply another example of how nice people have been to us throughout this entire trip.

On the decent down to Grangeville we were chased by a group of 3 large dogs. One of them caught us and, teeth snarling, darn near ran under the front wheel while we were flying downhill. It scared us to the point that we stopped to avoid a collision. As soon as we did, the dogs lost interest in the chase and disappeared into the brush. They must have been guy dogs since they were only interested in the chase.
After a lunch stop in Grangeville we continued descending along twisty Hwy 13. At one point our GPS unit came loose and flew off the bike mount. Fortunately there was no traffic behind us and we were able to retrieve it without problem.***

We ended the descent in the canyon of the Clearwater River (Middle Fork). The river (the water is indeed very clear) flows into the Nez Perce indian reservation, which includes the town of Kooskia. We had intended to try to go on to Syringa or Lowell today, but Kooskia looked like a good place to spend the night and we need to load up on supplies here anyway (there is a 66-mile stretch coming up where there is no place to get food or water).

*Our route took us on old US95, which has been bypassed by new US95, so the only traffic consisted of a few local farmers.

**Shortly thereafter we passed a flock of sheep. Several of them looked straight at us as if to say "help us, there are bad guys (coyotes) out there!"

***Despite this incident I am pretty happy with the unit itself. But I am among the many rabid I Hate Garmin people (Garmin is the maker of the unit and the associated software). Garmin makes its software products so maddeningly difficult to use and restricts the use so much that it drives many of us crazy.
Garmin is a good example of how not to run a business - be extremely arrogant, make your products so difficult to use that all your customers must call for help and limit their application so that customers have to pay a new license fee every time they want to change anything.
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Riding along the Clearwater River pic #2

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Riding along the Clearwater River pic #1

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Down into the Clearwater River (Middle Fork) canyon

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Overlooking the White Bird battlefield

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Climbing out of White Bird

At this point I was still able to smile.
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Early morning in the Salmon River canyon pic #2

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Early morning in the Salmon River canyon pic #1

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Broken saddle rail

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White Bird, ID pic #3

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White Bird, ID pic #2

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White Bird, ID pic #1

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Riggins to White Bird, ID

Via new Hwy 95 to just south of White Bird, then old Hwy 95. 31.3 miles.

We knew that sooner or later we were likely to have a mechanical problem on this part of our trip, and today proved to be the day. We had intended to ride from Riggins to Grangeville, a distance of about 50 miles. Since there is a long (10+ mile climb out of White Bird (about 30 miles from Riggins), we arose before 5 am to allow us to hit the climb when it was still relatively cool.*
All was proceeding according to plan for about 27 miles, as we continued to ride through the spectacular canyon created by the Salmon River. Then, a few miles before White Bird, a 3" long section of one steel rail supporting Penny's saddle broke away and fell off. She managed to retrieve it from the roadside, not an insignificant accomplishment given the enormous amount of tire pieces and other debris on the shoulder of US95. But it was very difficult for her to ride further, as the saddle lurched crazily to one side supported by only one rail. We managed to limp the last few miles into White Bird but knew there was no way we could ride much further with the bike in that condition.

We spent the next hour or so finding a place to stay in White Bird (population 106)** as we knew we were done for the day at least. Then we assessed our options. A new saddle was the best solution, but there is no bike shop - or even a hardware store - for several hundred miles in any direction. Penny called our good friend Sergio, who offered to track down a replacement saddle and ship it to us. But that would be more difficult than it sounds,*** and would mean we'd be stuck in White Bird for at least a couple of days.

While Penny was working with Sergio on a new saddle, I went in search of someone who might be able to repair the old one, so that we could at least try to ride to a larger town where we might find more help. It didn't take too many inquiries to find out that there were two guys in the area who might be able to help. One was Lonnie, who works at a tire repair shop in town and has a number of other satellite jobs. He proved to be very hard to locate, and when we did finally track him down was not helpful. The other guy is Steve. He works at Hoots' Cafe and Motel, which also has an auto service center. However, I knew that Hoots' was located several miles from town (on new Hwy 95, which bypasses White Bird) but was not sure of its exact location. So I set out walking to Hoots' in the noonday sun, broken saddle in hand. I had only gone a short distance before I came upon a gift and coffee shop and stopped in to ask for directions to Hoots'. As the owner was explaining that Hoots' is a several mile walk down the canyon, the only customer in the place spoke up and asked me if I wanted a ride to Hoots'. After stammerring for a minute to the effect that I did not want to put him to any bother, I basically
said "hell yes". Tony introduced himself as a local guy, and - of course - he knew Steve (Steve maintains Tony's cars, but in a town this small everyone knows everyone else anyway).

Steve was in the middle of a repair job when we arrived, but immediately stopped what he was doing to look at the broken saddle. After some hemming and hawing, he announced that he thought he might be able to weld the broken piece back
on. He took the pieces back to his welding bench while I chatted with Tony, who offered to haul me back to town as well. After about 10 minutes Steve returned with the repaired saddle (the rail was still too hot to touch) and said he thought it would hold together but he couldn't be sure. He refused to charge me anything, but I gave him $5 anyway**** and Tony and I returned to town. I thanked both Steve and Tony profusely; neither of them seemed to think they did anything out of the ordinary. I reinstalled the saddle and Penny and I tested it by riding up and down the main street in White Bird. It seems fine, so tomorrow we are going to take off again in the early morning.

We saw quite a few other cyclists today coming into town down from the pass we'll climb tomorrow morning (i.e., they were traveling east to west on the TransAmerica route). They included a very skinny couple from France who rolled in about 2 pm when it was blazing hot outside. They saw us coming out of the cafe and asked us if they served coffee in the place! (They did, but in styrofoam cups out of a diner-style glass pitcher than has been sitting on a burner - probably not quite the same way they serve it in France).

*The thermometer hit 106 degrees in White Bird yesterday. It felt very hot again today, but I don't know what the high reading was.

**White Bird is named after a former chief of the Nez Perce indian tribe who fought to the bitter end against the military's efforts to subdue the tribe. There is a battlefield site (now a historical park) northeast of town that we'll ride through tomorrow.

***Penny uses a woman-specific saddle made by Specialized. (It should not surprise anyone to learn that most cyclists are pretty picky about which make/model of saddle they use. ) After doing some checking, Sergio informed us that neither of the two major Internet bike parts distributors (Performance and Colorado Cyclist) carried Specialized saddles. It sounded like one of the bike shops in Colorado Springs might have one, but he could not look at it until after work and he would then have to ship it to us. The best case, although unlikely, was that we would receive and install the new saddle late tomorrow and resume our trip on Wednesday - a loss of two days.

****I later began feeling like a cheapskate when I realized that a new would cost us at least $50.
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