Kamiah, ID June 22

Kamiah, I'd. Tuesday, June 22

Last night we camped at Hells Gate and today we went through hell. It wasperhaps the most grueling day that I've ever spent on a bike in the past 34years. In total, we pedaled over 84 miles and spent over 8 hours on thebike's saddle. The first 40 miles involved a constant up hill climb withthe last 8 miles climbing over 2500' to an elevation of 4200' through aconstant series of switch backs. The road line one the map looked likedAndrea's attempt at coloring when she was two. We were also guided to US95 for a portion of our route, which given it traffic and shouldercondition mad it highway we longed to be far away from.Our ride did not start until 8:30 AM and did not end until 8:00 PM. Whenthe day started we had only planned to do 60 miles and at 3:30 PM we hadonly completed 40 miles. Partially due to a scarcity of towns and ofcamping sites and partially due to a need to do laundry and for Andrea tobe positioned for a job interview over the phone, I made the strongrecommendation that we push forward. This recommendation was mad with thereasoning that the last 12 miles was all downhill, giving up all of theelevation that we had gained for the day. In the end it proved to be agood recommendation; however at the time we all had our doubts.Unfortunately at the 40 mile marker Andrea celebrated her climbingachievement in Winchester with nothing more than 2 scoops of ice cream.This would prove to be a mistake as 20 miles later she 'hit the wall' andran out of energy not once, but twice. In both occasions she was pantingheavily and near tears. A Cliff bar got us through the first and being insite of the crest and the 12 mile downhill got us through the second. Ibelieve that at one point Alex suggested that I was a 'slave driver'. Ontop of all of this Alex was experiencing some knee pain resulting from amis adjusted bike cleat. Although challenged I did not have any issuesbeyond a sore bottom.When we finally reached Kamiah, Andrea was dragging badly. The suggestedcamp ground was close to the road and did not have showers-something thatwas badly needed after the ride. Given the situation, I decided we shouldhotel it at the hotel across the street. It was a wise decision.When one looks beyond the challenges, the ride up the switch backs providedsome great views. This 8 mile ride will likely be the most difficult thatwe will encounter. In addition going down into the mountain side canyon toKamiah in the late day provided for some great moments as well.Unfortunately, I was also worried about running out of daylight, as thelate afternoon sun is obstructed by the mountain side. In all, it is a daythat I'm glad to see over.