Idaho City, ID - Almost to Oregon!

Hello!
Today we biked 91 miles from Stanley, ID to Idaho City! The day started out extremely cold. The low was supposed to be 31, but I don't know how low the temperature actually got. We survived the cold camping last night by packing 6 people in a 4 person tent. Here at Bike and Build we all like to get extremely cozy with one another. After we finally thawed out enough to ride, everyone headed to a coffee shop/cafe to warm up. I can't drink coffee before rides because it will make me crash throughout the day, so I stopped to fill up water and then headed out. When I left the cafe with my water, the van was gone from outside so I assumed it was driving to the lunch stop. I rode on towards Idaho City expecting to see the van at mile 35 and mile 65. The only rider that had started riding before me was Laura and I passed her at mile 8.. I would've ridden with her but it was so cold that I just wanted to get there as fast as possible. I reached mile 35 and wondered why the van wasn't there. We've been having lunch stops later than the planned 35 mile mark lately so I rode to mile 37. When I stopped this time, I didn't have signal or I would've called the van to see where lunch was going to be. I decided after 20 minutes that it must be at mile 40. After riding to mile 40 with no van in sight, I realized that I had probably missed my chance to get the van lunch and riding back (all uphill) was not an option. I rode on until I found a diner at around mile 47. I ate two full meals at the diner, filled up on water, and continued my trek. The rest of the ride was an ascent over 2 long mountain passes followed by some decent downhills. I assumed after skipping the first lunch stop that I wouldn't see the van on my ride, but I was pretty sure I had enough water. When I was at mile 77, I got to the summit of some climb and there was a man from Boise that offered me some water. It was perfect timing because I had just run out of water in my camelback. I made it into Idaho City at 2:30 today and I haven't seen another rider yet. That is why I am here blogging away.. there's nothing else to do!

Sad news. Tomorrow is Jen L.'s last day riding with us. She is extremely excited about dental school that starts next week, but it is a bummer to lose a rider. I think we're all going out tonight for a going away party.

Yesterday we biked from Challis, ID to Stanley, ID. It was a 67 mile ride and the terrain wasn't too bad. We followed a highway that ran alongside the Salmon River all day. Apparently no one in our group knew anything about the Sawtooth Mountains that are in Stanley, because Laura and I thought that we were riding through them all day. After rounding a turn near Stanley, the Sawtooth Mountains were in full view and you could see that they were appropriately named. Yesterday it seemed that everyone is starting to get sick, hopefully everyone will start feeling better soon!

My mom called me yesterday and told me that the news station in Idaho sent the interview of me to the Oklahoma station and I was on the news at 5 in Oklahoma. Crazy! There must really be nothing going on in the news if I get put on the news in Oklahoma for being interviewed in Idaho. Oh well, it's neat that Oklahoma seems interested in Bike and Build!

Well, I don't know what else to talk about so I'm going to head out. Idaho is beautiful but I'm ready for Oregon! If you're going to be at Canon Beach, get ready to see 31 people go crazy and swim in cold water! It's going to be a party and I'm really excited!

Try to stay cool in Oklahoma! Don't melt before my next post.