Terry's Ride Across America: Day 10 Mountain Home, ID. 53 miles 1,400 ft climb

Somehow, Terry always manages to get his picture taken with "the ladies" on every trip. In the Himalayas, it was Susan and Judith, in the Grand Canyon, it was Dana and Pam, and now on ABB, it's THREE--and I'm not even sure of their names! Fortunately, these are always my good friends, too, so I guess I have three new friends now! I am also trying to include some photos others send me when they include Terry. Trouble is, there are multiple riders "wearing yellow" (that's Lance Armstrong Foundation for those who aren't familiar with it) so it gets hard sometimes to tell where he is in the shot. Just look for the skinniest one. Speaking of inspiration, everyone is cheering for Sharon, who by her own admission has an irrational fear of doing the downhills (and there's lots of downhills) because of picking up speed. At first, she was actually unable to ride the downhills and was driven down in the support van. The ride leader and others coached her, and coaxed her, and little by little she is overcoming that fear, and the other day, let herself go. She was terrified, but she loved it. Just one other story of personal triumph. And then there's the rider who's celebrating his 20-yr survival from bone cancer which resulted in the removal of his knee. He has an artificial knee and a rod down his shin. Amazing stories.

A Downhill. Now You Understand Sharon's Fear


Terry's "Girls"

Zippy says that everyone on this trip has fallen in love with Idaho. The people are great--very friendly, and the motorists are very courteous to cyclists, even the semi-truck drivers give them wide berth and are friendly. (They were on Interstate 84 for about 11 miles) Today's good mood of the entire group was helped enormously by the fact that they had 20-30 mph tailwinds, pushing everyone along at speeds up to 35 mph at times, without pedaling very hard, and getting to their destination in under 3 hrs. Zippy said it felt like they were Tour de France riders today--really flying. One huge motivating force was that a major storm was brewing behind them, moving in their direction. It was time to outrun the storm, taking full advantage of the tailwind. Zippy was with a super fast group that was playfully jockeying for lead, alternating with each other. The really fast ones (including the youngest, and also from England, Lucy, age 22), put on the pressure, and then Zippy hammered the pedals and sailed by them, to their hoots and hollers, "GO ZIPPY GO". They all had a blast. Even the slower riders made great time today, going faster than they ever had. Terry averaged 18 mph over the full distance, though some were much faster than that. Lunch was chicken wings and mint ice-cream and pie, smothered in whipped cream. Cycling magazines even say that ice cream is one of the best foods riders can eat---it's easily digested, gets into your system quickly, replaces the calories, etc. OK, sounds good to me! Plus, there seem to be Dairy Queens everywhere on this route---sometimes more than one. So what's a rider to do? Besides having a great ride day, the camaraderie is building with the group as evidenced by their sharing the intimate details of their saddle-sore remedies. You don't want to know.