day one

We woke up at our cozy bed and breakfast in Hailey, Idaho. Our hostess made us yummy breakfast: corn hotcakes and parmesan eggs. Then we geared up and found a spot to leave the cars (the fire station) and took off for our first day of riding. There actually was a nice bike trail that went for about 14 miles into Sun Valley and Ketchum. We stopped at a few bridges on the way out because of Mark's interest in the structure.

We stopped for lunch--I had a yummy "grown-up grilled cheese"--at Galena Lodge before heading up to the summit. Here's my dad and Josh at the top. It was nice and warm by that time of the day, but the push to the summit wasn't as hard as I'd nervously anticipated.

Then we enjoyed some nice downhill and flat before rolling into Smiley's where we all indulged in shakes. I had huckleberry. You might have already noticed my fixation on food, and I've nothing to deny. This trip for me was all about food. Just joking, of course; I also loved the riding and the company.

We'd heard that we had to stop at Redfish Lake Lodge to eat, so we complied and had dinner--I had salmon mac' and cheese--after soaking our legs in the lake's cold water. The setting is absolutely gorgeous. I almost wished I had packed my wetsuit because I just wanted to glide through the water.

We arrived in Stanley just before dark. I enjoyed a nice sulfuric shower before crashing to sleep.

Day one: about 80 miles. My legs held up fine. My hands felt pretty numb that first day, and I started to feel the effects of sitting on a bike seat for 80, but it was worth it.