Stage 3: Pocatello to Sun Valley via The Moon

Being the bike geeks we are, we found a bike rac in Idaho: The First Annual Old Town Pocatello Criterium. We thought it would be fun to try out the racing outside of NorCal and were happy to see small field sizes. The course was in the center of Pocatello, six turns, good pavement. The race didn't inconvenince any business in town because they were all closed on Sunday - except the coffee shop. While warming up we were both reminded that we were at altitude - ~4300 ft. The cycling community in Idaho is small, the news of new racers spread quickly.

Without trainers, we set off from 'downtown' Pocatello to warm up on the road. While riding down Main Street, we passed a few men who were the volunteer medical crew for the race. I was on Ali's wheel and one called out, "Idaho is a catch and release state. You're gonna have to let her go eventually."

The W4 field was small, too small. Ali tried a few attacks early but wasn't able to drop the other two women so she decided to sit back and wait for the bunch sprint (a generous term for a 3 woman field). Watching from the sideline I could tell the stronger of the other two women was getting gapped in the corners and I hoped Ali jumped early enough take advantage of this. Ali played it perfectly and hammered the sprint for the win - GREAT FUN!


We both entered the M4 field. I just wanted to test my legs but didn't have super high hopes. Ali wanted to see how long she could sit in and get some extra laps. Ali asked the other 2 women from the 4s race to join her in the men's race. We giggled at their response: "What? Do the MEN'S race? There are 20 people in that field. That's much too scary!"

There were 15 in the M4 field. The presence of a woman in the men's field turned some heads and raised a few eyebrows. While watching the early races I saw some strange lines going through the corners so I decided I wanted to be on the front for the first few laps. I went to the front and rode hard to string out the field. After three laps I sat up and let someone else take the lead. I sat near the back hoping for some recovery...unfortunately it wasn't happening. After half an hour of slowing into the corners and then jumping out of the corners my legs were done. I found myself wishing I'd remembered my Oxygen bottle ;). With 5 to go I pulled over and watched a local strong man solo for the win. Ali lasted a while but two races at altitude proved one too many.

After the race we headed out into Idaho traffic and enjoyed the scenery.





We made a quick stop at the Moon but hunger and fatigue nagged so we didn't explore as thoroughly as we should.







When we finally arrived in Sun Valley we sat down for some much needed pasta and vino, thankful that our long days of driving were behind us for a while.