Go see thousands of snow geese at Ft. Boise WMA, pond-skimming at Brundage or biking

(Courtesy Idaho Department of Fish and Game)

Hi all,

It appears that we have a rainy weekend ahead, at least that's the forecast for Friday and Sunday. There's only a 20 percent chance of rain on Saturday, so there may be a few breaks in between storms or squalls where you can get out and do something fun outdoors!

I'm recommending three things for my outdoor tip of the week -- go to Fort Boise Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Parma to see thousands of snow geese, go pond-skimming at Brundage Mountain or dash out on your bike between rain storms.

What a thrill to see the snow geese flying around in this giant wetland preserve and cottonwood forest where the Boise River meets the Snake River near the Idaho-Oregon border.

This is the same area where trappers stopped in to trade wares at Fort Boise. After 1835, they could stop and visit with post master Francois Payette, who was a very successful trapper (see historical chapter in my Paddling the Payette book) who arrived in Idaho and the Northwest in 1818 at the dawn of the trapping era. He also had a hand in mapping the region, hence, all of the rivers and lakes bearing his name.

But think of the rich fish and wildlife resource that existed there at the time -- salmon and steelhead, sturgeon, trout, all kinds of ducks, deer, moose and maybe even elk. Payette traded with many different Native American tribes, stole horses from them and vice-verse, and he took a few Native American women as his wives. Several Indian children emerged with the last name of Payette.

Here's a link to the Fort Boise WMA web page, which has directions to the refuge and an excellent list of birds you may see there.

Here's a brave lad giving it a go! (Courtesy Brundage Mountain)

McCall Realtor Lolo Nelson has won the
contest in the past wearing a prom dress.  

2. Go pond-skimming at Brundage Mountain. Brundage is poised to receive a batch of new snow on Saturday-Sunday (up to 9 inches are expected), and you could participate in the Crazy Daze pond-skimming competition on Saturday, starting at 1:15 p.m. There's also a beer relay, poker run, photo scavenger hunt and a costume contest.

Temperatures are forecast to freeze Friday night, with a low of 27 degrees, and there's new snow forecast Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday. Watch my Opensnow.com forecasts for the last details. 

Look for lodging deals in McCall by checking with the McCall Chamber or InIdaho.com. Maybe even Shore Lodge or the Holiday Inn Express?

3. Go for a bike ride in between the rain storms. I'm talking road biking because the Boise foothills trails will be wet after the rain we get this weekend.

• Take a long ride on the Greenbelt and plan a stop at a favorite spot for coffee, lunch or a beer.  
• Do the Cartwright 3 Summits Loop. 
• Ride out to Eagle and back on Hill Road and Floating Feather. 
• Ride to Hilltop Summit above Lucky Peak. Wendy and I did that last Saturday. We started at Municipal Park and rode to Hilltop and back, enjoying the new pavement that Ada County Parks and Waterways put in between IDPR headquarters and Diversion Dam. That ride is 27 miles round-trip, with 1,214 feet of elevation gain. 
• Ride a loop somewhere close to your house so you don't get wet! Ha! 
• Pick up a Boise Road Cycling Guide, a full-color waterproof map of the best road bike rides in the Treasure Valley.

All downhill from here! A bearded Steve at Hilltop Summit. 

Have fun! 

- SS 

Nice weather means it's time to go biking! 5 easy-going road rides for Greenbelt cyclists

Road biking season is upon us! 

Riding buddies out on Hubbard Road ... 

Hi all,

Now that the weather is warming up, it's prime time to go for a bike ride. But alas, one of Boise's most popular biking destinations -- the Boise River Greenbelt -- is mostly closed, so I'm going to recommend five rides, including several from my full-color biking map, Boise Road Cycling Guide.

All of these rides are geared toward a casual Greenbelt rider with a 10-speed. They're all rated easy to moderate, with distances ranging from 10-25 miles. Make sure you bring a patch kit, spare tube, tire irons and a pump in case you get a flat. Carry plenty of water and some snacks.

Ride #1. Wendy and I rode a modified version of what I call "City to Farm" on Saturday, and it was an incredibly delightful ride -- beautiful sunny weather and NO WIND!!! We started from the shopping mall at Five Mile & Overland and rode south on Five Mile and Cloverdale into the rural countryside, where many people have built ranchettes with horses. Then you go left on Hubbard from Cloverdale, and ride alongside cattle grazing on open spaces in the Ten Mile Creek valley.

Take a right on South Cole Road, do a short climb, and then cruise several miles south to Kuna Mora Road. Turn right, and take Kuna Mora to Cloverdale. Along the way, you'll see a big solar farm. Pretty cool! Turn right on Cloverdale and take Locust Grove to Five Mile to return to the starting point. City to Farm is about 20 miles in distance, two hours travel time at a leisurely pace.

The only bad thing about that ride was that I had two flats on my front tire! Geez!!! We had only one spare tube (the spare tube I was carrying happened to be flat from last year), so after my second flat, I hung out and waited for Wendy to finish the ride and come get me. Note to self: Need to replenish bike pack with new bike tube and throw the damn old one away! 

Anyway, here are some other recommendations for easy road rides:

Ride #2. SE Boise Bench Loop - Rated easy. Distance: 10+ miles. Start at Timberline High School. Go east on Boise Avenue to Eckert Road. Go right and then left on Surprise Way. Follow the bike path through Surprise Valley to Idaho 21-Gowen Road connector. Go right and climb hill to East Lake Forest Drive. Turn right and follow East Lake Forest Drive to Yamhill. Turn right on Federal Way bike path and pedal downhill on the bench above the city. Follow Federal Way all the way to Protest. Turn right on Protest, and then right on Boise Ave. and ride back to Timberline. Have an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen!

Ride #3. City to Farm from Boise Road Cycling Guide - Rated moderate, distance 16.2 miles, time travel: 1+ hours. Vertical gain/loss: 158 feet. Start/finish is at the Five Mile & Overland shopping center. Directions: Go south on Five Mile. At mile 3, turn right on Lake Hazel. Go one mile and turn right on Columbia. Go one mile and turn left on Eagle. At mile 6.5, go right on Hubbard. At mile 8.1, go right on Locust Grove. In two miles, go right on Lake Hazel. At mile 13.1, go left on Five Mile and return to the start/finish.

Ride #4. Hill Road out to Eagle and back - Rated moderate. Distance: 20 miles. Start at Camelsback Park at 13th and Heron. Take 13th north to Hill Road. Go west on Hill through Boise, following Hill Road Parkway to Old Horseshoe Bend Highway. Continue west on Hill into Eagle. Go into old downtown for a bite to eat, some coffee, a beer or whatever. Turn around and retrace your tracks back to Camelsback.

Ride #5. Lake Lowell Loop near Nampa - Rated moderate. Distance: 26 miles. Time travel: 1.5-2 hours. See video. This is a nice ride around Lake Lowell, especially on the south side of the lake, when you're riding near the lake along Lake Shore Drive. Start at the Lake Lowell boat ramp on Iowa Street. Go east toward Nampa. Turn right on Middleton, then left on Greenhurst. Go one mile and turn right on Midland. Go one mile and go left on Locust. Go one mile and turn right on Idaho 45. Go two miles or so and turn right on Lake Shore Drive. Follow Lake Shore for almost 10 miles along the south shoreline of the lake. Turn right on Riverside at the west side of the lake and follow that to Orchard. Go right on Orchard and follow that to Indiana and Lone Star and Lake bake to the start.

Interested in bike events coming up this summer? See the Southwest Idaho Cycling Association calendar. Ride Idaho is scheduled for Aug. 5-12 this year. The course starts in the Ketchum/Sun Valley area.

There you have it! Have fun!
- SS

Time to get the road bike ready to ride! Bike events, fun tours coming up this summer!

Paul Hilding climbing to Banner Summit on the LP 200. 

Your truly getting ready to rip downill from Banner Summit to Stanley in the LP 200

Happy riders on the 4 Summit Challenge 

4 Summit Challenge near the top of a steep hill. 

Crossing a bridge across the Clark Fork River in Montana during Ride Idaho. 

Hi all,

My topic this week is about road biking, but before I delve into that, I want to wish all the Race to Robie Creek runners the very best of luck on Saturday as they complete "the toughest half-marathon in the West."

Statesman Outdoors writer Chadd Cripe wrote a nice entry-level piece about trail-running this week that I wanted to share. To me, running on dirt trails in the foothills is so much better than running on the streets of Boise -- you can enjoy the open space reserves as part of your run, see birds and wildlife, enjoy the human scenery, and add punch to your workout by adding hills and vertical gain to the routine.

As a reminder, my hiking and trail-running book, Boise Trail Guide: 90 Hiking and Running Routes Close to Home, offers the only detailed guide to trail-running in the greater Boise area. The routes are all timed out for hiking and running. Start with flat Greenbelt loops and build to easy mountain trails, moderate mountain trails, strenuous mountain trails and epic mountain trails. Pick off the loops one by one and build your endurance over time. Tour the whole Boise Foothills area, and trails close by in the Boise National Forest and the Owyhee Canyonlands. See how many routes you can conquer in one year!

I also wanted to share my trip guides about the Weiser River Trail for VisitIdaho and hiking/fishing/camping at Balanced Rock near Buhl for Southern Idaho Tourism. Both are very worthy destinations. I rode the 83-mile Weiser River Trail on a mountain bike in two days at a fairly leisurely pace.

Now, back to road biking! I've noticed a ton of people out riding their bikes in the foothills, the Greenbelt and the streets of Boise. It's fantastic to live in such a bike-friendly town. I've got the itch to put in some serious miles on my road bike to train for the Lyle Pearson 200 on Saturday, June 4th. This is a 200-mile ride, sponsored by George's Cycles, in which teams of four riders conquer the course in stages from Boise to Idaho City to Lowman, Stanley, Smiley Creek, Galena Summit and then finishing in Ketchum.

I did the ride last year and loved it, so I'm doing it again! It's a good motivator to get in good road riding shape early in the year for other events coming up this summer. Below I'll recommend a couple of road rides from my Boise Road Cycling Guide, the best and only road biking map available in town, to get you in shape. And then I'll list a few clubs that lead group road rides. This is how you can meet new people and find folks who ride at your own pace.

But first, here's a short list of bike events coming up that get me jazzed about road riding:

• Lemhi Valley Century Ride, June 11, 100 miles or 100 kilometers (62 miles), "pick your poison," they say. Great chance to visit Salmon and hang out with great people. Beautiful course in the Lemhi River Valley, where I have written about multiple fish conservation projects for Life on the Range.  
• Bob LeBow Blues Cruise has been canceled, I see on their Facebook page.
• Cascade Four Summits Challenge, July 25. It's 100 miles this year with an out and back along the South Fork of the Salmon River. Will be a gorgeous ride, but it'll be key to train for this one. Lots of verts! 
• Ride Idaho, Aug. 6-13. This super-fun week-long ride starts in Ketchum this year, traces the Arco Desert over to the Teton Valley, climbs over to Jackson Hole, tours the Jackson Hole Valley and then back over Teton Pass to the finish in Idaho Falls. About 340 riders participated last year. I had a blast and felt stronger every day.  
• Bogus Basin Hill Climb, Aug. 15th.

See the full calendar of bike racing events and non-competitive events in SW Idaho here.  

Now, to get your legs in shape, here are some spring road rides that I'd recommend:

• Boise River Greenbelt from Municipal Park to Lucky Peak - 9 miles one-way, 18 miles out and back. About 1 hour travel time. Surface is flat most of the way, with a few short hills here and there. You may have a tailwind going out, but you'll pay for that on the way back. Wind is always a factor. Add the 4-mile climb to Hilltop Summit to add zest to your workout. 
• City to Farm Loop - 16.2 miles; riding time is about 1 hour. Fun tour of the transition zone between the city of Boise and rural ag lands in the outskirts of SW Boise. Start at Five Mile and Overland. Park in the shopping center. Go south on Five Mile, right on Lake Hazel, left on Cloverdale, right on Columbia, left on Eagle, right on Hubbard, right on Locust Grove, right on Lake Hazel, left on Five Mile and return to start. All of the streets out there are 1 mile apart. 
  
• Cartwright Three Summits Loop - 17.7 miles, 1.5 hours. This is a hill-climbers special. You'll climb and descend 1,591 feet along the way. Plus it's close to home. Start at the junction of Bogus Basin Road and Hill Road. Climb Bogus to Cartwright, go left and climb Cartwright over the first little hill, and then a second huge wall of a hill, and then a shorter one to drop into the Dry Creek Valley and the Hidden Springs area. Follow Dry Creek Road to Hidden Springs, go left on Seaman's Gulch Road and climb one more summit before dropping down to Hill Road. Go left and return to the start.  

As for road biking clubs, I'd recommend the following: 

• Community Bicycle Rides - Low-key friendly group that average riders wouldn't feel intimidated about joining. They ride several days a week. Here's their ride calendar. Over time, they crank up the mileage and get you ready for half centuries, full centuries and events like Ride Idaho.
• Lactic Acid Cycling -  Well-organized club with weekly rides for men and women of different abilities. Nice jerseys too! 
• Boise Byrds - Youth cycling development club. If you'd like to get your kids involved in mountain biking or road biking with excellent leadership, sign them up for the Byrds. 
• See more riding clubs and racing clubs on the Southwest Idaho Cycling Association web page.

Before you ride, make sure that your bike is in good running condition. Take a spin around your neighborhood and check to see that your tires are full of air and that your gears and brakes work correctly. If not, correct the situation or take it to a bike shop for a full tune. That's always worth the money in my book to keep the bike running smooth. 

May the eternal tailwinds always be at your back ... 

-SS

Five springtime road bike rides that'll get your heart pumping; or ski the dust on crust

Get some friends together for a fun road ride! Drafting is good! 

The Cartwright Three Sumits Loop always delivers. 

Selfie on Swan Falls Road ... very little traffic 

The nasty Swan Falls grade  

Hi all,

We've got a little weather moving in on Friday that might bring a little rain in Boise and a little snow in the mountains.

The forecast for Brundage Mountain looks promising with at least 1-3 inches of snow expected on Friday and a little more on Saturday, then sunshine on Sunday. Less accumulation is forecast at Bogus Basin, Tamarack and Sun Valley, but I'm sure they all will take what they can get.

If a little bit of new snow gets you excited about hitting the slopes, you could ski some new dust on crust on Friday or Saturday, and then hit a bluebird day on Sunday with some fresh fluff! The same drill goes for cross-country skiing. A little bit of new snow will be a welcome change.

However, if you'd prefer to stay closer to home, I'm recommending five springtime road bike rides from my Boise Road Cycling Guide.

The word from Ridge to Rivers is that the freeze-thaw cycle we're in this week has caused a lot of moisture to rise up on the foothills trails, creating big patches of muddy trails. Check out the trail report as of today (thursday).

But with the nice weather we've been having -- more of that 50ish weather is expected next week -- it's time to dust off your road bike, if you haven't already, and get it ready for some spring rides.

I'm motivated by being part of a team that's participating in the Lyle Pearson 200 in late May. There are lots of other road cycling events this year, including the Bob LeBow Blue Cruise in late June and the Cascade 4 Summit Challenge in late July.

Here are my five springtime rides:

1. Ride the Boise River Greenbelt from Municipal Park to Discovery Park. Distance: 9 miles out, 9 miles back; 18 miles round-trip. Travel time: 1 hour. Moderate to strenuous. Take Warm Springs Avenue to Walnut, turn right, and park in Municipal Park on the left. Take the Greenbelt east out to Discovery State Park. This is a good warm-up ride. The biggest factor is always wind, because the trail is mostly flat. Note that the ride includes brand new smooth greenbelt through Marianne Williams Park. Big improvement!

2. Cartwright - Three Summits Loop aka "the dump" loop - 17.7 miles. Travel time: 1:15 - 1:30. Strenuous. Start at the junction of Hill Road and Bogus Basin Road. Go north on Bogus Basin to Cartwright. Turn left and climb to the first, short summit. The second summit is much harder ... it's like a fricking vertical WALL. Fly downhill from that summit, bear right on Cartwright, and cruise through the Dry Creek Valley before conquering the last summit on Seaman's Gulch Road. Turn left on Hill, and return to the start.

Lake Lowell Loop 

3. Lake Lowell Loop, Nampa - 26 miles. Travel time: 1.5-2 hours. Easy to moderate, depending on the wind speed. Vertical gain is 381 feet. Start/finish at the Lake Lowell boat ramp. I suggest doing the ride in a clockwise direction, but either way works. You'll jig-jog on several streets going around the east side of the lake, and then when you turn onto Lakeshore Drive, you'll ride through the most scenic section next to the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge.

4. Ride to Swan Falls, Kuna - 42 miles. Travel time: 3+ hours. Vertical gain: 1,710 feet. Strenuous. I love this ride, even though it can be painful at times in big winds. Start/finish at the Kuna Visitors Center as you drive into town. Go south on Swan Falls Road and ride the waves of sagebrush fields out to the Snake River rim (take a break if you wish at the BLM interpretive site) or drop down to Swan Falls Dam. Bring a lunch and plenty of water. Climb up that steep heinous grade and crank it back to Kuna.

5. Snake River Canyon Scenic Loop - 41 miles. Travel time: 2.5 hours. Vertical gain: 1,000 feet. Start/finish at Walters Ferry. Ride ID 45 to Map Rock Road, go left and ride along the Snake River. Hopefully the wind isn't that bad (go early to avoid heavy afternoon winds). Ride west to Marsing. You'll jig-jog to Chicken Dinner Road and pull into Marsing. Cross the Snake River and then take ID 78 on the south side of the river back to Walters Ferry. You should have a tailwind for this part of the ride, assuming the wind is from the west.

There you have it! These are all great springtime rides to get those legs in shape for bigger rides coming up!

The Boise Road Cycling Guide is available at most bike shops in the valley. It's also available via my web site, stevestuebner.com. It features over 30 road rides in the Boise Valley for all abilities. It's a full-color tear-proof, waterproof fold-out map made out of organic paper. Cost is $12.50.
- SS

Consider upping the fitness ante with road biking; it's working for me, but it's still hard!

Here's Steve, circa Spring 1986, doing a citizen race in Boise.
Pleasant Valley Road. What a nerdy helmet, eh? 

Just a young lad at the time ... ha!  

I'm a happy camper at the 3rd summit, with just one more to go ...
Mack Lyons is on the left. 

These two 4 Summit riders are stoked! 

Hi all,

For this week's tip, I wanted to share my fitness training experience over the last few months in preparation for the 4 Summit Challenge, a 72-mile, super-challenging mountain road bike ride in Cascade. I hope that by sharing this information some folks might benefit or have more ideas or recommendations. The game-changer for me has been upping the ante on road-biking for my overall fitness regime. I've lost 20 pounds since March, and I'm riding stronger than I have been in more than 10 years.

I successfully completed the 4 Summit course on Saturday in about 6 hours, including rest and food stops. The best riders finished in 4.5 hours. But this wasn't a race. It's a recreation ride -- so I wanted to make sure I had fun. Getting into the best shape possible prior to the race was part of that strategy.

The ride is truly a mental and physical challenge. It involves more than 6,000 feet of vertical gain and loss, featuring tough climbs to the four summits and thrilling descents in the wooded and gnarly mountains east of Cascade in the Boise National Forest. The paved roads are pretty darn smooth on the course, with a few exceptions, so on the flats and downhills, you can really zoom.

My inspiration for doing the ride was that two of my friends wanted to do it -- Mack Lyons and Paul Hilding. Mack rode the 4 Summits last year. Mack and I ride mountain bikes on a regular basis with a bunch of guys from Boise. One of those guys, Steve Schneider, said the 4 Summits ride set Mack apart. "After he rode the 4 Summit Challenge last summer, no one has been able to stay with Mack on the hills."

Mack is a really strong climber. That motivates all of us to try to keep up: Plus, I used to love to ride long distances on my road bike when I was in my late teens and 20s. I used to ride Lolo Pass from Missoula at the drop of a hat. I rode the 230-mile Tour of the Swan River Valley (TOSRV West) in two days several years in a row. After college, I rode centuries in Oregon and Colorado. When I moved to Boise, I rode the Hays Century Ride and hammered up to Bogus on a weekly basis. But then I bought my first mountain bike in the fall of 1986, and that opened up a whole new world to me. The 4 Summits ride would be the longest road ride I've done in about 25 years.

Get yourself a nice road bike to get excited about road biking. This
model has an aluminum frame and carbon fiber fork. I had them put
three chain rings on the front crank and climbing gears in back.
Most road bikes only come with two chain rings in front and a
flatlander-style gear set in the back. That won't work very well
 for steep mountain roads.  

Another inspiration for me was the fact that I turned 55 last year. My resolution was to try to drop some pounds and get in better shape. Last spring, I kicked the training into high gear.  

MARCH - Wendy and I took a 10-day whale-watching and sea kayaking vacation in Mexico in late February. I got some kind of stomach bug that led to the loss of the first eight pounds. When we returned to Boise, spring riding was beginning in the Boise Foothills, and I hit the trails with gusto. I wanted to keep those pounds off! My pointer Huck runs like the wind out there in the footies when it's cool and breezy. So fun to watch! Love that time of year!

• I alternated mountain bike rides with the Cartwright 3 Summits Ride ("the dump loop") on my road bike. 
• I tried to go spinning at the Y several times a week at noon. Over a period of weeks, I found myself pushing higher gears on the spin bike.  
• At the summit of mountain bike rides, I'd do 100 crunchers to strengthen my core. 

APRIL - Mack, Paul and his wife, Stephanie, and I made the commitment to ride the 4 Summit Challenge. Stef reserved a sweet RV campsite at Lake Cascade State Park. Now we had a goal to shoot for. I was (gulp!) puckered by the challenge that lay ahead.

• I blogged about roadie events and clubs in April. I started to think about trying to do a Metric Century or full Century for the Bob LeBow Blue Cruise. 
• I continued to mountain bike a ton in the foothills and tossed in some longer road rides in SW Boise, rides that I call City to Farm. If you need ideas on road biking routes in the valley, pick up my Boise Road Cycling Guide.  
• At the summit of the mountain bike rides, I worked up to 200 crunchers. 

MAY - Mack, Paul and I did our first significant road ride of the year. We zipped out to Swan Falls Dam from Overland & 5-Mile via Cloverdale. We put in 50 miles on that one. We were all very spent afterwards. Stephanie came out to Kuna to pick us up at a Mexican Restaurant, where we were pounding food and beers. 

• I started to ride to Bogus on my road bike every so often. That ride helps you get stronger as a climber, and it definitely works your lungs as well. 
• I tried to ride steep mountain bike rides whenever possible, such as climbing Hard Guy, Stueby's Death March or Watchman. 
• I cut out my favorite cocktail, Black Russians. Limited those to special occasions. 

JUNE - I rode the Metric Century in the Bob LeBow Blue Cruise. This ride was 64 miles, including riding into a headwind along the Snake River on the way to Marsing. Despite my training, that ride still totally kicked my butt. I felt that I needed to work harder to be ready for a longer ride with much more vertical than the Blue Cruise. 

• Did a big hike in the Pioneer Mountains ... 12 miles and more than 3,000 feet of gain. 
• The cool month extended the mountain biking season in the foothills in terms of after-work rides. 
• I continued to alternate rides on the road bike. 

JULY - I worried about the impact of spending eight days floating and camping on the Salmon River in Central Idaho. I was gone on vacation July 9-16. I tried to lay off the beer on the raft in the afternoons or at least reduce the intake. 

• On Saturday, July 19, Mack and I rode from Boise to Horseshoe Bend to Emmett, which involves two summits, Horseshoe Bend Hill and Big Freezeout. That was a 60-mile ride. We felt pretty worked after that one. It was my first big ride after being on the river trip. We had a week to go before the 4 Summit ride. 
• On Wednesday, July 23, I rode the hardest part of the 4 Summit course, the Landmark grade and the backside of the Big Creek Summit grade. That's about a 40-mile ride. It was helpful to know what gears I would be riding in on those grades. I felt I was ready. 

So really, the big difference for me this year has been increasing the road-biking component of my training regimen. By doing gradually longer and longer rides, I increased the amount of calories burned and built endurance. I still enjoyed mountain biking several times a week to exercise my puppy and me. I hope to ride a century later this summer to keep the momentum going.   

I asked a few veteran road riders about their thoughts:

This is what Tom Platt of George's Cycles had to say: "I think road cycling is a better way to attain a base level of fitness and is also a better mode for weight management plans. The rider maintains a consistent (and slightly lower) heart rate versus mountain biking which keeps things more aerobic. This is important in building general fitness and for fat-burning plans.

"We generally start the year getting all of our base mileage on the road (which also corresponds with the weather and trails). Later I like to mix in mountain biking partly because it is fun but also acts like mini-intervals, accelerating the heart rate for short periods during climbs and allowing for recovery on the rollers and minor downhills.

"I think road riding helps your mountain biking by building endurance fitness, and the mountain biking makes you more powerful and helps in climbing ability on the road."

Kurt Holzer, Boise lawyer and active rider and racer: "Riding on the road is far more a Zen experience. It's more about the endorphins. Going long and deep into the endurance reserves like long-distance running. My adrenaline comes in the racing part of it, but that’s a small portion of my overall riding.  Many more miles of rolling along chatting with friends. My greatest pleasure is being part of St. Luke’s Sports Medicine cycling club rides. Over a 2- or 3-hour ride you can talk about families, vacations, books you’ve read, home projects, politics, cooking, whatever as the miles go by and the scenery changes.  

"From an older weekend warrior athlete perspective, there is no question that the way the body makes energy for those steady state road efforts has great health benefits. Obviously riding of any kind  is good for you, but those long days in the road saddle are generally the one that I feel translate more to skiing fitness etc."

A couple of concluding thoughts:

• Pick up a nice road bike. It'll get you excited about riding on the road.  
• Build your mileage slowly.
• Sign up for an ambitious bike event(s) and make that your goal. 

So there you have it! In the blog comments or on Facebook, please share your opinions with me about road biking for fitness and training, or other things that you do that build endurance and burn off the fat. Thanks!
-----------------------------

• On Sunday, Tamarack Resort will run their chairlift to mid-mountain so people can enjoy the Super G Trail and other mountain bike trails in the area. Lift fees are $40. USA Cycling members get a $10 discount. 
• There's a 12K trail run in the Boise Foothills on Saturday. Sponsored by Bandanna, St. Luke's and Idaho Nordic. 
• Next big road biking event is the annual Bogus Basin Hill Climb on Saturday, Aug. 16. Sponsored by George's Cycles and Fitness.  
• Check out the Idaho Statesman annual photo contest winners. Results were announced today.   

- SS 

Stoked for road-biking this year? Training tips, rides and clubs to help you out

Meet new friends by joining a road biking club in Boise ... 

Group rides allow for drafting and fast riding! 

Hill-climbing group rides help you shave minutes off your best times climbing to Bogus 

Hi all,

I'm not sure exactly why, but I've been more inspired and excited to ride my road bike this year. Part of it is that I have a fairly new Specialized Secteur Sport road bike that's really fast, fun and comfortable to ride, and I've set more aggressive fitness goals for myself this year. Plus, I signed up for the Four Summit Challenge from Cascade to Landmark in late July, so I want to make sure I'm in solid road-biking shape for that event. And I may commit to more road bike events before then.

I'm assuming that some other folks may have the road-biking bug, too. Or maybe you're a wanna-be ... you'd like to ride longer distances, but you're not sure where to go, and you'd like to meet some other folks who ride at the same pace and have similar goals.

For this week's outdoor tip, I'm recommending some roadie clubs that you could hook up with to meet new folks, get tips on training, and do regular weekly rides.

First, my mantra is that bicycling should be and must be FUN! Always! If you're working on adding more mileage to your workouts, it's wise to do so in phases versus trying to do it all at once. That will make it easier on your butt, too. Gotta break in your butt for biking!

Jeff Larsen from Community Bicycle Rides recommends that you build your mileage slowly, adding a 10% increase per week. "Take on challenges in bite-sized chunks," he said. "Ease into it."

I totally agree. I do that when I'm trying to up the ante on mountain bike trails or on the road. It's a system that works. Build the mileage gradually, but keep challenging yourself as you get stronger, and keep building on the momentum. Do a few weights and core exercises on off-days to build on your fitness routine. Who needs a personal trainer when you can ride a bike for fitness?

Bike Clubs! What are they? How to get involved? Boise has several road-biking clubs, including Lactic Acid Cycling, Community Bicycle Rides, and Lost River Cycling. I'm sure I'm leaving out others (please let me know!) All three of these organizations are really solid. They offer regular weekly rides, including social rides and coffee rides. Check out the calendars on their web sites to see what might work for you.

For example, Lactic Acid is hosting a National Women's Day Ride on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. at George's Cycles on Front Street in downtown Boise. They are offering three bike rides, a recreational ride, a road ride and a mountain bike ride. A social hour will follow, along with some swag giveaways.

Lactic Acid focuses on hill-climbing on Tuesday nights, social rides on Thursdays, and no-drop rides on Saturday, typically with a group that goes 40 miles or less, and a stronger, faster group that goes about 80 miles. "No one is left behind," promises Lynn Johnston, social director for Lactic Acid.

If you've never ridden in a group or draft line before, Lactic Acid's experienced cyclists will show you how to ride safely in a group, in terms of how to draft correctly, use turn signals and follow the rules of the road.

A related group is called "Spinderella," offered Wednesday nights at George's for women only. These are beginner/intermediate road rides. Spinderella has a Facebook page with more information.

Community Bicycle Rides (CBR) has a slightly different style for its group rides, Larsen says. Instead of riding in big groups, they give participants maps of the route they'll be riding that particular day, and folks can ride at their own pace. Some cyclists who participate in CBR also are Lactic Acid members or Lost River members, he said.

The CBR ride calendar shows that CBR partners with a variety of bike shops around the valley, to help cyclists learn what these shops have to offer, and offer different locations for the ride starting points, and bike routes.

On Sunday, June 1st, CBR is launching "Bogus for Beginners," in which riders can learn how to climb and descend Bogus Basin Road over a five-week period, gradually building mileage each week. This is led by David Bogie of the MWI Cycling Club. He rides a recumbent. The ride starts in the old Ridley's parking lot on Bogus Basin Road, across from Healthwise.

Lost River Cycling has a great roster of weekly rides as well ... they host a Hump Day Road Ride on Wednesdays, a mountain bike ride on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Jonny Z's Temp Ride on Saturdays.
LRC also offers "the Tourist Group," a Sunday ride done in conjunction with CBR.

Bike shops throughout the valley do ad hoc road rides and mountain bike rides. Check with your favorite bike shop for information about that. Idaho Mountain Touring's racing team, IMT/Rino Rush, has no-drop road rides every Monday at 6 p.m. leaving from IMT downtown; anyone is welcome. The team also will offer a series of clinics and informational videos for new riders. IMT is hosting a women’s bike demo on Saturday at 10 a.m.

 
All of the roadie clubs link to the SWICA race calendar ... for information on road-biking events coming up all summer. Several rides are coming up in June that sound intriguing:

• Lemhi Valley Century Ride - 100 miles or 100 kilometers, pick your poison, Saturday, June 21. I love the scenery in the Lemhi River Valley southeast of Salmon. It's a classic mountain valley framed by the Lemhi and Beaverhead mountains with a number of cattle ranches in the valley floor. 
• The Terry Reilly Bob LeBow Blue Cruise - Saturday, June 28. Lots of distance options on this ride, 3, 10, 25, 35, 62 and 100 mile courses.   
• Great Owyhee Ride - Saturday, June 21. Distances of 50, 62 or 100 miles, starting in Ontario, Ore., and heading out to Owyhee Dam. 

And then in July, there's more fun, including the Four Summit Challenge. Ride Idaho occurs in early August ... Check the club calendars for more details. 

If you'd like to know more about where to ride your road bike in the greater Boise area, check out my Boise Road Cycling Guide, a waterproof and tear-proof fold-out map that features 30+ road rides throughout the valley, and a few bonus rides in Canyon County and SW Idaho. 

Hope I've inspired you just a smidge to get involved in road biking this summer! 

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SWIMBA, Central Idaho Mountain Biking Association (CIMBA) and IMBA are hosting a Spring Fling trail work day, ride and party on Saturday at Jug Mountain Ranch. Trail work starts at 10 a.m., the ride at 2:30 p.m., and party at 4:30 p.m. I'm planning on being there ... Great excuse to go to McCall! 

- SS 

Spring road biking season is here! Bike events, great spring rides to inspire your participation

Riding to Swan Falls, Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area 

Riding on Cartwright Road, a hilly country road in the Boise Foothills 

Boise River Greenbelt

A pack of roadies on Hill Road 

City to Farm ... no traffic! 

Hi all,

The cool and sunny spring weather has been fantastic for doing just about anything outdoors ... and the weekend forecast looks great. It's a perfect time to shake the cobwebs off the road bike and get out and ride!

Let's review the roadie bike events coming up this summer, and then I'll suggest some nice spring roadie rides.

Key events coming up ... 

• Boise Bike Week - Set for the week of May 13-18, Boise Bike Week already has a bunch of activities scheduled on the calendar. Activities include fun rides, kids rides, women's rides, road rides, mountain bike rides, tips on bike maintenance, ride to work day, etc. Thanks to the Treasure Valley Cycling Alliance and Boise Weekly for co-sponsoring this fun-filled annual kickoff to the biking season in our communities.  
• Bob LeBow Blues Cruise - The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health is teaming up with Terry Reilly Health Services this year to create a bigger and better Bob LeBow Blue Cruise. The ride will be on Saturday, June 28. There will be courses for all abilities and distances, great aid stations and a big lunch to follow the ride. 
• Four Summit Challenge - Set for July 26, there's plenty of time to train for the popular Four Summit Challenge in Cascade. The main course follows Warm Lake Road over Big Creek Summit to Warm Lake and then up to the top of Landmark Summit to the end of the paved road, before turning around and cycling back to Cascade. This event is getting bigger and better every year. I'm hoping to do it this year. 
• Ride Idaho - Scheduled for Aug. 2-9, Ride Idaho will tour the Magic Valley area, including scaling the road to Pomerelle Ski Area, touring the scenic Thousand Springs region, lower Wood River Valley, Carey and Declo. Ride Idaho carries your camping gear and you ride 400 miles in a week with 350 riders to tour parts of Idaho that perhaps you've never seen before, at least not from your bike. 

Here are some spring rides to get your legs in shape (all of these are drawn from the Boise Road Cycling Guide by yours truly, the best and only road-biking map available for roadie rides in SW Idaho):

• Boise River Greenbelt from Municipal Park to Lucky Peak - 9 miles one way, 18 miles out and back. About 1 hour travel time. Surface is flat most of the way, with a few short hills here and there. You may have a tailwind going out, but you'll pay for that on the way back. Wind is always a factor. 
• City to Farm Loop - 16.2 miles; ride time is about 1 hour. Fun tour of the transition zone between the city of Boise and rural agricultural lands in the outskirts of SW Boise, with many ranchettes along the way. Riding surface is mostly flat. Wind will be a factor. Start at Five Mile and Overland Roads. Go south on Five Mile, right on Lake Hazel, left on Cloverdale, right on Columbia, left on Eagle, right on Hubbard, right on Locust Grove, right on Lake Hazel, left on Five Mile and return to the start. 
• Country Ride - Feel more ambitious? This one is 35 miles, and 2-plus hours. Start at Cloverdale and Lake Hazel. This one tours the country side in SW Boise and skirts around Kuna before returning to the start. Go south on Cloverdale, right on Poen, right on Swan Falls, left on Kuna Cave, right on Robinson, right on Bennett, straight on King, left on Cloverdale and return to the start. 
• Cartwright Three Summits Loop - 17.7 miles, 1.5 hours. This is one of my favorite rides cuz it's close to my house. You'll climb and descend 1,591 feet along the way. This one is much more challenging because of the steep hills. Start at the junction of Bogus Basin Road and Hill Road. Climb Bogus Basin to Cartwright, go left and climb Cartwright over the first little hill, and then a second huge wall of a hill, and then ride through the Dry Creek Valley and the Hidden Springs area before climbing over Seaman's Gulch Road to conquer the third summit. Turn left on Hill Road and return to the start. 
• Hill Road to Eagle or Star - Start at Bogus Basin Road and Hill, or wherever you want to tie into Hill Road, and zip out west to Eagle or Star. It's 40 miles out and back to Star. Wind is a major factor. Ride Hill to Horseshoe Bend Road. Go right, go a mile, then left on Floating Feather. Follow Floating Feather out to Eagle Road, or continue west to Star. Vary your route by going north another mile to Beacon Light. A cool alternative in Eagle: Go north on Eagle Road to the end of the pavement on Willow Creek Road. 
• Ride to Swan Falls Dam - Start/finish in Kuna. 42 miles, 3+ hours travel time, 1,710 feet of elevation gain/loss. Nice place to ride without much traffic. Take Swan Falls Road south of Kuna (the turn is off of main street in Kuna as you come into town from the west) and go 21 miles to the dam. Besides the hill-climb, the ride features lots of up and down through the giant swells of sagebrush out to the edge of the Snake River canyon. Then you plunge downhill to the dam and grassy picnic area, have your lunch and retrace your tracks back to Kuna. Watch for hawks, eagles and owls. You'll see plenty of ground-squirrels running across the road. 
• Greenbelt in Municipal Park to Hilltop Summit - 27 miles round-trip. 2.5 hours. 1,214 vertical feet. Take the Greenbelt out to Discovery Park and then jump on Idaho 21 to Hilltop Summit. Wind is always a factor on this ride. But it will work your quads for sure. Nice moderate gradual climb to Hilltop. Watch for deer and elk.     

Be sure to dress in layers and pack a good rain/wind shell. 

Have fun!
-SS