i was at a house show last night and sat outside between bands drinking with some pals, when an old friend shows up. we talk, and i mention my love of bicycles that developed since we last talked. when i mentioned i'm considering moving back to portland and starting track racing, she said "oh, car racing?" after i rolled my eyes, i started in on a litany of how great bikes are, how great going fast on bikes is, how bikes are so fantastic to ride and so on and so ...the whole time she has a "you're f---ing crazy" look on her face and seems to slowly back away. ah, boise people. "you...what? ride a bike? like a motorcycle? bike? what?" sometimes i think i don't belong here, except to spread the good word about bikes.

Boy that Boise. I get the same reaction here in The Car State! But I love Michigan, and I secretly enjoy being "freakishly different

yeah, i wouldn't be posting that story if i didn't get a kick out of her reaction. i thought it was pretty funny.

It's like I always say, "People from Idaho are not people at all..." :p

Yeah, I happen to like Boise, especially the clean little downtown and easy access to the bike trail and hills north of town, but it is a very conservative state and people are generally still totally caught up in the whole motorized lifestyle, suburban sprawl thing.

Humancongereel,

Your influence is very important. Keep it up.

ha ha, i do it more cuz i prefer to ride, not to influence people, but...if i can, i do. i know a couple of car-lite people i've been nudging and a couple i've influenced straight from cars to car free. though it's not just me, it's gas prices, the pain in the ass of driving, yadda yadda yadda...just get people to see that, and that there's an alternative.

I use to ride from Garden City(orchard rd) up to the Shopco warehouse on Gowen every day. Forget those hills, take a ride on Gowen with a 30 mph headwind and 45 mph gusts. One time I had that as a tailwind on the way home at 1:30 am and I made it 12 miles home in 18 minutes. That would be a great bikeriding town if not for those %$#^%$# goathead thorns.

i know, i know...i got tire liners and slime tubes, and the only flat i've had since is from me filling it too full and...well...it exploded. slime all over.

garden city, eh? that's a bit of a ride. i also hate some of the headwinds that are here in boise. like you said, 45 mph gusts. sometimes they're ****ing big.

i know, i know...i got tire liners and slime tubes, and the only flat i've had since is from me filling it too full and...well...it exploded. slime all over.

garden city, eh? that's a bit of a ride. i also hate some of the headwinds that are here in boise. like you said, 45 mph gusts. sometimes they're ****ing big.

The wind didn't get to bad untill you got up in the desert on Gowen. But the climbs on Orchard made up for it.

The hills in the north are great. I use to ride up 15th street, about 1 1/2 mile climb. I always meant to do the Bogus Basin race, but I was never in good enough shape to do it while I lived there.

Climbing the dam is another good one. Go when it is hot and you can show off for the bikini women at the "beach".

oh, i know, i hit bogus about once a week, and i never get as far up it as i'd like.

and just getting on the greenbelt and riding east until it ends and you start going up to lucky peak is a beautiful ride. i took a wrong turn in an alleycat race on saturday and ended up taking that lovely ride--it's only too bad it was during a race!

What's an alleycat race? I thought they only had one crit per year downtown.

To bad you can't keep riding after lucky peak. I would have been great to take a long camping ride out that way. But those winding, two lane, no shoulder roads are not a good idea on a bike.

To bad you can't keep riding after lucky peak. I would have been great to take a long camping ride out that way. But those winding, two lane, no shoulder roads are not a good idea on a bike.
I've seen bike tourists (quite a few, actually!) on 21 east of Idaho City, even on the really hairy stretch just between Banner Ridge and Lowman :eek:. Once you get past Lowman, though, it would be a pretty plush ride.

I've seen bike tourists (quite a few, actually!) on 21 east of Idaho City, even on the really hairy stretch just between Banner Ridge and Lowman :eek:. Once you get past Lowman, though, it would be a pretty plush ride.

Wow, I only drove up that way a couple of times on camping trips but it looked pretty scary to me. Then when you get up into the mountians(I think we turned off at Lowman) you have these 1000 foot dropoffs on one side of the winding road. I would love to ride around up there but...

I remember long ago when I first moved there. I worked nights at the Fred Meyer in Garden city and lived in the north end. I was riding down state street in rush hour traffic every morning(gah) because I didn't know about the greenbelt.

What's an alleycat race? I thought they only had one crit per year downtown.

To bad you can't keep riding after lucky peak. I would have been great to take a long camping ride out that way. But those winding, two lane, no shoulder roads are not a good idea on a bike.

an alleycat race is just a fun race--it's sort of a scavenger hunt, i guess. you go to different checkpoints and either find some information and right it down, or there's a contact there you have to find who makes you do something (normal drinking an alcoholic beverage). sometimes the order is up to you, sometimes there's a set course. so you have to know your way around town as much as you have to ride fast.

there are different forms of alleycats, but that seems to be the most common from what i know.

If you're at a House party with semi-good bands AND you're riding in alleycat races--- moving to Portland isn't going to change a darn thing for you. Don't get me wrong, Portland has some really nice things going for it-- lots of cyclists, some nice cultural stuff, good public transit. Portland is also full of idiot cagers living in the 'burbs.

Boise isn't bad--- I love downtown. The trouble is that the "American Dream" for most of this country is buying a big house just outta town. This means that the *town* (wherever you happen to live), gets a bigger every year. Never mind the all the farmland that's paved over with souless McManions, all the packed roads of endless congestion, the mega-mall parking lots packed with SUVs--that stupid *American Dream* sucks the logic out of most American minds.

Cycling clears your head of all this foolishness.


humancongereel, you're fighting a good fight. Moving won't change that. Besides, somebody has to hold down the fort in Idaho.

As a guy who used to bike in Montana and Idaho, I always told non-cyclists that riding is what seperates the childern for the adults, the cowboys from those big hat posers from Cali. The West was settled by tough resorceful people-- not whussies in SUVs. Cycling honors the real spirt of Idaho-- self reliance and gumption.

Nice post, tacomee. Us Americans always want to relocate to find "a better place." Sometimes the better place is right at home, if you can find the true spirit of your place.

But I gotta admit, your post kinda made me want to move out west! :D

If you're at a House party with semi-good bands AND you're riding in alleycat races--- moving to Portland isn't going to change a darn thing for you. Don't get me wrong, Portland has some really nice things going for it-- lots of cyclists, some nice cultural stuff, good public transit. Portland is also full of idiot cagers living in the 'burbs.

Boise isn't bad--- I love downtown. The trouble is that the "American Dream" for most of this country is buying a big house just outta town. This means that the *town* (wherever you happen to live), gets a bigger every year. Never mind the all the farmland that's paved over with souless McManions, all the packed roads of endless congestion, the mega-mall parking lots packed with SUVs--that stupid *American Dream* sucks the logic out of most American minds.

Cycling clears your head of all this foolishness.


humancongereel, you're fighting a good fight. Moving won't change that. Besides, somebody has to hold down the fort in Idaho.

As a guy who used to bike in Montana and Idaho, I always told non-cyclists that riding is what seperates the childern for the adults, the cowboys from those big hat posers from Cali. The West was settled by tough resorceful people-- not whussies in SUVs. Cycling honors the real spirt of Idaho-- self reliance and gumption.


yeah, i know things won't change that much, but i feel really at home in portland. i'd have never left if i hadn't decided to go to college here, near my family.

but i agree, cycling clears your head--you think very differently and live differently and changes so much of your mind and life. i also like your comment about tough, resourceful people instead of wussies in suv's. i sometimes tell people that there's not a lot that scares you after a) riding down bogus basin road at 30-35 mph with no airbag, seatbelts, etc and b) sharing the road with road-raging hummer drivers. it does take a certain amount of being tough to do this.

anyway, even though i feel like my home is elsewhere, while i'm here, i know what i care about and just sharing that with people some, i guess you'd say.

I'm suprised none of you folks have mentioned Sun Valley. :) Thats the cycling heaven of this state.

Far as Boise is concerned I really like biking down Chinden, Federal Way, State Street, Hill Road, through downtown, up near Bogus/Lucky Peak. This is an awesome biking town.

I live 2 minutes from the West Y, love the locale of everything. Boise rules.

I'm suprised none of you folks have mentioned Sun Valley. :) Thats the cycling heaven of this state.

I bet! At least for you and the other hundred people who live there. :lol:

Even though Sun Valley may be cycling heaven, all the cyclists there are tourists! The SUV's and the whole SUV lifestyle is still rampant. There are some terribly dangerous drivers there...I was sure one day that I'd get run over by someone distracted by Bruce Willis coming out of the grocery store. :rolleyes:

yeah, that's bruce willis' hobby. ha ha...

i'd be too out of place in sun valley...the only thing that makes me feel less at home than religious conservatives in suvs is rich people...i'm just a punk kid. i'd feel weird...

anyway, katrogen, i'll have to check out some of those rides...i always just go up bogus or hill road or out after the greenbelt ends and there's the trail that goes east...i think i mentioned this...i got lost on an alleycat a couple weeks back and ended up out by harris ranch. lost the alleycat bigtime. got a pretty ride out of it, though.

also, i'm looking at your picture and thinking "i have to know this person...how?"

oh, looks like you did mention hill road, bogus and toward lucky peak. whoops.

Lol. I don't live up in SV fulltime, we just have a vacation house up there. Rich folk aren't that bad once you get to know em. I am sheltered majorly but oh well lol. Plus I'm a religious conservative. haha. Gotta love Idaho. :)

I have no idea if you know me. I'm a regular at the West Y. Plus I go to Centennial. Not ever anywhere else.

hmm. maybe not then...i dunno. i'm having trouble with your pic...are those dreads? if they are, then you do look familiar. and i don't go either of those places.

yeah, i don't have anything against rich or religious people...everyone's just people to me. but there are certain situations where i feel out of place.

I do have dreads. The whole head isn't done yet though. I keep putting it off. That is a pic of my normal hair with dreads underneath. Its a pain getting them in.

wow, you guys are bringing back some memories for me! I graduated from BHS in 198-something and used to bike-commute to my job at Wendys (picture red-haired girl in full wendys 'kit' on beater 10-speed) my senior year of high school. After HS, I went on to work at sun valley resort and party in Ketchum. ahhh...those were the days!

cheers!
Liz

What do you think of the newly built Warm Springs Lodge? Or what they are going to use Dollar in the summer for. A new music festival area or something.

Pretty cool. :)

I live up in Elkhorn and am saddened by how they are tearing out alot of the old village. Thats alot of memories getting torn right there. The golf course club house does look nice though. :(

so they are dreads. yeah, you do look familiar. god knows why. you ever do the downtown bike shutdown?

it's not much of a shutdown anymore, just like 10 kids riding bikes on the cruise, maybe with taylor's jury-rigged sound system blaring...

Thats normal hair in that pic. Only got a few dreads because of laziness.
http://myspace-596.vo.llnwd.net/00251/69/51/251041596_m.jpg

I haven't tried any bike events yet. Anytime I'm in downtown Boise I seem to get flat tires from knives and nails. So I don't regular down there, especially at night anymore. Is the shut down thing fun? Do we have a good Critical Mass type thing too? I know its not the actual CM as its defunct but they have something as an alternative.

I'm looking to get myself an application to the cycling team, Team Dobbiaco this spring. Along with a friend of mine.

well, every third saturday there's the downtown bike shutdown. this next weekend, it's 9:30 at the capitol building...basically the cruise, but on bikes. there's not a critical mass...that's all there is, to my knowledge, though i've heard tales of a phantom bike gang on the north end i'd love to find out more about.

i'd join that team, but i'm moving back to portland...and i've met someone who's going to get me started with training for track racing...which i'm more excited about than road racing...the banked curves, etc....

Thats awesome. Yeah. I'll definantly get involved with the bike stuff once we get a new road bike for me this spring. Plus I need outdoor gear. Hope Portland is a fun town to ride in too. I'll probably never leave Idaho myself. haha.

Track racing would be fun. Lots of speed.

yeah...i wish there was more informal stuff here. here it's mostly teams, club rides, all that...you know, lost river cycling, etc. in portland, it's booz cruises and ****. less athletic, but just about having fun.

boise is a beautiful city to take long, out of town rides in. portland is just a great city to be car-free in. it just depends on what you want out of the town...if i was a different person than i am, i'd seriously love the long rides in the foothills.

and yeah, i'm super stoked to get involved in track racing.

I like the teams and club rides. Thats fine with me. Hah. I don't go near beer. :)

Boise is a beautiful place. Its enchanting almost. I love Idaho. This state and Colorado.

Are you trained at all in track racing?

nah, i'm just barely starting out. i'll be happy if i even race at all this year. there's a guy i met on another site who does it, and he's been giving me advice, encouraging me, all that good stuff...hopefully i'll be ready sooner rather than later. for the winter, i'm just riding as much as i can, but not pushing myself too much...the bike equivalent of jogging for a long time each day, i guess you'd say.

Thats cool. I do a spin class 2-3 times a day. Weekends its a spin class or trainer. I live two minutes from a huge YMCA which is in our neigbhorhood park so just basically hang out there everyday. Personally I'm going to invest sometime into weight training though. I'm intimidated by the technical side though, weights and all...

Just saw Warren Miller's Higher Ground on Thursday night and happily dropped my debate class. Been watching Clint Eastwood alot lately too. Its great.

yeah, i'm trying to find time to do that with bsu here. i guess there are a few spinning classes here, and i need to do that. i mean, winter is stopping me from riding, dammit! but it will lessen how much i do...i'm sure there will be points at which my motivation will be frozen ;), so i'd best find those classes. i also need rollers, but i can't afford those.

i like clint eastwood. "high plains drifter" makes him seem like a badass. not really a nice guy, but i guess that's part of the description of a die-hard badass, isn't it?

Sorry. Been too lazy to respond. Have this problem on myspace too.

Spinning classes are the best. The Part Center Gold Gym has the greatest schedule of them. They even have classes on Sunday. I'm usually at the West Y doing them about 12 times a week. Been actually weight training too but got sick this last week so its been a bit hard... bleh:P