Grangeville to Riggins- Back to the Mountain Time Zone

July 19, 2018

Gay has ridden the TransAmerica route a few times and aptly described the section between Missoula and Baker City as "very lumpy". Grangeville to Riggins was no exception. The day began with a 7-mile, 1000-ft climb, which was followed by a grab-yer-brakes 2,500-ft descent over 8 miles. The official route was on Old Highway 95, but we opted for the New 95 for it's shorter distance.

I'm experiencing hand fatigue from the descent

After yesterday's experience on Lamb Grade, the gentle 7-mile climb felt pretty friendly. The downhill portion, however, was a bit of a white-knuckler. Near-continuous 7% grade with narrow shoulders and a moderate volume of truck traffic. When trucks pass you on a bike, the slipstream (air wake) can really throw you off balance, especially when high speeds are involved. For this reason, we try to keep our downhill speeds at no more than 30mph.

You can see old highway switchbacks. We would have preferred to take that but we're looking for the shorter route today

The Nez Perce soundly defeated the US Cavalry at this spot, sparking the Army to wage an all out campaign against the tribe. The initial battle was sparked when the US violated a treaty with the Nez Perce, something that occurred with most tribes.

Most of the rest of the route to Riggins was along the Salmon River, backed by increasingly large and barren hills. When we crossed the Salmon River Bridge just before entering Riggins, Boom! We were back in the Mountain time zone. How can it be that in Montana we were in Mountain zone, then switched to Pacific zone at the Idaho border, and then (still in Idaho) we switch back to Mountain zone before the change to Pacific zone again at the Oregon border? Can't Idaho just pick one time zone for the whole state and stick with it? We might need to take a day off to recover from time zone lag!

We thought about rafting the Salmon once we got to Riggins, but it looked pretty tame and we decided to look at the McKenzie when we get to Oregon.

Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 1,621 miles (2,609 km)

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