Arimo, Idaho

Home to the Garden Creek Gap bicycle race. Don't tell me you've never heard of Arimo, Idaho - it's about eight miles south of Inkom (see previous blog). I can tell some of you need to get out more...

Above is the "gap"in the mountains. It may look level  from this vantage point but don't be fooled, it's anything but level. The cyclists ride from a gas station eight miles away, through the gap and to the top of a hill.  From here they ride a loop around the mountain to the left and back through the gap. The number of times they go around depends on the category they ride in. Mark rode with the Masters 35's so he rode through the gap four times for a total of 83 miles! He loves this race because it has an uphill finish - his speciality. This is a challenging course on a clear day but as the group turned to ride towards the gap the third time there was a fierce head wind and it began to rain. I rode wheel support and they were only able to go about 6 mph. It seemed as if they would come to a stop at times the wind was blowing so hard. Over the hill and down the back side there was some respite from the rain but as they came around the wind was in their faces again and it began to pour. Some of the riders went back to the start line instead of the finish line, they had enough.

This is  Mark just before he crossed the finish line a few feet behind the winner. (That's me and Jenn driving support right behind him.) He was soaked, freezing and exhausted but he finished second. We were very proud of him. If you want to see a few more pictures Christian took (He was soaked and freezing too as he waited at the top in to rain to take pictures) check out his blog.