I'm sure Steve is crying in his beer right now, if he drank beer. Guess this trip's going to have to be rescheduled. He just doesn't have any luck.--Corrie

Scott sends this

We (Doug, Jen and I) did the down river road ride in Riggins today. (Riggins to Vinegar creek (the road runs along the salmon river until the at Vinegar creek boat ramp)) The weather was great, the temps were nice, the wind was fairly mild and we only dealt with the left overs of the in process road construction (they take sundays off YEA!!!) for about the first 4 miles (and of course the last 4 miles). The out and back ride ended up being just a little over 52 miles... Dinner at the river rock restaurant in Riggins after the ride was yummy.

Here is the news report on the snow level from that general area... at least from my perspective... Once we got up into the canyons.. the snow level on the north facing slopes seemed to be about 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the river level... I think Riggins sits roughly at 1,800 feet... so that would put the snow level around 2,800 to 3,300 feet... I think the start of the Weiser trail is in the 4,000 to 4,500 foot range... aka... I am going to guess that a good portion of it is under snow right now... I was also chatting with a couple at the rest area in Riggins, As it turns out they were from Cascade... They said they had come down to the Riggins area to visit spring as they still had a good six feet of snow at their place... I think Cascade is roughly around 5,000 feet...

The bottom line... and as much as I hate to admit it... I think Sean is right... (gawd that hurt!!) There is just to much snow this year to do the upper portions of the Weiser trail ride just yet... I would guess that by late May/early June... things should be cleared up and dried off (aka not so muddy and wet in the shady spots that see little sun light.). It does sound like an interesting ride...

That is my two cents worth on the subject.. for what it's worth.

Cheers

Scott.

"it was fun," Lee said handing over his road crew vest at the end of pickup today. I'd thanked him for driving down from Uniontown but he'd had a good time.

We moved quickly today. Accuweather had forcast snow at noon. I don't think we had any precipitation but the wind came up with a biting edge.

The Honor Roll

Corrie
Linda
Doug
Lee Bauer
Nicki Riddle
Helen
Bill Arnold
Mike Warnock
Debbie
Scott Whitely
Scott Trost
Jennifer Cunningham
David Tibbals
Sean
Carol

Pretty impressive work today. Linda and I arrived early to set up the signs. (Eric came by on a road bike on his way to work.)

By12:30 Linda headed up the road. Soon Lee arrived and I sent him ahead. The Doug followed and he was out ahead.

No one wanted to sit around and wait for the group to arrive and so by 1 we already had several folks at work. Nicki was able to move a group of workers out onto the road.

By the time I got in the pickup, we already had teams beyond the first mile. I just moved the sign. By the time I turned around, I was telling folks to cross the road and head back.

I really appreciate all the turn out. It would have been pretty miserable had only a couple shown up. So once again, thanks to everyone. Sorry, there was not ride afterward. Windchill Cancel.

I stood on my right foot, left foot bare, poised to step. In my left hand a DVD, in my right, the remote. The DVD player's only six feet away. A rocking chair is only two steps, yet I cannot put that left foot down. It just won't budge.

A week after the avulsion fracture on my left foot, though I feel improvement each day, its still slow.

Scott revealed his theory on why my fracture occured. I asked for permission to share it, but in the absence of permission I'm going ahead. Its just too good a story. Not as good as Scott's pants story, but a good story anyway.

One of the first things Doug told me as we left Lewiston in the RV was that I should beware of the Trost Curse of Three. I had ridden with Scott once last summer and twice before this trip. I was due for the curse to hit.

Doug reported the wives of Scott's coworkers wouldn't allow their husbands to come out to play with Scott. And he recited a litany of evidence which I promptly forgot as I also did the curse. Part of the working of the curse must be this fogging of the memory.

Here's Scott's explanation . .

lol... Before you inflate your chest too far with the idea of the strength of your legs... (yes fracturing your foot with that kind of power is impressive). I think perhaps I should float another theory as to the ultimate cause of your injury... There are some among us (myself not included) who would claim that you have just fallen victim to the Trost rule of three's..... I personally put no stake in this theory and consider it to be pure hogwash... but there are those who would chalk up your injury to it being the third event type of outing with me this year... If my count is correct... We had 1: The reverse lapwai loop 2: The death valley ride.. and than 3: the standard lapwai loop where you suffered your fracturing event...

On the bright side.... the Trost curse only seems to strike an individual once a year.... So once you heal up from this curse event... you should be immune to the curse.... at least per the current theory on this curse... more research might be needed....

Now, I'm a hard-headed rationalist when it comes to this sort of superstition. Oh, I admit to being a little nervous when I hear creaks in the night and I would never go down those dark stairs into the basement like the girl in the horror movies always stupidly does--but then I did go out with dangerous folk. Maybe . . .

In the mean time, I sat back down and put the boot back on. The DVD, Jodie Foster's Brave One is pretty violent but really gets to that "we'd all be safer if everyone was packing heat" debate.

For whatever reason, my ride's still the Lazy Boy.

Corrie