Outside of Illini 4000, another important event for the world was happening this Summer, the World Cup. It was even being hosted, in part, in the United States along with Canada and Mexico. With a few of us being big football (soccer) fans, trying to find a way to watch the Spain vs. Argentina game today was a must, especially since we were going to a city. Along our journey and route of the day, we played previous World Cup songs on our speakers and were talking about who we thought was going to be best in the game. Would Spain continue their streak of shutouts and dominant gameplay? Would Argentina play their aggressive style and earn Lionel Messi another trophy for his cabinet? I’m sure at home you already know the answer (I guess I do while writing this too), but we had to get there and watch to figure it out.
Ride Overview
Mileage: 56.2 miles
Elevation: +974 ft. / -1,397 ft.
Points of Interest: Interstate 84, Blacks Creek Bird Reserve, Boise, Idaho State Capitol
Tales of the Trail
The World Cup group, as they called themselves, was formed from the get go as those who would be trying to move a little faster on the last stretch from the second rest stop into Boise to see if they could make it in time to find a television to watch on. It was Lauren, Vedang, Maaike, Cole, and Max that headed out with this goal in mind, but as the day wore on, the other group ended up with the same intentions. We all wanted to watch the big game!
As we were exiting Mountain Home, we made it onto the Interstate 84 Frontage Road and must be for a combination of the time of day and the road really leading to nowhere but the highway itself, we only saw one or maybe two cars the whole way to the first rest stop. We were listening to music, talking, riding, enjoying the clear weather, and no one had a worry at all. The road was all ours. Max and Nishk continued the hunt for license plates, each finding one or two before we stopped. Nishk, Anthony, Aadit, and Ren were having an equally good time in their ride group too until really the only notable riding event occurred other than pure joy.
Since the road was so empty, Anthony, Tada, and Nishk decided to test their legs and sprinting skills. A bit after takeoff, while the torque to the wheels was high, Anthony had his shoe come unclipped and that would cause him to wipe out. Luckily, he had good teammates around and the van arrived shortly to help clean up his scrapes and pick up his bike. Anthony, unfortunately, didn’t get back on the bike today, but he was walking and smiling, so we could tell all was fine and he will certainly be back on the saddle soon.
After that tough moment to wake us all up, we had to also be mentally prepared for a little under 10 miles on the actual interstate. With good communication and confident riding we made it down Interstate 84 and into our next, and final, rest stop of the day at Blacks Creed Bird Reserve. Everything kept moving along at this stop with the continued intention to make it to watch the final in Boise. We even planned how we were going to make it there and try to hold a table at Buffalo Wild Wings for everyone.
Over the final stretch, we started to see some smoke in the air, or at least what we thought was smoke, and hoped that that was not an omen for what is to come on our days ahead. There were a couple of rolling hills coming into town and we were very surprised how close to the city we needed to get before we could distinguish anything but empty fields. The bike lanes through the city were nice and they led us straight to our stayover while going past the State Capitol.
Rushing to the restaurant for the game, a couple of us made it over in time to get the last table while others put their name on a waiting list and ran around the neighboring blocks looking for a spot to watch. Luckily for us running, Spain and Argentina kept the score tied at 0-0 all the way through regulation, so we didn’t have to worry about missing any peak action. Eventually, Spain broke through in extra time and a new champion was crowned. Those less interested in the match also got to see the wildest mashup of musical artists for the halftime show including: Madonna, Gustavo Dudamel, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira, and probably someone else we are forgetting.
As the team was getting settled into their places for this evening and next, Maaike went to the airport to pick up a special guest whom I am sure you will hear about in tomorrow’s journal.
