Boise Greenbelt Ride
Once in a while I have to go to Boise, ID. I’ve been hoping to rent a bike and hit the sweet foothill trails Boise has to offer. Unfortunately, every time I go to Boise, I forget to do some planning, and I have never had enough time to hit the foothill trails. Maybe next time. This time though, I opted to rent a city bike and rode along the Greenbelt trail.
This bike/walking trail snakes along the Boise river on both sides. I couldn’t find out exactly how long the Greenbelt trail is, but based on some quick map analysis, I figured it is some 25km (15M) long (give or take). If you add both sides on the river as one trail, it adds up to 50km (30M) in total.
I went back to the hotel right after work and changed into my workout clothes. In the mean time, I downloaded the app from Boise Green Bike to find out where I had to go to check a bike out. I was pleased to locate a bike hub just one block away from where I was staying.
Here are the green and blue bikes waiting to be picked up.
The registration/pickup process was very straight forward. I did it through the app, but you can just walk up to a hub, and insert your credit card to unlock a bike if you want. In just a few seconds, I had the bike unlocked and ready to roll.
I hopped on the bike path and started going west (because you should always go west)
You can see my water bottle hanging precariously from the front basket. It turns out the holes on the bottom part of the basket are way too big and most small items will fall through. Yeah, you would be fine putting a grocery bag in there, but not so sure about carrying a single egg carton or….. a water bottle!
Since my workout asked for at least a 20km (12.4M) ride, my plan was to ride 10km (6.2M) on one side of the river and then ride back on the other side of the river. Well, my plan was shot after 5km (3M) into the ride because of some construction closing the path.
It’s OK. I wasn’t that attached to my original plan anyway. I backtracked a little bit and found a bridge to cross to the other side of the river.
I just realized I don’t have any pictures of the Boise River, which is a pity since the river is what sets this bike path apart form the regular side-of-the-road bike trail.
I have to say the Greenbelt is very well maintained and even when I had to get on the main road to cross the river, there were physical dividers between the road and the bike lane. This usually means the city cares about cyclists.
Here’s the outline on the terrain map. You can also see the foothills I mentioned on the top right quadrant of the map area below.
The Reward
This wasn’t a particularly long or hard workout, but I wanted to reward myself anyway. After all, a 20km bike ride is better than sitting in my hotel room watching Game of Thrones and eating chips. I mean, workout-wise, it’s better, but not really actually better. Conveniently enough, there was a Whole Foods right across from where I had to drop off the bike. I grabbed a salad bowl and filled it with non-salad goodies: turkey meat balls, potato salad, mac and cheese, and yes, some vegetables. Food in hand, I browsed their beer selection. I found a Grand Teton Brewing Amber Ale and picked it up. I always try to find beers that I can’t get back home. It was a nice day even though I didn’t get to see the Kahleesi make some borderline immoral choices.
