Sean, Amber, Moab, Bishop, Whistler, Driggs

 

Tour of Idaho 2021 – Team BetaAlphaDelta (Bad)

 

The Tour of Idaho is the best known of the multi-day dirt bike rides that combines technical single track with riding long distances every day. It starts south of Pocatello in Malad City and travels from the Utah border to Sundance Lookout which is just south of the Canadian Border. You only get one chance for a rest day and that is after the first day where you can rest in Pocatello and do any fine tuning to your bike or gear that you can using the stores around town.

The key principle of the Tour of Idaho is that you ride entirely self-supported but you can buy supplies, parts and services from the communities along the route. You have to do it in 10 riding days and must stay to the laid out daily intervals.

Daily Summary

Day	Start (mdt)	End	Miles	Moving Time	Total Time
1.       Malad City – Pocatello	6:04am	6:50pm	183	11:15	12:45
2.       Pocatello – Arco	5:14am	7:24pm	280	12:25	14:22
3.       Arco – Smokey Junction	4:46am	5:09pm	205	9:46	12:23
4.       Smokey Junction - Challis	4:47am	7:17pm	191	12:01	14:30
5.       Challis – Salmon	4:41am	4:56pm	179	9:53	12:14
6.       Salmon – North Fork	5:01am	5:33pm	185	10:25	12:32
7.       North Fork – Lowell	4:54am	6:48pm	243	12:32	13:54
8.       Lowell – Superior	4:49am	9:25pm	209	13:00	16:36
9.       Superior – Wallace	6:33am	8:33pm	109	10:54	14:00
10.   Wallace - Sundance	6:33am	7:27pm	228	9:36	12:55
Total			2012	111:47	136:11

 

Bike Setup

2021 KTM 350 XCF-W

Rekluse, LHRB, Athena GET ECU & Traction Control Knob, Fastway Ultra-Silent Insert on Stock silencer & Header, 3.9 Gallon Acerbis Fuel Tank, WP Air Shock from my previous 2019 bike, forks and shock custom tuned by Factory Suspension Works out of Montrose. CO, Seat Concepts XL Comfort Seat, Scotts Steering Stablizer, Dunlop Mousse Bib front, Tubliss Rear, disc guards front and rear, Bullet Proof Radiator Guards, Molecule Skid Plate, Cycra Brush Guard, Trail Tech Voyager Pro, dual USB port charger, Baja Designs S1 light, Chainsaw Mount.

Gear/Equipment

Riding Gear & Clothes

Klim Dakar OTB Pants, Jersey & Gloves, Klim Aggressor Cool T-Shirt & Pants Base layer, Ex-Officio Boxxers, Klim Enduro S4 Rain Pants, Arcteryz Zeta SL Rain Jacket. Alpinestars Tech 7 Enduro Boots, Asterisk Knee Braces, Leatt 9.5 Carbon Helmet & Goggles. Lightweight Long Pants for town, Spare Shirt, Boxxers, 3 x Buff (1 head, 2 neck), Warm Waterproof Gloves, 1 pair of socks, lightweight trail running shoes. Ogio 450 Fanny Pack, Ogio Dakar 3L hydration pack, Oxbow Voyager Helmet light with Django Chin mount.

Equipment

Stihl MS194T chainsaw with 16” bar & carbide chain, spare chain, Chainsaw wrench, 50 mil two stroke oil, syringe to measure, 250 mil bar & chain oil, 2 x 1 gallon Giant Loop Fuel bags, 2 x 1 liter MST fuel bottles, 1 x 600 mil MSR fuel bottle, Wolfman E-Base rackless system, Wolfman medium rolie bags, Giant Loop Buckin Roll Tank Bag, Giant Loop Zigzag Handlebar Bag, minimal tools and spare parts (including light weight tire levers, bike pump & tire plugs), Garmin GPSMap 64st, Petzl headlight, Self-rescue kit

Preparation

A huge part of the Tour of Idaho is all the preparation you can (and should) put in well before the day you roll out on the ride. For me that preparation actually began the summer before as I re-watched all the Monday PBR recordings Martin does through the winter and spring. I also then watched the progress throughout the summer as the teams last year made their own attempts on the ride.

After soaking in as much knowledge as I could along the way the work over the winter really had two main areas of focus; Navigation and gear preparation & testing.

Gear preparation and testing.

One area I was most concerned about for the Tour was tires and the tire system. As much as the Tour community tries to convince you I just wasn’t bought into running UHD tubes. I have always run a Dunlop Mousse Bib front and Tubliss rear. I knew the weakness of the Tubliss was that it can still get punctures but I had never in over 5 years of using the system had an puncture I couldn’t plug. I knew that the risks of problems generally occur when the tire is very worn. So with that in mind I started testing the Goldentyre GT333 over the winter thinking that I may well just ride with a Mousse Bib rear instead of the Tubliss setup. The GT333 had a great reputation as long lasting and I figured that if I couldn’t get to Les Schwab in Salmon in time that the GT333 should might) make it the entire tour – particularly if I went Bib instead of Tubliss. After riding the GT333 all winter long I really liked how it handled and hooked. I did have one problem with it on a long test ride where I tore a side knob but I (incorrectly) assumed it was because I caught the knob on a small d-shackle I was using to mount a home-made tugger strap that would work with the Wolfman E-Base. I also had my Wife’s bike setup with the GT333 rear tire so that I could watch how it would wear for her. I was getting close to 100 hours of trail riding on the tire on our bikes so I thought it would be a good tire to use for the Tour.

Right up to the week before leaving for the Tour I was still undecided on tubliss vs mousse. By august when I was in last minute preparation for the Tour, I was also starting to waiver on the whether I should to just switch to UHD tubes. I ultimately decided against them simply because I didn’t want to do a last-minute switch to a system I hadn’t ridden with and tested. I decided not to go with a mousse bib rear as I wanted to be able to easily change the tire myself without a good tire stand and I went with a rear Tubliss. This was a decision that would haunt me.

I also wanted to test out the bike with full Tour and Multi-Day setup so I tended to ride with my saddle bags more often than not and also did 1 overnight (300 mile) trip in the desert between Fruita and Moab and then repeated that ride as a single day ride with a Tour loaded bike. Early August I also started on the Ridaho Grit1 ride and did the first 4 days of that ride fully self-supported before abandoning at the end of Day due to mental fatigue of cutting clear down trees constantly on the end of Day 3 and much of Day 4.

There is also one other piece of equipment worth talking about – my chainsaw. Every other team on the Tour this year carried the normal and expected option of a Silky Handsaw. I start riding with a chainsaw early May every year and ride with the saw the entire summer. I also have kept air forks on my bike removing the Coil forks that are standard. I am very comfortable riding very technical terrain and long days with my chainsaw. Ultimately it came down to the fact that I know from harsh experience that zones with Idaho can have trees down after a strong wind, additionally as a soloist your ability to get past big trees is much harder than a team where you have extra hands to drag bikes if needed. All of that added up to me bringing the chainsaw. The chainsaw meant that whenever there was a cut to be made it was a chance to get of the bike and stretch my legs and actually take a break while cutting it clear.

Navigation preparation and testing.

Every year the route for the coming year is made available to you during spring. So, during the winter I went through full navigation preparation and setup using the route from the previous year. The system I used in the winter was to create a CalTopo map for each day of the route. I linked all the way points together to let me get travel distances and elevation profiles for the segments. This was critical for me to work out distances between gas stations.

Unfortunately, during the Winter Martin announced that the use of pre-created routes or tracks was not going to be allowed this year. I was uncomfortable with this change as while I have never ridden or relied on route’s I created I did feel they were a valuable tool for the planning phase. All my previous multi-day ride experience had used the routes I created to plan out for re-fuel locations and to give me a peace of mind during the day as to how far was left in a segment. The routes were only based on MVUM trails and anyone who rides a lot on MVUM maps know that they are notoriously inaccurate. This inaccuracy is exactly why Martin announced the change he did.

One of the most critical aspects of being successful on multi-day rides like this is your ability to navigate and adapt to the reality on the ground. Martin has put a lot of work into creating a route that is a series of waypoints and has tried to convince those of us that if we just trust what we see on the ground and use the way points to navigate rather than rely on previously created routes that are likely inaccurate that we would have a higher likelihood off success when it comes the navigation aspects of the route.

With the new rule around using way points only I was forced to change my navigation approach to way points only. I wasn’t worried about it as normally only ride on an MVUM layer with waypoints added anyway but I did need to test with Martin’s system to make sure I understood it well. So, during the spring I set up a few big test rides out in the desert of eastern Utah using way points only I created using the google maps satellite imagery and it seemed to be a very smooth system. I would test the way point approach more during pre-rides of Day 1 early June. I came to find that the waypoints Martin provided over the MVUM layer worked really well and in many ways was easier that the highlighter approach I had used previously of marking out the MVUM trails with a pre-created route.

I also created little daily cheat sheet cards with key milestones such as the challenge points and gas stops. I tested these cards out through the spring on a big overnight shakedown ride and then again on another multi-day ride I did early June. The cards were excellent and let me have a quick reference for what was a critical milestone coming up.

I went into the summer season feeling very good about my gear and navigation preparation.

The Ride

Going into the ride I had in my mind that you needed to be successful in 4 key dimensions:

1.       Navigational skills and execution

·         This one felt very much in my control as you can do a lot of preparation work and practice using Martin’s way point methodology to maximize your chances in this dimension.

·         You can also help yourself here by pre-riding in some area. Day 1 particularly is worth pre-riding if you can as it is a very long and complicated day. Day 1 was the day I spent time over Memorial Day weekend pre-riding the single track segments with Amber. I was able to ride sections of Day 5 and 6 as well but these were later in the summer clearing them with a chainsaw and friends to get them clear for everyone. The weekend before I kicked of my ride I also went over and cut clear Windy Ridge and re-cleared the new trails on day 6 that were introduced due to fire closures on the original route. Both Saturday and Sunday were very long days clearing trail solo instead of getting rest for my own Tour attempt but it was critical to my own potential success as well.

2.       Bike reliability and setup

·         This is another area I felt you could do a lot to maximize your chances but taking the time to ensure your bike was ready to go. I had my bike fully serviced the week before I left for Idaho and felt confident about my prospects in this dimension.

·         However, it turned out to be dimension that almost caused me be unsuccessful in my attempt. More on that in the daily sections…

3.       Ride skills and ability to ride the long days

·         I would think that most anyone attempting the Tour of Idaho should have the technical skills needed for the ride. There was plenty of technical riding but as long as you were careful getting through the singletrack shouldn’t be a big problem. But you need to ride smoothly to conserve energy and minimize the change of mistakes that take time and energy to recover from.

·         The area in this that until you do a ride like this you just don’t know how you will go is the endurance aspect of the ride. Every day was 12+ hours for me. You have to keep riding cleanly and focused or a mistake on the trail or in navigation due to fatigue can be very costly. I count myself lucky that I have been able to get my life to a place where I can ride a lot and ride regularly. All the long trail clearing days in June and early July built a strong base of endurance for me and during my Tour attempt I always felt pretty good physically.

4.       Mental strength

·         I think this is the crux of the ride. You can’t think about the entire ride as it will be overwhelming, instead I just focused on the trail in front of me and upcoming milestones (challenge points, gas stops, end of long single track section, etc.).

·         These big multi-day rides can be pretty much summarized as: Multiple days in a row of 12-14 hours of constant problem solving throughout the day. Whether it is constant decisions around navigating or trying to overcome a specific challenge on the trail or trying to figure out how to solve a mechanical or technical problem that arises you will inevitably get worn down mentally during this ride.

·         For me Day 5 was a mental challenge as I had gotten to sleep very late the night before and as a result had a bad day navigating at times. Day 9 was also a mental challenge as I was dealing with a persistent mechanical issue and it saw me make a bad lapse in judgement that could have ended my tour.

If you can be successful in all these dimensions then you have a great chance of doing the Tour of Idaho as long as bad luck around weather and health don’t disrupt things.

Leadup to kickoff

One thing I was still deciding in the weeks leading up to my start was the logistics of before and after the ride. The most common and easiest approach is simply to leave you vehicle in Malad City and book a U-Haul box truck rental from somewhere up north. As the cost of the trip was adding up, I wasn’t really a fan of the rental option.

Instead, I decided to use my truck as a carrot for myself in the mid portion of the ride. I decided to park it at a friend’s place in Hamilton, Montana. My thinking was that if during the ride I felt like quitting I could convince myself to just get through Day 6 and then it would be a short ride from North Fork to Hamilton if needed. I also figured that if I could get through Day 6 it was a big milestone and one of the crux days in the ride and I would more than likely just keep riding into Day 7 and beyond.

So, I parked my truck in Hamilton Wednesday morning and rode my bike the 6 or so hours south to Pocatello and rest there Thursday before riding down to my starting hotel in Tremonton, Utah. If successful after the ride I would either see about a U-Haul or ride my bike the 5 or so hours from Sand Point back to Hamilton.

Riding from Hamilton went well but it was cold and dreary all the way as a heavy rain system had settled into Central Idaho. I ended up buying a warmer thermal shirt and a balaclava along they way that I would use the mornings of the rest of the ride.

I got into Pocatello at a good time Wednesday afternoon and it had been raining most of the day. On Thursday it was raining again and there were two teams that had started their day 1 on Wednesday and another soloist who started Thursday morning. Marshall Bird, the soloist abandoned early in morning due to brutal mud and Marshall is a previously successful Tour Finisher who completed the last part of his previous Tour with a torn ACL so I knew he was tough as nails.

I went down to College Market for breakfast and chatted with both the 2-man teams there on their rest day. The trail conditions sounded brutal and it was still raining. I told Martin as he was leaving that I would probably still start on Friday but if the mud was brutal, I would stop early and restart on Saturday and have to skip my rest day. He thought just skipping Friday altogether would be better so I added another hotel night in Pocatello and planned on starting Saturday. However, the weather started to break in the afternoon and Martin sent me a text that pretty much said Friday might be the perfect window to start as more rain was predicted Saturday. I re-juggled my plans and got set to kick off Friday morning as was the original plan.

Day 1 – Malad City to Pocatello

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	234 miles (183 miles were tour trails)
Moving Time	11 hours, 15 minutes
Total time	14 hours, 45 minutes (12 hours, 45 mins were tour trails)

Because of the heavy rains the previous two days I decided to just stay in Pocatello the night before and ride my bike to the start of the Tour just south of Malad City. That would put me onto the trails a couple of hours later than I would have started in perfect conditions. Sure enough the trails in the morning were very muddy and I had a couple of sporty moments but it all went well. By the afternoon when I  was over near Lava Hot Springs, I pretty much had hero dirt so the delayed start worked out really well. My day one went very smoothly and I rolled up to the flag-poll just before 7pm.

Rest Day in Pocatello

Day 2 in Pocatello is your only possible rest day for the Tour. It highlights why the Tour of Idaho is much more than just a simple dirt bike ride and how the communities you meet along the way are a huge part of the adventure. On day 2 you catch up with Martin and he gives you a detailed rider’s brief on what lies ahead as well as his contact details should you need them during the ride for emergencies. You also go and visit a few places that are a part of the Tour heritage. One of the best stops for me was at Pocatello Powersports. I knew from chatting with them in June that they didn’t have a mechanic on duty on Saturday but after using my bike for the trail clearing days before the tour and riding down from Montana, I wanted to give it an oil change and put a new rear tire on. They set me up in the service area with a stand and tools and even had my favorite tire (IRC VE-33S) to buy so I could install it. The rest day was excellent and although it rained a little that afternoon it wasn’t that bad and I was really looking forward to getting back on the bike and starting to head north tomorrow.

Day 2 – Pocatello to Arco

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	280 miles
Moving Time	12 hours, 25 minutes
Total time	14 hours, 22 minutes

Again because of the rain I opted for little later start to try and let things dry out. I was worried that if the soils in the desert portion of the day were similar to those I am used to in Utah and Colorado that if it had rained heavily over there and I got there to early I would be riding in mud that turned to concrete on your bike. The early morning riding was muddy still and I was surprised at the quality of the trails and how most of them were not heavily travelled. My rain pants and rain jacket worked well to keep me dry from all the wet brush you rode through on some of these trails.

After dropping out of the mountains to American Falls the character of the ride changes as you now start riding open desert terrain. The first portion had very sandy and loose trails and the second portion was be the “Mystery Route”. The mystery route was a new twist that Martin had included for the first time this year. You would receive a spreadsheet the evening before or morning of day 2 that would give you a set of directions you had to follow to make your way through the desert. I received a file from Martin the night before with 27 segments and directions. Occasionally a segment would have a Lat/Long to let you confirm if you were still on route.

This portion of the Tour was one that I was worried about as I hadn’t used a compass to navigate since my Orienteering days back in high school over 30 years ago. I have done a lot of back country navigating with paper maps in my climbing days but in the past decade since mobile phones navigating is pretty much just follow the blue dot.

This again is where Caltopo proved how valuable it was. I won’t go into how I solved it as I think this navigation challenge is one of the best parts of the Tour and feel that everyone should figure it out and solve it their own way. Day 9 would end up being a similar navigational challenge as well due to the changes from the fire closures.

Because of the cool temperatures (around 68 degrees) in the desert I was really able to take my time to make sure of my turns and I had a great time and completed the Mystery Segment successfully. What a great day.

Day 3 – Arco to Smokey Junction Bar

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	205 miles
Moving Time	9 hours, 46 minutes
Total time	12 hours, 23 minutes

The riding today is some of the most fun riding of all the days. It starts with double track but very quickly you are up high with incredible views and this amazing sense of finally being in the back country. Because of Team Armadillo I decided to hit the Bonus section that dropped down Bear Creek as their progress to move quickly through it showed it was likely cut clear. Ketchum was fun to roll through with a Tour bike and made even more fun when one Jeffrey Jenson waived me down on my way out of town. Jeff is a recent legend in Tour lore having been the first soloist to complete the route as the first team out early season. He also showed that no matter how good you are mother nature can have a say on your success when last year he was stopped short on Day due to the storm that came through on Labor  day and downed trees all through Idaho and Colorado. He had to abandon due to freezing temperatures rain. It was great chatting to him on the side of the road and it was a huge pep me up to roll into the single track after Ketchum. Weirdly enough as much as I have ridden around Ketchum and Stanley I had never ridden the single track sections in the last half of Day 3 and they were great fun. Another highlight of the Tour is the night you spend at the incredible Smokey Bar Junction. Kaylin Dennis owns this hidden gem and she has built an amazing place with and amazing little community there and the bed I slept on may be the most comfortable bed I ever sleep on.  

Day 4 – Smokey Junction Bar to Challis

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	191 miles
Moving Time	12 hours, 1 minutes
Total time	14 hours, 30 minutes

I knew that this day would be a long day as it had a lot of single track. I knew all these trails really well as the past 3 summers I have lived in my truck camper in Stanley with my wife and we ride and clear these trails every year. Because of that I also knew that if you don’t pay attention these trails can quickly ruin your day.

This was the first day where the cold temperatures in the morning really became a thing for me. It was 25 degrees as I rolled out of Smokey Junction and I find riding technical single track rugged up, with thick gloves and freezing hands to be one of the most challenging aspects of these big multi-day rides.

Even though you warm up fast as you climb the switch backs on Snowslide this can actually become a problem if you don’t have good layers and get everything wet with sweat because it remained very cold for me all the way through grand prize. My worst navigational mistake was in the ATV trails before Grand Prize because with my warm gloves I couldn’t interact with my GPS devices easily and I made the mistake of thinking I knew where I was going because I had ridden that trail area so much before and I  blew by a turn I should have taken. I had to back track quite a bit after I realized my mistake. It taught me a lesson I would use the rest of the trip – make sure you know that a junction you are about to take is correct.

The day went smoothly and it was great to have some lunch and chat with familiar faces at the Sawmill Gas station – the Ross Burger is worth taking time to enjoy. I did the two bonus sections in the afternoon and rolled into Challis just after 7pm in time to get checked in and get a great dinner.

Day 5 – Challis to Salmon

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	179 miles
Moving Time	9 hours, 53 minutes
Total time	12 hours, 14 minutes

In my mind I had decided that Day 5 would be an “easy” day as I had ridden most of the single track earlier in the summer clearing the trails and I knew that the route was such that you should be able to get into Salmon in plenty of time to get new tires at Les Schwab. I think because of that cockiness I didn’t get to sleep as early the night before and I wasn’t as focused on my navigation as I should have been. I made a few sloppy mistakes with navigation throughout the day. Originally, I had planned on doing the challenge section as the riding is easy, but it is very long and took me 2 hours to do. I wanted to make sure I got into Salmon in plenty of time for tires so I skipped the bonus section. I rolled into just after 5pm so had time for tires and to visit Murdoch’s to buy some even warmer gloves and heat packs as the cold mornings were tough.

Day 6 – Salmon to North Fork

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	185 miles
Moving Time	10 hours, 25 minutes
Total time	12 hours, 32 minutes

I thought that Day 6 and Day 8 would be the crux day’s for me if I was to be successful on the Tour. Day 6 had a new section this year due to the fire closure to the east of Highway 93. The route needed you to link a lot of technical single track and due to the sustained difficulty Martin was advising everyone to skip Ditch Creek and the first part of Divide Trail. However, that meant you would give up 2 trail points. I went into Day 6 with 4 points in my pocket so I could definitely afford to give up the points so I decided I would wait until I was at the top of Ditch Creek and see how I felt and how I was going for time.

Because of my early finish the day before I was able to get to sleep by about 8:30pm so I was feeling very fresh and strong all day on Day 6. The first trails out of Salmon were no joke as both the single track sections had a lot of down trees to hop, cut or go around but I got to North Fork just after 9:15am and got checked in, grabbed an awesome Burrito for breakfast and another I left in my room in case I didn’t back in time before they closed. I was able to lighten my bike and leave my saddle bags in my room. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my self-rescue kit so it was in the back of my mind that a mistake on any sidehills could be a big problem. I was at the top of Ditch Creek at noon and felt strong so I decided to drop in and do the entire single track loop. Ditch Creek is a beater going down it as it is very rocky and exposed up in the switch backs and then down in the trees it was also rocky and

technical. It rained on me most of the time on ditch so it was slick and slippery in the rocks but I got through without any issues. I knew the Ax Park climb was also non-trivial as I had spent 2 days cutting that trail clear of down trees as well as the Divide and Twin Creeks trails. But everything went smoothly and when I rolled through the Wildland fire fighters base camp on Lost Trail Pass just before 5pm I was ecstatic to have gotten through all the trails and not give up any valuable trail points.

Day 6 was also the day where carrying my chainsaw all that way really paid dividends as even though myself, other tour riders and even an Idaho Parks & Rec crew had been in clearing these trails I still had trees to cut throughout the day. The chainsaw meant when I came up on a down tree it was a chance to get of the bike and stretch the legs and get some rest from riding while I cut it clear with the saw.

I was back in North Fork enjoying a beer and my burrito before 6pm and got another nice early night’s sleep.

Day 7 – North Fork to Lowell

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	243 miles
Moving Time	12 hours, 32 minutes
Total time	13 hours, 54 minutes

I knew coming into the Tour that if I could get through Day 6 I had a really good chance of finishing successfully. Day 8 is absolutely a crux for the ride but by then you would be in great shape to get through those challenges. So, starting out on Day 7 I was very happy. I had been able to buy a great new Patagonia Puffy jacket from the Village at North Fork and even though it was still very cold to start the day things went very well. I had to cut a couple of large new trees that would have been tough with a Silky Saw and cruised through the long transfer sections. This day is dominated by the long ride along the McGruder that cuts through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and the Selway-Bitter Wilderness. Together they are 3.5 million acres and are the largest un-roaded block of land in the lower 48 states.

I got to Elk City and loaded up my gas for the rest of this day and all of Day 8. I ended up going 280 miles between gas stops so you need to carry as much gas possible out of Elk City. I have a 3.9-gallon tank and had 2 giant loop 1 gallon fuel bags as well as 2.6 liters in MSR containers. So with just over 6.5 gallons, I felt like I would be all good. Unfortunately, one of my fuel bags had a slow leak so I only go about a half-gallon out it by the time I had used enough fuel to empty it. I have since spoken with Giant Loop and their reputation for amazing customer service as deserved and they will send me a new one no questions asked and thoroughly review the faulty bag to learn from it what might have been the cause.

I rolled into Lowell in plenty of time for check in and food.

Day 8 – Lowell to Superior

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	209 miles
Moving Time	13 hours
Total time	16 hours, 36 minutes

This was the crux day of the entire route. Due to the fire closures along the Lolo Motorway the day 8 trails were very different than recent years. Everyone now had to go up Ant Hill which was not normally on the soloist route and often skipped by 2 and 3 person teams where they tackled the shorter but challenging Sherman Creek. Fish Butte and Fish Creek trails were my favorite on the Tour. Fish Butte was spectacular and Fish Creek was a mix of sketchy side hills, technical rocky climbs and heavily overgrown trail. It is trails like Fish Creek that are what I love about Idaho – amazing technical trails in the middle of nowhere that give you this incredible sense of adventure to be riding on a dirt bike.

 I also had the best wildlife encounter of the ride when I surprised three wolves on some double track in the early morning. I have always wanted to see wolves in the wild and they were within about 20 feet as I came around the corner before scampering off into the woods.

This year we would also have to do Windy Ridge to Windy Bill and there was a new challenge point at the junction of Windy Bill and Junction Mountain trails.

Before I started the Tour I knew from previous teams that Windy Ridge and Windy Bill had not been cleared – probably because of the fires in the area that made them hard to access. The weekend before I start my Tour I came out on Sunday and spent the day clearing Windy Ridge and started on Windy Bill but only got the first 5 miles cleared so there was at least another 3-5 miles to the Junction Mountain challenge point that would not be cleared.

I had the huge benefit that another team – Team Your Mum was just ahead of me by a couple of days making a deep run into the Tour. They would ultimately be successful as well. I could see from their PLB tracks that they had gotten up Windy Ridge and started up Windy Bill before ultimately turning around not far past where I had cleared with my chainsaw. They still cut a lot of trees with their Silky Saw but there was still a lot of distance left to the Challenge Point.

So, knowing this I knew I wasn’t going to attempt Windy Bill which would cost me a trail point but as I still had 4 in my pocket that was ok. The main choice I had was whether to out and back Windy Ridge which is 13 miles each way and whether to try and get to the Junction Mountain challenge point by dropping down from Scurvy Lookout. After loosing some fuel from the leaking fuel-bag the day before I decided to skip Windy Ridge. I still wasn’t convinced I would drop down to Junction Mountain as if I skipped it, I could get to Superior nice and early and stay fresh for the next day.

However, on the way I to Scurvy I stopped to chat to a Forest Service group leader who was improving the notorious water bars on the ATV trail up to Scurvy. He said that a Forest Service crew had been down Scurvy all the way to Junction Mountain trail and cleared and brushed it. So the ride out there should be quick and easy…. The trail was definitely cleared nearly all the way to the challenge point. I did have to cut a few trees to make it but I was happy that all the hard work had already been done.

The riding was much steeper and technical than I was expecting it took me nearly three and half hours to get out to that challenge point and back but it was worth it to save a couple of points so that by the end of Day 8 I still had either 2 or 3 points in my pocket depending on how Martin assessed my efforts on Windy Bill.

Rolling down from Scurvy and starting to head to Superior my tire problems started. By now my front mousse bib was feeling very soft. The long transfer on day 7 must have cooked it a little and between that and the fact the new tire I got in Salmon being a Fatty which was too big for the mousse I had the front tire was very soft. After the Green Machine had to stop because of a ruined Mousse Bib I thought I was the next to have to abandon because of not listening to Martin tell us many times that UHD tubes are still the most reliable option for the Tour of Idaho. Ultimately the bib did make it all the way through the tour.

However, my rear tire got a flat on the roads to Superior – it had torn a knob and even though I was able to plug it I was still worried about what it would mean for the next two days of riding still ahead…

Day 9 – Superior to Wallace

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	109 miles
Moving Time	10 hours, 54 minutes
Total time	14 hours

I got a late start as I wanted to see if I could find any extra tire plugs just in case my tire continued to degrade. I wasn’t able to but thought I should be ok as Day 9 is significantly shorter this year due to the impacts of the fires. However, I knew I was potentially in trouble when I had to plug two more tears on side knobs before I was even finished with the Stephen’s Peak single track.

One really cool thing for this day was that as I was heading out to a waypoint in Martin’s directions for the new route for the day a group of 6 riders came the other way. I stopped to chat with the last couple of riders and mentioned I was doing the Tour of Idaho like you tend to whenever you meet people. One of the guys swore loudly and took his helmet off. It was none other than John Gower from Team Coleman Stove! We caught up with the rest of their group and Craig Hamilton was there as well. They had completed the Tour successfully earlier in the season after a particularly epic run and it was great to be able to chat with them for a bit before I headed into the new long single track loop. I thought about asking them if anyone had a spare tube but felt it might be getting to close to outside assistance to get help from another Tour group even if they were just out riding.

The single track loop that was added this year was awesome trails and was very steep up and very stee down all day long. Unfortunately, it really was the last straw for my rear tire and I used all 10 tire plugs that I had and spent most of the day on either a dead flat tire or a semi-flat tire. Late in the afternoon just before the long final climb out I met a group of local riders coming they other way and they gave me what plugs they had which help me have air for at least the starting part of that climb through the steep switch backs. They also said that a friend of theirs called Murph lived in one of the first houses as you enter Wallace and if he was home would be able to help me with a spare tube or tire.

I limped into Wallace after a much longer and stressful day than it should have been due to the tire failure caused entirely by me believing Tubliss was suitable for the Tour of Idaho.

I stopped by Murph’s house but unfortunately, he wasn’t home. While I was trying to figure out my options a great guy called Lee from a couple of houses up stopped to chat and I explained my problem. He didn’t know dirt bikes but he had a friend Randy who lived down the road who rode a dirt bike “just like mine” that might have a spare tube. He called up Randy to see, Randy thought he might but the tube would be in his storage locker in Osborn (at town just up the road from Wallace). So, I rolled down and met Randy. He offered to drive us over to his storage locker to check on the tube for his bike. His bike by the way was a 1984 450 Honda with 17” rims but he thought the spare was an 18” spare. Sure enough it was an 18” spare so we bought it back and I tried installing it on my bike. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and wasn’t holding air. Right around then Willie, one of the guys in the group I had passed on trail that gave me tire plugs rolled up. 

With the old tube not working he offered to drive us over to his friend Ryan who would for sure have a tire I could mount. They didn’t have tubes as they all rode on Tubliss or Bibs as well but Ryan did have a brand-new Shinko 505 I gave him $160 for to thank them for their help. I mounted the new tire aired everything up again and was looking forward to the final day.

Now as a part of all of this with the stress of having my rear tire disintegrating, I made a terrible lapse in judgment. One of the key principals of the Tour is to do the ride entirely self-supported using only what you can scrounge or buy from the communities along the way. I broke this principal by sending a public message on my Inreach map asking if anyone knew of a store or person who lived in Wallace, I could buy a tube or tire from. Martin reached out immediately and let me know that this could be grounds for DNF if anyone helped me because of that message. I am so grateful that people were watching my PLB and let Martin know immediately. He had me post a message telling everyone not to help and he also posted a video in the Tour Facebook group explaining why me getting help from that message would be bad. I did figure it out entirely from the community but it was a mistake that could of cost me and had me feeling really bad. These types of adventures are different than a ride holiday or weekend because there are rules that are there simply for style and ethics reasons. At the end of an adventure like this there are no prizes or parades the sense of accomplishment is entirely within yourself and this mistake could have ruined the ride for me.

I went to bed thinking day 10 should be a long but easy ride to the finish.

Day 10 – Wallace to Sundance Lookout

Total Miles from Hotel to Hotel	228 miles
Moving Time	9 hours, 36  minutes
Total time	12hours, 55 minutes

The final day is the easiest of the tour and I did decide to ride Independence Creek trail even though I probably didn’t need to as I felt I like needed to make up points I deserved to lose for my lapse in judgement the previous day. I wanted to also ride the Challenge section again to make up for my PLB message.

Unfortunately, the final day did not go smoothly either. As I was heading up out of Wallace my rear tire went flat. I must have made a mistake installing the new tire the night before being in a hurry and tired while working at someone else’s house. I went back to Wallace and put air in the tire and looked for some tire slime thinking that perhaps the bead has some small leaks that can happen if you don’t use Slime. I couldn’t find any slime but the tire seemed to be holding air so I set off again.

I stopped at the gas station in Babins Junction and they had slime so I grabbed a bottle of slime and some breakfast. The tire was slowly leaking air but didn’t seem that bad. I added the slime and re-aired it up part way through the morning and things looked promising. Unfortunately, not long into the Independence Creek single track it started losing air much faster. It turned out the valve stem hole for the high-pressure tube wasn’t straight because I hadn’t lined it up correctly in my rush the day before and was letting air leak out. I added air to the tire a few more times along Independence Creek and once I got to the top, I decided to drop down to Gold Creek Lodge as I knew they had a big rental fleet and would likely have either a stand and tools to let me quickly pull the tire so I could see what happened with the Tubliss or a tube I could buy.

Dave, the Owner of the lodge was there and he opened up his shop. He didn’t have a new tube but did have a brand-new nitro mousse that I could buy, he also had the full tire changing stand so we quickly installed the mousse and I was finally good to go! A great thing about adventures like this is that inevitably you need help along the way and people are always happy to jump in and assist.

The roads to Sundance take a while but I was so relieved to finally be heading to the finish of this amazing ride. On the final climb up to Sundance I was thinking that the only thing that could stop me now was my bike and I kept hoping that it would keep working despite not having had an oil change in nearly 100 hours. It held together and I made it to the lookout and climbed up to sign the register and visit with John Crawford the volunteer lookout person.

What an amazing journey!