Tour of Idaho Reports - Came up a bit short

[Martin]

This topic is for those who attempted the Tour (beacon tracking, group of three or less, observing the posted intervals, no support, etc.) and made through at least D3. Rides that do not meet the criteria above are unlikely to provide much useful information to Tour aspirants - which is the purpose here. As always, I reserve the right to delete any posts that contain erroneous or misleading information.

[OregonComrade48]

Scrolling through the threads and never saw this one but think it's a great subject!

As a preface, we made it to Salmon in 2021 so through the end of D5 and decided to call it quits although Martin hammered on us to keep going (in hindsight I wish I would of) but we ultimately just ran out of steam but was very much weather related.

We had some electrical issues on D1 we got sorted and got to flapole well before dark.

Our 'issues' started on D2 and cascaded from there. We hit some really gnarly mud up in the foothills hills that literally stopped us in our tracks, never seen anything like it, think potting clay mixed with sand and gravel jammed in everything from sprockets, brakes and tires that were barely able to spin. An hour later my rear brake pads were GONE, great. Already behind we stopped in American Falls, managed to figure out some logistics around brake pads and lost a solid 2 hours washing bikes....the mystery section got us a bit turned around and it got dark in the desert on us, then we REALLY got turned around and we didn't get into Arco until 1 AM, hotel was given up, which was a drag but got sorted and went to bed with a handful of Jerky and some M&M's.

Manageable at this point.

D3 uneventful - very tired from night before and not helped by us being told to do the (3) person route into Smokey Bar, that was an interesting adventure with a beaver dam or two thrown in the mix, got into Smoky bar after 8.

D4 minor injury to teammate made riding a bit more difficult / slower

D5 - got smoked. later morning than we would have liked, riding a bit slower due to injury, we did the challenge section which was a really bad idea in hindsight. We started to hear thunder up around Hat Creek, 3/4's through the day up around 9000' and within 20 minutes torrential downpour, sleet, high 30's and gnarly wind gusts. At this point down on some FS roads we said screw it after 45 minutes, it was getting dark and we need to get off the mountain so backtracked up to the main road ("Ridge Road"), having to cut our way back up due to downfall on the road we just came down on. We were cold and wet at this point and happened to run across a fire crew who let us warm up in their ambulance for an hour. Landed in Salmon 730ish, no ability to get tires, wet, cold and more weather the next day.....

Few learnings in there but all the typical stuff folks are warned about but do feel like the MUD was a unique one....

My 2c.

[Mike_1_Thompson]

Thanks for posting. Very useful info. Weather is the variable that you just can’t control and will wreck your plans.

[wasteaway_yzeke125]

In hindsight, what would you do differently?

[OregonComrade48]

In hindsight, what would you do differently?

Mud was unavoidable but I could have had a better plan when it comes to storms / rain. I had a "waterproof" jacket but like most thing waterproof they eventually soak through with heavy enough rain / wet foliage.

I have a better waterproof jacket + water resistant pants - minor rain here or there / cold mornings this should be sufficient.

For big storm events I have a storm layer which is 3XL Leatt "Race Cover" rubberized jacket that is sized to go over my regular jacket + backpack and a good pair of waterproof over-pants, both super lightweight and packable.

For gloves I have some lightweight Gortex shells that go over my std. gloves.

[zzseansmith]

When i did my Tour in 2021 late August we also had a lot of rain. One piece of gear that was awesome for me and that I would recommend is the Klim S3 Enduro over rain pant. I was able to easily put them on over my Dakar OTB pants while wearing a full Asterisk Knee Brace.

[Reidy008]

I did my trip in 2021 and had a blast. I did a full ride report here if anyone wants to read it https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/t...loods.1583123/

I never had any issues but the fires that year effected the route a lot and led to my decision after day 8 to head off in a different direction to enjoy the state.

The addition of carry the chainsaw is a good one and wish I would of have had one. Idaho is a great place to ride motorcycles.

[SeanMacNee]

2021 TOI attempt with a friend of mine and we made it to day 4. Ultimately tapping out on Thompson creek road near sawmill station. We rode hard but the constant vibration and beating eventually wore my teammates hands down and he was too fragged to continue. I contemplated continuing solo but had a couple things going against me, namely I had just lost my wallet somewhere between smiley creek and railroad peak, i thought at the time. Also, I had planned to ride this with my partner either way so in my mind it was both of us or nothing. Turns out my wallet was at smiley creek because they called me and ultimately months later I got my wallet back.

Things I learned were mainly that I had indeed set my 2020 501 up properly for me with a rekluse and twisted engineering bars, also anti vibration footpegs and a comfort seat. I wasn't fragged when we tapped out. I will say day 1 is a huge day and it ended up being 270 miles and 19 hours of riding. We were riding at our normal pace and that really wasn't enough for us. Highs and lows were encountered like any adventure. I liked the format of this iteration of the event, in that it was 10 days not 14 or whatever it is now. If it was still 10 I'd consider giving it another whirl. I'd ride it solo though.

The reality is no matter how good of friends you are it's a huge undertaking and challenges will come up which I've decided are easier to deal with solo. That's just me. I've since gone on to do other long formalized self supported rides in Idaho like the Idaho 500, solo and successfully accomplished those. I like the flexibility of camping off my bike more than the get to a destination and stay the night in a hotel. That solo self supported riding is a whole other animal and has its pluses and minuses but it seems to fit my personality and riding style better. I'd like to thank Martin for putting this together as it's a huge undertaking on his end. So thanks Martin. I'd also like to thank my teammate and friend Chad for the epic adventure. Even though we didn't finish we had a darn good time.