Idaho or Bust….3 Texans 4 Strokes 5 States

[KsTeveM]

I do the same thing. I make hard copy prints and create an album of most of my rides. Looking above my desk, I just counted 51 albums. All are from digital cameras. My film print albums are stored in another room. Looking through one of them always brings back memories.

Dang, 51 hard copy prints!!! You could go back and probably do some cool ride reports with those. KTMCarhart made a hard copy book of our NMBDR several years ago and gave to me as a present. We should probably do like you, make one for every one of our big trips. I also worry about losing the ride report narrative, I don't have that stored anywhere but here. I have wondered about a way to export the report from here. Assume it isn't possible without manual copy/paste?

 

[KsTeveM]

A DS adventure like this is a dream for me for sure. Keep posting pictures, they are awesome. Bored people don't have to click. I've tried the report on the go, I'd rather just sit and do it when I get home. Gets rid of a lot of the riff raff between posts. However, posting on the go does give folks the opportunity to say "Oh you are there? Definitely go see this and ride this route."

Yup, I'm torn about live reporting. It is a significant pain. But you get encouragement. My family follows along (the cool ones). People will comment about cool stuff to see in the area you are in that day. I've had people send me PMs offering places to stay, support when things were unraveling/broke bikes etc. I'm thinking like with all things, balance. I'm probably going to do a minimal post each day on future rides with a pic or two and save the full report and narrative for post trip.

 

[k-dubya]

I really enjoy your ride reports as you go and you shoot GREAT pics ... but 'splain this one to me.

 

[humanrace]

Shelf one of two. Some are airplane or car trips and a few were not deemed worthy enough for the TWT crowd. I also see two backpack trips to Colorado on that shelf and a fishing trip to New Mexico.

 

[humanrace]

edit duplicate

 

[Simmons1]

I don't do live reports anymore. I guess I never really did. I get to relive rides right after returning when I sort pictures and put the ride report together. It kind of cements the ride in my memory. I also periodically go back and read old ride reports I did years ago. If I did a good job on the report its like doing the ride all over again.

 

[humanrace]

A DS adventure like this is a dream for me for sure. Keep posting pictures, they are awesome. Bored people don't have to click. I've tried the report on the go, I'd rather just sit and do it when I get home. Gets rid of a lot of the riff raff between posts. However, posting on the go does give folks the opportunity to say "Oh you are there? Definitely go see this and ride this route."

In the last couple of years, I have started doing both. I will post pictures from my phone and sometimes a planned route. Members are kind enough to suggest route changes or sights to see along the way. When I get back, I post camera pictures. I always have more pictures on my camera than my phone.

 

[KsTeveM]

I let the computer sort them all weird and out of order. I like guessing where we were in each one. I think this was in Colorado somewhere, Kremmling maybe? I remember I had a cheeseburger....and worked on the ride report, go figure. And after I ordered I moved my bike into the shade under that scraggly tree. I parked it where there wasn't enough room for Grape to park next to me. Don't ask. Let's just call it survival.

Oh boy. Probably the first place on this trip that the boys started bad mouthing me on the routing and developing a coup. It was day 1 by the way .

We were still in Colorado, barely, for this pic on day two. Side of one of those tall canyon walls. You couldn't reach the spot of the pictographs/etchings, it was maybe 15' in the air. I don't remember if I read it or I am guessing....but the gist is that the soil/ground level use to be higher on the wall and you could easily do your art thang. I don't recall seeing stuff like this in other places where it is carved/drilled into the wall.

This root was an attention getter, day 3 I believe in Idaho. We did some hard stuff this day. I was coming at this hill pretty hot, leading. I saw it and just stayed in it. I popped up completely in the air and sort of felt the bike not going forward for a split second, then I landed and cleared the root. Heart was pumping. I hollered at the boys on the comms you better get your feces in order for it. There may have been some stutter stepping going on. Stuff sneaks up on you sometime. This spot was a long uphill, you were losing momentum, making turns, avoiding ruts, roots, runoffs etc. It was all happening fast and being light was the name of the game.

More coup talk in the below pic I'm sure.

We were on a pretty good incline on this one and it was hot outside. Garbear and Grape were taking a break in some shade further down the hill. We were all letting the bikes cool off a bit and getting our heart rates to lower. Elevation, heat, 2/3 into the day….have to listen to your little voice. Same hard day as well, day 3.

I didn’t remember the fingers butt sign. Lot of times when I stop, I'm worried about my ducklings and making sure everybody and the bikes are dialed. Or getting the pic, or thinking about the ride report. I miss stuff. I need to rethink my thinking. Surely there were some crude jokes going down here.

I do remember this spot. It was glorious, the beer I was drinking that is. Who cares where it was. A sister pic made the report, not sure what my face was doing in the one below, other being happy.

This was a late lunch in Salmon, Idaho. Day 5, we needed the break. I can't make out the name of the bistro sign on the left. But I remember the food was good, mushroom swiss burger and french fries that needed to be run through a squeegee machine. But this was the spot I started thinking to heck with this live ride report work, I took too long here fighting the internet. My new motto, riding trumps writing.

We had a down hill trail on day 2 I think, in Colorado or Utah, and this pic below might be from that. I don't want to exaggerate, but I swear we were going downhill on gnarly stuff with boulders, water flowing, logs.....for what seemed like over an hour. We didn't take a lot of pics, I think we were reserving our hand/arm strength to hold on. These big multi day rides with some hard stuff thrown in, you have to keep your body in mind, work on going the distance and letting different parts of your body take the load.

I was trying to figure out if this pic was in the morning before we left, or in the evening when we got there. Look at Grape’s face, definitely in the evening, Day 6. He looks much different first thing in the morning.

Really cool how the evening chilaxing is almost just as enjoyable as the riding. Almost. These two pics were in Wyoming.

This pic was in Colorado, far west side. No I wasn't drinking a beer trail side and then going to get back on the bike!!! Looks like my brain is sucking in all the clouds along with that beer I drank before I started riding again. We had a sister pic to this one in the original ride report, but I look like I'm Chinese or high. Or both. It was that IPA, tasted like a pine cone's rear end.

I don't remember what state we were in when the below pic was taken, probably a tired state. The sister pic that made the report was a non-humping one. This one was for one of Grape's high school buddies from where ever this pic was taken.

Speaking of humping, you ever split a hotel room with three riding buddies, with only two beds? Me neither. And the below pic didn't smell bad when I took it.

You ever look at a pic and go….who is the old guy with gray hair messing with my bike? Oh crap, it’s me!!!

I like how even my hair looks like the Tetons in this shot. That’s just the way I roll, every fiber of my being better commit.

 

[KsTeveM]

I really enjoy your ride reports as you go and you shoot GREAT pics ... but 'splain this one to me.

Ahhh, pics never do justice. We were already on an incline. We had been going up and up for while and things were deteriorating. The Subaru tracks had long since faded. I remember thinking I could go for even more lowering gearing than 13/50. I was playing games to keep my momentum, looked like a jack rabbit hopping all over the trail. The spot of the picture you asked about, you have to be careful going high (to the left) above an obstacle when you have to come back down, good chance you will eat it, down hill. Hopping the log....going uphill, struggling on the marble like surface, what are you going to land on, it is 90 degrees out, you are hot, you are at 8000'+ elevation, you are breathing heavy, you are tired, you are on a loaded 500 with camping gear, with a big desert tank, you can smell your bike is hot....and you are 69 years old. He did the prudent thing, flintstone a bit, slip the clutch a lot and crab walk where the tree had been cut, then regroup. I call this kind of riding small victories, regroup, keep going if you can for more wins. I don't remember what his gearing was, but I remember being appalled at how high it was compared to me.....like he had 16/48, or 15/45 or something? And it is hard to make out the baby head rocks mixed in with the grass, old logs and sticks everywhere. And that log that "looked" ripe for hopping, it was at an angle. My spidy senses were pinging on that trail. I was making it, but it was taxing me. The crew was suffering. The below pics were all taken on that trail, all inside of a half mile I would guess, maybe less. When we turned around, I think most of the bikes had hit the ground. I called it, it wasn't worth hurting someone or a bike. And we were really back in there, remote I say. It was only day 5, I was trying to preserve everyone's fallopian tubes.

 

[KsTeveM]

Shelf one of two. Some are airplane or car trips and a few were not deemed worthy enough for the TWT crowd. I also see two backpack trips to Colorado on that shelf and a fishing trip to New Mexico.

That is a lifetime of ******ery. If that gets edited (not even really a word), know that I said something along the lines of Humanrace is awesomesauce.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Don't all IPA's taste like the butt end of a pine cone?

 

[KsTeveM]

I like Coors Light, so I’m not sure I’m allowed to comment.

 

[KsTeveM]

This shot was at the bottom of the trail that had taxed us pretty hard that was discussed above. We took a pretty good long break here, I think we all needed it. Good spot, there was a picnic table, shade and a vault toilet. Gotta know when to press pause. Sucked down some liquids and some Gu packs. Ready for more.

Might not want to put your pop tart directly on the microwave turntable in a motel room. Just saying.

I started singing America The Beautiful in my head when I saw this one.....amber ways of grain. Kind of sad you can't see Garbear's mullet blowing in the wind as well.

Guess this spot still goes with the beautiful theme.

Heck, the backdrops kept on giving us beauty.

These next two pics really make me want to swing a leg over and see where the horizon takes me.

Quality isn't the best, but still kind of fun. That’s me at the top, heckling the boys, I mean giving soothing words of encouragement and reinforcement of their skills.

Me again at the far end of the pic, more nourishing and cheerleading no doubt.

And a random pic of my son from 8 years ago that somehow made it into this album? No doubt the cutest pic in this mess. I got more pics, regrouping.

 

[Kiyoti]

You said...."Some stuff goes on the cutting room floor that probably shouldn’t".
If these add-ons are "cutting room floor"....very glad you're going back and cleaning up...!!!
These "nevva" get old....keep posting please...!!!

 

[humanrace]

^^^^^^^^^

 

[KsTeveM]

You said...."Some stuff goes on the cutting room floor that probably shouldn’t".
If these add-ons are "cutting room floor"....very glad you're going back and cleaning up...!!!
These "nevva" get old....keep posting please...!!!

I started going through the ~1000 pics we took, looking for things that didn't initially catch my eye. I'm sure there are some duplicates here and there and/or if they help elaborate on what went down. But for the most part, it's stuff like the below. The scenery is great. The sky is blue. The bike is framed well. But we had other pics from that area at the time of live story telling, where we had all that going on....plus a road/trail that a goldwing couldn't traverse. But today, sitting in Texas, I'm liking this pic taken in Montana.

 

[KsTeveM]

You forget about some of the more leisurely riding, carving through canyons on easier roads. Not the highlight on a trip like this…..but they would be the highlight if they were in Texas. Worth posting I guess.

I think the below is my favorite kind of riding, two track or 50" stuff flirting with mountains and deserts. It’s not so smooth that its boring, but it’s not so technical that you can’t enjoy the scenery. Throw in some creek crossings and hill climbs, heaven.

Not saying I don’t love me some smooth single track slinking through. Only trouble is…..it doesn’t stay pleasant for too long typically .

Another bunga bunga bridge.

These pics…..just good riding making good time!!

When we passed this little Amish family…..I spent some time thinking about them. I admire their lifestyle. Simple, humble, hardworking and shielding themselves from the craziness of the rat race and crappy world the rest of us participate in. But I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little girl in the backseat.

The quality of the pic may not show you, but her eyes…..they spoke volumes, she was longing for something more. Funny, I was longing for her life and wanted to tell her, I know we look cool, and handsome. But you are better off my dear in your world.

I just need to talk them into letting me live with them and pay for my room and board making rocking chairs. But I will need my 500….and Kelly McGillis….1985 Kelly.

Look back at it……

I like this one of Garbear, day 3 in Idaho on a 50" track.

End of day 1 in Colorado.

Mountains starting to pop up on the edge of the desert. Rain drops here and there. No dust. Sage breeze flowing through your helmet. Can you dig it? Can you smell it?

 

[bwdmax]

Man that sky was blue and the clouds just floating. I have some of these scrolling on my computer at work just to remind me of good friends and good tracks, keeps me going at work sometimes.

 

[KsTeveM]

Correct, I didn’t even stop when you went down.....and I'm still going. I knew the importance of bonding with Grape……on Day 1. That’s just good leadership.

The trail is up here dude, whatcha doing down there?

This pic was on the Lewis and Clark Trail in Montana. I mean come on, how hard could it have been for them to follow this two track?

I’m not sure what was being discussed here, but I can tell some type of foolery was a foot.....or standing on its foots.

And what exactly was happening in this pic?

If you ride with us, this will be a common site.

Watcha doin? If I recall it was a doozie, we were going downhill but his bike is now facing uphill?

Redemption. His black on black helmet always reminds me of a MIG pilot. And he is always on my six.....and probably secretly hoping I will crash and burn. Actually, I remember a few trips back that actually came out of his mouth. It had been a particularly rough day for Grape, bike troubles, bike drops etc. While he was still eating worms, I made the mistake of asking, would it make you feel better if my bike was broke and I was crashing? I got an instantaneous reply, yes, yes it would bring me great joy. Ha ha....funny now. Heck, it was funny then, I just couldn't laugh, out loud.

Rock rock till you drop, rock rock never stop. That particular trail can kiss my grits.

Shale me, shale me, outta take a slope and shale me. I always look up the slope on these kinds of trails.......

We didn’t do too much riding in Wyoming this trip, but what we did do was plenty enjoyable. About to wind down on this report revisit 2.0. One more post to work on. Then I challenge someone else to provide some entertainment for us as we wait for the next big adventures to kick off for 2023!!

 

[KsTeveM]

Man that sky was blue and the clouds just floating. I have some of these scrolling on my computer at work just to remind me of good friends and good tracks, keeps me going at work sometimes.

Yup, lot of glorious riding. I change my background on my computer every couple of weeks. This is my new one....ha ha. You can feel that body language

 

[KsTeveM]

Single Trackin’. While I love it when it’s good, I don’t typically do a lot of single trackin when I’m out of state. They aren’t always conducive to going a certain direction, certainly slow your progress significantly and can be very taxing on you and the bike, especially when carrying camping gear/week worth of stuff. But I like slipping some in. We did some in Idaho here and there that was challenging at times, but the hardest section of single we did on this trip was in Wyoming.

Months before the trip I stumbled onto a Youtuber that was doing some cool riding. Turned into finding some of his single track Idaho videos. Fell in love with the scenery/trails and liked the “idea” of seeing this stuff. But most of them were either in a different area or too hard for a loaded 500 and/or I’m a weenie on the exposures. But…..I saw the payoff of this trail with the fire lookout and was seduced. Looked at a map, dadgum, we are planning on being in that area!! Looked closer, dadgum, probably driving right by the trail head. I closely watched his video of him on a 300, listening to the motor, clutch etc. I didn’t see or hear anything that raised too big of an eyebrow. Why not put it on our map as a possible?

Fast forward, Grape and I wake up on Day 8 about 2 miles from the trail head. Leave our tent/sleeping bag/clothes and hit the trail. It’s going as I expected, starting off easy, sliding into harder as you ascend. Situation normal.

It’s starting to not go as I had expected. It was harder than my brain pictured. Hopefully whatever deranged person that cut this trail a 100 years ago had us in mind as we go further into the breach? We got this, keep going.

“Hey Grape, I’m thinking we bit off more than we can chew”. He replied…..”my momma didn’t raise no…..”. Neither one of our vocabularies improved much from there.

I don’t want to say it was the worst thing I’ve done on a bike, but it probably ranks up there in my top 5 when you take into account the difficulty, length, elevation gain and exertion of energy, especially on the eighth day in a row. I like this pic, shows the steepness. It was a balance of rpm, try not to spin the tire too much, make forward progress, try not to loop out too much. Make the grade. Must, make, the grade.

We were talking in the comms and considering throwing in the towel, again. I was preparing my brain to put my foot down, no pun intended, as I have to do that sometimes for the greater good of the trip’s sake. Told Grape that’s it, one of us is going to get seriously hurt up here and/or take a bike out of commission, it’s not worth it. Yall probably already saw some of the below pics, but it seems too appropriate to include in this expanded narrative about this track.

But we are both pretty stubborn about “quitting” and we seemed to just keep riding and dealing with the punishment, again, and again. We knew we were about at the top, even with some expected false summits. About that time, we were on top.

We still had to get down, but at least with gravity, you know you are going to get down, one way or another.

In the heat of the moment I was kind of upset that we were struggling when thinking about the Youtuber’s exploits on the same trail. Started letting my brain doubt my skills/strength. I couldn’t let go of it in my mind. So when I got back home from this trip, I went and found his video of that trail and watched it again on my big screen TV. I now “know” this trail. I know the bad spots. Guess what, right about the time I knew the butt kicking was going to start….he edited out every single hard section. I presume so we would not see him fumbling, falling, slipping the clutch etc. What a dirty trick. Be careful riding stuff you think looks fine in someone else’s video. I believe this was the trail that Grape and I started having a casual discussion during one of our Lamaze breaks about how we could take a bike apart, if we had to, to hump it out one piece at a time, like a psychobilly. Have any of you ever done that/seen it done? No, not stealing a cadillac, hiking out a bike one piece at a time. Would love to hear the story…..and pics if you got them. This is my favorite pic at the top of that single track at the look out.

The below pic was from the last day, day 10 on the trail. I was riding along and feeling good about what was accomplished and was thinking…….fist bump time. Pic came out crappy, but you get the idea, gratuitous self-gratifying poser pic celebrating 2000+ miles knocked out through 5 states. Wish all three of us could have finished it together on bikes. But that was also a victory getting all three of us and our bikes back to the truck within our original time frame. Winning.

Well that is all I have to report on, for now. I have a few rides in mind for this year, mostly on the smaller scale. But one harebrained idea is really nagging at me, ok maybe gray hair brained.

 

[humanrace]

Well done. By the way, there's not that much water in all of Nevada.If you go there, try to make one of your resupply trips to town in Goldfield.

 

[KsTeveM]

Well done. By the way, there's not that much water in all of Nevada.If you go there, try to make one of your resupply trips to town in Goldfield.

Yup, that's a place I already dropped a pin, Dinky's Diner....and Goldpoint Bar!!

 

[humanrace]

Dinky would not let me come in with a mask in 2020. Also go two blocks west and across the main street to the biker place. There are two guys that do bike work, restore old bikes, carve wood and soapstone, etc. There is also a car forest right outside of town if you are interrested in unusual sights. It's like the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo only much larger and with a variety of cars.

 

[KsTeveM]

Dinky would not let me come in with a mask in 2020. Also go two blocks west and across the main street to the biker place. There are two guys that do bike work, restore old bikes, carve wood and soapstone, etc. There is also a car forest right outside of town if you are interrested in unusual sights. It's like the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo only much larger and with a variety of cars.

Good stuff, thank you brother!!!