Introduction

The tale of a 10 day, 450 mile doorstep-to-doorstep ride around Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains with family and friends, told in installments.  This is a ride I’ve wanted to do since moving to Idaho; it did not disappoint.

The Crew

This was a seasoned touring crew, evident by our cool shades and goofy grins.  Katie in particular has countless cycle tours under her belt and has even worked as a guide.  My brother Mark has done numerous tours with Katie (his wife) and a few with me.  Rob joined my daughter Zoe and I for a portion of our tour across the country and we’ve been itching to ride together since.

Katie personalized the trip by providing Idaho state flags that we flew along with our normal safety flags.  She also gave us all aliases, because nothing says Bike Tour like an alias.   Mark’s normal safety flag is a US flag, so he wound up Captain America.  She thought Rob looked like Jerry Garcia.  I was sporting my new “Cat Ears” which look like manly mutton chops.  Very Idaho.  And Katie was so enamored with her new “Da Brim” visor that she kept the tag on longer than should be tolerated in polite society.  Minnie Pearl.

 

 

The Route

I love route planning almost as much as riding.  While I’ve enjoyed my share of organized rides, I can’t help but feel a significant element is missing from them.  So I spent a disproportionate amount of time planning a route that would likely be scrapped once we hit the road.  As they say in the biz, it’s about the planning, not the plan.  Here’s what we started with.

Day 1	Sat, Sep 3	Boise to Celebration Park	42 / 42 mi
Day 2	Sun, Sep 4	Celebration to Bruneau Dunes	65 / 107 mi
Day 3	Mon, Sep 5	Bruneau to Gooding	60 / 167 mi
Day 4-5	Tue, Sep 6	Gooding to Hailey	57 / 224 mi
Day 6	Thu, Sep 8	Hailey to Easley Hot Springs	28 / 252 mi
Day 7	Fri, Sep 9	Easley to Petit LakeAlternate: 48 miles to Stanley	31 / 283 mi
Day 8	Sat, Sep 10	Petit Lake to LowmanAlternate: 47 miles Stanley to Lowman	64 / 347 mi
Day 9	Sun, Sep 11	Lowman to Edna Creek	30 / 377 mi
Day 10	Mon, Sep 12	Edna Creek to Boise	59 / 436 mi

 

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