The Tour of Idaho: Getting Ready for 2018
Early this year, I was invited to do the “Tour of Idaho” in 2018 by Randy Block. If you don’t know what “The Tour” is all about go check out Martin Harkworth’s website, motorcyclejazz.com. One can find all the details right there in a nice little package. Martin is the Executive Director of the BlueRibbon Coalition (if you’re not a member you should be) and has spent years fine tuning the Tour for everyone’s enjoyment. To sum it up, the tour is a +/-1,500 mile off road adventure that begins at the Utah border and traverses Idaho to a mountaintop just a few miles from the Canadian Border.
Tour of Idaho Overview Map
I’d found Martin’s site many years ago and had perused it from time to time as it was in my bookmarks. I’d come back to it periodically, but mainly to view the pictures from Day 3 & 4 as each summer I’d ride in that area of Central Idaho. Additionally, I’d seen the TOI recount that was done by “Big Dog” several years. It’s worth reading as well.
Randy is the Eastern Representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition and lives just across the river from Kentucky in Indiana. I met Randy in early 2017 through a mutual interest in working with the USFS in Kentucky. He and his friend Roger completed the Tour of Idaho in 2015 right after Jimmy Lewis. Interestingly, I’d been riding in Central Idaho in 2015 with Will Lyons and he said that after we left he was going to film Jimmy Lewis doing the Tour of Idaho. Small world.
By the way, Will’s work on the video capture and production is phenomenal. If you want the real scoop on what the Tour is all about, you need to watch all 45+ minutes of it! Check it out here.
Randy had noted that Jeff Stoess also had an interest in doing the Tour. Thus, it only made sense for me to team up with him. Jeff is an incredible rider with lots of long-distance adventure riding and dual sport experience. Just the kind of rider you want to be teamed up with!
This was all coming together nicely but I really didn’t have a bike that was appropriate for that sort of undertaking. From what I could tell, most everyone that had finished the tour was on a large-displacement, street legal, four-stroke, dirt bike. My little YZ250s weren’t up for the task. Can you imagine how much premix I’d have to carry?!
Over the next 3 weeks or so I pondered about what bike to get. For me, a Yamaha WR450F came to mind first as I try to support my local economy and you can’t find an orange bike at JVM Motorsports. During this short 3 week period I’d discussed my intentions with several fellow riders. I’d asked Mark Edwards specifically if the WR450F subframe was up to the task of supporting some sort of saddle bag system. So he was aware of what I was thinking.
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2015 Yamaha WR450F
Mark was right. It only had 92 miles on it. The bike had never really been dirty at all. Factory-applied oil was still on the bright yellow and debris-free air filter. Wow. Deals like that don’t appear very often. Knowing that I had over a year to get it ready, I pushed it into the garage where it began to gather dust.
For the next several weeks it just sat there. I did get some nice Cycra ProBend hand guards for it, put a solid rotor on the rear wheel, and geared it down a bit. Otherwise, it got no attention. I didn’t even load it up for a ride.
Nice Hand Guards!
As usual, we went out west in July. Visited Gary and Judi in the Black Hills, stopped by to see Keith in Billings, and made our way up to Glacier National Park for a few wonderful days! Afterwards we headed down to the Sawtooth Valley in Central Idaho for a couple weeks. Chip was in Stanley but unfortunately had a bad knee. My aim was to start bike prep for the Tour upon my return to the Bluegrass state. So the WR just sat there and gathered a nice thick layer of garage dust. Waiting for a little attention . . .
More to come on this topic in my next installment. This is just one of many. Stay Tuned!
See you on the trail!