Pre-Trip Preparation: The Idaho Hot Springs Tour Edition

The departure date for my Idaho Hot Springs Tour somehow snuck up on me and Ryan in a whirlwind of late spring and early summer gaiety.  We had met up for happy hour once to half-heartedly discuss the logistics and timing of getting our cars and bikes to Idaho and how many miles a day we would aim for.  At that time, the trip didn't seem real yet, so we had a hard time hammering out the nitty gritty details and I remember enjoying the beers more than anything.

Initial Logisticals

We decided that we would start in Crouch and cycle counterclockwise, Ryan would be in charge of getting a basic bike computer so he could track the turn-by-turns and I would be in charge of getting an offline GPS app for my iPhone and download the GPX file available through the Adventure Cycling Association (both of which were essential to keeping us on track with lots of unmarked forest roads).  We also settled on parking Ryan's car in Crouch and my car in Cascade to allow us the most number of bailout options, since I was driving straight from Idaho to my parents' place in Washington to fly out for a wedding.  This would allow us to use both the Lohman cutoff and the Warm Lakes road cutoff if we suffered a lot of delays, or allow me to hop in my car in Cascade to jet north while Ryan continued solo south.

Since we both already had all the gear, we just had to do last minute gear checks, and figure out where exactly we could park our cars.  I had thought to crash in Cascade the first night in town on June 20th, but after calling around, I discovered that we were starting in the middle of the Payette Games, a huge whitewater event and everything in Cascade was booked up.  Thankfully, the apologetic owner of the Alpine Lodge and Motel in Cascade, Justin, told me I could park my car there anyway.  So instead, I nabbed a room at the Wander Inn and Cabins in Crouch... a lucky find as Maggie, the gracious owner, had a last minute cancellation.  She also told me Ryan could park his car there. 

Our Bike Setupsticals

I ride a Surly Troll with 26" wheels.  This is a first generation Troll, so I had custom brazeons to allow me to mount water bottle cages on each side of my front fork and the downtube.  I also have more traditional mountain bike handlebars with Ergon grips and a sexy Brooks saddle.  My tires are the oh so heavy but oh so reliable Schwalbe Marathon Mondials (26x2), which have over 6000 miles on them with zero flats.  The Tank also comes armed with a custom Porcelain Rocket frame bag, Revelate Designs harness, 2 Revelate Designs feed bags, a Revelate Designs gas tank, a Timbuk2 Goody Box top tube bag mounted to the seat post, a rear rack with 2 Ortlieb panniers, and 5 water bottles.  Normally, I would have ditched the rear rack and panniers for a lighter weight setup, but with Ryan towing a fully loaded setup, I figured I'd opt for a few luxuries this time around.  I absolutely LOVED this setup and it handled much better than Ryan's more traditional touring setup.

The Tank, in all her glory.

Ryan rides a Surly Long Haul Trucker with 700c wheels.  Everything on his bike is stock from what I understand.  He has front and rear racks with a traditional four Ortlieb pannier setup and opted to do this tour fully loaded, as if he were on a road tour.  He did a test ride on dirt and discovered that with his cross tires on his touring bike, he was prone to pinch flatting every couple of miles.  He decided to upgrade his tires last minute to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, which, while not necessarily ideal for dirt road touring, were good enough for zero flats for the trip.  That said, he had a very hard time on climbs, sometimes having to walk rideable sections and he often had to unclip (or wiped out) on sandy parts.