Off road riders have a limited selection of gear to help keep warm when out on the trails or track. First off, when we ride motocross, we don’t tend to wear anything extra gear-wise when competing because of the abundance of body heat generated.
When I visited Bell Mountain Lookout in mid September, about three months ager Wayne Smith’s post, I was greeted to a view without a room! The lookout was in the process of being torn down. All that remained was a small 4 X 4 foot building with solar panels about the size of an out door privy, the funcTonal purpose of which I am not sure.
Do I always make it to every site? Nope. Do I and my bike always come back unscathed and unmarred? Nope. But for me, that is what I love about the Challenge. I have seen more of Idaho and surrounding states than I otherwise would have, and by trying to get to some of the more difficult sites, I have been forced to become a better rider.
The 2014 IAMC Challenge was another huge success and another great year to be riding the back roads of Idaho to visit the many challenge sites. This year I was able to visit, or get close to, 34 sites and logged close to 7,000 miles along the way.
There are not many World War II era military plane crashes in Idaho, and one of those is a B-23 crash site, the only one in the state. It is located at the south end of Loon Lake, a small alpine lake measuring approximately 0.5 miles long by 0.4 miles wide and located about 22 miles northeast of McCall, as the crow flies, in a difficult to get to area of the Payette National Forest.
As a new rider, there are some simple yet important lessons that I have learned from which other riders just discovering this world for themselves or are transitioning from road bikes to dual sport riding may benefit. My first “real” motorcycle was a Suzuki DR350SE. I couldn’t have picked a better bike to learn on. It was small, yet could take me down the highway at a reasonable speed, and was quite manageable off-road. I was also very glad that it was not a heavy bike because of the fact that I dropped it almost every time I went off-road.
First of all, the JetBoil stove systems are quick and easy to set up, clean and take down. They are built to contain all the basic parts of the system inside the cooking cylinder. There is somewhat of a stacking order depending on what you want to accessorize with but everything will fit inside with the basic kit. There are three sizes of Jetboil stoves to suit your needs. The Zip is the smaller of the set with .8L capacity, the medium 1L Flash (the stove I’m reviewing), and the Sumo which reaches an impressive 1.8L capacity but is more suited to cooking for two or more people in my opinion.
Launched on April 3, 1860, the Pony Express connected California in the far West with the Eastern United States with the fastest means of communication up to that Mme – approximately ten days of hard, fast riding between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Though the Pony Express lasted only eighteen months, it became a lasting and endearing legend of the American West. It ceased its operaMons on October 26, 1861, just two days after completion of the transcontinental telegraph that made it obsolete. The last delivery of Pony Express mail arrived in San Francisco
Some roads are fun to ride, some are challenging and some will overwhelm you with scenic beauty but few do all three like the TAT (Transamerican Trail).
This last year was challenging for a number of reasons, be it available vaca&on, motorcycle maintenance and opera&on, or my lack of organizational skills and &me management. There were sacrifices made and chances taken, but during the adventures, I was thankful for the opportunity to explore and engage in what our great outdoor world has to offer. My advice, if you see an opportunity or behold an inspiring landscape, take a moment to snap a picture and write a few notes in a journal.