Six Sites, Four U-Turns, and One Unamused Touring Bike

This was supposed to be a nice, easy, 99% pavement Fourth of July morning ride.

My regular riding buddy, Cuprum Hermit, remains on the injured reserve list for another month, so when a friend asked me to plan a three- to four-hour loop, I said yes. Then he invited two more riders the day before the ride. No problem — I know both, and they’re solid riders.

The group ended up being an eclectic mix: one new-to-him 2016 Indian Roadmaster, one first post-hip-replacement rider on a well-worn Tiger 800, a younger guy on a mid-teens Kawasaki Versys 1000 who hadn’t ridden in about two years, and me on my antique ’05 R1200GS.

So, with this crew in mind, I planned a mostly pavement loop around six IAMC Challenge sites:

23 - Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge
18 - Guffey Railroad Bridge & Rail Trail
22 - Hemingway Butte OHV Park
49 - Lizard Butte
17 - Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History
16 - Warhawk Air Museum

The idea was to meet the bionic hip at the Maverik gas station on Cole and Victory, pick up the Versys rider in southeast Nampa, then grab the Indian rider out near Lake Lowell before starting the loop.

For the most part, it was a nice, uneventful ride — which is exactly what you want when your group includes a new hip, an Indian Roadmaster, and a Versys 1000, which is a great bike but not exactly a dirt weapon.

The only real excitement came when I discovered that Midway Road in Nampa does not, in fact, go all the way south to Greenhurst Road.

This resulted in four U-turns of dubious proficiency in the gravel/dirt western Kingfisher Trail parking area. The bionic hip did surprisingly well. The GS didn’t notice anything. The Indian tolerated it. The Versys was not amused.

Our riding demonstration was met with several baleful looks from nearby hikers. But no one threw a boot at us.

Fair enough.

After a brief re-route seminar on the side of the road, we found our way to Deer Flat. The rest of the loop went smoothly. We bagged all six sites, enjoyed some good pavement, and finished right at four hours with stops.

So, the ride was exactly as advertised: a relaxed, mostly pavement, three- to four-hour loop.

With one complimentary gravel U-turn clinic.

GPX track included for anyone interested: