Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club Newsletter January 2015 “Discover Adventure Together” Issue #1 ! ! In this Issue. ! ! ! 2014 IAMC Challenge Recap (Craig O. Olsen) ! A Room with a View (Wayne Smith) [2014 Challenge Gold Tire Level Winner] ! Experience with the Challenge (Rick Skinner) [2014 Challenge Silver Tire Level Winner] ! Sheep Falls (Craig O. Olsen) [2014 Challenge Pla:num Tire Level Winner] ! STAY WARM! How to Ride Longer and Further Into the Season (Sean Goulart) ! Tires (Ryan William Cantrell) ! Winter Bike Maintenance (Dax Mickleson) ! What about Your Helmet? (Craig O. Olsen, M.D.) ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club Newsletter January 2015 “Discover Adventure Together” Issue #1 2014 IAMC Challenge Recap ! by Craig O. Olsen ! ! During the 2014 calendar year, 30 club members signed up to parTcipate in the 2014 IAMC Challenge, and 19 parTcipated by VisiTng at least one or more of the 45 sites. This past year the Challenge sites comprised mainly fire lookouts with some interesTng water falls and lakes thrown in for Variety. There were actually 42 fixed physical sites to Visit with two others that were Variable (picture of your bike in the snow and a water crossing). The 45th site consisted of posTng an inVitaTon on the club website of your own ride of which 8 parTcipants !posted an inVite. Of the 19 club members who parTcipated during 2014, 9 who achieVed the bronze Tre leVel (10-19 sites Visited) are Dan Driscoll, Dax Mickleson, Michael Hardy, Gary Kayser, Mark Englund, Robert Hammond, Chuch Scheer, Ron Schinnerer, and Ed Torrey. The three who reached the silVer Tre leVel (20-29 sites Visited) include Jim Joprgenson, Rick Skinner, and Ma_hew Spurlock. The one club member who a_ained the gold Tre leVel (30-39 sites Visited) is Wayne Smith. Only one club member achieVed plaTnum Tre leVel (40-45 sites Visited) - Craig !Olsen. We recognize all who parTcipated in VisiTng last year’s Challenge sites. A special thanks goes out to Rick Skinner who was primarily responsible for picking the 2014 Challenge sites. Three of the arTcles in this issue of the !newsle_er highlight the 2014 Challenge journey for some of the Tre leVel winners. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club Newsletter January 2015 “Discover Adventure Together” Issue #1 2014 IAMC Challenge: A Room with a View by Wayne Smith - 2014 Challenge Gold Tire Level Winner ! 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. The sites I was able to Visit lay in 4 different states and ranged in eleVaTon from 750 feet at Palouse Falls State Park in southeast Washington to 9,265 feet at Mount Harrison Lookout in southern Idaho. Most of the sites this year were high eleVaTon lookouts, so I had to wait for the snow to clear from these roads to Visit many of these sites. One of the first sites that I Visited this year was #35 Indian Hot Springs. I found this site on Google Earth, and the roads looked pre_y rough. This site is Very remote, and ager watching some of the YouTube Videos, I decided this route may not be suitable for solo riding. I ask a friend if he was interested in riding with me on this trip, and he was more than willing. On May 4 the weather forecast looked good, so Leland and I set out for the desert south of Bruneau. We stopped at the Bruneau RiVer oVerlook, and the View of the canyon was awesome. The GPS guided us south and west unTl we came to the rim of the canyon. Bruneau Canyon Overlook The road down to the riVer from this point looked like it would liVe up to its reputaTon of being rough and rocky. My GS 800 and Leland’s KTM 990 are big, heaVy bikes, and we knew this was going to be a challenge. I only dropped my bike twice on the way in and once on the way out, and I felt pre_y good when Indian Hot Springs was finally checked off the list! ! Road into Indian Hot Springs Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club Newsletter January 2015 “Discover Adventure Together” Issue #1 The ride to Bell Mountain Lookout was another great ride. I haVe fly fished SilVer Creek near Picabo for years and haVe always wondered how to get up in the mountains located to the north. While checking the route to Bell Mountain Lookout on Google Earth, I could see that Muldoon Canyon Road runs east from BelleVue and crosses a few miles of priVate land before entering the naTonal forest and winds its way up a steep road to the top of Bell Mountain. I rode to BelleVue and headed east to what looked like an entry into a high dollar Sun Valley ranch, but the public road conTnued to the top of the ridge where Bell Mountain Lookout sits. At this point, I was looking down at SilVer Creek and the enTre Valley surrounding that area. The View from this point was truly breathtaking. During the Tme that this lookout was operaTng, I’m Bell Mountain Lookout, a room with a view sure the a_endant working here would haVe agreed that this site truly had a room with a View. ! The highest eleVaTon of any of the challenge sites this year was the Mount Harrison Lookout at an eleVaTon of 9,265 feet. On July 5 I chose the GS 1200 to ride to this site because it looked like the rode was good all the way to the top of Mount Harrison, and there would be a lot of highway miles traVeled to get there. Riding south from Albion on Highway 77 to Howell Canyon Road, the road starts its accent past Pomerelle ski area and CleVeland Lake to the top of the mountain. I spent some extra Tme at the lookout just to take in the cool mountain air and Views of the mountains and farm land that seemed to stretch for endless miles. From this point you could look south and see the City of Rocks area and Utah. The View in eVery direcTon went on foreVer. I haVe not spent much Tme in this area, but plan on coming back to do some exploring. There is a nice campground at CleVeland Lake, so in midsummer this area would be a great place to camp with the cool temperatures at this eleVaTon. Mount Harrison Lookout Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club Newsletter January 2015 “Discover Adventure Together” Issue #1 The ride to Deadwood Lookout and then on to Whitehawk Peak Lookout in late July was another memorable one because of the unexpected clear air and Views. On July 26 the fires near Garden Valley were sTll burning but were mostly contained. The wind had shiged to the southwest, thus blowing the smoke toward Boise and away from these lookouts. I got within sight of Deadwood Lookout before coming to the locked gate. I then rode north past Deadwood ReserVoir and back through Bear Valley and up the road to Whitehawk Peak Lookout. When I arriVed, I got off my bike and the a_endant came outside to inVesTgate who had interrupted his solitude. I quickly learned that he was a man of few The view from Whitehawk Lookout towards Deadwood Reservoir words. MenToning to him that he probably had the best View in the world from this lookout, his only reply was, “Yep.” The View to the east of the Sawtooths and to the west of Deadwood ReserVoir made me glad that I had picked this day to Visit this site. ! One of the most memorable trips of the year was a three day ride to the Island Park area with three challenge sites east of Ashton and then on to two more sites in Yellowstone NaTonal Park. I had been looking forward to this trip all year because it is such a great region to ride, so I plo_ed a route that took me through some areas of the state that I haVe neVer been in before. On August 22 the weather in western Idaho was partly cloudy with mild temperatures. I should haVe checked the weather forecast for eastern Idaho before I leg, but what can go wrong in Idaho in August? I made my way across the state on the GS800 and discoVered that eastern Idaho had experienced two weeks of rainy weather before I got there. The first site that I Visited on this trip was Bishop Mountain Lookout. This was an interesTng lookout because it is a steel tower rather than wood construcTon and is listed as a historic site. The road to this site was wet, but I made it to the site without a problem. That agernoon I went as far as I could legally go to Big Springs Lookout before being stopped by posTng signs that read, “No entry for motorized Vehicles.” ! The next site on my route was Warm RiVer Bu_e Lookout which is east of Ashton. Sheep Falls and CaVe Falls are also Very close to this site, so I thought I could Visit all threes before dark and camp for the night at Warm RiVer campground. Muddy road on the way to Big Springs Lookout Idaho Adventure Motorcycle Club Newsletter January 2015 “Discover Adventure Together” Issue #1 I started to ride up the dirt road to Warm RiVer lookout, and the road was muddy but sTll decent for traVel on two wheels.