Tour of Idaho 2020, Day 4 

Thank you Dale. That's a generous compliment, but I do appreciate it. I know what it's like to be on the other side of the equation, trying to read, view, and soak up all the information you can in preparation for the Tour. We were fortunate to finish the Tour and going in, I knew I wanted to do something like this if I was fortunate enough to finish.

Glad you enjoyed it. I love this kind of riding.

Glad you enjoyed it. More to come.

Glad you're enjoying them!

Thanks for being patient and following along! The other days will be coming.

It's worth the wait. This is invaluable beta and entertainment. It would be interesting to get your thoughts on gear and strategy now that you've completed the tour.

I've heard rumor of your similar troubles on Custer :) Would love the whole story someday.

@@ridewithmike962 :) something along the lines of going too fast and clipping that one rock...I was a little rung out too which didn't help! Some good pictures of it. I'll share more someday.

@@donstafford9658 Funny thing is, I know "that one rock" you are referring to, and I 100% understand the "little rung out too" comment. All too familiar :)

Sounds like a great place to live. I also have a KTM 250xc and for many sections of the Tour, it would have been an ideal bike.

Thanks Marshal. Glad you're enjoying them. As a "Tour vet", I know you can appreciate some of what goes throughout the day out there on the trail. .

His bike was a TPI so he didn't have to mix gas, but he did have to carry oil. He had enough to make it the first 5 days and then had an opportunity to buy more in Salmon, but unfortunately he wasn't able to ride after Day 4.

Agreed. We had some rope with us for just that purpose, but with two guys, it was quicker and easier in that situation to just heave it back on the trail. Riding solo in this country, a self-rescue kit would be essential.

Hi...good quesiton. 4.5 hours was a lot for this day but lunch was a good portion of that, plus what many don't realize (and I didn't either) until running the Tour, is that stopping to take selfies at all the challenge points and taking the time to post them, takes a little more time than you think. Over the courses of a long day, it can really add up. We didn't lolly gag, but we did take a few breaks each day so it's really hard to put a recommended duration out there. I would say, focus more on just being consistent all day. Breaks are good and necessary, but they shouldn't be too long. We tried to eat and drink when we stopped for challenge points.

I was running 14/50. My buddy who was also on a 500 EXC (a 2020), was running 14/52. I had a little more top-speed. With either of those gearing combos, 2nd gear is the sweet spot on these bikes for this type of riding. 1st gear is a granny gear, but in all but the absolute gnarliest of stuff, I found 2nd gear with some good clutch control, to be the better (smoother) combo.

We were using the Baofeng UV-82 radios programmed to an FRS channel (lots of videos on RU-vid of how to do this). We then used a push to talk helmet headset from planetheadset.com. Initially I didn't want to use the push to talk headset because I figured the radios clipped to our packs would be good enough (and they could have been), but having the ability to conveniently communicate without stopping was totally worth the trade off for having to clip in everytime you got on/off the bike. The power and range of these radios was far greater than any bluetooth wireless headset and allowed us to really space ourselves at times.

@@ridewithmike962 Any chance you could post the link of the PTT headset that you bought?

@@bobbyrouse898 m.planetheadset.com/Snowcom.php

It's a Mosko Moto Pico tank bag. I just wanted something small enough for phone, wallet, cables, a few other small items. It fits the bill perfectly for that.

The only change I made was switched the rear to a 50 tooth. It was plenty low for the trails.....maybe a tad too low for the long road sections but not a problem if kept under 60-65 mph. My buddy had a 52 tooth rear and although it was great on the trail, I think he wished had something taller for the transfer sections. I also think his gas mileage suffered a bit because of it too.

Just posted Day 5 today. They’re part of a Tour of Idaho playlist so the next video in sequence should auto play. I’m slowly working on them between life :)