I’m doing the MTBDR and am looking for 5-7 riders to join me.
9/5-14
My primary constraint is stepdaughter’s wedding in Philly on 9/20, for which I’ve been instructed I must have no above the neck injuries or disfigurement. Homie don’t dance so I could probably get away with a slight limp. Crutches are no go. So I’ve backplanned from that date, and left a good week plus to ensure I burn as few SAUs (Spousal Approval Units) as possible for this ride.
Important:
The nature of my life and commitments dictate that I do this ride with a non-Explorer sense of urgency. That is, pace of the riding itself doesn’t necessarily have to be Ripper / Hair on Fire, but I need to start early, make time each day, combine sections when necessary if there’s an opportunity to do so. For example, if we finish the planned ride for the day at 2p, I’m going to push on for another 3-4hrs.
If by doing so I can shorten 8 sections / days into 6-7 days, that’s what I need to do.
Notes:
- The BDR start is in ID, so there’s a minimum of 3 days total of driving / admin time on the front and back end of the ride.
- Best plan I can come up with is to drive to and stage from Missoula (12hr drive), then ride ~6hrs the next day to the start in ID the following day. Yeah, it’s a lot.
- Ride each section and combine Sect 4 and 5 to create a 200mi day
- Will be doing all of the Alt Hard sections
- Finish Sect 8 and ride ~3hrs back to Missoula on the same day.
- Drive back the next day, 12hrs
Will be carrying camping gear to facilitate flexible lodging options. IE, on that 2pm day above, ending in a town: get food, water, push on for another 3-4hrs and camp.
In order to make this ride more possible for guys in a similar time constrained position, I can offer a bike and gear shuttle service: with my van and a trailer, I can haul 4 total bikes (mine + 3) to and from the route, allowing you to fly in / out of Missoula and saving you a solid 2 days of driving. If anyone has a line on a bigger trailer, hit me up. Cost and fee for this service is TBD, but I’d say gas and “something for the effort.”
Max Group Size = 6-8 riders
In my experience, this is large enough to create redundancy, human supplied horsepower to get bikes and bodies through obstacles, etc, but small enough to facilitate coordination, moving at a solid pace, and flexing the plan on the fly.
Rider Ability
- Big bike / twin > 650c: Intermediate
- DS / < 650c: Solid beginner
After viewing the MTBDR movie last week, I’d say this route is on the easier side, not as challenging as the COBDR route, and certainly much less difficult than WY. But the route is very remote so I’d say that rider endurance and self-sufficiency is just as important as ability.
That said, there is plenty of terrain local to us that you / we can train on, to get better at riding loaded ADV bike in a variety of situations.
Required Equipment
I’ll publish a gear list and with enough coordination we can spreadload some items across the group. But radios and InReach or similar will be required.
@Arrivo and @ChrisMunro are likely mostly IN.
Questions? Comments? Post here