19 July 2014 Leaving Ketchum

Next morning, Saturday, we met up with Vicki, and also her partner Gene. Gene wouldn't be cycling, but intended to meet up with us every 5 days or so. He'd be spending time fishing, reading and hiking, and with any luck, be there to greet us at camp with much needed beer. Sadly, Jim had to pull out of the trip at the last minute due to family commitments which was a big blow. His sunny personality would be missed by us all but we promised to keep in regular touch along the way.

As usual, Team Faff (Pip and I) spend ages getting ready to leave. A simple trip to the bike/outdoor store to tighten up Sherman's chain and buy a can of camping gas expands into:

a new pair of cycling gloves,
a new saddle,
new handlebar grips,
sunglasses and
2 new rubber foldable camping bowls
chain lube.

Finally, by lunchtime, we are all packed up and ready to go. The plan is to ease in gently with 15 miles or so up the Harriman Trail, after leaving our cars at the USFS Sawtooth visitor centre. First, a leaving photo with the splendid green rubber bowls - which were actually sold as pet bowls believe it or not.

18 miles later, we have to find our first wild camping spot, since it is Saturday and all the fee paying campsites are fully booked. Like kids, we compare our new kit purchased since the last trip; we have a new gravity filter, Vicki has borrowed a lightweight tarp tent from Gene but Harry wins with his new skeletal camping mat, which he assures us is the lightest, most comfortable mat EVER! It may well be, if you never sleep on your side! It could also double up as a luge however.

The local friendly mosquitoes quickly introduce themselves during dinner, and soon we have to retreat to tents, having hung our food away for the night.

17-18 July 2014 Flying in from Manchester to Las Vegas then driving to Ketchum

After last year's 50-something's Utah Cliffs Bike Tour, Harry mentioned that he had heard that Adventure Cycling were in the process of putting together an off-road route in Idaho which tried to include many natural hotsprings, as well as some substantial singletrack touring sections. We (Harry, Vicki, Jim, Pip and I) agreed that would make an awesome trip and eagerly awaited publication of the maps early in 2014, upon which flights and holiday dates were booked. Idaho is not the easiest place to get to from the UK, even more so when traveling by bike. As Pip is not a keen flyer and also because Virgin Atlantic fly your bikes for free, we decided to fly again with Virgin Atlantic, direct from Manchester to Las Vegas, then rent a Dodge Caravan to drive the 700+ miles to begin our trip in Ketchum, Idaho. Seemed like a good idea at the time of booking, but not being used to such long drives, we were totally exhausted by the time we reached Ketchum on Friday evening, having left Manchester Thursday morning.

We were pleased to meet up again with Harry, who put our feeble 11 hours of driving well into the shade with his 45 hours of driving to get to Ketchum from Massachusetts, and that straight after a transatlantic flight from his vacation in the French Alps.