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Rank: Administration
Groups: Administration
Joined: 3/2/2008
Posts: 137
Points: -848
Location: Pocatello, ID
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We are about ready to release a new feature concerning the Tour of Idaho T1 - The Tour of Idaho Challenge. It's our attempt to be a lucid as possible in explaining exactly what we think constitutes the Tour of Idaho. We are going to wait a few days to make the feature live because we want to work a little more on the new D3 routing over the holiday weekend, but you can sneak a peek at the Tour Challenge page and let us know what you think. Have a great holiday.
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 8/15/2010
Posts: 13
Points: 39
Location: George, WA 98824
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I like the idea! Ever since I found out about this ride it has become a goal to complete it. Not just part of it but the whole thing and consider it a challenge to make it whole. This challenge idea is a good way to give credit to those who complete the ride as the originators envision it to be ridden but still leave room for others to ride as they wish.
The one thought that comes to mind is this! Should a first time rider to the routes be given bonus points? I plan on doing it without any pre-rides or scouting ahead of time. This puts more planning into play and adds more character to the ride. If a rider has ridden it more than once or parts of it as I have seen in posts it becomes easier. How can someone add or deny bonus points to this I don't have any idea?
You asked for debate?....I'll start it and look forward to other people's ideas!
TONY
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Joined: 3/2/2008
Posts: 269
Points: 284
Location: Pocatello
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That is a great idea. I'll add a style point bonus for anyone who completes the ride without a preview. The only reason I'm not inclined to make it even bigger is that the GPS track and route description are pretty detailed and complete. Some of the "pre rides" we did were pretty involved because we didn't know how far it was to gas, what the trails were like, etc. - and the trail changes quite a bit from year to year. If you "pre ride" day one, for instance, this year it might be quite a bit different next year. Nonetheless to set out with no advanced information other than the gpx file and our route description does merit a style point bonus. Thanks for the suggestion.
m
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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 8/15/2010
Posts: 13
Points: 39
Location: George, WA 98824
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Thinking about it a bit more how would you know if someone has ridden all or parts of it before? If it is viewed as a game then sooner or later someone will find a way to cheat. What do you get for an award at the end? The satisfaction of completion, a few "pats on the back" in a thread forum someplace? This sounds good but I want my name on that alumnus list by the end of 2011!
Thanks for the open mind and consideration of this topic.
TONY
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/2/2008
Posts: 269
Points: 284
Location: Pocatello
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Tony,
I have a local trophy shop working on a small award I am going to send to anyone who completes the Tour and I wouldn't mind it much at all if we ended up having to send a bunch of these out.
Things like this are always, to a degree, based on an honor system. As long as someone takes photos at the challenge points or posts it to their SPOT adventure list that's good enough for me. Most people are actually pretty honest. Will someone cheat? Surely. But I think that with this system where it's all laid out in black and white most everyone who says that they accumulated the requisite number of points will have done so.
To be clear, I don't have a problem in the world with most of the dual sport riders who've done significant chunks of the Tour and raved about it on the web. The only thing I disagree with is the frequent claim that it's possible to do 90% of the Tour on a dual sport when it's made by people who did way less than 90% of it. Even then I don't think these folks are bad people. I just disagree with them.
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 12/21/2008
Posts: 18
Points: 54
Location: Calgary, Canada
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"In the end you can see how your adventure ranks when compared to that of others who've completed the Tour."
No thanks - could care less about acquiring points. Don't get me wrong - I think the route as laid out is a great ride (and some day I hope to finish experiencing all of it), but when I use my meager vacation time to get away for a long ride, competing with other travelers for bragging rights is the last thing I set out to do.
To each his own... but still looking forward to hearing the stories of others who take up the ToI Challenge.
I plan to be at the flagpole after completing day 1 of the ToI on Sept 19th... keep an eye out for a ragged looking Husky rider chasing 3 KTMs :)
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Joined: 5/23/2009
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aebbern wrote:"In the end you can see how your adventure ranks when compared to that of others who've completed the Tour."
No thanks - could care less about acquiring points. Don't get me wrong - I think the route as laid out is a great ride (and some day I hope to finish experiencing all of it), but when I use my meager vacation time to get away for a long ride, competing with other travelers for bragging rights is the last thing I set out to do.
To each his own... but still looking forward to hearing the stories of others who take up the ToI Challenge.
I plan to be at the flagpole after completing day 1 of the ToI on Sept 19th... keep an eye out for a ragged looking Husky rider chasing 3 KTMs :) I didn't see any indication in the TOI challenge that arms were being bent up behind anyone's back. If you want to participate, fine, but no one says that you have to. So what's the worry - vacation time? Jeeze - get in the queue.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Joined: 3/2/2008
Posts: 269
Points: 284
Location: Pocatello
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I updated the gpx file to represent a few tweaks we made to D3 last weekend. I am heading to Challis one more time this weekend to check out a few more trails and we'll have the full 2011 routing. As soon as it's ready I'll publish a new gpx file for the entire T1 and a new set of topographic maps.
I also updated the style points in the Challenge to incorporate some suggestions I've received.
Have fun!
m
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/2/2008
Posts: 269
Points: 284
Location: Pocatello
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Wow. I had no idea that the idea of a Tour of Idaho Challenge would prompt such a positive response. In just the few days this thread has been up I've heard from at least a half-dozen riders who are planning on attempting solo or small group, light weight, self-supported attempts at the Tour next summer. I am completely pumped. It's great to know that there are other riders out there who understand the challenge concept. Let's keep this thread going as the principal resource for riders pursuing the Challenge.
I will have the 2011 routing up as soon as possible. I'm working out a complete new set of maps and a gpx files. Not only will the new maps have the entire trail and variants (with my notes) but will differentiate between pavement, dirt road, atv/jeep trails and single track. I'm also going to post the .tpo file for anyone who uses National Geographic Topo and/or the Magellan Triton GPS. If you are doing the Tour Challenge and have a Triton you can load all of the topos up on a couple of 2GB SD cards.
Salude!
m
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/28/2010
Posts: 5
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Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
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I don't see how anyone riding any of the T1 could be a looser, Excellent route, un-paralleled riding action and it's FREE(Big Thank you Martin for SHARING).
Challenge is Icing on the cake, I'm game, Complete T1 and T2 planned for 2011. Extreme lightness with the CC pulling the heavy weight.
Currently I'm a 19 pointer, time to Cowboy the F***UP.
Looking over the new Tour of Idaho Challenge.gpx file(opens just fine for me in Mapsource), I can see some new waypoints off the current path, a hint towards changes to come, I can't wait for your report of the new Day 3 action and how it picks up Road Creek, French Creek, Squaw Creek, and keeps in the very fun Grouse Peak(nice piece of trail to finish out a day, I was happy this stretch was DRY).
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