On Sunday I headed for a loop ride through Idaho and a little bit of Montana. From Pullman it's head to St. Maries then along the St. Joe River. This is a very pleasant ride, especially the further one is from St. Maries. At some point it appears that the road follows an old rail route, and these are usually fun roads. This one is no exception, sweeping along the banks of the river with a very gentle climb into the mountains.
At Avery is a forest road heading to Wallace, ID. Wallace is located on I-90, and from memory has the "fame" of being the last town to be bypassed by I-90, the northern most cross-country freeway. Not being exactly sure where the road to Wallace started, I had my GPS receiver pick the route.
This was not a great idea, as the first road it found, and which I followed until I could find a place to safely turn around, was no more than a track, perhaps for powerline maintenance more than anything else. I did find a place to safely turn around, as I was very much alone, and the thought of an "oops" was not a pleasant one. Especially as there were some serious drops off one side of the road.
Continuing along the St. Joe River road I found the proper road to Wallace.
My R1100S just before "Tunnel 30". The road leaving the river was a delight to ride, being smooth with gentle curves and rise. There is a relatively low speed limit, but nonetheless it's very enjoyable. As seen here, it's dirt, but it was compact dirt, and quite pleasant to ride.
From the same location, looking back towards Avery. The road I was on is (obviously) above the river, and is just visible above it and just to the right of the middle of the image.
Not long after here, the road leaves the rail bed which turns into a walking trail, as it continues climbing higher. At that point, the road to Wallace turns into a regular sort of forest road, with gravel sections, though none particularly hazardous. And, of course, it's twistier, and climbs and descends much more than the railway.
The road drops into Wallace, from which I picked up I-90 and headed into Montana. It's not that far, as Idaho is fairly narrow at the northern end. I pulled off the freeway at St. Regis, and refilled the bike, as gas stations are few and far between in the wilds! And St. Regis just happens to be where the road along the St. Joe River meets I-90, so I could enjoy the rest of that road.
The Montana section of the road is unpaved, with varying amounts of gravel in places. And one of these was my undoing. Coming around a corner I was staying on the "correct" side of the road, but as it was the high side of a left handed corner, there was considerably more gravel than I expected/assumed. The bike went into "tank slapper" mode, and we parted company - fortunately at low speed. I checked that my extremities all worked, and stood up, looking at the bike on its side in gravel.
While contemplating the "best" way to get the bike up, a couple of people came along and we then raised the bike without it falling back over. One of these people was an off duty medical person (with the regulation "motorcycles are dangerous" speech) who checked that I was OK - following his finger, what day was it, how many fingers etc. Then the bike wouldn't start - would turn over, but not start. It took a little longer to realise that the ignition cut out was operating, as the transmission was not in neutral (and attempts to shift it there were doing little) and the side stand was down. Putting up the stand solved the problem, and the bike started right up.
I thanked the helpers and rode off to the top of the climb, which also happened to be the Idaho/Montana border, and the location where the paving started/ended, depending upon which way you are headed. I had been taking it very easy, as I didn't want to check the bike for very long at the point of tipover. Stopping at the top I took a good look at the bike.
The only damage was the broken left (rider's) footpeg, as shown here at home. It broke off at the scene, and I picked it up there. It did make riding a little more challenging, as there was just a stub left to use for leverage during gear changes.
Other than the extra effort involved with gear changes, the ride back to Pullman was quite delightful. The other issue from the event was the ABS fault light came on. This meant the ABS was inoperative, and required the dealer to reset. It appears that the ABS noted the significance difference in speed between the wheels, and assumed a possible fault.
Chase The Snake 2004 main page