FAQ
Q: How much does this cost?
The route design and files are free. But this style of adventure is definitely not free. The real expenses are what you personally spend to prepare and complete the Trek. When you add up the costs of motels, bike gas, shuttle truck gas, food, and a set of bike tires, you can consume about $1000 before you get back home. To convert your standard dirt bike into a Trek bike has a wide range of costs. One can easily spend $1000 in buying a big tank, GPS, luggage, better lighting, satellite tracking device and fresh moving parts. But it is not too tough to spend $4000+ too with auto clutch, suspension tuning, steering damper, seat, stator, cooling upgrade, body gear, etc. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
Q: How do I get back to my truck from the end?
There is no one good answer here.
a) Most riders arrange a shuttle truck and driver to pick them up from the end using the same truck and driver that dropped you off at the beginning. Then you are ready to just head home and start the story telling while you drive.
b) You can ride to the nearest town after the finish and rent a one way u-haul truck to carry your bike back to a town near the beginning. Then use your bike to get back to where you left your truck near the start.
c) You can also ride your motorcycle on dirt roads back along the IDBDR.
Q: What do I do if I run into a closed trail or road?
If it is blocked by tree-fall, you should have a hand saw with you to help get past it. If it is legally closed or too damaged to ride … Don’t take it! Use your topo, phone and paper maps to device an alternative route around within gas range considerations. Please report the problem to us so we can notify others. If it is a permanently closed trail, we want to fix any issues and update the route for quality improvement.
Q: I can't get the GPX file to load on my XXX device?
Garmin Training Videos:
http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/basecamp/
Older, but free Topo Maps
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/45/
Map loading Tutorial
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-load-maps-on-my-garmin-gps-unit/
Q: How does the GRIT1 compare to the Tour of Idaho?
The Tour of Idaho (TOI) and the GRIT routes are the same style of adventure. But the TOI was limiting. In general, we finished the TOI and said…That was great…Now what? The GRIT routes are here to offer more routes and variations.
For direct comparison, the Tour of Idaho goes from Utah to Canada up the East side of Idaho for the first several days. The “GRIT1” goes up the West side of the state starting in Nevada. They cross over up north then head to different end points. The GRIT1 goes to the actual Canadian border in about 1200 miles using 359 miles of trail compared to the 2014 TOI getting somewhere close to Canada in 1400-1500 miles using ~280 miles of trail. Both were designed for 7 days for a tough B rider.
In 2015, the TOI route cuts East/West a couple more times, adding two more days of riding in order to pickup up more trails and reduce gas range required on some legs. So the 2015 TOI is now close to 1550 miles long in 9 days with a ~354 trail miles. YMMV.
| GRIT1 | 2014 TOI | 2015 TOI | |
| Total Miles | 1291 | 1433 | 1550 |
| Miles of Trail | 398 | 280 | 354 |
| Miles of Road | 893 | 1153 | 1196 |
| Plan Days | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Trail-Miles per day |
57 | 40 | 39 |