Author: Deb

Tour Aotearoa Day 1: Cape Reinga to Tapotupotu Bay, 3 miles | Let’s Ride

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Route Tracker

Kia Ora from Te Ika-a-Māui, or the North Island in New Zealand!

We made it to Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island where we will begin our 1,900 mile ride to Bluff at the southermost tip of the South Island.

The views at Cape Reinga are stunning but its history is even more fascinating. Just yesterday New Zealanders celebrated National Waitangi Day, a day which commemorates the treaty signed between Māori chiefs and the Crown that established British sovereignty.

As we approached the lighthouse there were many people gathered there, one being a Māori man paying homage with a haka song. A local explained his purpose and more about this sacred space. Her explanation and the haka are included in the video below.

The swells of water are a mix of deep shades of blue where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

More about our bike ride: The Tour Aotearoa (TA) is considered one of the world’s fastest most spectacular bikepacking routes. We’ll be riding on mixed surfaces including gravel roads, the beach, paved roads, cycling trails with some technical single track to keep it spicy. Throw in over 132,000 feet of elevation and let’s just say although we weren’t able to train much in Indy due to snow and frigid temps, we will be well conditioned for outdoor riding when we return.🤣

Three or four boat transfers are needed with one being a 3-4 hour ferry across Cook Strait to the South Island and another jet boat ride on the Whanganui River to leave a particularly remote and technical section of the route just after crossing the Bridge to Nowhere.

As for us today we had a very short ride to Tapotupotu Bay since the tide was too high to start riding on the beach. Just three miles away from the Cape, we snagged this beachfront site for our first night.

Positively easy on the eyes but it doesn’t come with electricity, potable water, wifi, cell service or even a trash can (recycling bins yes though, and I love this!). However we’ll take this view, its tidal sound effects and sweet island aroma any day.

A simple dinner, lots of walks around the campground and we were ready for sleep. Will definitely be dreaming about finally getting a proper ride in tomorrow when we ride the first stretch of 90 Mile Beach along the Tasman Sea.

Thanks for the follow!

Click on the image below to view today’s video:

“What’s all the Hubbub Bub?”

Thoughts from Tom on 2024:

Well it is that time of year.  We start getting the “Strava Year in Sport” emails and I sit back and think about goals Deb and I set for the year and what we accomplished both on our own and together.

A couple of months ago, we were lucky enough to be approached by Diane Jenks of “Outspoken Cyclist Podcast” to share more about our accomplishments over the years. (Fyi, she and her husband are also owners of HubBub Helmet Mirror. We just ordered our right sided helmet mirrors for our ride in New Zealand since we will be riding on the opposite ride of the road). Helmet mirrors and helmets are two essential accessories we never ride without.

On tour with our favorite helmet mirrors in the middle of Texas Hill Country at the intersection of the Southern Tier (finished in 2023) and Texas Hill Country (finished in 2024) routes. And yes, it’s in the middle of nowhere.

If you’d like to give Diane’s pod a listen, enjoy below:

Prior to recording the podcast, it got us to sit back and think about accomplishments over the past 20 years, all the training plans we have put together, and how every day we made the decision to follow those plans to meet those goals.  

We achieved some BHAGs (Big Harry Audacious Goals) over the last few years like running a marathon in every state, riding bikes in every state and riding our bikes across the country three times. This year we hit some mini BHAG milestones including finishing the Texas Hill Country route, the OTET Trail and the Idaho Hot Springs Loop.

As we said on the podcast, we hope to pay our experiences forward.  We’ve followed others’ blogs and reached out to fellow goal setters to pick their brains on the runs and rides we were shooting for in the past.  Likewise, many people have reached out to us and followed our blog to learn from our experiences. 

We are doing that now as we have been planning for our BHAG for 2025, completing the Tour Aotearoa in New Zealand and following other blogs and social media group posts dedicated to the ride.

Now at our age, our major long term goal in life is to get one year older and keep doing things at the same level that we did last year before the wheels start falling off. :)

Doing this in conjunction with daily prayers for a life full of Love, Hope, Faith, Peace, Grace, Gratitude, Patience, Humbleness, Passion, and Purpose we feel like we can pretty much accomplish anything we put our minds to.

On Deck for 2025: We’re Goin’ Down… Down Under That Is

Plans, routes, reservations and itineraries are in place for our next bike tour where we’ll explore New Zealand, top to bottom, on bicycles!

Click here to find out more about the route. Although we’ve worked through most of the questions we had in planning the tour (Ok, well mostly Tom did all that), we still have one big question. And maybe you have an answer.

After New Zealand, we’re heading over to Australia for a few days. I mean, it’s in the neib and it’s doubtful we will return since there’s Europe, Asia, South America and other places to explore on bikes

If you’ve been to Australia, what should we be sure to do when we visit?

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 10, McCall to Boise, 0 bike miles | Back to Boise

We had to abruptly pull the plug on our Idaho Hot Springs bike tour due to growing wildfires in the Payette and Boise National Forests.🔥

It’s remarkable how quickly things change.

We rolled into McCall on my birthday, decided to take the next day off to resupply, do laundry, etc. and after checking the Watch Duty app and confirming with the Valley County Sheriff Department, decisions were made. We were done.

Our forest road was closed due to wildfire and Highway 55 was much too dangerous to cycle on back to Boise.

Question was… how would we get back to Boise from McCall with bikes.

We brainstormed several ideas and came up with renting a car at the McCall airport and driving with our bikes back to Boise.

We then had to pick up a second rental car in Boise and drive the first rental back north two hours to McCall (or pay $1,000 one way rental fee or take a puddle jumper from McCall to Boise for $2,000).

So we made a total of three trips on Highway 55 along the scenic Payette River while watching all kinds of fire activity up and down the corridor. And btw, the Sheriff Department was correct on the “bike-ability” of Highway 55: no shoulder, too narrow and no line of site along much of the road.

Sorry to end the ride early but more sorry for the loss of property and national forest land. These wildfires are no joke.

Thanks all, for joining us on our ride. We are already planning the next one. 😊

Click on the image below to view more pics vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 9, Buckhorn Campground to McCall, 41 miles, 3,573 feet elevation | Made it to McCall

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Lick Creek Summit stood between us and McCall, Idaho which would be a pretty sweet place to celebrate a 65th birthday, so we knew where we were headed for the night.

Just the weekend before we left for Idaho we had our Cousin Campout and the kiddos surprised me with birthday prezzies and a song they adapted from my favorite musical, Sound of Music. And yes they actually sang it. 😂 That and building our traditional human pyramid kicked off the big birthday celebration.

The kids will give me a hard time but I uploaded their performance to my YouTube channel so I could watch it again and again. It’s very clever I think.

And this year I got to be on top of the pyramid at the Campout. Gotta seize those opportunities while you can. Sheesh I can hardly swing my leg over my bike saddle these days to get on my bicycle.

Ok back to the ride. Same story line. Beautiful scenery and no visible smoke today! It was about a 15 mile climb to the top and then we rolled down into McCall and decided to take a zero the following day to do laundry, resupply, SHOWER, and map out the last four days of riding back to Boise.

Don’t think I will ever forget how I spent my 65th birthday with my love, Tom.

Click on the image below to view more pics and vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 8, Deer Flat Campground to Buckhorn Campground, 59 miles, 3,992 feet elevation | Snag

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Pretty sure we woke up with ashes on our tent fly from the wildfires. Last night was the coldest night yet in the low 40’s but we were absolutely warm and comfty in our sleeping quilts and puffy coats, although I’m pretty sure I heard a gunshot (just one) at 4:20 am.😳

Our destination today was past Warm Lake where there is an active wildfire blazing and growing nearby.

We stopped in Deadwood Outfitters for a cup of coffee and a wildfire update. Wrangler Sean showed us the Watch Duty app (same one as the Forest Ranger mentioned yesterday for fire updates). Apparently the Snag fire grew from 4,000 to 7,000 acres overnight and Warm Lake, the next town down the road was on Evac 1 Alert, meaning get your things ready to evacuate.

We wi-fi called the Valley County Sheriff Office from the Outfitter at Sean’s suggestion to ensure our route wasn’t closed and we were good to go.

Though smoky we continued our climb up and over Warm Lake Summit and stopped in the “Lodge” (and I use that term loosely) 😂 where we ran into Nick and Al whom we have been leapfrogging. They are riding the north Idaho Hot Springs loop and will cut back east on the Lowman Pass to return to Stanley.

A news crew came to take video and report on the Snag fire and lake area near the lodge where we stopped for burgers.

Smoke was getting thicker. 😢

As we left Warm River and cycled north the smoke diminished.

However of all things we ran into wait for it…. a chip and seal crew. Too funny not to capture on video, I included a few clips in the video at the bottom of the post. Ya just never know what you’ll run into on a bike tour.

Made it to Buckhorn Campground which sets us up nicely for spending my birthday in McCall!

Click on the link below to view more pics and vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 7, Stanley to Deer Flat Campground, 51 miles, 2,326 feet elevation | Air

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Today, finally, I think I got my “air” back and got acclimated to higher elevation and boy did it feel good to feel zippy again!

We left Stanley unfortunately without leftover pizza in our bags but instead, leftover Buff Chick Wings which aren’t a bad sub, and had Fir Creek Campground as a tentative stopping place for the day.

Since we hit Fir Creek early about 3pm we decided to push on to Deer Flat Campground.

Again, the scenery dazzles us. Over most every rise and around every corner we stop to admire it.

However, the road surface on the climbs and descents between Stanley and McCall (our next town) is horrendous with a lot of washboarding, deep sand with a few ratchet rocks and ruts to maneuver around. This makes for much slower going on a bike. We crawl up climbs and have to slowly descend down the other side being careful to keep the bikes upright.

About 15 miles in we stopped to chat with National Forest Service (NSF) Ranger Kayla, hoping we could get an update on wildfires as smoke is still visible.

She didn’t have any answers for us on that question but was eager to answer others we had, you know since we are “Googleless” out here. Plus, she’s from Seymour, Indiana and you know midwesterners… we like to help and chat it up.

She’s on Range Duty and part of her job is to ensure fencing and other conditions are ready for open grazing.

She said the area we are in is known as the Stanley Basin and water is abundant. When I mentioned we haven’t seen as much wildlife as we expected, not only here in the Boise National Forest but also in the Sawtooth, she said that animals seem to migrate away when the seasonal people come. In the off season more deer, pronghorn, elk and even wolverine can be seen. There is even a lone wolf that likes to patrol the area.

In the winter, snow is deep and easily covers the fence line and the area is easily accessible by snowmobile. Visualizing winter, it must be a wonderland.

We did see more pronghorn, some deer, pairs of sand hill cranes and Kayla wasn’t wrong about water in the Stanley Basin.

One of these days I’m going to make a list of all the things I would need to learn if I ever solo bike packed. Not only does Tom do his share of “camp chores” he keeps the bikes field serviced, takes the lead on navigation and so many other things that I don’t take for granted. Plus he carries the leftovers on his bike.

Looking forward to more jaw dropping scenery… ratchet road surface… well maybe not so much.😂

Click on the image below to view more pics and vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 6, Smiley Creek to to Stanley, 30 miles, 1,112 elevation | Pizza Worth Peddling For

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Ya just can’t beat waking up in a tent on a clear morning in the mountains.

We’re headed to Stanley today for, from what we’ve heard, pizza worth peddling for.

One of the best parts of bike tours is meeting fellow riders on the road, chatting it up with locals and also hearing from people we may never even have met who have read our blog.

Cycling really does bring people together. We have no idea who they are going to vote for, where they sit in a pew on Sunday (or if they sit at all) or what their fave pizza toppings are. We share a common thread of curiosity and a love and respect for each other and the outdoors.

Such was the case when we met Rhonda, John and Mark at the top of a climb. We could have chatted with them all day and it was they who suggested pizza in Stanley. True to their word, it was amazing. We got their contact info too and will take our bear sprays, extra fuel and bug juice when we get back to Boise.

We said goodbye to Karl and Brian today in Stanley. They finished their bike tour a day early and weren’t going to use their hotel room so they let us use it! So long friends… until next time.

And not only do the comments on social media and the blog encourage us, hearing from new people that have route suggestions, questions or are inspired in some way, touch us in a special way.

We are SO very grateful for ALL of this, even the tough parts, because we know we are lucky to live the gift of life.

Wildfire smoke continues to move with the wind and there are several fires burning up here in Idaho. Yesterday the wind blew in smoke to Stanley. When we rolled in, it was clear and by the time we finished hot wings and a salad for dinner the mountains were obscured by smoke.

Next “city” stop is McCall and about three days away. Stay away smoke!

Click on the image below to view more pics and vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 5, Ketchum to Smiley Creek, 40 miles, 3,012 feet elevation | Singletrack Smackdown

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Our route out of Ketchum took us north as we will ride into Stanley on Tuesday.

Harriman Trail, a very well maintained double track with spectacular views of the Boulder Mountains on the right took us to Galena Lodge and on the way we met four cyclists brand new to bikepacking having just completed their first outing.

All agreed next time they will pack even less and figure out how to make their bike saddles play nice.

The tentative plan that Tom put together weeks ago for the Idaho Hot Springs ride (he’s an excellent planner) had us riding up and over Galena Summit and camping at Smiley Creek which was about the halfway point to Stanley, Idaho.

Galena summit is an 11 mile climb, however the grade is more gradual than Steel and Dollarhide Mountains. Still, we’d get up over 8,700 feet at the summit and the last four miles were going to be steep.

After a quick stop at Galena Lodge which is actually not much more than a restaurant and bike shop that serves hand dipped ice cream cones, we continued cycling up to the Galena summit.

So glad to have stopped for ice cream and water. We met 15 year old Edyn who just finished riding the Tour Divide this year in 1️⃣9️⃣ days which is so fast, especially with all the snow.

Today’s twist didn’t involve losing a sandal, meeting a snake or an unexpected eight mile (for me) Hike-A-Bike, but four miles of uphill rocky single track along a steep ridge.

Whew! Don’t look over the edge, keep my focus just ahead of me on the trail and pedal punch over the big rock clusters. When water features or bridges appear, get off the bike and walk them.

We sure didn’t expect singletrack on Galena’s Old Toll Road but here we were. I thought the Toll Roads were for road improvements. Someone’s not doing their job.😂

At the top of Galena we saw weather coming in quickly so we decided to take State Highway 75 down to Smiley Creek. The paved two lane highway with good line of site allowed for one of our most memorable descents as we could let it loose peddling downhill.

Drops began to fall as we came off the mountain but we were able to skirt around the storm and rolled into Smiley Creek where Brian and Karl (friends we met on Dollarhide Mountain) came out with smiles of their own to say hello.

Food tastes best to us when we’ve earned it and tonight was no different. The four of us, Brian, Karl, Tom and I ate dinner together and swapped bike stories after which Tom celebrated the day with a Huckleberry milkshake.

Click on the image below to view more pics and vids:

Idaho Hot Springs, Day 4, Smoky Bar Creek Dispersed Camping to Ketchum, 35 miles, 2,608 feet elevation | Dollarhide

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Another 8+ mile climb is the main course on the menu today with two appetizer one mile warm up climbs first.

Dollarhide Mountain is the same distance as two days ago up Steel Mountain but has one less percentage of climb. #whoopwhoop

We were a little smarter this time in that we planned the ride for early morning and took more water. Plus there was an early morning surprise rain shower that cleared the air (forcing us to quickly put our rain fly on at 5:30 am) , lowered the temps and settled the dust. We hoped all this set us up for better results.

After breakfast as we were packing up two bikepackers peddled past our campsite.

Brian and Karl, who we would meet later in the morning, got an early start as well.

As Tom reached the summit before I, he had the chance to talk to a local who recommended two places in Ketchum we shouldn’t miss. Always listen to the locals.

Dollarhide Mountaintop

The ride down Dollarhide Mountain on dirt was as swift as it was picturesque as layers of mountain ranges came into view in the distance and colonnades of purple wildflowers waved to us as we flew by. Fast and spectacular!

We had a hotel stay in Ketchum to look forward to and that meant a hot shower and city food so yea we were motivated to get to Ketchum.

Grumpy’s for lunch and Sawtooth Brewery for dinner. Neither disappointed and either does beautiful Idaho.

Click on image below to view more pics and vids: