2013 Tour Divide race report: Idaho

     Idaho represents a relatively small part of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, but what it lacks in distance, it certainly makes up for in brutality! Unfortunately for Idaho, the primary memory I have is  30 miles of rail trail.  When a racer looks at a map of Idaho, the rail trail looks pretty inviting due to the flat profile and multi-use concept. In reality, the rail trail is more like a 30 mile swath of kitty litter moguls that certainly leads straight into the bowels of hell. I had no idea heading into this section that I would face some of my most desperate moments of the entire race. The severity of my saddle sores was becoming evident, but the washboarded texture of the rail trail not only hammered home this reality, it worsened it to a point that would nearly remove me from the race the very next day. There were many moments on the infamous rail trail that I truly believed I would never escape, and at least one emotional break down shared with a fellow racer, Brian Pal, that included full on tears. I did in fact escape its devilish clutches, but in no way un-scathed.
     The best part of southern Montana, leading into Idaho, was that I was finally getting out of grizzly country, or so I mistakenly thought. In Lima, Montana, I handed my bear spray over to a gas station clerk, who was willing to give it to a northbound racer heading into grizzly country, as I no longer needed it. Now, I was bedding down in Idaho for a night's sleep, realizing that I was right on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, and heading right into the west Yellowstone corridor the following day, on my way to Wyoming. Now, I don't know much (apparently), but I do know that area is grizzly central and would be a good place for bear spray. As luck would have it, Brian Pal and I ran into our first grizzly the following morning and I continued to hear it follow us through the woods during our long climb towards Flagg Ranch.  I guess we smelled just a bit too bad to be considered food, even by grizzly standards.
     After a long ride through some wild country in West Yellowstone, the road begins to become more civilized and then becomes pavement. The pavement runs into Flagg Ranch Resort, which is a gateway to Yellowstone Park, but more importantly to a Divide racer, it is a lodge with a bustling restaurant. I was feeling like I was on my last legs due to the extreme pain from my saddle sores and also just pure exhaustion, and the restaurant proved to be a life saver. Let's just say that waffles never tasted so good!
Although technically, Flagg Ranch is in Wyoming, I am including it in my Idaho experience because the transition between states can sometimes be seamless during the race, and this was one of those times.