Ride Around Spokane Dual Sport Challenge

The Challenge: complete a Dual Sport Loop of Spokane County in two days, staying just inside the County boundaries and using the maximum amount of dirt and gravel, and the minimum amount of pavement. NO off-road!

YOU pick the date and the route and YOU navigate!

Extra points will be awarded for digital pictures of Bonus Destinations en route. High score in 2008 gets the satisfaction of completing a tough epic ride and being recognized as a true Iron Butt by his peers. All riders will have the satisfaction of seeing some great scenery.

This ride penalizes high speeds, and awards those who use a paper map and odometer instead of a gps, so anyone can compete and do well. There will be no refereeing - an honor system will apply. You can enter any bike, as long as it is street legal and insured. Knobbies are suggested, but not required.

The map below is an EXAMPLE only - I laid it out using MapSource and City Navigator North America 2008... it includes all Bonus Destinations and is 328 miles long, and the software "thinks" it will take 12 hrs 33 minutes to ride.  I have only personally ridden "maybe" 20% of the route.

The mountainous area around Mt Spokane and Neuman Lake will be slow going - the other areas will allow pretty fast cruising speeds. Plan ahead!

Challenge Rules are posted below the sample map.

Ride Around Spokane Dual Sport Challenge: Rules

Direction: the R A S Challenge may be ridden in either direction and at any date in 2008, but it must be completed over a 9 day period (two succeeding weekends plus the intervening week). You must ride during daylight hours only. One or two riding days are allowed without penalty. All additional riding days are penalized at a per day rate.

Time penalty: This ride is designed to discourage racing and law breaking! You are allowed 12 hours or more to complete the Loop and also visit the Bonus Destinations. Faster riders are penalized at a per hour rate!

Buddies: you MAY ride with one or more companions, and are encouraged to do so for safety, but only ONE rider may keep track of the miles ridden and must take his own pics to be eligible. If you want to rely on a buddy to do the actual road navigation, that's fine. The result will be a team entry.

Map: you MUST use a paper copy of the Spokane County Map by Northwest Map Service. You MAY use any other paper maps, or GPS and mapping software, as an aid, but you will receive substantial bonus points for using only map and notebook. This rule levels the field and allows those without navigation hardware to compete with a good chance of winning.

Boundaries: you MUST stay as close as possible within, or directly on, the Spokane County boundary. Deviating a mile outside the Boundary is acceptable only if it results in a better (more fun) route. You MAY detour anywhere inside or outside the County boundary for gas or food, but you MUST not count the time and miles driven there, and you MUST retrace your route back to the original detour location and continue the ride from there. This allows bikes with limited fuel range to compete against KLRs without penalties.

Riding Time does NOT include gas and pit stops, and lunch breaks. All other stops, including photos, are to be counted.

Calculating "road miles": You may calculate "road surface miles" either by odometer and notebook, or by setting GPS waypoints on the fly and calculating later using your computer's mapping software (it would be smart to keep a notebook regardless). Only un-surfaced roads and highways need to be logged. Paved county roads and city streets count as 0 points per mile. Highway miles are heavily penalized and should be avoided!

Private property: you MAY ride across private property only if it has an OPEN gate, has NO "Posted" sign, or does not require a user fee (such as Inland Empire timber lands). No gate busting and trespassing is allowed!!! This is a gray area and you need to use good judgment - Posted signs are as common as grass in Spokane County. As long as the ROAD itself is not posted or gated, disregard all the Posted signs along the shoulders! You soon learn to tune them out....

Bonus Destinations: You may ride to them as part of the Loop, or you may make a detour and return, but all miles and hours MUST be logged. At each BD, you MUST take a digital pic that shows your bike and also a recognizable background or sign.

Dead ends: You MAY choose to not log dead end miles, where you are forced to backtrack, but you MUST log the time ridden.

Blanchard Creek Rd is a natural choice to get across Mt Spokane, but you may choose to take a different route. It is a muddy Summer Road that is normally snowed in (on the north slopes) through May. By July it s normally free and clear. There are NO other legal ways across the Park, from the summit (4100 ft elev) or elsewhere. Exiting the Park north of Blanchard Creek summit via ATV trails takes you across IEPCO land and you would have to bust a closed gate at the bottom.

Mica Peak: to the best of my knowledge there is no way across this mountain without busting gates. If you know a route, go for it!

EDIT 06/21/08: Mt Spokane State Park remains "officially" closed due to the road washout in May - the road sign on Hwy 203 says that it is open weekends only. I rode to the Nordic Ski Area today (Saturday) with no issues - except that the gate to the summit road is still CLOSED! There appear to be only small patches of snow right near the top (5870 ft). At 4200 ft there is no snow anywhere.

After completing your ride, you MUST draw your final route (excluding dead ends and detours) on the Spokane County paper map using a bright contrasting felt pen and do one of the following:

        1: Scan the map borders, getting the complete route captured, and send the legible scans to me to post here. OR...

        2: Mail the map to me and I will scan it for you, and return the map if you include a stamped self addressed  envelope. PLEASE EMAIL ME FOR MY ADDRESS.... I don't want to post it publicly!

Also complete the following Challenge Scoring Report. We are trusting you to be accurate and honest - there will be no policing. However, I will correct arithmetic mistakes!

Be sure to send in digital copies of photos taken at the Bonus Destinations to provide verification.

NOTE: Other riders may look at your map scans and copy or modify the route in an attempt to increase their own score and to add more dirt to the Loop, so riders going later in the year "may" have an advantage. However, there is a 200 point bonus for riders completing this ride before July 1 or after October 31, due to mud or snow.

R A S SCORING:

Notes: Miles are cumulative for the entire ride, rounded to the nearest mile.  Riding hours also are cumulative and rounded to the nearest hour.

NAMES/ PHONES:______________________________________________

BIKES: _______________________________________________________

DATES RIDDEN: _______________________________________________

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Sample trail sign:

RIDER SCORES, MAP SCANS AND PICS