A band of brothers takes their big bikes camping

The Spokesman-Review

An annual mountain biking adventure among high school buddies has transformed over decades into a motorcycle camping trip that continues to incorporate thrills, dirty clothes and the occasional spill.

“We’re not getting any younger,” said Jon Stanley, of Spokane. “But even on motorcycles, some of us find ourselves on the ground once in a while.”

This summer the group logged a five-day, 750-mile road trip that spliced long stretches of pavement with rugged national forest riding in Idaho. The loop included the Lolo Motorway and Magruder Corridor.

The Lolo Motorway parallels a portion of the Nez Perce Indians route the Lewis and Clark Expedition followed across the Bitterroot Mountains in 1805.

The Magruder Corridor is a 101-mile backroad built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The route is sandwiched between the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Grandfathered before the wilderness areas were designated, the route allows motorized travel in a narrow corridor through the largest spread of wilderness in the lower 48 states.

Both routes are wild and popular among off-highway motorized vehicle groups, including the Spokane riders.

Stanley’s traveled on a Suzuki DRZ400 for nine years. “I had the biggest bike when we first did a short in-and-out section of the Magruder in 2011. Now I’m the baby of the bunch,” he said. The other riders’ engines range from 650cc to 990cc.

The smallest bike on the 2011 trip was a 125cc. Even though they trailered to a national forest campsite and rode day trips from there, that motorcycle was underpowered and often starved for fuel in keeping up with the bigger bikes.

“The 125 had a range of 50 miles, maybe,” Stanley said, comparing him with the person on every road trip with the smallest bladder capacity. “It was the butt of a lot of jokes.

“We’ve all upgraded since then. I have an expanded gas tank on mine for better range. I get nervous if I’m not near refueling at about 175 miles.”

The group has names for each other and inside jokes. “They kid me for having the smallest engine and act like they’re worried it will explode trying to keep up with them,” Stanley said.

The Orange 990 is called El Toro as in “the bull, the big one.” And, Stanley said, “I just bought some orange horns to slap on his bike on the next trip.”

With everyone upgraded to bigger cycles, they’re riding in more comfort and expanding their range without being rapped out on I-90.

The motorcycles are a big leap from what the riders originally named Rolling Thunder.

“That’s the name we gave ourselves when we started the tradition of an extended trip on mountain bikes for my bachelor party in 2001,” Stanley said.

“I grew up riding the family motorcycle during summers at Priest Lake. One of my favorite things was tooling around on forest roads. Mountain biking is just as enjoyable on a different level.

“I’m 50 and I’d still enjoy doing the trip on mountain bikes, but it’s no longer possible for everyone in the group because of health reasons.”

The group has expanded to eight from a core of four who were tight friends while attending high school in Spokane. Going on motorcycles allows the group to stay together.

“Sticking together is the most important thing,” Stanley said, noting that in 2011 they shifted gears and dubbed themselves the Motorized Rolling Thunder.

In their planning meetings for this year’s trip, they voted to revisit the Magruder and do the entire 101-mile route. “We also wanted to maximize dirt riding on the entire trip so we included a portion of the Lolo Motorway to make a loop,” he said.

Their trip included a good chunk of the 1,250-mile Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route.

The Magruder route, which runs about 113 miles between gas stations at Elk City, Idaho, and Darby, Montana, gave the MRT plenty of what the group was seeking.

“The dust can be suffocating like talcum powder in some stretches,” Stanley said. “And some portions are very rocky. One of our guys went down on a rough section of big boulders. He got to bouncing, spun out and down. No injuries.”

The group never had to use the tire plugs, Slime and battery-operated pumps they packed along to deal with a flat tire.

The most serious issue was a battery failure on the KTM 990. The bike wouldn’t fire even in a rolling start.

“We were at Lochsa Lodge and AAA towed him to Missoula, but he missed the last two days of riding,” Stanley said.

Camping was a pleasure all nights but the last, when other campers filled the best sites off the Lolo Motorway. “It was Saturday night and a lot of people were out,” Stanley said. “We finally got a pretty decent site, but it was getting near sundown.”

MRT trips are fueled by a few gallons of gasoline and a full tank of camaraderie, Stanley said. “That’s the best part. We make a lot of memories.”

One hot, dusty day, they arrived early at a camp along the Selway River, donned shorts, pulled out their folding chairs and set them up knee-deep in the water. In one glorious bull session they cooled off, lightened their load of beer, planned their next day and solved many of the world’s problems.

Even though they’re on motorcycles, the chairs are among the few luxury items that deviate from backpack-style camping. “We go pretty light on tents, stoves, freeze-dried meals and things like that,” Stanley said. “But we did have our beer for after the day’s ride. And I probably had twice as much food as I needed in the Magruder.”

With no cellphone coverage in the wilderness areas, they carried a satellite locator in case of emergency.

The biggest trick to safe and efficient motorcycle camping is figuring out how to pack gear on the bike for the high-speed interstate as well as the rugged forest terrain.

“I added two 15-liter dry bags on the top of my motorcycle panier and a 70-liter bag in the middle and it turned out to be pretty heavy,” Stanley said. “I needed to get more of the weight in the middle of the bike behind my back.

“Going up to the Burnt Knob lookout point on the Magruder I dumped my bike twice. I was pulling wheelies.” When the front tire would hit a big rock, the bike would rear up like a spooked steed and over he would go.

“I just had too much weight on the back,” he said. “But the views were beautiful as far as I got. “

“Only the guys on the two bigger bikes, the 800 and the 990, made it all the way up. They’re better riders. I thought I’d be more agile on the 400. The smart rider stayed back.”

After setting up camp each day, the MRT would convene for happy hour. “We ate at restaurants a couple times in the civilized areas of Moscow, Lolo and Grangeville,” Stanley said. “But there are not services on the Magruder.”

Wildfires in recent years have changed the landscape in many areas since their last ride. “It opens the view a lot, but it’s a little sad in some ways,” he said. Blooming fireweed added a splash of color under blackened snags.

The most challenging portion of the ride might have been the end of the Magruder where it gets more day-use traffic as people come in from the Darby side.

“The road is like talc. Sometimes you’re almost hydroplaning on the powder and you come around a corner and there’s a pickup barreling up the middle of the road,” Stanley said. “We had to split up to keep from suffocating one another. And we were filthy at night. It’s one thing to be on a dirt road, but the pulverized dust penetrated everything.

“I had my iPhone in a waterproof, dust-proof case. The air filters on our bikes got trashed.”

Last week, Stanley had his bike in a shop for a professional oil and filter service.

“There’s definitely wear and tear on the equipment,” he said, “but that’s why we have the motorcycles.”