Regional Rides

These rides don't begin in the Lewiston Valley so we usually have to drive to them. Still we enjoy them and tend to do them year after year. Many of these rides cover ground we do from the valley such as the Wawawai Canyon Loop. Stop in at B&L Bicycles for friendly service and directions. These guys know biking and these routes well. Check out their routes at Road Rides.

Albion Loop

Sean from B&L Bicycles says take Wawawai Rd to Wilbur Gulch Rd. (like you're going to Boyer Park/Almota). Bear right at Union Center and head towards Klemgard Park. Head up the hill (it's about 1.5 miles to the top) descend the back side, cross Hwy. 195 and return to Pullman via Albion. In addition to Hamilton hill, this ride contains many Palouse style rolling hills. This loop is also frequently ridden backwards, i.e. Albion-Klemgard, and is slightly easier in that direction.

Deary to Deary

This is the back half of the old Moscow Lion's Club White Pine Classic Century+. Palouse riders still do this ride. Those of us in the valley have mostly opted to skip the Moscow to Potlatch and Troy to Moscow sections. By parking at the Deary City Park and riding either clock or counterclockwise, we get all the best scenery and less of the traffic. Oh, and there are plenty of hills.

West winds and busy afternoon traffic usually encourages to ride counterclockwise thus avoiding riding from Boville to Deary directly into the afternoon winds. This reverses the typical direction.

Both a grocery and a convenience store make Deary a good starting point. Boville is 9 miles east. On the Huckleberry Ride we turn right toward Elk River. Turning left takes you into Boville where a city park provides water and a saloon open, it seems, 24-7 meets more pressing needs.

You'll begin 15 miles of rolling hills through forests. Every turn will be more impressive than the last. Then you come out onto mostly flat agricultural land for 10 miles. Fernwood provides a grocery and a cafe. While there is a saloon in Emida, you can't count on it being open. Another saloon/cafe in Harvard also is iffy but nice when it is open.

A highlight of this ride done either direction is the long climb/descent on the south side of the White Pine route. The climb is gradual until the top mile or so and deeply, darkly wooded on either side. Stop at the Giant White Pine Park. Sadly the namesake tree died i n '98 but you can still the log.

An old hand-worked pump will give you cold water for dunking your head but you might not want to drink its sulfurous but safe waters.

Harvard has a public park with running water and right next to it is that cafe which might be open to grab a bite. Rest up 'cause another climb is coming as you leave the main road and head back toward Deary. It's long, definitely a climb and unshaded. Some steep rollers for 12 miles take you back to Deary.

Huckleberry Ride

Don't fool yourself into thinking you can do this ride without proper training. When we do it in July its plenty warm even up here in the mountains and those rollers, especially on the return, begin to look like mountains all by themselves. We like to do this ride with someone driving sag just in case.

Still not even Deary to Deary can match this ride for scenic beauty and you get Huckleberry ice cream in Elk River.

Follow the directions for the Deary to Deary but turn right at Boville. You'll begin climbing immediately but never fear, there's lots more to come. Lots of fun descents as well. There really aren't any paved roads save the one into Elk River so don't worry about getting lost. It's about 27 miles into Elk River.

Palouse Loop

Start this one at the Grocery on the corner of Grande and Stadium Way in Pullman. You'll ride out to the road to Kamiak Butte. You will do the rest of this ride either clock or counterclockwise.

Here is Sean's description stolen from B&L Bicycleswebsite: Tour of the Palouse ~50 miles (Difficulty=3):

Head north from Pullman on the Palouse Highway (S.R. 27). Turn left on Clear Creek Rd. (like you're heading towards Kamiak Butte). Bear right at the fork (don't go up to the Butte). This road meets with the Colfax-Palouse Highway. Turn right onto the C-P Highway then back to Palouse and home to Pullman.

This ride contains lots of rolling hills and a couple of significant climbs. The first is a couple of miles after the turnoff to Kamiak Butte called Sadie Day. This is a ~0.75 mile climb that is fairly steep. You can reach 50+ MPH on the long, straight descent off of the back side if the wind is from the east.

The second climb is just after you turn onto the Colfax-Palouse Hwy. The climb, known as Johnson Hill, is about 1.5 miles long and is somewhat steep at the bottom then starts stair-stepping to the top.

One note of caution, watch the railroad tracks coming into Palouse. The loop section of the ride is about 23 miles and is known as Tour of the Palouse (an annual event on this course) or "Death Cookies". Also, you can make a dog leg off of the loop up to the parking lot at Kamiak Butte. The final climb is one of the toughest short climbs on the Palouse. In past years it was used as the finish to the WSU Collegiate Road Race...give it a try.

Tour de Lentil

Washington State University Cycling teams hosts this metric century ride annually as part of the Lentil Festival.

This ride is known as Church-Colfax-Palouse on the Palouse. Here is Sean's description from B&L Bicycles.

Wawawai Rd. to Wilbur Gulch Rd. (like you're going to Boyer Park/Almota). Bear left at Union Center and head towards Almota. Do not take the turnoff to Almota/Lower Granite Dam, stay on the main road and loop back around into Colfax. This ride has lots of rolling hills plus three longer climbs that are 1-2 miles long. At the top of the second climb (~4 miles beyond the Almota turn off) there is a great view of the Blue Mountains. Be careful of the descent into Colfax...remember the speed limit there is 25 MPH.

Return to Pullman from Colfax via the Colfax-Palouse Highway and Highway 27. Even more rolling hills and a couple more 1-2 mile climbs. Especially notable are the hill that climbs out of Colfax (very steep) and Johnson Hill (see Tour of the Palouse). Mile for mile, this is the ultimate Palouse hills experience.

Cottonwood Century

"And I hesitate to mention . . ." My riding mentor had managed to get me to the top of 7 mile outside of Kamiah, ID. We planned a century but it wasn't until now that he mentioned we'd have to ride through Lawyer's Canyon and back to get the extra miles. Most of us think 90 is a pretty fine ride.

Cottonwood sits on the Prairie above Lewiston about halfway to Grangeville. We usually start this ride, though, in Kamiah along Highway 12. That way one climbs 7 mile grade in the morning. At the junction with route 7 you could turn right to Nez Perce but likely you'll turn left toward Cottonwood. You'll ride through Greencreek (no services) and cross 95 into Cottonwood. Keep going left at the main intersection and look for cafes on the right. It'll be lunch time.

Continue south out of Cottonwood, crossing 95 and eventually rejoining route 7 which will take you within a couple of miles of Grangeville where you will come back onto 95. Convenience stores, groceries, and cafes are available in Grangeville Then ride Southeast to Mt. Idaho. You'll go over several short climbs and along a canyon looking over toward Elk City before descending to the South Fork of the Clearwater River.

On warm days pick a spot on the beautiful Southfork for swimming.

This route takes you back past Harpster and Kooskia to Kamiah.