Rebecca's Private Idaho: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

From Champion Meadows in Sun Valley the road tips up almost at once: at kilometre 12 the Trail Creek Summit climb begins, just under seven kilometres at 6.4 per cent for 433 metres of gain, topping out above 2,130 metres. After that the route falls long and fast into the basin behind the pass, and to kilometre 73 it stays between 1,900 and 2,050 metres with no climb worth the name, but with washboard and open headwind instead.

At kilometre 75 comes the climb that decides the loop: a good nine kilometres at 8.1 per cent average with ramps to nearly fourteen, up to the Corral Creek Summit, around 760 metres of gain in one go, high point at 2,478 metres shortly before kilometre 90. What separates this distance from the Baked Potato is the addition of the original Copper Basin loop, another fifty kilometres of remote gravel road between the Pioneer Mountains.

The last third is not recovery: between kilometre 120 and 175 there are half a dozen short ramps of 25 to 70 metres before the course finally drops back to Sun Valley in one long descent. It is ridden on forest and ranch roads through country with no settlements on it, and there are hard time cuts at Wildhorse Creek at mile 22, Copper Basin at mile 60 and El Diablito at mile 97. Miss one and you are pulled, because there is simply nothing behind the course.

Pacing Strategy

Pacing this distance hangs on a single number: how much is left at kilometre 75. The Trail Creek Summit at kilometre 12 comes so early that it almost rides itself, and that is exactly why it is dangerous: on fresh legs and in a group it gets ridden too hard as a matter of routine. Take it clearly below threshold and accept that the group will be gone at the top.

The section between kilometre 20 and 73 is where time is quietly won. It is nearly flat, but the surface is washboard and the wind is unobstructed, and what counts is the ability to pedal evenly for hours while eating. If you ride it alone and into the wind, ride it deliberately slower than feels right: the time cuts are the real opponent here, not the other riders.

The Corral Creek Summit takes forty to seventy minutes and sits between 2,100 and 2,478 metres. At that altitude available power drops measurably, and an over-effort cannot be repaired at the top, because a hundred kilometres still follow. Ride it on feel and breathing rather than on a power number, eat at the bottom of it, and budget the Copper Basin loop as a separate third act: it starts at exactly the point where most riders believe the hard part is done.

Training plan for Rebecca's Private Idaho: 12-week build

Realistically the Fully Loaded takes age-group riders eight to twelve hours. The demand is that of a long gravel ultra with two blocks of climbing built into it: a third of the distance sits in the flat band, a good quarter points uphill, and the two decisive climbs together take over an hour. It asks for aerobic endurance across a whole day, not sharpness.

The race-deciding phase is the Corral Creek Summit at about two thirds distance, followed by the Copper Basin loop. Train long rides of six hours and more in which a forty-to-seventy-minute climb is deliberately ridden only after four hours, and then add a rolling hour behind it. That order is the actual requirement.

Altitude is the second and most underrated training theme. No point on the course is below 1,766 metres and the highest is 2,652. For a rider from low ground that means several per cent less available power, a higher breathing rate and a markedly larger fluid requirement. Build in several days of prior acclimatisation on site if you can, and practise riding climbs on breathing rather than to a power target.

Then there are surface and self-sufficiency. This is loose gravel and washboard, often for hours with no settlement in sight; tyre choice, puncture repair and the ability to eat and drink reliably for eight hours are training content, not details. Do your long rides on the exact nutrition you intend to race on, and practise riding washboard seated, because standing there costs traction and strength.