Tandem Cycling - Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes

We recently rode the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes with our daughter's family and friends from Sweden. What fun! This is the second time we've ridden the trail, but only the first with our new tandem. With several youngsters in the group, we camped after rides of 15 to 25 miles. So to move the tents etc. for 13 people, my wife and I drove two vehicles with camping gear to the destination each day, then biked back to meet the group. We were elected to do the transporting because we'd ridden the trail before and because we had the tandem. Wow, could we eat up the miles with the tandem on that flat trail when riding to meet our group . Great fun and definitely a most beautiful trail.

Had some photos to post here, but the files were too big :mad:

That sounds like a really nice ride and a fun time. I love that area, though it's been years since I've been through.

As far as posting, I'd put the pictures on Flickr or similar photo hosting site and then link them in your post. That solves the issue you have with picture sizes on the forums.

We had the good fortune to ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes last year after doing a good amount of the Selkirk Loop up into BC.
That is beautiful country and having a long paved rail trail right through it and along the Lake is very cool. We also did the nearby Route of the Hiawatha. While much shorter, we did get beat up a bit by its' dirt trail on our road Tandem but the scenery was quite special and the spectacular high wooden trestles were off the charts.
That is a great riding area on many levels......highly recommend it to all.
Bill J.

Okay, here are a few photos from the trail:

http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s407/nealandsharon/

We live in the area and do enjoy riding from Cataldo to Wallace - 58 miles round trip, or Rose Lake to Harrison - 36 miles round trip. Both turnaround points have great ice cream stops.

The area trails info can be found here: http://friendsofcdatrails.org/

Both turnaround points have great ice cream stops.

NOW you have my interest!

Here you go:

Cataldo to Rose Lake, Harrison and Heyburn State Park
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/131173697

Cataldo to Silver Mtn/Kellogg, and Wallace
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/131179329

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We spend a lot of time on the CDA trail and today rode 40 miles from plummer out past Harrison and back.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c255/stevemtbr/DSC01096.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c255/stevemtbr/DSC01095.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c255/stevemtbr/DSC01094.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c255/stevemtbr/DSC01080.jpg

Missed you by a day... we were out there Labor Day. We rode from Rose Lake to the bridge span (52mi round trip). The ice cream stop in Harrison had a 1 hr line up all day :)

This was one of the busiest days we've seen other than during a couple past MS-150 which is the most insane/dangerous of the year - we had too many close calls with trail riding on event days. Forget about it.

The most important Harrison photo of the day:

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PS: Steve, see you have a SRV jersey. On the Mt. Spokane hill climb day this year, I rode my single from Hayden to the peak & return - 96mi.

We usually stop for ice cream but didn't that day due to a large picnic dinner waiting for us at the van in Plummer. Sunday there was a lot of people on the trail, mostly families. We try to ride out there 2 to 3 times a month and 40 miles is about all Laura can handle at one time right now. Next year if all goes well we'll increase the rides/ mileage and do the tadem rally in Bellingham next summer.


96 miles with a climb up Mt. Spokane is impressive. I did the race but I'm not much of a climber. Do you race at all? I just put up the road bike and have the cross bike ready to go for the fall cyclo cross season.

We usually stop for ice cream but didn't that day due to a large picnic dinner waiting for us at the van in Plummer. Sunday there was a lot of people on the trail, mostly families. We try to ride out there 2 to 3 times a month and 40 miles is about all Laura can handle at one time right now. Next year if all goes well we'll increase the rides/ mileage and do the tadem rally in Bellingham next summer.


96 miles with a climb up Mt. Spokane is impressive. I did the race but I'm not much of a climber. Do you race at all? I just put up the road bike and have the cross bike ready to go for the fall cyclo cross season.

NWTR 2013 in Bellingham you say. Hmmm, I have a brother in Lynden we stay with and ride from there frequently. We'll think about putting this on our schedule, though the 4th in CDA is pretty choice.

No I didn't race the Mt Spokane, but looking at the results my climb time was still somewhere mid-pack in spite of the long "warm up" to get to the base area. I started my climb some 20 minutes after the last group... and didn't finish last :) Man, that is one hard climb. It was the first time up for me and I was a bit surprised about the steepness for such long sections, and then how tame the top 3km are. The ride home was brutal given the strong headwind from the east that day and temps in the mid 90s.

PS: Yes I have a current Cat 3 Masters license but the only competitive events done this year are some "Gran Fondo" timed rides - which are surprisingly quick paced.