Up bright and early 6am, good morning Towson!
Went out to western MD and WV for a dual sport ride with some DAMN (Dual Sporters/Adventurers of Maryland and Nearby) guys, but first I gotta make it to Middleton, MD by 8am to meet the group.
Ate a quick breakfast, shower, gear up, out to the bike:
Starting mileage, 2311
Slabbed it out on I-70 since thats the fastest way, got to the meeting spot a little early, only guy there was Ken with his KLR
A little later two more guys, Phil on the DR650 motard and Mike on another KLR650.
Phil's got the route, so off we go. No pics of the pavement portion, I was too busy trying to keep up but it was basically 60 miles of twisty ass country roads, mostly undivided and mostly kinda paved. I know I caught air a couple of times going over some of the humps, great ride. Make it to Hancock around 10am or so, filled up the WR250R (.91 gallons for 59.6 miles, flogging it the whole way). Decide to take Old National Pike west, as our end destination is Greenridge State Park and the ORV trails and fire roads out there. On one of the side roads, we come to a dead end. Decided to see just dead it was, and found a ton of tree's knocked down
So back to the main road, for now
Time for another detour, this time finally off pavement
Mikes KlR decided to take a nap after the mud...
Help? Hold on, I'm taking a picture!
Lots more two track, little muddy sections, a few small creek crossings, and we get spit out of the woods in Orleans, MD at Bill's place. HIGHLY recommended if you're ever out this way!
Ate lunch at Bill's, then back to the trails. A lot of this
A lot more that I was too busy trying to stay up on too take pics. Imagine that, just half as wide with all the nice gravel washed away to the rock/mud. A quick stop at the C+O Canal near Paw Paw for some maintenance on Mike's KLR to repair crash damage
I also had to screw the air box panel back down, it vibrated loose on all the gravel or from one of the two times I put the bike down (once on top of a tree on the dead end, once stopped at an intersection where the grade caught me off balance).
Down onto the ORV trails a little, Ken decided to take the Hero route over this water crossing
Back out onto pavement, down Detour Road in WV which was berkeleying awesome. Basically 10 miles of 3rd gear switchbacks! Then took the scenic route back to Middleton on Rt9 and 901, and avoided the slab by taking Liberty Road home from Frederick.
Ending mileage: 2643 (332 miles on a dual sport seat and yes the sheepskin butt pad helps, a lot).
Now with more mud!
It was a good day!
