North Texas DIRT Thread

As a new Texas transplant from Ohio, I was quite surprised to find how few local ADV members like to ride in the dirt or at least post about riding in the dirt.

At this point I should clarify something. I've learned there is a discrepancy here in Texas as to what "dirt" means; when I say "dirt" I mean this:




And NOT this:





Not that there's anything wrong with riding on gravel roads, but I simply prefer trail riding, and this is a thread dedicated to that.

This thread is to be a place to discuss riding locations, planned rides, past rides, local racing, techniques, whatever.

So far, I've been to the trails at the old rock quarry in Bridgeport and Red River Motorcycle trails in Bulcher.

RR is one of the better riding destinations that I've ever been to. It has something for every skill level and has a seemingly infinite amount of trails on their 2700 acres.

I think this is a great idea! Leave it to a yank to get us talking about riding...

I've got a few videos of riding at Bulcher on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/seestoryrun

EndertheX has more on his:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EnderTheXo/featured

Bulcher is where I go most often, huge place, a little something for everyone. No marked trails, so its easy to get lost. Has a motorcycle only section (single track) that is a lot of fun. I could go on for a long time about how cool this place is, but I'll save you the reading. If you're in DFW it is worth the drive. Go to Bulcher and ride!!!

Crossbar Ranch up near Davis, Oklahoma is neat. It's got 2 loops, an easy and a "hard". The hard loop reminds me of a very miniature Colorado. Some longer climbs than anything I've found in N. Texas and pretty rocky. The easy loop is fast and fun. Both loops are fairly long and one way.

Rocky Ridge near Decatur is a nice small place, you can see all of it in an afternoon, twice if you've been there before. Its got similar terrain to bulcher, just less of it. I'll go here when I've driven all the way to Bulcher only to find out they're closed for some enduro or some such. If you're going to drive to Rocky Ridge, you might as well keep going a bit longer and hit bulcher.

Barnwell Mountain east of Dallas is a pretty big place also. It seems like its mostly for trucks, but they have a nice long single track loop around the place. The loop isn't very challenging but its fun. The one time I was there the trail seemed a little under used and tree branches smacking you in the face got kind of old. This place was also kind of expensive and a bit of a drive from Fort Worth.

360 & Trinity in north Arlington used to be neat and close for DFW folks, but I haven't been there in years. It's not really legal, but it goes back and forth on how strictly folks enforce it. Since drilling in the area has died down a bit they may be more lax than last time I was there. If you're dual sporting in/out of the area it makes avoiding where authorities patrol super easy. If you truck in, parking areas are where people tend to get run off from. Watch out for drunk rednecks on quads.... although I think that statement is probably valid at any off-road park ever.

I've heard Cody talk about a place near Waco positively, but I've never been.

There are lots of motocross tracks in DFW, I've never gone to one. I'd enjoy going to one and give some open practice a shot some day. Just never got the guts to try one out.

I would say you can go to all of these places and have fun on anything from a little 100cc dirtbike to a full blown 1200gs. How far you get in to the woods is up to how brave you are. At a minimum though you'll get to tool around the bigger roads and have some fun on minimally maintained dirt. At a maximum you can rip off your cylinder heads on some really cool rocks!

Awesome! Thanks Child!

I wonder if some sort of "first saturday" ride at various off road parks (mx tracks?) would catch on. Meet up Friday at the Beer Meet, talk about riding, then go get dirty? Sounds like it could be fun... How many off road riding ADV guys are there?


Another thought, EndertheX and I ride up at Bulcher all the time, we've always talked about setting up a sort of "official" meeting spot for ADV guys to park at, but we've never done anything because we're lazy bastards.

I've been seeing more and more dualsport and plated bikes up there lately, surely some of these guys are on ADV. Maybe if we had an "official" spot it would be easier to get to know folks? Even if no one "plans" on riding there we can at least know where to go look for other ADVers. We always park just past the sign in house on the right side of the road... if only a few folks show up its an easy enough spot, but it might get crowded if lots of us go.

We've been parking by the big tree next to the kid's track. Lots of space there and easy to find.

I used to live in Mesquite and Plano way, way back when. Used to ride trials (not trails) at 360 in Arlington but I had my most fun below the dam at Lake Dallas (Lake Lewisville I think it's called now) on my MX bike. Can you still ride there? I flew over it the other day on the way into DFW but couldn't tell much.

Barnwell Mountain used to be a roadside park owned by Lone Star Steel. I've been wanting to come down there and see what it's like now.

I'm curious as to what's in and around North/Northeast Texas now-a-days. My parents live in Wills Point and I'm down there quite a bit. I've been tempted to bring my bike and explore.

Greg

Hey Zach!

Great idea for a thread... I know we will be out there again this weekend, still talking with Chris (child) and Andrew about which day to go

For anyone curious about some of the shenanigans we go through out at Bulcher, check out the following videos I made a while ago. I've been slacking on the video making but I will have many more soon.

This one highlights Chris' new KTM500 and some pretty good crashes
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yyQvl22gGNI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

Here are a few pictures from our exploits












and even one of Zach getting a good wheelie in on our last trip!

I guess the 500 has too much power to wheelie, eh child?


We're out for this weekend but should be out there the following one.

Barnwell has quite a bit of single track. I'm usually there in my Land Cruiser so I haven't ridden it.

Lake Murray State Park has a pretty good set of trails too.

Chris (KTM 500), Andrew (DRZ400) and myself (WR250R) will be out at Red River Motorcycle Trails (Bulcher) this weekend on Saturday, Dec 22.

We usually get there around 11 and park close to the entrance by the small house. If anyone wants to come out you can either let us know or just show up... we know the park pretty well and try to go find the interesting sections :eek1

I've always thought most of the problem with the terminology could be solved by the addition of the word "road". Not all the confusion, but most. We have a Rally every Halloween (see my sig) and every year somebody invariably asks "Where is the single track?" even though the website clearly states that all Rally routes are on "public roads". Ain't no such thing as a single track public road.

Thanks for starting the thread. The private park near Waco is Crooked Creek. I'll link it.
http://www.crookedcreekcyclepark.com/

My vote is for the spot zach mentioned by the big tree. And as long as we're 500 ft from the kid's track child won't be violating his court order.

Hey Andrew! I didn't know you joined a year ago... Lurking in the shadows, waiting for just the right zinger.

Another great weekend for riding at Red River! A little muddy, a little too much wrecking for my tastes, but all in all, a good time.

A couple pics I took. I think Ender and Thunder some good shots on their gopros.

Yes, we did get something on our GoPros One thing was Carrie's spectacular crash towards the end of the day. Check it out... even got some slow-mo going on!


<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tECDrKHUmik" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>

Some pictures from that ride...

John and I camping, it was 24 degrees that night... we had a good fire going though.




At the Red Bull Barn




On the Red River

That is a really good crash, and video.
Text me what software you are using. And you need to post more from that day. GRRRRrrrr!

Hit Cross Bar Ranch with Ender and Droo on Saturday. The advanced trail was a ton of fun with some fast, flowing trails and some really technical hills with some tricky rocks.

Definitely not for beginners, but well worth the trip to Davis, OK.

I have installed too many mods to not go riding tomorrow and it looks like the rain is going to old off until Monday.
Will check in around 10am on here, then probally heading to Bulcher, TX aka Red River.
I know Z is sick, but maybe other riders will show.
Expect Pic in the morning of...I basically followed everything Zach and Oliver ever said to me about what to do with the KLR.