Unleashing the HO-CAT

It all started so innocently, as it usually does.





Someone casually asked the question at the last dinner,

"So, are we going to ride on Sunday?"


Now, I know better than to speak up [volunteer], but I did... "I've been working on this fun route", I said. "It's a mixture of dirt roads and quiet, country paved roads. Forty percent dirt, maybe fifty-fifty..."

And just like that a plan was hatched. And I volunteered to lead it...





I've been working on some sort of route for a few months now, maybe four or five. I had ridden all over the place looking for dirt roads. And had cataloged what I found. Then, one day, I found myself in possession of a GPS...



Scrolling through the software I realized that I could make one hell of a duel sport loop with the roads I had found. I finished it the night before the ride...


...and I SWEAR I really believed that it was only 40 or maybe 50% dirt.


UNLEASH THE HO-CAT

(CLICK for a link to the .gpx)
.

The Heart of Colleton Adventure Trail was born! (Ho-Cat sounds better though)


Eight inmates were foolish enough to follow me. All brave and honorable men. (especially the two on street bikes!)
Here we are just minuets before the beginning of the end.




We stopped for a group grab of the local tag. We encountered some mud on the way here. Everybody survived it though. (anybody got a pict of the mud?)



Here we are, about 2 hours in. (the street bike crew (Still very much intact and energetic) wasn't too far behind. I think they stopped to investigate some strange tracks in the road or something)



Lunch break about 3 hours (85 miles) in... This is about the time we realized that my innocent route was almost entirely dirt roads. I caught a little hell from the street bike crew over this.

(I wonder if it was the mud or the flooded road that pissed them off? )







After lunch about half the herd fled... Something about expired kitchen passes and needing to get home... I understand, I answer to an authority that administers kitchen passes too. (and wouldn't have it any other way)





But you missed the most graceful get off ever... :eek1 ( I needed a siesta anyway.)

Here's the Tiger resting in a ditch.




Seriously, I had a great time. It was a pleasure to ride with Y'all and again, apologies to the street bike crew! You are brave souls, with impressive riding skills. I look forward to the next ride!

HO-CAT Specs:

Dirt: most of it (80-90%)
Paved: too much, but fun anyway.
Miles: 148
Time: 5.5 hours

Thanks for the ride Marsh Tiger! It was a great day for a ride, just wished the bike and I could shed 20-30% of our weights, Glad there was such a big turn-out.

Well, the camera mount I put together when the Bandit was naked was put back on Saturday night, but wish I had thought of removing the windshield. Since most of the videos taken were through the windshield, things are a bit blurry and there is a bug splat I must have picked up early on and never noticed. Always room for improvement.

Intro

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This video shows the worst sections of clay I encountered that day. Not rough or terribly uneven, but super slick. First part at 0:32 and second at 1:20

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The most scenic of the videos. Beautiful canopies.

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I think was the most fun little section, that only Kalonji and I experienced. The group had taken a turn-off and we had to backtrack and search for clues. Luckily, Blk-betty left some for our tracking skills to hunt for.

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One of my most common sights of the day: Fiend stoically standing up for long periods of time. I wish I knew we were coming up on a water crossing at the end of this video. I wouldn't have stopped it there, but I only missed 5-10 seconds of Marsh Tiger and Blk-betty enthusiastically storming this puddle.

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The next 3 videos were shot as one. For some reason, my camera split it into 3 short clips, so I apologize. If I had a way, I would mesh these 3 and the previous into one.

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This video is a showcase of Kalonji's off-roading prowess

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And the second water crossing of the day. I wish I had gotten closer to get better shots. Oh well. StolenFant was the star of this video

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90% dirt! That is my kind of ride. Kalonji & Draechon, y'all are maniacs. I enjoyed the ride report and photos, Marsh Tiger, and the videos, Draechon.

Well, guess this could make things more handy, all in one playlist for your viewing pleasure:

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I just removed the windshield on the black Bandit. Quality test:

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Put Kalonji and Draechon on dual sports and this would have been a 4 hour ride... well if the rest of us could keep up.

Keith, looks better w/o the shield. Thanks for the video documenting. I know where you live now. Tag to follow. J/k.

looks good Keith. I guess you'll want to come back out and film the entire loop now? I need to take some more pictures of the loop, so I guess I'll join you.

This looks awesome. I wish I could have made it.

It was awesome! Let me know when you can get down for a ride.

I've added two new files to the Ho-Cat gps thread. One will bring you back to 'tha Boro' for lunch or what ever. The other will help you find your way back to Charleston.

Enjoy it if you ride it and post some pictures here to prove it if you do!

I've mapped out a connector which has a good bit of dirt to the HO-CAT for folks coming from the north, for shouldn't getting to the HO-CAT be an adventure too? I first came up with the HOO-DAT (Heart Of Orangeburg & Dorchester Adventure Trail), but that is too copyCAT, n'est-ce pas? So I guess the MEOW will have to do (Mid-Eastern Orangeburg Way). I want to ride it this weekend before posting a GPX file. The best part of it goes thru a Westvaco parcel and I want to check on the status of the gates. The Google van made it through a portion of that section, though. Even if the gates are shut there are two easy detours around it, but I hope they're open.

Great work Laura! Where will it intersect the HO-CAT?

Midlands-HO! I'm not quite sure how to take that! j/k

The MEOW intersects the HO-CAT at the corner of Sidney's Rd. and Round O Rd.

I was thinking it would be cool to travel from Columbia to Walterboro on dirt roads...

I often go up as far as Cayce on a pretty good bit of dirt. I can easily add those roads onto the tail of the MEOW before posting the GPX file.

Camille and I are headed to Pawleys thus weekend, so I'm headed East of the HO-ME's.
I'll be exploring and trying to document some of the fire roads. Those I've been on before were pretty well graded gravel.

Clint

The MEOW is purring today! It's a glorious day to be playing hooky. My bosses know what I'm up to, though. If I were to call in sick for a ride that's when I'd show up for work the next day with a broken body part & everyone would know the score anyway. I'm eating lunch at a diner in Cottageville & then will ride the HO-CAT, or at least part of it.

Rock on with your bad self! I've never eaten at that restaurant. I'll be curious to know how it went! And don't forget, pictures!!!

Marsh Tiger, I didn't get to ride it all, but you've done an outstanding job with the HO-CAT! I thoroughly enjoyed the northern sections of it today.

I feel like I'm hijacking your thread too much, but this is a gateway to the HO-CAT so I guess it's relevant. I went ahead and extended the MEOW up to Cayce. It is 125 miles of dirty goodness. Not all dirt, but a lot. Where the blue and red tracks meet is in the town of Rowesville. The gray route at the bottom of the below pic is of course the HO-CAT. I'll post a GPX file in your GPS thread in Layin' Down Tracks tonight. The Westvaco parcel I wanted to sneak through was buttoned up tight today, so it's not included in the MEOW. Thanks, hunt clubs.




I don't want to talk a whole lot about the MEOW here (would rather inmates get out and explore it for themselves!), but I'll post a few photos from it and the HO-CAT.


I saw a lot of scenes like this today:




Here are a few shots from the Cattle Creek Campground on Cattle Creek Road. I used to work with a lady who'd take me here to eat lunch during camp meeting week. The tables in the "tents" would be laden down with fried chicken, ham, butter beans and lots of other vegetables, desserts and tea. I'd just about have to take a nap when getting back to work after one of those meals. The large old building is where they'd hold church services.








Here's where the MEOW meets the HO-CAT:




Lunch at the little diner in Cottageville was good (cheeseburger and fries). They had a small salad bar and other items on the menu such as sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs, wings, and appetizers. The special today was sausage jambalya & cabbage.

A few shots from the HO-CAT:






I went back home on Hwys 15/61/21, and much prefer the way I came down to all that pavement. I did see a sign on Hwy 15 just south of Canadys that made me hit the brakes and turn around, though:




The Big Ass Farm is for sale, too, so if any of you win the lottery tonight and buy it, how about fix up its driveway a little (or not ):



It was a good day!