Adventure in Ohio?

[indypup]

Landon is a lot more verbose than I so I just quoted his posting from the Indiana thread about our trip to Renfro Valley this weekend. ;)

Originally Posted by Landon

I was loaded up and headed out for Renfro Valley Friday evening after work. I arrived at the Days Inn in Renfro Valley around and 8PM and Roger (indypup) rolled in just seconds after I did. We got checked in and put our bags in the room and turned the AC on high since it was off and the room was boiling. Neither of us had gotten dinner yet so we made our way over to Denny’s next door as the room cooled off. After grabbing dinner we headed back to the room and Roger noticed his rear tire was flat on the WR. He never did figure out the exact cause but his inner tube on his tubliss system was not holding air. Neither of us had an 18” tube to put in the tire, but Roger was in luck as there were several other riders staying at the Days Inn and he was able to buy and extra tube from another rider there. So I think it was around 11PM when we got the tire off and Roger was in the room putting a new tube in the tire so he could ride all weekend. He got the tube in and went to install the tire back on the bike and I called it a night.

Saturday morning I woke up around 6AM only to look outside and see it pouring down rain. After I got cleaned up Roger was up and said it had been raining like since about 3AM. To be honest I strongly considered just getting in the car and heading home without ever unloading the bike as I knew with all the rain the trails were going to be a mess. I talked to some other riders and they all pretty much said they were going to go ride, it was supposed to be done raining by 9AM. Roger and I talked and he finally said he was going to ride. After all we drove 5 hours to get there. Well I couldn’t let Roger go and have all the fun without me, so I suited up and headed out. We thought we were going to be late to the riders meeting at 8AM, but when we got the KOA we found out they moved the riders meeting back do to the rain. They had a couple guys out checking some of the creek crossings, which were pretty deep. I believe the original route was around 125 miles and some of it just had to be cut out as the crossings were too deep. So the meeting was over and we found another rider to go along with and tagged along with him. So we take some pavement to some gravel and then we get to the first trail, I don’t know how much rain they got but my guess would be somewhere in the 2” range. So as you can imagine the trails were very sloppy. Seeing how I just started doing off road riding in November I found the regular route challenging and bypassed the turn offs that were marked advanced. After the first trail section we came back out and road pavement again, this was where we had to bypass some of the route because of high water. After a few miles we make start to make at turn following the route and some guys are coming back up the dirt (mud) road and were saying the creek crossing was about waist deep. There were about 15 of us at that turn at this point and we decided to go ahead and check it out and see if we could find a place to get across. We get down there and it’s not as bad as the guys said, we ended up crossing and is was probably 2’ deep and moving fast, but we made it across and continued on. There was several more miles of trails and Roger and I found lots of it challenging for us, but others were flying like it was nothing. It was getting to be mid afternoon and we had not even made the lunch stop yet. At one of the Gas option Roger decided to go get fuel, I was good so I decided just to hang out at the turn and wait for him to go get gas and come back. There was a house at the turn and two guys sitting on the porch that I got to chatting with. I was telling them I was waiting on my buddy who went for gas and they said it was 3 miles to Sandgap where fuel was. I also knew that’s where the lunch stop was. After waiting a half hour I figured Roger and found lunch and wasn’t coming back, so I went on and finished the route to “lunch”. It was nearly 4PM when I got to lunch and Roger was not there. I ate and decided to skip the afternoon route and just head back to the KOA as I was pretty beat anyway and I figured that’s where Roger would head. As I was rolling back into the KOA I saw Roger leaving after checking back in. I checked in and then went and washed the bike off, took a shower and then we went back to the KOA for the provided dinner. I headed back to the motel to get some rest as I was tired and worn out from a hard day of riding.


So it’s Sunday morning and I get up a little sore but excited for the new day of riding. We get to the KOA for the riders meeting and head out. Sundays route is 78 miles and doesn’t have as many miles of trails. Once again we took some pavement to gravel and then shortly found the trails. About half way through this section there was what seemed like a hill that was 400 miles long. The dirt was like peanut butter and just a complete mess to climb. Roger made it look like nothing, but I had a terrible time and had to stop more than once to catch my breath and drink water. After what was probably 45 minutes I made it to the top and took a break. One of the guys from the Days Inn (Rod) helped me out a couple times and when we got the top we waited for his buddy (Steve). Roger had gone on, so I rode with these guys and a few miles down the trial we caught up with Roger. The rest the day the trails were in pretty good shape since they had 24 hours to dry out and the soil in the area is kind of sandy which helped. My riding techniques were improving and we picked the pace up and were having a blast. We made it to the turnaround point in decent time. I was hoping to get back mid afternoon since I had around a 4.5 hour drive home. We all grabbed something to snack on and some fluids and headed back out for the second half. At one point Rod and Steve were planning on doing the advanced trail. Roger and I stopped and discussed it, he wanted to go with them and try the advanced route. I told him to go for it, but I was going keep following the easier route. To be honest it was getting toward the end of the second day, I was already tired, sore, and flat worn out. I didn’t feel it was a proper time for me to be testing my skill level and end up tearing my bike up or even worse myself. Added to that I was ready to get back and load up and head home. I tooled along and finished the route. One section had some extremely tight single track; I took my time and made it fine. There was one creek crossing I had to do, I made it across fine but when I came out the other side and got the track everyone had taken my bike got hung up in the root and I couldn’t move it. Luckily there was another group of riders that rolled up and they gave me a hand. I thanked them and we were all on our way. It was all gravel and pavement from there back. I checked back in at the KOA, grabbed a bite to eat, went and washed and loaded the bike up and then I was off for home. I ended up getting home a couple minutes after 8PM.

Overall I am thankful the other riders and Roger talked me into staying and riding. I had a blast! All the riders were extremely great and not many of them were unwilling to help if you needed it. This was my first event like this to attend and I will plan to do others. If you have never done the Renfro Valley Dualsport ride, I would suggest you consider it.


I was busy riding and didn’t take many pictures, just a few at the lunch stop on Saturday. Roger took video, I don’t know how much of it came out on Saturday, but Sundays should be good. I am sure once he gets a chance to edit he will post it up for us to watch.

[GailCallsMeKarl]

Originally Posted by Dagny_Taggart

Great pic!

Lisa! When are you getting that KTM 350 and coming to play in the woods???

[GailCallsMeKarl]

So the 150R is a ridiculously scary little bike. I love it, but it's going to take some serious ride time to get used to the insane throttle response and HP. It's not the TTR! I felt slightly better when the 15 year old that had a WR250F took it for a few laps and was grinning ear to ear and said it was stronger than his bike. First time he'd ever jumped - to say the least, it likes to have the front end off the ground!

I spent a lot of time on the track just trying to get a feel for it. More track time still needed. Weighted fly wheel will be added in short order.

I desperately need to find a place I can spend an hour or so a few times a week. Need seat time!
Once I get it plated, it might be a lot of Tar Hollow trips and just goofing off in that area. (or other similar areas if I can find them closer to cbus)

[swingset]

Originally Posted by Devil Dog

Where can I find some shallow puddles to ride through? My GS is so clean, it just doesn't look right.
Also, how can i get my riding gear to look faded?

Just leave it sit for a few weeks in the Starbucks lot. The UV will do a number on the gear, and perhaps some acid rain will give your GS some street cred.

Might even knock the armor-all off your knobbies.

A wire brush will make your skid plate look like it's been used.

[indypup]

Originally Posted by indypup

Landon is a lot more verbose than I so I just quoted his posting from the Indiana thread about our trip to Renfro Valley this weekend. ;)

I don't know what it is about those orange bikes but I think I got passed a million times by them this weekend. I think I fell over about 20 times on Saturday and maybe two times Sunday. There were probably about 250 riders there this weekend and about 90 percent of the bikes were orange with what seemed like to me expert riders (mgorman types..lol).

[Mikef5000]

Originally Posted by GailCallsMeKarl

I desperately need to find a place I can spend an hour or so a few times a week. Need seat time!
Once I get it plated, it might be a lot of Tar Hollow trips and just goofing off in that area. (or other similar areas if I can find them closer to cbus)

PLEASE keep me in the loop in this regard! I'll be able to manage Tar Hallow trips Monday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday evenings once you get it plated; during the summer if you get off work at 5, we could make it down there with a couple hours of daylight left pretty easy; I get off around 3 or 4 Mondays and Wednesdays.

A more local spot with some bumps/hills/banked curves/obstacles would be exceptional. Preferably legal, but simply out of sight would work for me. My 2 known spots are fun, but they're slightly visible from somewhat busy roads, and I wouldn't feel comfortable hanging out there for any more than 10-15 minutes at a time.

[GailCallsMeKarl]

Originally Posted by Mikef5000

PLEASE keep me in the loop in this regard!

Will do! We can be dirt ninjas together.....
I'm pretty sure Z@ch will join us as well.

I get off at 3:30 in the summer. 2 week nights at IP, but it leaves 3 nights open.

EDIT: they are actually revamping the airport golf course right now - you have NO idea how bad I want to sneak in there and ride.......

[MeefZah]

Originally Posted by indypup

I don't know what it is about those orange bikes but I think I got passed a million times by them this weekend. I think I fell over about 20 times on Saturday and maybe two times Sunday. There were probably about 250 riders there this weekend and about 90 percent of the bikes were orange with what seemed like to me expert riders (mgorman types..lol).

Your observations are the same as mine on the few organized dual sports I've gone to. KTM dominates, and a lot of those guys are wicked good. I'll be struggling on some obstacle and suddenly 4 guys will ride past me like it ain't nothing.

Renfro looks like a good time, it's on my list of shit I want to do.

[Landon]

Originally Posted by MeefZah

Your observations are the same as mine on the few organized dual sports I've gone to. KTM dominates, and a lot of those guys are wicked good. I'll be struggling on some obstacle and suddenly 4 guys will ride past me like it ain't nothing.

Renfro looks like a good time, it's on my list of shit I want to do.

I felt we did pretty well considering we were actually on dualsports. The majority really had dirt bikes that had plates.

My best explanation of the weekend is I went hiking with a 280# motorcycle, and I feel like it today.

[GailCallsMeKarl]

Originally Posted by Landon

My best explanation of the weekend is I went hiking with a 280# motorcycle, and I feel like it today.

[Whitey1]

Well not to piss off the posers but I thought I would offer up this tid bit of tech tips. I found that a mothers power ball on a drill wipes the embedded bug guts off of your helmet in mere seconds. I wax my lid every few months so in the summer so that may have helped get them off easy also. I just like to keep my helmet slicked up so my watermelon sized head will slip through the air with less resistance.

[Dagny_Taggart]

Originally Posted by GailCallsMeKarl

Lisa! When are you getting that KTM 350 and coming to play in the woods???

When I get some t-i-m-e... And $$$$$!

[Dagny_Taggart]

Originally Posted by Whitey1

Well not to piss off the posers but I thought I would offer up this tid bit of tech tips. I found that a mothers power ball on a drill wipes the embedded bug guts off of your helmet in mere seconds. I wax my lid every few months so in the summer so that may have helped get them off easy also. I just like to keep my helmet slicked up so my watermelon sized head will slip through the air with less resistance.

Microfiber cloth and water works really well too!

[MeefZah]

Originally Posted by Whitey1

Well not to piss off the posers but I thought I would offer up this tid bit of tech tips. I found that a mothers power ball on a drill wipes the embedded bug guts off of your helmet in mere seconds. I wax my lid every few months so in the summer so that may have helped get them off easy also. I just like to keep my helmet slicked up so my watermelon sized head will slip through the air with less resistance.

About once a month in the summer, I take a shower with my helmet on, and clean it that way. Seriously.

[mpenner]

Originally Posted by MeefZah

About once a month in the summer, I take a shower with my helmet on, and clean it that way. Seriously.

I thought that you were supposed to keep your hidden identity as the "Stig" a secret.