i like to ride...

[eSONG]

A few buddies and I are doing a long weekend moto trip to WV this weekend.  This week was the longest week ever waiting for Friday to arrive.  We leave after work today.  We are planning to camp at Green Ridge Forrest in MD as our 'base camp' and then do day rides in WV during the days.  These are our planned routes.  Ride report soon to follow.



 

[Steve-H]

 
 

[Mastros2]

eSONG, you have great ride reports!  I'll be waiting! Will you be on the KTM?

[eSONG]

packed and ready to go.


we arrive at green ridge state forest


yummmm..beef jerky does a body good.


feels like home


at least one person has their priorities straight.  yuengling, don't leave home w/o it.


got some firewood - we only paid $20 for all the wood we could carry on our bikes.  sweet!


a ducati hauling firewood?  you don't see that too often..




aerostich power net is damn strong...




went out for a quick ride before dinner.


dinner is served.  chicken dogs wrapped in fresh cut bacon from the local shop.  yumm.


seneca rocks






Leaving the Midway Exxon..


Follow the keg.






Found some tight backroads




Saw plenty of 20mph advisory curves.


What a beautiful day to ride.


US219... this way for some amazing roads.




DSH's ducati monster ahead of me.


i wish the day would never end.






oops.  a close call.  road goes right, but everyone proceeds to go straight.  


time to test your emergency braking skills.


...and moving on.


typical small town we passed through.  i made sure to slow down to the posted speed limit in these areas.  


The last day of our trip.  After some Bob Evans breakfast, we head off towards home.


The bikes feel so heavy compared to yesterday's ride.


I'm not sure what area this is, but it was gorgeous.  


More nice weather, and awesome twisties.  WV does not disappoint.


Oops.  Wrong turn.  We are not crossing that...


Going up the mountain, things get pretty tight.  Here's a 10mph advisory curve.


It's hard to know when we should pull over with so many nice roads ahead of us.




typical tight, winding WV roads...  




Can't wait to go back.  WV rocks.  

[chornbe]

Ah... I recognize this post from NES! Howdy.  

[Rincewind]

Awesome pics.  Were you using a Hero wide cam for the ride shots?

[eSONG]

Ah... I recognize this post from NES! Howdy.  

 

Awesome pics.  Were you using a Hero wide cam for the ride shots?

yes.

[Mastros2]

I may head down to wv for a long fall weekend.  Very nice!  Thanks for the share eSONG!

[eSONG]

I may head down to wv for a long fall weekend.  Very nice!  Thanks for the share eSONG!

If you've never been down there, you must go.  It's well worth it.

song.

[nevinfs327]

Thanks for posting the report and pics.  I'm hoping to do a similar trip this summer.  Did you find the Green Ridge Forest to be a good home base for hitting WV twisties or would you have been better off further south/west?  Also, did you have a walk-in site or just camp in the woods.  Doesn't look like the usual state park drive in spot (no campers around - a good thing).  Also liked that you could get beer in there in quantity and in plain site.  

[ZED]

Cool.  Motards are fun.  The Keg's a nice touch.

[jfusaro]

very cool report, your priority's are straight I see

[olderigetfasteriam]

With little time to ride these days I sure enjoyed your report. Thanks.

[eSONG]

Thanks for posting the report and pics.  I'm hoping to do a similar trip this summer.  Did you find the Green Ridge Forest to be a good home base for hitting WV twisties or would you have been better off further south/west?  Also, did you have a walk-in site or just camp in the woods.  Doesn't look like the usual state park drive in spot (no campers around - a good thing).  Also liked that you could get beer in there in quantity and in plain site.  

The better roads are further SW, but since we are coming from the Philly area, getting there is doable after work on a Friday night.  Green Ridge works well for us for quick 3 day trips.  Any longer, we probably would've gone further SW into WV.  Green Ridge has designated campsites, about 100 total.  Also, park rangers make rounds at night.  The campsite we picked is accessible via a small dirt road.

[Mastros2]

The better roads are further SW, but since we are coming from the Philly area, getting there is doable after work on a Friday night.  Green Ridge works well for us for quick 3 day trips.  Any longer, we probably would've gone further SW into WV.  Green Ridge has designated campsites, about 100 total.  Also, park rangers make rounds at night.  The campsite we picked is accessible via a small dirt road.

Sounds like a plan.  Thanks for all the info!

[eSONG]

...and it's only $10 a night!  btw, if you get there late at night and the ranger station is closed, you can pick your campsite, fill out a slip and drop it with your cash into a drop box.

[1KPerDay]

Nice pics. Thanks!

[eSONG]

a nice way to spend the day...roughly 300 miles  

[eSONG]

Only 8 days left until we head south to Deal's Gap... I'm expecting about 2900 miles in about 10 days, an average of about 300 backroad twisty miles per day.  We're planning to hotel/camp roughly 50/50.  We reserved a nice cabin (with a hot tub!) in Cherokee, NC when we spend 3 nights there.  I'm hoping to try my luck at the local casino too.  And lots and lots and lots of BBQ joints along the way...  Can't wait!  



I'll be taking the KTM again. It's usually more fun in the tight twisties than my R1.

[tpierce (MP)]

Pretty sure this is the pic that is in the latest Aerostitch catalog.  Looks like lots of fun.

[eSONG]

Pretty sure this is the pic that is in the latest Aerostitch catalog.  Looks like lots of fun.

Really?  I haven't seen it.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks.

[eSONG]

Routes are finalized...we head out tomorrow afternoon.  My plan is to sample lots and lots of BBQ along the way.  

Day 1


Day 2




Day 3


keep stunting to a minimum.


Day 4




Day 5/6...We will stay 2 days near Deal's Gap.




Day 7


Day 8




Day 9


Day 10...last leg home always sucks.

[Mastros2]

Mmmm, BBQ! Enjoy and I'll wait for the report!

[ConPilot1]

wow man. That's livin'

Looks like a great time!

[nevinfs327]

I was just in some of those areas and the riding was awesome - have fun!  2 suggestions:

- Skip the BBQ place just off the BRP at Meadows of Dan if you go by, unless you really need to eat.  Not terrible but not great either.
- There are 2 LEOs patrolling the dragon cruising back and forth and occassionally setting up radar (on my way out one had set up right at beginning).  I passed them both at  40ish mph (posted 30) and neither cared - they didn't seem out to bust balls on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

[eSONG]

I was just in some of those areas and the riding was awesome - have fun!  2 suggestions:

- Skip the BBQ place just off the BRP at Meadows of Dan if you go by, unless you really need to eat.  Not terrible but not great either.
- There are 2 LEOs patrolling the dragon cruising back and forth and occassionally setting up radar (on my way out one had set up right at beginning).  I passed them both at  40ish mph (posted 30) and neither cared - they didn't seem out to bust balls on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

Thanks for the tips!  We'll probably cruise through Deal's Gap just once...since there are just sooooo many other amazing roads around there, which are much less patrolled.  Hopefully my V1 comes in handy on this trip!    

Just hours away now after months of waiting..  I can't sleep!  

[eSONG]

...yea, so I'm a little behind in posting my RRs.  This one was to the Indy MotoGP from Philly, PA with my riding buddies...August 2008.  Our plan was to take a *LONG* way to Indy via MD, WV, and OH twisties...and back via similar route.  So, here are some pics!

On my trusty KTM 625 smc... PERFECT for twisties.  



Dinner...




We stayed at Front Royal, VA the first night.  We normally have no qualms about parking our bikes outside, but on this particular night, we spotted some people suspiciously eyeing our bikes..so we decided to add some more roommates to our room.  



I'm surprised I didn't take more photos along the way, but we eventually made it to Indy.  The worse part of the ride was the last few hours on the dreaded highway leading into Indy.  Lucky for us, my buddy Alex from Indy showed up with his RV to host us for the few days we stayed.  Thanks Alex!  

These are from the practice sessions..  They were still hauling ass IMO. :deal





Too bad MotoGP is not so popular in the US.



The RV... smells like something burning.









Sweet..





squid alert!

[eSONG]

Nice.  $52 for a Rossi t-shirt.  $35 for Lorenzo.  









Nice use of duck tape.. personally I prefer Gorrilla Tape.

[eSONG]

more practice sessions.













The race begins!



We need more fans..





Pedrosa's bike taking a nap.  It's amazing how many places he regained by the end of the race.  

[eSONG]

So after a few days in Indy, we were excited to hit the road again.



And we enjoyed some very fine WV and VA asphalt...





Blue Ridge Parkway is always a blast..

[eSONG]

6 of us decided to do a w/e in the north/central PA mountains for this w/e trip.  We planned to stay in cheap cabin in Coudersport, PA.  

For this trip, I decided to take my sport touring track bike R1.  It's surprisingly comfortable and is as smooth as a Cadillac compared to my paint can shaker KTM 625smc.  Well, it is a thumper..  Anyway, as you can see, the R1 still has track plastics.  I slapped on a headlight, mirrors, signals, and tail light/plate.  They were calling it a locomotive.  



This guy cannot live w/o his phone..  I try to use my phone as little as possible on w/e bike trips.  It's my time to get away from it all.



We had some unexpected roadside repairs..  Front cylinder was cutting out.  The sparkplug got wet from all the rain..  Bad design for the SV.  Luckily we found a Napa to fix it up in a couple hours.  



no..we never laugh at other people's misery.  we're laughing *with* you..  



...and finally the weather clears!





Pit stop at the PA "grand canyon".  





hmm...no so "grand" if you ask me.  Well, I did just get back a few weekends prior from a 1 week trip to *real* Grand Canyon.  



Rt 6 is not the place for a spirited ride as a few of my buddies found out the hard way.  They can't say I didn't warn them.  Lucky for me and a couple others, we hung back enjoying the scenery.  Rt 6 is not tight enough to really enjoy it unless you're doing stupid speeds anyway.



Otherwise, the ride was going smoothly...until...  



We had another unplanned pit stop.  One of the new guys on our ride target fixated and ran his nice shiny Ducati into a ditch going about 20mph around this turn. Luckily, it was a soft ditch on the side of the road and the damage was very minor.  



And, moving on.  We head towards Centralia, PA to check out the deserted town d/t an underground coal fire.  

Having some fun in the mud in Centralia, PA....



...sort of.  



Let's try that again..



...oops.



TJ showed us this creepy memorial.  It had a photo of the kid at the memorial when he was alive.  MD was weirded out by it so naturally TJ snatched one of the little green toy soliders and hid it on MD's bike.  LOL, seeing MD's reaction when he found it about an hour later after we left Centralia..  



This w/e trip didn't go as smoothly as it could've, but it was still better than staying home.  

[eSONG]

First w/e ride for 2011.. Friday after work, we slabbed it on i-76 until the Blue Mountain exit.  Grabbed a quick bite and warmed up a bit.  Then it was off to Shawnee State Park the rest of the way via backroads.  

The plan for Saturday and Sunday was about 300 miles each. Blue route for Saturday and Green for Sunday.  Looking back, the Green route coming back was better than Saturday's route.  In fact it was so good, that we decided to use this route next time to ride out Saturday morning and use the same route to come back on Sunday.  We'll skip the semi boring Friday night ride.  



Loaded up and ready to roll.. I ride it to work like this so I can take off directly from work.



Shawnee State Park











Probably not a good idea during moto trips...or ever for that matter.  lol.





















Traveling piggy



Beautiful weather today..





















Sunday...



What's for dinner?











Close call.. TJ almost lowsided here.. you can see the tire marks.  He felt the rear start to slide out. When he realized he wasn't going to make the turn, he stood it up and braked for a second and then slid on some gravel.  From my view, his bike looked like a bucking horse that shook very hard trying to throw him off. Somehow he managed to stay up and pulled off to the side.  











And.....moving on.  More nice roads.





A nice break for lunch.  The burger I had was great, but the sweet potato fries..not so much (they were not crispy).  

[Mastros2]

Excellent as always esong!  Thanks for sharing!  Keep them coming!!!

A friend had the same problem with his sv1k.  The front cylinder kept sucking down water and he had to brake off from us and head back home early.  

[eSONG]

Excellent as always esong!  Thanks for sharing!  Keep them coming!!!

A friend had the same problem with his sv1k.  The front cylinder kept sucking down water and he had to brake off from us and head back home early.  

Thanks!  

It's hard to believe modern motorcycles still have these little issues...that can cause such pain in the ass problems.  When my friend had the cylinder/spark plug issue, he said it would unexpected cut out and even worse, cut back in!  he would be at WOT going about 45-50mph and then suddenly, both would kick in and hurl the bike forward...and all of this in the rain.   We were lucky to have fixed the problem roadside with no more issues for the rest of the trip.

I still need to post up last year's epic trip down south to Deal's Gap..  I need to get this done before this year's 1 week trip coming up in just a few weeks.  

[Mastros2]

I still need to post up last year's epic trip down south to Deal's Gap..  I need to get this done before this year's 1 week trip coming up in just a few weeks.  

Double   Haha!  Thanks again for the share!

[eSONG]

We leave in just one more week...!  This is the planned route for my next motorcycle ride.  Hopefully the weather cooperates and the pavement is smooth.  I hear there are some beat up roads from the harsh New England winters.  Most days will be about 250-275 miles of twisty back roads over 9 days and about 2500 miles total.

We’ll ride up from Philly to Danbury, CT Friday night after work, then head north through the Green Mountains to the Canadian border and head east through the White Mountain area of NH.  We’ll check out Mount Washington and stay there for a couple days to do a little sightseeing.  Next we’ll head back west via the famous Kancamagus Highway and back through VT towards the Adirondacks where we’re renting a lake front house for a few days.  Then we’ll continue south through the Catskills and camp for a night there at our usual spot near Big Pond (free primitive camping spot).  Then we’ll ride home from there through some nice north Jersey roads.  

 

[nevinfs327]

Looks like an awesome, and well-planned trip.  Looking forward to the ride report.

Is your dining destination near 80 in NJ the Salt Gastro Pub?  That place is excellent.

[eSONG]

Looks like an awesome, and well-planned trip.  Looking forward to the ride report.

Is your dining destination near 80 in NJ the Salt Gastro Pub?  That place is excellent.

Nope, that's Pub199.  Excellent deals for lobster plates!  Cash only.  So worth it.  

[sodapop6620]

The Union Barrel is just down the road from me.  I was in there when they opened but haven't been back since.  I will keep an eye out for you in the future.

[eSONG]

This is RR long overdue..finally getting around to it. Better late than never.  This was our annual week long spring ride.  Normally we head south towards WV, VA, NC and TN...but this year (2011) we decided to switch it up and check out New England.  

Our planned route:  Ride up from Philly to Danbury, CT Friday night after work, then head north through the Green Mountains almost to the Canadian border and then head east through the White Mountain area of NH.  Check out the Mount Washington area and stay there for a couple days to do a little sightseeing.  Next head back west via the famous Kancamagus Highway and back through VT towards the Adirondacks to stay at a lake front house for a few days.  Then continue south through the Catskills and camp for a night there at our usual spot near Big Pond (free primitive camping spot).  Then finally ride home from there through some nice north Jersey roads.  




Friday, we meet up after work in central Jersey.  



Morgan's bike.  At least one girl noticed this during our trip...she honked and yelled at my buddy "I like your monkey!!!"  But he didn't hear her with his ear buds and music on.



my usual piggy passenger



just taking a quick break... we start on some nice NY roads.



dinner at a diner near our first night's hotel...new colony diner. good food, fast friendly service.  





Day 2....!!



but first, a little breakfast..



nature calls.







perfect weather.



we make into Massachusetts...  this area has some of the finest, tightest, smoothest roads I've ever ridden.  there were many bicyclists riding pretty damn fast down hill.







vermont already..





matt's keeping up pretty well with his KLR..  we only have to wait a few minutes before he caught up to us.



riding is finally done for day 2... we settle in at a state park.



we were too lazy to set up tents...

[eSONG]

Good morning Day 3...  

We got shushed out of the campground by some grumpy lady for being too noisy in the morning, and starting our bikes up to warm them up.  Funny thing is, she was with a huge group of bmw bikers.  I think most of them trailered their bikes to the camp ground.  It was pretty lame one of the guys couldn't come over and ask us to keep it down, instead having one of their old ladies come over to bitch us out.  Anyways...we didn't have much to pack up so we headed out not too long after that.

This is just down the road from the state park we camped..we talked about eating a quick breakfast but they didn't have much options and we were still a little irritated by the grumpy old lady so we said fuk it and started our ride for the day...and it's a good thing too because we would soon find one of the best breakfast diners ever.  It was another beautiful morning to ride.







time for breakfast..





i didn't get their waffle, but one of the other guys did and said it was the best damn waffle he's ever had in his life!  so good that he ordered a second one!



a quick pit stop in a small VT town..  any guesses what this is??? lol.



we parked here a bit since we had to make a turn and was waiting for couple others to catch up.  we were soon advised by the local leo to move along, that we shouldn't be parked on the sidewalk like that.  i guess we were still in the philly parking mode...as long as pedestrians can pass, sidewalk parking is OK.  



roads are not too shabby for having such harsh winters up here.







dinner time!  we don't see much of these anymore.  pretty good food, excellent service.  we're in NH now.





we stayed at KOA tonight...we rented this caboose.  it was an uneventful night.  no campfire explosions this time.

[eSONG]

Day 4...

Morgan was messing around with my camera last night.  He has a habit of messing around with camera settings and not putting them back.  





breakfast..  steak cut fresh to order.  he cut me an extra thick slice..  all this for about $7...!!







oh yes...just what we're looking for..



mt. washington!!!  it was very warm down here at the bottom.  the nice ticket lady advised of the speed limit, and no passing...  we nodded to acknowledge.  8 miles to the summit.



it's gorgeous up here!









Capt'n Morgan..





some parts were under repair..  





















it was pretty damn cold up here...still leftover snow around the platform.





time to head back down...



one of my favorite photos Tony took on this trip.  I have it blown up and hanging in my office.  Good memories.



back to the KOA for dinner on the grill..



some potatoes too



omg this caboose started to stink up with our boots off...lol.



end of Day 4... with each day I ride my KTM 950SM, i love it more and more.  such an awesome bike, perfect for the kind of riding i enjoy.

[eSONG]

Day 5.  back on the road..  



he's paranoid about running out of gas so he tops it off all the way to the brim.





bridge repair.. lucky for us there's a ferry and not some lame ass detour.





our cabin for the next few days.  







lcoal place for dinner.  the adirondacks are a little run down in some parts.





I think this is Day 6 now.  Funny how the days seem to go by so quickly while on the road.





dinner at home. some working harder than others. ha.





probably still drunk from last night. not a pretty night for captain morgan. that's all i say about that.



Day 7, i think..  after a long night of drinking, most of the guys were still groggy and wanted to bum around the cabin.  i think they ended up watching some hbo movie about the stock market crash and crooked traders.  no one wanted to ride so i went out solo.



saw a few others along the way.



most do not wave back.  oh well, safe travels for you anyways.



didn't really need the radar out here, but just in case..  i've received enough gifts from local neighborhood officers.











almost the end of my loop.



dinner time!









nice little spot.







really nice way to break up the middle of a long trip with some r&r.  but, it's time to ride again, i'm looking fwd to hitting the road again.

[eSONG]

Day 8...  the end of our trip is near.  



i like this bag, but it's little too big for what i tend to pack.  it can expand even bigger from what you see.  i try to pack light and bring only what i need for my moto trips.  i ended up trading this for a smaller size, which is perfect IMO for week long trips.





unfortunately, one of us had an emergency back at home, so he had to break off and highway slab it back.  matt head back with him to keep him company.  





3 of us ride on to our usual primitive camping spot in NY.













really feels like home, we've been here so many times.











dinner at the lazy beagle.  great little restaurant.











Day 9... it's a deary day, and rain was in the forecast.  not bad for being on the road all this time this is the first sight of crappy weather.  this combined with one of having very close to bald tires... we decide head back home...only a day's ride from here.  a good trip overall.  it was a nice change of pace from our usual trips with 300+ miles per day of twisty backroads of the south.  

[eSONG]

hope you enjoyed it!  

[Mastros2]

Nice report, eSong!    

How do you like the big KTM ? If i remember correctly, you had a 525 on the other trips?

[eSONG]

Nice report, eSong!    

How do you like the big KTM ? If i remember correctly, you had a 525 on the other trips?

Its great! I had a 625smc before.  It had too many vibration for long trips I tend to do.  The 950 is much smoother...like a Cadillac by comparison but enough personality to keep things interesting.  Plenty of torque and agility for ttwisties although it tends to guzzle gas like its free.  I get about 35-37 mpg. The 625 got closer to 50mpg..  Overall  I really like the 950. Trackdays, back roads, fire roads...handles it all like a champ.

[bluepoof]

 

[JimWilliamson]

(the food pix are hitt'n me now)

Looks like you're eat'n WELL

[Mastros2]

(the food pix are hitt'n me now)

Looks like you're eat'n WELL

You have to check out eSong's Nova Scotia ride report. Lots of lobster rolls!

[eSONG]

You have to check out eSong's Nova Scotia ride report. Lots of lobster rolls!

Lots of lobster in general...we tried to have something with lobster everyday.  

Exploring Nova Scotia...
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,44166.msg1010921.html#msg1010921

[nevinfs327]

Nice report and pics - so green!  Thanks for posting.  

[cyjo]

Thanks for sharing, looks like some good times

[Moto Morphin Power Ranger]

Very nice report

[eSONG]

Thanks!  

[black hills]

Nice to see the KTM in its natural habitat

[eSONG]

First weekend trip of 2013 started with a ride around Catskills, NY.  

After about 1000 miles so far on it, I'm very happy with my new Seat Concepts seat.  On my previous bike, KTM 625 smc, I had a Corbin which I thought was great.  I think Seat Concepts is just as good, but costs much less.  I don't have personal experience with Renazco or other custom seats to compare.

here's a quick video a friend took from our ride: http://youtu.be/YKCBoNV2OPQ