Some pics and video from my first actual dual sport ride yesterday

[thirdgenlxi]

Met up with a couple buddies and did my first true dual sport ride yesterday..... it was cold but we had a blast! I've been wanting to try this for awhile now and definitely glad I did.... it's really a lot of fun! We did everything from crossing creeks to climbing rocks, to tight, steep, and twisty dirt and gravel roads. to paved switchbacks going straight up a mountain..... definitely a little bit of everything!

We started out grabbing some breakfast and then heading out some local backroads, making our way up to this one road I had wanted to check out called Waterfalls Rd. And as the road name implies, it does indeed have a pretty nice little waterfall







At the end of that road, you shoot straight across the highway and it puts you right into our main destination for the day.... Richlands Rd. It's an old fire road that runs through the woods, that's more trail like than road. But it's an actual road listed on the map...... crazy! And it connects to another road at the end of it, so you can make a nice little loop. These pics were from my video, which I still have to upload..... I'll post that up later but it's loooong...... pretty much the whole ride

This was towards the start of Richlands





Aaaaand then the fun starts, lol







After Richlands we connected with the windy dirt road that heads back down the mountain..... jumped on the paved road and headed back up the mountain (in a different direction) up to the Blue Ridge Parkway



It started to get coooolllllddd the further up we got..... we didn't expect it to get quite that cold so we were a bit underdressed. But we continued on anyways. This was the air temp when we got to the parkway..... and the wind was blowing by about the same number, lol



It's hard to see in the pic, but the peak in the background is covered in snow



After warming our hands for a few minutes, we made our way back down the mountain. We stopped at one of my favorite little spots to eat along the way, to warm up and grab a little food. This is right up the road from my house..... really cool little place with a ton of history behind it (this place has been here since the late 1800's)



One of the guys that works there wanted to see the bikes so he came out and snapped a picture of us, and posted it on their FB page



It was getting later (and colder) so we all made our way back to my house, which is just up the road from here. All in all we did 78.2 miles for the day (and on one tank of gas, too!). Despite the cold, we all had a great time.... definitely gotta do it again soon  :grin:




Then if anybody cares to watch any of the video....... it's long, pretty much a good chunk of the entire ride, and being my first time through there pretty slow too, lol. But feel free to poke around in it. The first bigger creek crossing is about 2 minutes in, and towards the end we're back on the pavement. Default video quality kinda sucks..... if you change it to 480p in the bottom right it helps out quite a bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro9o3fNJipM

[Sport-Touring]

[Blue is Best]

Sounds like a great day except for the miserable weather!

[thirdgenlxi]

Sounds like a great day except for the miserable weather!

Ohhh yea it really was...... awesome day even with the cold. The great time and great company made it much more tolerable, lol


Oh and edited the original post above to include the video too

[rodm850g]

Jared,
If you are enjoying the off road riding keep an eye out for MarchMotoMadness, its scheduled in late March for the US up in Tellico Plains ,Tenn....
I've been several times and the riding is incredible, its a 3-4 day camp out n ride, they feed ya and have structured rides
Rodm850g

[jay547]

It's good to see some two-strokes out there.  

[garry]

Yup. Dual-sport riding opens up lots of new roads/areas to explore which is huge fun in its own right, but also improves your street riding and helps prevent burn-out on your local street routes.

[stealth1]

I've found riding off pavement in cold weather much better than highway riding. You work harder and the lower speeds reduce wind chill.
Is it just me that thinks people that deface nature with grafitti are a-holes? Sure did ugly up that waterfall.

[Blue is Best]

I've found riding off pavement in cold weather much better than highway riding. You work harder and the lower speeds reduce wind chill.
Is it just me that thinks people that deface nature with grafitti are a-holes? Sure did ugly up that waterfall.

Where you live I would pay good money to see some of your "off road" pictures taken NOW!!!

[stealth1]

Where you live I would pay good money to see some of your "off road" pictures taken NOW!!!

Sunday afternoon, before the big storm Sunday night and Monday. I was in my truck though.

[Blue is Best]

Sorry, John, I don't see no stinkin' motorcycle there!!

[stealth1]

Sorry, John, I don't see no stinkin' motorcycle there!!

Too much white stuff. I didn't get this old by being crazy.

[Blue is Best]

     Good point!

[Volfy]

Envy city here.  Wish we have those kinds of places to go ride around here.

True about windchill being less on a dirt bike.  I don't even bother wearing earplugs, like I always do on streetbikes.  Wind noise is a non-issue when I'm only putt-putting along at 20-40mph.

[eatpasta]

THAT was your first dual sport ride?!?  awesome!  That looks like it was a blast

[rajflyboy]

THAT was your first dual sport ride?!?  awesome!  That looks like it was a blast

This  

[jay547]

It appears that thirdgen left us shortly after that post.

Last Active:
January 16, 2016, 05:46:10 am

[rajflyboy]

It appears that thirdgen left us shortly after that post.

Last Active:
January 16, 2016, 05:46:10 am

Wonder what happened.

[Caping]

Does anyone know anything about it?