To all you Northeast riders, you are going to have a blast at this event. I rode there yesterday with Dirtsurfer,(first meeting)a very nice person with ample patience (my buddy dropped his bike, itwould not restart. Pushed it out of the trail (sweating like a paedophile in a Barney suit) to a state road about another mile from pavement. DS and I went scavenging for something to tow him, thankfully some thoughtless barbarian had dumped the contents of his basement on a side trail & low and behold there was a lenght of non biodegradeable, coaxial cable. With some fishing knots and two shakes of a deers tail we were on the road, quick bump and vrooom we were off again. We did 74 miles in about 3 hours of some of the best trails this side of Everest, Anyone that may have seen us yesterday, must have thought we were trying out for Jack Nicholsons part in the next Batman. As some of you might remember, my last visit to the Pinebarrens resulted in an expensive brush with the local "gendarmes". This time I was a little apprehensive, but the postings on the trails were a lot different & clearly state that you can ride there as long as you & your vehicle are properly licensed/insured. We passed some lawenforcement with nary a look, we shared space with; backpackers, walkers, cyclists, campers, kayakers & many a deer. A little consideration, a friendly wave & a smile, go a long way to better publicperception of our beloved pastime. I hope to joinyour little get together for a day or two, perhaps with some more days like yesterday, I will help as an initial guide. I would not recommend16 riders on one trail, 3 groups might be advisable. However as long as you have a GPS you will be able to find your way,eventually!
A big thanks to DirtsurferDave from myself and Colin. I hope to do it again, realsoon.

P.S.Nobrakes, what were you thinking? I hope your replacement ride was worth it. Your former ride is awesome, you put a lot of TLC into it, and Dirtsurfer really appreciatesyour hard work, LOL.

 

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to make DirtSurfer an offer and see if he'll part with it. Glad he's liking it. I'm pretty happy with my new ride though, but that KLX sure was sweet that's for sure.

On distance, being unfamiliar with the area, what are you guys doing for gas? Do you have to carry extra, or is it a short detour out of the area to fill up? My new KTM does not have the range that I had on the KLX with the larger tank and I'm just wondering if I should load up on 33 oz MSR fuel bottles and figure some way to carry more. If I'm able to use my larger tank, I think I'll have about a 120 mile range, but if I have to use my smaller tank, the range might only be around 75 miles, maybe less. It all depends on when my seat gets back from Renazco - it goes with the larger tank and if it is not back in time, I'll have to use my original stock seat w/smaller gas tank.

My new ride (gratuitous photo):

 

That is one sweet ride, don't tell my KLX I said that
I stillhave the stock tank & didn't go into reserve, you can easily go back to "base" and refuel your body & your ride.

 

Yeah, I would just recommend bringing gas tanks that you can keep back at the campsite. That way we can run some trails, refuel, and run more trails, then use the cars to pick up more gas since the stations are a bit further away....

I think the rule of thumb should be that we run no more then a 60 miles a loop so that we don't lose anyone....

 

Now mind you, Divodave and Colin are actual Bike RACERS, so they had to wait for me from time to time.. especially when we hit the roads and my 14/49 was moving as fast as it could at 55 mph....[]

Fun day though, and we uncovered a bit more 'linkage' between the campsite and some good riding ground in Wharton State forest...

 

I still have the stock tank too.... so we will have to limit trips to the miles in our stock tanks...

 

All of this scouting is going to go a long way to make this an incredible trip. If you weren't having such a blast doing it, I would say that we are in your debt. With the fun you are having, though,I would say that you are using us and our trip as an excuse to convince your wives or yourselves that you are doing some great service to the community.

I am really glad to hear that we are going to be legal and able to ride some good trails. I was going to come up either way, but I was getting a little less excited when the prospect was to ride around and some dirt road. I am not a super fast rider, but I like knowing that there is a tree or two out there with my name on it. As Eric, I am pretty good at finding those. [:@]

Getting excited.

BTW, Nobrakes, I know you are getting tired of hearing this, but that is one beautiful bike.

 

Purely a gearing thing, you are no slouch in the woods and a wiz on the soft sand .
I have booked lean-to #1. #'s 2, 8 & 9 are still available.