Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Trans West Virginia Trail Loop Day 4
After breakfast Norm led us down the road a few miles to see the Green Bank Telescope (the world's largest fully steerable single aperture antenna).
We then headed back north to continue our route. Day four brought us through more dirt than I anticipated. We started out with some great roads through the Monongahela forest, and then went up and down mountain after mountain on some pretty rocky and rough roads. A few muddy sections and one fairly deep water crossing kept us cool.
Lunch was at the Purple Fiddle. They had good food and live music and it was a nice break.
We continued up and down the mountains until about 4 pm, when we decided it was time to head back to Pa. It was a good decision, as some nasty thunderstorms moved in soon after. We took a direct north then west path back while intermittently getting rained on.
955 miles!
It was a great four days of riding. I really enjoyed the route and the roads. Russ and Norm were great to ride with and kept me entertained with amazing stories when we weren't on the bikes. I'm definitely going to run this loop again. I've got 40GB of video to go through now. I'll get it up on YouTube as soon as I can get it all edited.
We then headed back north to continue our route. Day four brought us through more dirt than I anticipated. We started out with some great roads through the Monongahela forest, and then went up and down mountain after mountain on some pretty rocky and rough roads. A few muddy sections and one fairly deep water crossing kept us cool.
Lunch was at the Purple Fiddle. They had good food and live music and it was a nice break.
We continued up and down the mountains until about 4 pm, when we decided it was time to head back to Pa. It was a good decision, as some nasty thunderstorms moved in soon after. We took a direct north then west path back while intermittently getting rained on.
955 miles!
It was a great four days of riding. I really enjoyed the route and the roads. Russ and Norm were great to ride with and kept me entertained with amazing stories when we weren't on the bikes. I'm definitely going to run this loop again. I've got 40GB of video to go through now. I'll get it up on YouTube as soon as I can get it all edited.
Trans West Virginia Trail Loop Day 3
We rode some really nice off-road sections today.
There were also many, many nice paved roads as well. I didn't have the camera mount sorted out completely so I probably didn't get a lot of usable footage, which is too bad. I did catch myself coming into a downhill gravel switchback a little too hot and ending up in a ditch. We hit some really deep and slick mud. One mud hole had a hidden rock that almost resulted in a very wet DRZ, but somehow I managed to keep it up and moving. The motel in Bartow was closed, but luckily Norm knew of a restaurant/motel just down the road so we headed there. The motel we are staying in doesn't have wi-fi, and there is no cell service (or landlines) so this post is late as a result. We lucked out on the weather, not a drop of rain so far. There are some dark clouds moving in though...hopefully it blows over by morning.
There were also many, many nice paved roads as well. I didn't have the camera mount sorted out completely so I probably didn't get a lot of usable footage, which is too bad. I did catch myself coming into a downhill gravel switchback a little too hot and ending up in a ditch. We hit some really deep and slick mud. One mud hole had a hidden rock that almost resulted in a very wet DRZ, but somehow I managed to keep it up and moving. The motel in Bartow was closed, but luckily Norm knew of a restaurant/motel just down the road so we headed there. The motel we are staying in doesn't have wi-fi, and there is no cell service (or landlines) so this post is late as a result. We lucked out on the weather, not a drop of rain so far. There are some dark clouds moving in though...hopefully it blows over by morning.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Trans West Virginia Trail Loop Day 2
We ran lots of good roads today. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of video, as on the very first hero section of the day I dumped my bike and broke the camera mount. I'll have to watch the video to see what happened for sure, but I think I stalled the bike trying to get up the back side of a washout, and when I tried to put a foot down there was nothing there and down I went. My leg was briefly pinned under the bike and I smacked my head off the ground pretty good, but only the camera was injured. On the bright side, Russ had his GoPro running and I have some of his footage to use. We didn't quite make it as far as I wanted to, and it was getting late, so we back tracked a bit to Beckley, WV to find a room. Steaks and beer for dinner and now its lights out.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Trans West Virginia Trail Loop Day 1
Norm, Russ and I were on the road this morning a little after 8:30 am, heading for the WV panhandle. We worked our way south west until we left Pa and started seeing more gravel and less pavement.
Most of the day was back and forth between dirt/gravel and pavement. We had a few off-road sections when we took the alt routes. One took us down a stream bed for a few hundred yards. The shale was covered with that super slick algae that I love and Russ had the good luck to have his front tire wash out on him. His XR didn't want to start up after being on its side but he was able to get it fired up after many kicks.
We made it to our destination of Glenville, WV this afternoon. We got a room at the Conrad Motel and headed over to a BBQ spot for some beers, bluegrass, and good grub. We also checked out one of the area bars for a few before heading back to our rooms.
208 miles for the day.
Most of the day was back and forth between dirt/gravel and pavement. We had a few off-road sections when we took the alt routes. One took us down a stream bed for a few hundred yards. The shale was covered with that super slick algae that I love and Russ had the good luck to have his front tire wash out on him. His XR didn't want to start up after being on its side but he was able to get it fired up after many kicks.
We made it to our destination of Glenville, WV this afternoon. We got a room at the Conrad Motel and headed over to a BBQ spot for some beers, bluegrass, and good grub. We also checked out one of the area bars for a few before heading back to our rooms.
208 miles for the day.
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