N. Alabama/TN dual sport ride 3-2-19

[klaviator]

It's Friday after a shiity week at work and I'm worn out.  Then I see that Thinwater has posted a dual sport ride for Saturday:  http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=3423.0 

I'd like to go but the tires on my KLR are badly in need of replacement and I don't feel like changing them in time for the ride :(  Somehow my desire to ride gets me motivated enough to at least change the front tire.  The back tire isn't that bad. 

So now I'm ready to go ride and Saturday morning I get on the road around 8 and head towards Taft, Tn.  It's cloudy, gloomy and around 42 degrees.  In other words it's a great day for a ride :)

On my way up I see a potential picture spot.  Since I'm ahead of schedule and getting cold I stop and shoot some pics.  I like this one the best.



A little later I pass a couple of bikes just before Taft.  I recognize Thinwater on his RE Himalayan.  It turns out the other rider is his wife on a CRF250.

Sweeper also shows up at out meeting place.



I shot this pic of Natalee on her CRF because she's all of 5 foot oh and can barely put one foot down by sliding to the side of the seat on her lowered bike.



So we head off with Thinwater leading the way.  We start out on some small paved but bumpy country roads.



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[klaviator]

We end up riding a mix of paved and unpaved dirt/ gravel roads.  Some of the dirt roads are nice and smooth and some aren't.....



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There's a few curves...



and hills....



Most of the paved roads were more suitable for a dual sport or adventure bike than a street bike.



At some point we stopped for lunch at a restaurant on 64 but I don't remember the name and forgot to take a pic.  Lunch was good and I really enjoyed the company.

[klaviator]

Thinwater must have spent a lot of time exploring to find some of these roads.  He led this ride without a GPS and we made a LOT of turns.  I had only a vague idea of where we were most of the time.



I really didn't see anything inside of the tunnel but my flash must have gone off and so my pic showed this:



And a pic from the other side.



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Then came a bunch of water crossings.



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None of these creek were very big or deep but all the recent rains piled up some deep piles of gravel and rocks and other debris on the banks of the creeks making them much more of a challenge than they normally would be.



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Oops..



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The gravel is a lot deeper than it looks like in the pic.

[klaviator]

Mo dirt roads and water crossings.



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Thinwater said there wouldn't be any mud......



The deep gravel made for steep approach and departure angles to the creeks.



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I got stuck a couple of times in this stuff.



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I think sweeper was wishing he was on his DRZ...



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[klaviator]

We stopped to take a break. 



It's a bit hard to see but there was a reason for stopping here.



I've said it before but I'll go ahead and say it again, one of the best things about riding is the great people I get to meet and spend time with.  This ride was no exception.



That was my last picture.

Stephen (I hope I spelled that right)  thanks for setting up and leading this ride.  Natalee, you did great for having started riding less than 6 months ago.  I hope to see you on future rides.  Randy, great riding with you again.  I'm looking forward to more rides with you as well.

I'm so glad I went out and rode today.  We rode some great stuff today and I saw a lot of promising roads that we didn't ride.  I hope to do more rides in that area.

[Chuck A.]

As always, Good ride report and a pleasure to read.

[thinwater]

It was a great day, klaviator can lay down a ride report!  I'm glad you and Sweeper enjoyed it.  Natalee and I were going to run it anyway so I thought I might as well share it and give people a chance to find some not so far away dual sporting.  Although for Sweeper it still was not so close, he put up with some cold highway miles to get to the meeting point.

   I found those non paved roads over the course of about 4months, but I knew the paved ones around them because I've been riding these backroads since I was 16.  Because of the recent monsoon season the roads were a little more extreme than the last time I'd scouted them more than a month ago.  Natalee arm chair quarter backed the ride all night long (she's addicted to riding), through it some discoveries were made of a incorrectly postured technic she was using, stiff arming while standing on the pegs if not going uphill.  This was hurting her throttle control on the steep loose gravel piles (that use to not be there) coming out of the water crossings.  That was the first time she'd ridden with a group, you guys made it an enjoyable experience, thank you!

  I've about lost all faith in weather forecasters and websites.  It never did get up to the high temperature that I saw forecasted, and Thursday afternoon as I was getting out of my car at home, they told me over the radio that the overcast was going to break away and be Sunny and 60, never happened either way....and rained. ::)

[springer]

I've about lost all faith in weather forecasters and websites.  It never did get up to the high temperature that I saw forecasted, and Thursday afternoon as I was getting out of my car at home, they told me over the radio that the overcast was going to break away and be Sunny and 60, never happened either way....and rained. ::)

Weather forecasters are called that because they don't know "weather" it is going to rain or not.  :D

Looks like y'all had a bunch of fun anyways and in the end, that is what really matters.  ;)

[klaviator]

Weather forecasters are called that because they don't know "weather" it is going to rain or not.  :D

Looks like y'all had a bunch of fun anyways and in the end, that is what really matters.  ;)

I was getting pretty cold early in the ride but once we got into the rough stuff I warmed right up.

As for weather forecasts, if you don't like the weather forecast just look around at different forecasts until you find one you like.....they normally aren't all the same :D

[Nice Goat]

Looks like y'all had a good time!

[Sweeper]

It was a great day! Thank you to all of you for making it happen. The CB was on its madden run after three days of rebuilding from last springs low side. I think the roads were better suited to the DRZ but the CB handled it just fine. Maybe a better off road tire would have been the only thing I would have changed. I think I made something like 230 or so miles for the day. The DRZ would have hated the 80 or so miles of interstate. I washed the bike off last night and I'm ready to go again.

[Sweeper]

During lunch on Saturday, Natalee mentioned wanting to meet HawkGirl and Jay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZfQr2S9IFc) at MarchMotoMadness. As it turns out they are friends of mine from the VFR forum. I messaged them, told them about my day and they both confirmed that they would be happy to hear from you if you want to ride Natalee. Jay and Misty are a really fun couple. I know you would enjoy it. If ya'll decide to head up to NC and want some company... :)

[klaviator]

During lunch on Saturday, Natalee mentioned wanting to meet HawkGirl and Jay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZfQr2S9IFc) at MarchMotoMadness. As it turns out they are friends of mine from the VFR forum. I messaged them, told them about my day and they both confirmed that they would be happy to hear from you if you want to ride Natalee. Jay and Misty are a really fun couple. I know you would enjoy it. If ya'll decide to head up to NC and want some company... :)

It didn't ring a bell when you were talking about hawk girl at lunch but I did meet them back in 2016.  I posted this pic in my ride report and you responded who they where.



As was mentioned at lunch, it's a small world, especially if you ride a motorcycle!

[MrBlueSky]

Great ride report!