I was unable get the old avatars reimported. Regretfully, you will have to upload your avatar again. Please report any issues here,.

Southern half - MABDR

Want to go for a DAMN Ride? So do we! :whoop:
User avatar
Twist
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 6:42 am
Contact:

Southern half - MABDR

Post by Twist »

I met up with a old friend on Sunday evening in Harper's Ferry and we set out from there to follow the Mid-Atlantic BDR from there to the bottom. Any worry I did about weather forecasts were for nothing. We had perfect riding weather all week until yesterday when we were coming home - that was a pretty miserable ride in the high 40's to 50's and rain most of the way from the area around Snowshoe back to Annapolis. For most of the ride we were hitting the peak of the colors and mid-week saw zero traffic - well, there's pretty much no traffic out in the middle of the woods on forest roads anyway - but even on the connecting highways and hotels and restaurants were all dead during the week.

!,300 miles for the loop from home and over all it was an awesome ride.

Image

Image

We stopped by the Mountain Lake Lodge on the track. This is the location of all the filming for the movie Dirty Dancing and 35 years later they're still leveraging that movie for marketing at the resort.

Image

We rode the MABDR track down as far as Marion for an overnight there at the General Francis Marion Hotel. Then starting Thursday morning we took some of the best twisty roads in all of WVa and Va back north through Greenbank to see the NRAO:

Image

It's the largest man made moveable object on land and is 2.3 acres of dish antenna looking for ET and David had never seen it.

I've spent a lot of time out in West Virginia on sport bikes but on this ride found some new to me roads that will be my future favorites anytime I'm back out there. Dry Run Rd north of Warm Springs is at that top of that list.
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
User avatar
Bucho
DAMN Admin
Posts: 6520
Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:57 am
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by Bucho »

Nice! I still have to do that southern part of the bdr.
Yamaha WR250R
Yamaha TW200
User avatar
Twist
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 6:42 am
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by Twist »

Bucho wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 12:35 am Nice! I still have to do that southern part of the bdr.
From Harper's Ferry the first 80-90 miles of it going south is all paved roads. It's a nice ride but we didn't get off the pavement much until mid-day. Once in the GW and Jefferson NFs it was mostly unpaved forest roads. Most were nicely groomed with the only complication being covered in leaves making it hard to sometimes see things I'd rather not run over/through. Overall it was really easy. I went out with Dunlop Trailmax Mission (more of a 80/20 tire) that had over 4,000 miles on them and while not ideal, was fine. Sometimes I'd have a little trouble getting it to hook upon gravely uphills.

We decided before we left that we'd skip the camping on this ride. It was pretty cool in the evenings with over night rain and hotels are pretty easy to come by without reservations traveling during the week. It rained just enough to keep the dust down and give us a few mud puddles to splash through and the 3 - 4 water crossings were relatively easy.

I've also done most of the northern half so this checks off the MABDR for me. I still want to get up and do the NEBDR, maybe on the WR250R but it's a long way home to Annapolis from upper Maine :)
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
smdub
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 933
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by smdub »

Twist wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:29 am I still want to get up and do the NEBDR, maybe on the WR250R but it's a long way home to Annapolis from upper Maine :)
Spring? I'm still in for it.
Not the GS?
Stephen (not Steve) - '08 Monster S2R1000 / '20 Husky 701LR / KTM '20 500 EXC / '17 150 XC-W / '21 E-XC / '21 890R / '19 Sherco 300FST / Sur-Ron LBX / Segway X160 / Sur-Ron Ultra Bee
User avatar
aai
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 553
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:05 pm
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by aai »

When are you planning to do the NEBDR Wes? John and I making plans to do it on our huskys. Initially we were thinking of picking up a Uhaul box truck or van locally one way to haul bikes up to the beginning, then rent another Uhaul truck at the end and drive back home locally.
Beta Evo Sport 300 4T "running crisp again thanks to Jtrobb"
KTM 150 XCW tpi
KTM 890 ADV R
GASGAS EX 450F
User avatar
Bucho
DAMN Admin
Posts: 6520
Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:57 am
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by Bucho »

aai wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 5:49 pm When are you planning to do the NEBDR Wes? John and I making plans to do it on our huskys. Initially we were thinking of picking up a Uhaul box truck or van locally one way to haul bikes up to the beginning, then rent another Uhaul truck at the end and drive back home locally.
I have family in NH. Could drive my van. 3 bikes fit in back of van.
Yamaha WR250R
Yamaha TW200
User avatar
aai
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 553
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:05 pm
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by aai »

Thats awesome Phil, glad to hear its on your list. I believe Stephen needs a reason to take that 701LR out also. Planning stages, safety in numbers as they say. Next Spring? How about going North to South as a possibility. Uhaul one way up.
Beta Evo Sport 300 4T "running crisp again thanks to Jtrobb"
KTM 150 XCW tpi
KTM 890 ADV R
GASGAS EX 450F
User avatar
Twist
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 6:42 am
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by Twist »

aai wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 10:50 am Thats awesome Phil, glad to hear its on your list. I believe Stephen needs a reason to take that 701LR out also. Planning stages, safety in numbers as they say. Next Spring? How about going North to South as a possibility. Uhaul one way up.
That's actually not a bad idea though the limit will be on the number of riders in the UHaul. When I finished the TAT with 3 other guys, two flew home from Portland while I and another drove the Penske truck cross-country back to Georgia with the 4 bikes in the back. I guess for this some of us would fly up to Bangor to meet whoever drives the truck then all ride out to the track from there?
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
User avatar
aai
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 553
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:05 pm
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by aai »

Wes, I figure 3 people per uhual van one way (3 seater). Assuming everyone wants to do the long ride up prior to the start of the ride instead after finishing the ride. After the ride which is where? Pa/NY line, that’s another matter, option to ride it home or pick up Uhauls one way localized to everyone like Frederick/Baltimore? I have ZERO experience at this :lol2: so Im just making suggestions
Another option, a full size van via Enterprise and rent a Uhaul trailer like a 7x16 one way that can hold 6 bikes or so to go up there.
Beta Evo Sport 300 4T "running crisp again thanks to Jtrobb"
KTM 150 XCW tpi
KTM 890 ADV R
GASGAS EX 450F
User avatar
Twist
DAMN Poohba
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 6:42 am
Contact:

Re: Southern half - MABDR

Post by Twist »

I like your thinking Sonny. There is a Penske rental office near the Bangor airport so a one way rental should be easy. If we all met up there it's only about a 3 hour ride out to the northern terminus of the NEBDR. Once done at the PA/NY line, I'd just ride home from there - maybe via the MABDR back down into Maryland.

Having spent 3 full days driving a Penske truck from the Oregon Coast, I wouldn't put more than the driver and one passenger in the cab. That's a long drive to be shoulder to shoulder. We easily got 4 KLRs in the back of a 16' box truck.

A one way van pulling a one way trailer resolves the number of seats so 4 bikes/4 people would be doable. And, if anyone still would rather send their gear in the van and fly up and meet at the rental office in Maine, that's still an option. The disadvantage to this that it might cost more but split 4 or more ways would be pretty reasonable.

The biggest cost by far for us coming home from the TAT was gas in the van at about 7 mpg.
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
Post Reply