On Saturday, 3 Oct, I did a 70 mile solo ride north of
Little Rock around the Mayflower area. I was scouting for riding locations a
little closer to home that provided some dirt and gravel to hone our riding
skills. This was also my 68th birthday and my wife was busy all
weekend with family so I took the opportunity to get out and enjoy the cool
temperatures. I stopped by the Highway 89 MX race track and talked to those
folks to see if they had any potential trails that would meet my needs. Besides
having a couple of MX tracks they did have some trails along a ridge behind
their MX facility. I was told to go see what I could find and I did ride a few
of them. For the most part they are pretty rocky and even though the dual-sport
could ride these trails, they aren’t going to be what we expect to find on the
TAT. Better for ATVs than dual-sports.
On Sunday, 4 Oct, three of us trailered our bikes to the
Ouachita National Forest West of Little Rock around the Lake Winona area; Steve,
Dale and I. This was the first time Dale
had ridden his KTM 530. Dale is an experienced dirt bike rider but he lives in
Florida and is only in Little Rock on a contract job for the next 6 months or
so. He admitted that Florida riding does not include rocks or mountains, both
of which are in abundance in AR. He got his share of both on this ride. As a
side note, as we were strapping down his bike he reached over to the left hand
grip and said something about his throttle. I stated “your throttle is on the
other side” when he replied “oh yeah”. I stated, “Just how much riding have you
done?” As we started riding, we kept a close eye on him until we were sure he
knew which side his throttle was on.
Short ride report: we rode 36.4 miles on gravel and dirt roads
to include several steep hill climbs on washed out roads. We also took every
side road that looked promising and found several overlooks with great views of
the lake and surrounding mountains. Including the ride home it was another 70+
mile ride.
Our off-road ride is shown on the following maps to include
my GPS track and SPOT maps. The SPOT map has great terrain definition so I use
it to get a better picture of the type of hills and valleys encountered.
This is the first ride in a long time where I don’t have at
least one picture of a bike on the ground. Not sure that has anything to do
with the ability of the riders on this trip but I will leave that to the reader
to decide. I can sum up the ride in one word; dusty. The gravel roads in this area
are extremely dusty so as long as you accept that, the ride itself is pretty
good. I much preferred riding the side roads we found which are usually more
dirt and since the speed is less, no dust cloud is generated. The hill climbs
(on washed out roads) are in some cases steep and technical. The following
paragraphs provide a little more detail.
We parked the truck and trailer in the parking lot next to
the Lake Winona spillway. We’ve been there several times in the past and every
time we pull in the local dam keeper drives down to talk to us. Nice guy and he
keeps an eye on our vehicle while we are out riding. He did advise us that the
Forest Rangers were handing out tickets if your vehicle wasn’t properly
licensed. He also advised that a 100 mile foot race (sounds crazy to me) was
taking place on some of the roads so watch out for the participants. After
gearing up we rode out of the parking lot and headed North and then West on the
gravel.
We eventually headed up a road that took multiple switch
backs to the top of a ridge line. I should note now that Steve likes to go fast
on these roads and so does Dale. I on the other hand take my time and ride a
steady climbing pace. As a result, I lagged behind those guys with an
additional benefit of staying out of their dust cloud. As I reached the summit
I found myself in the middle of lots of people tearing down what appeared to be
a way station for the 100 mile foot race. It was obvious they weren’t too happy
to see me ride up on a dual-sport motorcycle. I think it was because they all
looked like Health-Nuts and anything putting out an exhaust was sacrilegious; my
observation only so no hate-mail from the Health–Nuts please. I had to stop at the
top because the road went two directions and I wasn’t sure which branch the two
hot-rods had taken. I finally asked a guy who was walking by trying his best to
ignore my existence “which way did the other two motorcycles go”. He pointed to
the left and I immediately sped away throwing rock and dirt with my spinning
rear tire. Just kidding, I slowly crept away so as not to disturb the tranquility
of the place. I could usually determine the correct road to take from the dust
cloud left by Steve and Dale but they must have also slowed down through this
area; no dust cloud.
As I was heading down the road a few hundred feet I came
upon 4 guys’ semi-running about 20 feet apart. It was obvious they were the
tail-end of the 100 mile foot racers. From the look of them I’m betting they didn’t
make it, they were in pretty bad shape. I rode slowly past them so they
wouldn’t have to inhale my dust but once clear I sped away after my two lost
riding buddies.
I finally caught up with them (they had stopped to let me
catch up) and we continued exploring. We stopped at an overlook just off the
road that runs along the ridgeline. Great view of the mountains and Lake
Winona.
We continued down the ridge road a short distance and took
another side road heading up to the top of one of the mountains. This was one
of the steep climbs I mentioned earlier and consisted of a rough dirt/gravel
road with deep ruts caused by rain run-off. I used first gear and while
standing on the pegs worked my way up to the top. The Honda CRF250L has no problem
with this kind of climb and is so light and responsive it can make quick and
precise adjustments to the line to dodge rocks and deep gouges in the road. As
we reached the top I was surprised to find a group of campers and their
vehicles. They were young guys/girls and very friendly. They showed us the best
views of the terrain and it was even better than the previous overlook. They
also kept trying to get us to have a beer or something stronger. We begged off
stating that we wouldn’t make it down that rough road if we started drinking at
the top.
We continued
riding on the side roads and came upon a creek crossing (dry) and stopped to
scout. It was very rocky but doable. We discussed several possible lines and
then who should go first. Steve and I outvoted Dale so he was selected. I
finally said that I would watch Dale make the run but I wasn’t going to take my
bike across. It was extremely rough with a good potential of dropping the bike
which would break something or hurt someone and the risk wasn’t worth it just
to get to another dirt road on the other side. We all finally decided to
backtrack and skip this crossing. As a side note we did do another dry creek
crossing later that was not nearly as bad.
We rode several side roads to the top of ridges, all of
which are worth the effort and provide some great scenery.
We finally started up a road on our way back to the truck
that turned into a continuous steep and technical climb. The top of this hill
(mountain) is marked on one of the maps as “HILL1”. Steve took the lead and I
followed him with Dale in the rear. I made Dale go to the end of our threesome
because he kept spinning his tires and jumping every little bump in the road. I
would get rocks thrown back at me so he was moved to the rear of the pack. The
hill was so steep and twisting that you could only see a short distance ahead.
Steve went out of sight so I’m doing my climb when I come upon Steve’s bag on
the trail which had up to recently been strapped to the back of his bike. I was
able to stop on a semi-flat spot on the trail and Dale stopped behind me. We
stuffed Steve’s bag into Dale’s backpack and continued the climb. When Dale and
I got to the top, Steve is already there with his coat and helmet off,
relaxing. This was one long and technical climb so we decided it was a good
spot for a water break.
The rest of
the ride was uneventful until we got back to the Lake Winona parking lot. Steve
and I decided to ride the 30+ miles back home and let Dale take the truck,
trailer and his bike back to Steve’s since he still didn’t have tags or a
motorcycle endorsement on his Florida driver’s license. While loading Dale’s
bike on the trailer I noticed a very large (to me it was large) spider on the
parking lot heading towards my bike. I walked over and took a couple of
pictures thinking it would get scared and run away; it did not. In fact it kept
coming. I got on my bike thinking I would roll it away from the spider but
before I could, it started climbing onto my front tire. I started shaking the
front end trying to dislodge this thing and it jumped back onto the parking lot
and headed under my motorcycle. There was a moment of “What the H___!” but I
finally got the bike away from the spider and we both went our own way.
When I got home I used the hose to wash the dust off the
bike and even my helmet, riding jack and pants. A brown stream of water rolled off
of my clothes as I washed the dust out of every nook and cranny.
Next week we are tentatively planning a ride on another
section of the TAT starting at Damascus and ending on highway 7 North of
Russellville, close to Mack’s Pines. All four of the core riders (Mike, Terry,
Steve and Woodrow (maybe Dale)) are planning on making this ride. We will
trailer to Damascus then make a big loop on the TAT section and return on
secondary roads. Should be about 162 miles total and a good exercise of long
distance riding (for dirt bikes). After doing the Iron Butt on AK2 (1037 miles
in 16.5 hours) 162 miles seems like just a warm-up until you set on those hard
dirt bike seats for several hours.
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