Went to an old Gravel pit yesterday
 

ImEasy & I went up to the gravel pit I found in NE Ohio. I rode my wifes XT225 and he rode his JonWay. We had a great time on the trails and ImEasy learned alot about how his bike will run in the rough stuff. He does not have alot of off road time under his belt but he did very, very well. So did his bike!!

I am at work now and I'll post pictures soon. :wink:
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Here they are;

Some of the hills
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...IMG_0152_1.jpg

Here too
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...IMG_0151_1.jpg

Our steeds
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...IMG_0150_1.jpg

The Blimpman
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...IMG_0149_1.jpg

ImEasy
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...IMG_0148_1.jpg

Thanks for the kudos blimpman. I had a blast. Although I am feeling it today. I think I used more muscles yesterday than I have in a long time... laughs. The gravel pit was really cool. I would post some pics but I'm still stuck on dial up and it would take forever. Started a new job today and pretty beat. Suppose to have fast connection again tomarrow and will post pics then. It was nice meeting you. We definately need to do that again sometime. My son was bummed he didn't get to go.

Looks like a fun time guys nice to meet you!

Aaron

Nice to meet you as well Aaron.

Here's some more pics. I want to add that the hills are much steeper than the pics convey.
I opted to not try any of the big ones being new to this. They were quite rutted as well.
Maybe next trip I'll have the guts. :)

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/4262/pit1ar9.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/5231/pit2fe3.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8853/pit3qm9.jpg

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/7531/pit4lh6.jpg

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/8914/pit5kt7.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2430/pit6jn9.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8586/pit7cr7.jpg

Blimpman

Hey ! How ya doin ? Loved our ride last summer. I see you've got a GY. PM me if ya can.

Coop

That looks like a super fun place to ride. Sure wish I could find an area like that around here. I can be in Columbus OH in about 2 hours, so that would mean I could be up your way in, oh, 6 hours or so. Darn it!

You can get some trail riding in a little closer to KY... I've been to this place for Harescrable races, and there are plenty of challenging trails.... and some really nice long hill climbs (some are the kind that will flip a 4 wheelers over backwards -- so be careful on those ones :wink: )

Should be even more fun to do it on a leisure pace instead of racing - hmmmm maybe I'll head down there for just trail riding sometime.

http://happyhollowdirtpark.com/

I was at Crow Canyon MX track in the spring. Urichville, Ohio (East Central Ohio) There were lots of great single track and two track trails back in the woods. In the summer it is very crowded with idiot ATV riders but early in the season it was great.

http://www.crowcanyonmx.com

Here is a picture

http://www.crowcanyonmx.com/trail40704b.JPG

I was at Crow a couple of weeks ago and am planning on heading out there this weekend as well. Fun place... thanks for the tip on the 4 wheelers in the summer.

Pics I took were in the pure-dirt thread:

http://www.chinariders.net/modules.p...iewtopic&t=543

Here's another place up by Canton area that I've not been to, but someone told me they heard it was pretty decent.

http://www.ridingparks.com/elson.asp

I saw in the latest AMA mag that there are a few dual sport rides setup in Ohio next year. Too bad ya gotta have a street legal bike to do them or I might consider taking the little beast on one.... although I tend to have more fun when me and a few buddies get together and go riding somewhere. (some of these events get large turnouts)

I rode three of them last year.... They are generally two day rides of about 100-120 miles each day. The first day is usually filled with quite a few optional "hero" sections that are pretty tough for a true Dual Sport bike. That being said, there were very few "Dual Sport" bikes in this events. Most guys had plated MX and off road bikes. They had the bare minimum of street legal accessories. Most put the smallest after market mirrors and turn signals on them. The organizers I think just checked for two things, a license plate and the sound level ( very strict on this). I was one of only two KLR650's and the biggest displacement besides us was a 450cc. There were lots of 2-smokes and almost everyone had full knobbies. KTM was the bike of choice as over half the field rode them. I have been told that Southern Ohio DS events are the toughest around. Lots of aging MX and Enduro riders attend these events.

I think a China Bike would do fine as long as you had good knobbies and a strong right wrist. The weight of the KLR kicked my ass.....

The second day had alot less riders and the course was not as tough but still very challenging. I would not suggest new riders attend these events till you have a couple seasons of off road experience. You could ride this event and bypass all the tuff stuff and stay on the dirt township roads. Even then there is some off road areas that you cannot pass up to stay on the course. Here is a couple pictures and a link.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...84#post2749784

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...R1-032-14A.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...R1-044-20A.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...R1-038-17A.jpg

Nice mirror and turn signal. :wink: sounds like a fun time to me... but I don't think I'll be buying a DP bike just to do one of those events. :(

Hey man, your KLR is begging to have my old supertrapp muffler on it... maybe sometime next spring we could meet up at Crow or something and I'll give it to ya.

Sounds like a deal to me...

OK, so I gotta ask---What is it about KLR riders gravitating to the China bikes? Is this the ultimate cheapskate acc? Were/are we that cheap.

I had a 2003 that I put 25,000 miles on in two years and then foolishly traded off for a Voyager XII. As capable as the Voyager is for burning up the interstate, I miss the old pack mule. That KLR took everything I could dish out and was always ready for more.

I also hangout over at ADVriders as well as a Tourer's Assistant on Motorcycle tourers forum.