I've got the itch

[Chuck78]

Dimitri, GET OUT THERE AND RIDE!!!
I highly endorse your notions of doing this trip, although I question the 250 unless "credit card touring" (hotels and restaraunts with minimal gear to save weight).

You live in Massachusetts? I can fully attest to the fact that riding through West Virginia and Virginia (close to the WV border & Southwestern tip below WV), Tennessee, NC, & the NW corner of Georgia is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! Unless you are really looking to spend time at the ocean & beaches, I personally as lays endorse the twisty roads in the hills & mountains areas as far superior getaways... Florida is great for winter weather and ocean scenery, but in my opinion, not as desirable in all other ways as a vacation getaway (very flat, HUGE insect population with massive cockroaches, swarms of mosquitoes even in winter, fire ants, lots of venomous snakes...

[Chuck78]

(Eagle Rock/Smoke Hole Canyon WV)

If coming from the northeastern seaboard, I'd recommend aiming towards Harrisonburg, VA and take US33 over the WV Shenandoah Mtn ridgetop border (one of the absolute best stretches of road in the East Harrisonburg to Harman WV). Ride through the valley and up thru Smoke Hole Canyon (campgrounds there or AMAZING North Fork Mtn ridgetop backcountry camp spot if u ask me where).
(best backcountry camp spot ever, me on the ridge - October Sunrise to my back - North Fork Mtn ridgetop backcountry trail)

Or continue thru Smoke Hole then hang a left on 55 (?) & pass down by Seneca Rocks (mandatory stop) where there is also Seneca Shadows campground.
Then either head deeper into WV for the full experience (west of the NE mtns, the entire state is rugged Appalachian hills loaded full of amazing twisty road routes), or double back on US33 over North Fork Mtn and then catch Sugar Grove Rd south near Brandywine down to Reddish Knob Rd up the mountain the very twisty slow scenic route to Reddish Knob Spur Rd lookout (make sure to GPS this, easy to mis the bike path width turnoff road to the peak)

(Reddish Knob - very remote lookout)
Then down the other side of the mountain ridge on the more tame Briery Branch Rd (or Briery Gap Rd? One is the way to the Spruce Knob lookout by Seneca Rocks, other is Virginia side of the Reddish Knob area).


(Spruce knob, WV)


Then down south a short distance and catch US250 over the same mountain ridge west (3rd time is way more than a charm, this is a very thrilling long mountain ridge to explore!).

(view over the River Knobs toward Dolly Sods from North Fork Mtn WV)

From there I'd take 250 to 219 for another great but slightly less technical thrilling mountain scenic ride. Then head west and pick up WV-16 south of Beckley. If you come in North of Beckley to 16, you can take 20 (?) over the New River Gorge bridge, which is something like a mile long and 980 feet tall, world famous. WV16 aside from the valley area in Beckley is an amazing ride from the Ohio border all the way to the VA border... I have another GREAT lesser traveled secret camp spot along the bottom of the New River Gorge if you email me.

South of Beckley, WV16 is great twisties all the way. Then once into VA, it turns into VA-16. Then you can catch the Back of the Dragon section of 16 over 3 small/medium mountains and 2 valleys, an AMAZING ride.


From the bottom of that at Hungry Mother State Park / Marion VA, Take the route along the base of the mountain west and then cut south to Whitetop Rd and to to the Whitetop Mtn lookout or if you have plenty of time, Mt Rogers nearby. Then stop in at Bearclaw Holler Biker Rest Stop for free camping and excellent hospitality - look them up.
Then follow the mountains west then SW on US58 "The Mighty Python" to Damascus, then pick one of 2 great options southwest following the mountains through endless state and national forests toward the Asheville area. Lots of exploring to do between there and Asheville NC, where I would recommend spending a good bit of time


US276 & NC215 criss cross each other over/near the Blue Ridge Parkway, both are AMAZING tight mountain riding roads with excellent roadside waterfalls and dozens of hikes to spectacular waterfalls... and then there's the Blue Ridge Parkway... the BRP for an hour north of Asheville and Asheville south to Maggie Valley is the best section by far. No tight curves but nonstop ridgetop sweepers that can be all navigated at the 45 mph speed limit. Endless curves and scenic views... south of there is the US129 Deals Gap Tail of the Dragon area and the Moonshiner28, but beyond that is extremely far from my Ohio home so I can't be of much use at this point giving you the highlights of that area. South of Damascus, there is a lot of excellent riding as well, I'd have to look at a map to give you more leads.

Hopefully you or others can use this information as part of your adventures - this highlights THE finest riding area(s) in Eastern North America. Enjoy!

[DimitriT]

There is a book written by Simon Gandolfi entitled " Old man on a bike" His ride is a 125cc Honda. He has never ridden a bike before and it chronicles his journey from New York to Tierra del Fuego through 13 countries. Interesting read.

Got this book for Christmas. It's actually out of print but my wife found it used. I like the writing so far, although I look forward when he starts talking more about the trip than his politics (which occupies a bit too much of the first 20 pages).

The gw250 is slow. But its also big. It's the most comfortable bike I have. The suspension is made for long trips: smooth and soft with lots of travel. It's made for crappy Asian roads. The motor will get you to 70 mph (eventually) and then will keep you there (indefinitely). The gw250 will take you 240 miles on a tank of gas which refills with about 3.3 US gallons. That's less than $50 for gas to go Boston to Tampa.

I have a nice wind screen for it and a fairly large top case. Givi sells mounted side cases. I just bought a GPS mount (direct from China so I'm still waiting for it to show) and a dual USB 12v charging fixture.

I'll post a few pictures once I get it outfitted.

[Wingsconsin]

Look at Shad side cases too...
I have a top case from them and really like it.
Might be less $$ than a GIVI

www.shadonline.com

[DimitriT]

I've got my micro-tourer ready to roll. First trip will be down to NYC for some urban camping (couching) with friends and relatives.

This is a GW250 so it will be interesting to see how it does. I'm planning a route that will take me away from the interstates and I'll be doing it on a Sunday so I'm hoping not too much traffic.

Here's some pics of the bike.



Here's the all important GPS/phone mount with the USB charging setup. The charger is wired to a relay which only works when the ignition is on (pay no attention to that awful tank bag):



It's actually fairly roomy for a small bike and its so much easier to handle at slow speeds than a big tourer:

[RichDesmond]

Awesome setup! As long as you avoid long interstate droning the small bike will be fine.
People forget that back in the day lots of looong trips were done on bikes like CB350s, and a modern 250 is at least that capable.
How long a trip is this one?

[DimitriT]

Awesome setup! As long as you avoid long interstate droning the small bike will be fine.
People forget that back in the day lots of looong trips were done on bikes like CB350s, and a modern 250 is at least that capable.
How long a trip is this one?

Should be a one day trip. 250 miles or so. I have plans to spend the week and come back on Saturday. Hey if anyone wants to grab a beer let me know.

[RichDesmond]

Should be a one day trip. 250 miles or so. I have plans to spend the week and come back on Saturday. Hey if anyone wants to grab a beer let me know.

Cool, should be a nice little jaunt.

Add a dry bag across the rear seat to hold your camping stuff and you can go as far as you like on that bike.
Here's my setup for a trip to Alaska:

off-2-alaska.jpg

Full report here:

http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/alaska2008_ride_report.php

As I mention somewhere in there, I'm a big fan of solo trips. Had some friends who wanted to go with me on that one but I told them no.

[JJ]

Awesome setup! As long as you avoid long interstate droning the small bike will be fine.
People forget that back in the day lots of looong trips were done on bikes like CB350s, and a modern 250 is at least that capable.
How long a trip is this one?

Back in my high school days, a friend and I rode all over the Southeastern USA on a GT250 and GT380. It was nothing to make a 600 mile round-trip weekend.

My daughter and I have done many similar weekend trips with me on the 650 Yammie and her on her 250 Ninja.

[GS1150Pilot]

Looks like grand fun! Wishing you a wonderful time, Dimitri.

[dorkburger]

Sounds like a fun little trip. Are you riding in NYC itself? Be careful if so...

[argonsagas]

Almost two weeks have passed.

Where's the latest update?

[DimitriT]

Latest update is that I woke up Saturday morning with the flu and its been two weeks of fever and coughing. I'm just starting to feel well enough to consider going again.

[Chuck78]

Fall colors are near peaking in high-elevation areas in Northeast West Virginia right now, so I would imagine the same could be setup in Vermont. The weather is really wonderful this weekend, are you able to be making it out? It's going to be a bit cooler after this. A few more weekends of riding the GS, and it will get retired to just city riding for the remainder of the mild fall weather season -
hitting one deer during their fall mating season was plenty for me! Dirt bikes until December. Then maybe I toy with studded snow tires and ice racing! Or just wrench on the 6 or so half running motorcycle projects in my garage for the winter!

This year was a bit less than I had envisioned for myself, motorcycle travels at least, and next spring I turn 40 years old, a milestone of sorts, but for me, more of a reminder that I am not getting any younger and I had better latch onto my youthfulness as hard as I can and get the heck out and do some great extended weekend 3.5 to 7.5 day road trips with my 3 weeks of vacation! In order to make that happen, since none of my fanatical motorcycle friends ever are able to cut loose and actually go riding in the hills or on even extended weekend trips, I had probably better tame down my ludacris riding pace in the twisties to a safer solo traveler pace... too much to see, too little time!
When I turn 42 years old in May of 2020, I will reach the occupational milestone of graduating from 15 days vacation time to 25 days vacation time... FINALLY...FINALLY I WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE ENOUGH TIME OFF TO RIDE OUT WEST TO COLORADO ETC!!!!!
If I had attempted that on 15 days of vacation, it would basically take up most of my vacation time for the entire year, which is a deal-breaker, as I love to take 3.5 4.5 or 5.5 day weekends down into the West Virginia hills and mountains, or even as far as Western North Carolina Eastern Tennessee.

That extra half day on every vacation trip plan is referencing me trying to get off work slightly early so that I can come home to a packed motorcycle and dogs already with dog sitters, and just hit the road and eat up a couple hundred miles on a non-vacation day, so that I can spend more time enjoying the rest of the trip instead of just eating miles endlessly to get to my destination roads or stationary / hiking destinations.

[Chuck78]

I just looked it up and noticed that Boston was only a hair over three hours from Green Mountain National Forest in the southern tip of Vermont. It is absolutely beautiful there, and I hope that you are already familiar with riding there and taking in the beautiful scenery there. The roads are not quite like West Virginia mountains as far as extreme twistiness, but the scenery certainly is. Just North of there, it looks like Route 17 through Camel Hump State Park is a pretty spectacular twisty road! Any road that traverses over mountainous ridges is likely to be quite the epic thriller! Have you ever attended the GS Green Mountain Rally? If not, you should look up their routes!


Best of luck in your travels,

Chuck in central Ohio