Dirt Daze ADV Rally

[MikeDi]

Hi Guys,
Taking the time to do something different. Mountain bikes, and dual sport riding.
Erick, Kevin and I rode the Dirt Daze ADV rally last weekend up in North Haverhill NH, the site of the Ammo.

The event was scaled back a bit but Yamaha and Triumph came with Demo Bikes. Had a chance to ride the T7. Didn't like it but that's another story. It's not my kind of bike anyway.

Went up Thursday, camped through Sunday.
All of the riding was paved, gravel roads and jeep trails. No single track is used so nothing like what we are use to.

Friday: we rode 150 mile, Lets Get Dirty ride. Had a mix of bikes from 250's to 1190's. The guys on the big ADV bikes had some issues with the more technical sections. By technical i would classify that as some loose rocky ledge jeep trails.
Kevin was the boss, riding a Vintage TransAlp like it was an XR400.
Saturday: We did the whole route again but much faster.
The 690's and TransAlp, finished 150 miles on a single tank of gas, we rolled in on vapors.
Not at all a beat down, but a full day on the bike with a mix of dirt, and Vermont scenery.
Was a good time and we'll do it again next year.
Mike

[Kevin]

Sounds like another great ride story for Trail Rider Magazine. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[MikeDi]

It's a totally different culture. If i had to sum it up, i'd say there are a lot of guys that converted from road to ADV type bikes.
Many people, riding many miles.
Cross continents, all over the world.
Interesting people.

[Kevin]

I've watched many off-road trip videos on YouTube where they ride for days, weeks and even months through different countries in the mountains and deserts, on Royal Enfields, KTMs ect.. Some personally owned bikes and some rented ones. Some in groups, others solo. Especially admire the women that do it alone. Watching the vids is almost is like being there as I follow their adventures..

[oldschool]

There is also a great 105 mile loop in NW MA into southern VT. Jackpiner and I will be up riding that in a few weeks.
ADV and D/S rides are great fun and a nice change of pace
This was sure the year for it!

[oldschool]

Kevin wrote:

I've watched many off-road trip videos on YouTube where they ride for days, weeks and even months through different countries in the mountains and deserts, on Royal Enfields, KTMs ect.. Some personally owned bikes and some rented ones. Some in groups, others solo. Especially admire the women that do it alone. Watching the vids is almost is like being there as I follow their adventures..

Itchy Boots is in Iceland on her CB500x...

[MikeDi]

Sounds like a good day trip.

oldschool wrote:

There is also a great 105 mile loop in NW MA into southern VT. Jackpiner and I will be up riding that in a few weeks.
ADV and D/S rides are great fun and a nice change of pace
This was sure the year for it!

[MikeDi]

I'm planning on riding some of the Flatlander route in NH.
It's a 400-500 mile loop with camping along the way.
Most likely I'll ride sections at a time and not the whole thing.

[TBone]

MikeDi wrote:

Hi Guys,

Friday: we rode 150 mile, Lets Get Dirty ride. Had a mix of bikes from 250's to 1190's. The guys on the big ADV bikes had some issues with the more technical sections. By technical i would classify that as some loose rocky ledge jeep trails.

Five Pathfinders did the Lets Get Dirty Ride Thursday. The biggest bike of the 5 was a 690. The guides ended up splitting us into two groups. Of the 20 or so bikes on our ride - 5 PFers and two guys on smaller ADV bikes (one was a new CRF250L Rally) were in the fast group and the other group had a mix of big bikes and guys with less offroad experience. The PFers finished an hour early with 156 miles on my odo. The chap who lead our group kept a pretty fast pace on an older 950. Impressive. The terrain reminded me of Pachaug without the single track sections. Definitely a fun ride and AWESOME scenery. I'd do it again and maybe add another ride that would be a better fit for my 1290 SA.

[Kevin]

oldschool wrote:

Kevin wrote:

I've watched many off-road trip videos on YouTube where they ride for days, weeks and even months through different countries in the mountains and deserts, on Royal Enfields, KTMs ect.. Some personally owned bikes and some rented ones. Some in groups, others solo. Especially admire the women that do it alone. Watching the vids is almost is like being there as I follow their adventures..

Itchy Boots is in Iceland on her CB500x...

Yup, she's the one I was following.

[MikeDi]

Yup, we rode Friday with Fred. He led the slow group so we were in that one.
We chose slow thinking how fast we would be in technical single track, on 690's and a TransAlp.
Now let's define fast vs slow, in ADV relative terms.
SLOW: = waiting for riders to catch up, sharing stories, and having a good time looking at scenery.
FAST: = Bombing down dirt roads at an uncomfortable pace, then getting all jammed up on the first technical jeep trail.

Had a blast, we ended bootlegging the same route the day after just the three of us.

TBone wrote:

MikeDi wrote:

Hi Guys,

Friday: we rode 150 mile, Lets Get Dirty ride. Had a mix of bikes from 250's to 1190's. The guys on the big ADV bikes had some issues with the more technical sections. By technical i would classify that as some loose rocky ledge jeep trails.

Five Pathfinders did the Lets Get Dirty Ride Thursday. The biggest bike of the 5 was a 690. The guides ended up splitting us into two groups. Of the 20 or so bikes on our ride - 5 PFers and two guys on smaller ADV bikes (one was a new CRF250L Rally) were in the fast group and the other group had a mix of big bikes and guys with less offroad experience. The PFers finished an hour early with 156 miles on my odo. The chap who lead our group kept a pretty fast pace on an older 950. Impressive. The terrain reminded me of Pachaug without the single track sections. Definitely a fun ride and AWESOME scenery. I'd do it again and maybe add another ride that would be a better fit for my 1290 SA.