Arkansas adv ride

[woodsguy]

Our fearless group leader. Macdaddy can ride a big bike. Thanks for leading.

 

[2WheelNut]

Yes he can.

Couple more pics.

I had a great time. Great riding, great conversations and a bit of Adventure here and there.

Thanks to all who came out and made it fun.

 

[2WheelNut]

Ps....we found out the difference between Big Bike Friendly and Bike Bike Capable.

Just cause the bike can make it, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

 

[misterk]

What a great weekend. Thanks Rich Simmons for leading our group. Another rider that can ride a big bike!!

I forgot to take pics of the ride, I had enough fun after the k-trail to 3 sticks. I had this calling me:

Arrowhead campground is owned by a lady named Waverly. Great campground, I will be back.

James had the first casualty 5 minutes after he arrived

He can fix anything with zip ties

James, Dave and I cooked dinner each night. Friday it was steaks and taters. Saturday it was steaks and corn.

Each evening hanging out by the fire

 

[misterk]

REVER app is pretty cool to record rides. I should use it more often

That last spike in elevation was the k-trail to 3 sticks. Nasty road but it increased my confidence on the twin.

Rich and the rest of the group had a true adventure after I left them at 3 sticks.

 

[Jarrett]

Thought y'all might enjoy seeing this. It is the Rich-led Saturday morning replay:

https://www.relive.cc/view/g24078149124

There seems to be some sort of glitch in the speed recording though

 

[Jarrett]

Here's the Friday afternoon playback:

https://www.relive.cc/view/g24044349879

 

[Jarrett]

Here are a few random pics from the weekend:

At the Riverwood Inn (nice place, thanks for the tip)

The Friday afternoon group:

K-Trail claims takes an Africa Twin tube as a sacrifice:

Sunday morning view from the CRF250L:

Gas stop on Saturday where both groups met:

 

[misterk]

That is very cool. Is that a Garmin thing?

Thought y'all might enjoy seeing this. It is the Rich-led Saturday morning replay:

https://www.relive.cc/view/g24078149124

There seems to be some sort of glitch in the speed recording though

 

[Jarrett]

That is very cool. Is that a Garmin thing?

Yeah, I forget how I set it up though. It pulls the gpx from Garmin and creates it automatically.

 

[Jarrett]

Man, what a weekend. Thanks to everyone for letting a newbie ride with y'all. I had a complete blast. I'm trying to remember everyone's names and screen names. Hoping I got them right.

2WheelNut/Dave - Thanks for kicking this thing off. It turned out great. Good to see you again and good riding with you. Thanks for the tips on the 250, much appreciated.

MacDaddy/Steve - Thanks for turning this thing into a full-blown ride and leading us Friday and Saturday. It was fun watching you make the Tenere look like a little bike. And of course, fielding my endless barrage of motorcycle questions

Simmons1/Rich - Thanks for being our fearless leader on the Saturday ride. It was good hanging out and riding with you all weekend. You've got me thinking about suspension for my Africa Twin. Thanks for the manual mode tip on the AT as well, that made my weekend better, for sure. I wouldn't have made it down the K-Trail at all without it.

MisterK/Kevin - Good meeting and riding with you. You made the right choice. I should have gone with you. The K-Trail was nuts. I dig your AT setup.

Birdman44/Mike - Thanks for saving my butt on the K-Trail, much appreciated. Thanks for all the tips on picking lines and stuff.

BADTEX/Steve - Good riding with you. You are a ****** to ride the K-Trail on a Africa Twin with stock tires. Thanks for the tips as well. I appreciate all the great info that everyone shared over the weekend.

Creighton_Beryl/Mike - Good riding with you this morning. It was fun watching you rip that XR650R around.

woodsguy/Rob - I think we met in the parking lot Saturday morning, good to meet you. Steve said you were tearing it up right behind him all day Saturday.

Everyone else, I'm sorry I forgot some names and screen names over the weekend. Had a great time meeting and riding with everyone.

I appreciate James' emergency voicemail warning NOT to ride the K-Trail that was received too late

I wish we could have come hung out at the camp for a bit, but we were all pretty beat after both days of riding, so we sat in the hotel parking lot drinking beer and listening to MacDaddy and Simmons1 argue over whether the KLR650 is a good bike or not for a few hours

I can't wait to get back to those roads. Arkansas dirt roads are right in my wheelhouse. I see why people go up there now. The whole trip was a crash course (literally on the K-Trail) in rocky mountain riding for me. I feel like I gained a bunch of riding experience over the three days that might have taken me much longer to acquire otherwise.

Everything BUT the K-Trail was fantastic. The little gravel roads we did with Steve on Friday (on the AT) and Sunday morning (on the CRF250L) were really nice. All the dirt routes that Steve put together were just really, really good to me. I even enjoyed the windy blacktop sections that we rode between the dirt roads. And going over the Talimena highway was very cool as well.

It's hard to pick out what my favorite road was. That route up to Three Sticks was pretty fun and challenging. Some of those cool little gravel roads near Glenwood where there was a river on one side and a cliff on the other were sweet as well. I REALLY liked climbing the mountains and doing the switchbacks on the way up.

The one road I didn't like, the K-Trail. I was in over my head on that one, but with some help, tips and good luck, I made it out of there. The funny thing though, the road I liked the least is the one I'll be talking about the longest

 

[Jarrett]

A couple of Africa Twins (MisterK & I) climbing up to Three Sticks:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8QstlLnyH0"]Up to Three Sticks - YouTube[/ame]

It was cool to ride with a group including 4 Africa Twins this weekend.

I'll try to pull some more videos tomorrow.

 

[Creighton_Beryl]

It was great to meet everyone, I had a huge time!

I uploaded all my pics/video here if you want to see: https://photos.app.goo.gl/syBijDCTgcXbgcjp7

 

[notyou83]

A couple of Africa Twins (MisterK & I) climbing up to Three Sticks:

Up to Three Sticks - YouTube

It was cool to ride with a group including 4 Africa Twins this weekend.

I'll try to pull some more videos tomorrow.

but the video stops. I want more.

That looks like a ton of fun and really makes me want a 250 to go play with.

 

[woodsguy]

"woodsguy/Rob - I think we met in the parking lot Saturday morning, good to meet you. Steve said you were tearing it up right behind him all day Saturday."

Jarrett, great summary of the weekend! Yes I chased him all weekend! Not much to brag about considering my bike and his! His riding on the big bike on those marble roads was awesome. K trail and Wolf Pen Gap, was a little more challenging for him. He's an amazing rider on that big bike. Y'all were smart to keep those big bikes out of Wolf Pen, couple of the switchbacks would have been very interesting!

The small bike group was a very fast ride, not what I was expecting but loved it. Steve is an excellent group leader, took stops as needed but kept the group moving as we needed to. Going all the way to Oklahoma was a treat. Coming down from the Talimena drive to 259 was a hoot, and then as Jarrett said the road up to 3 sticks was very interesting. And being on a small bike the K trail was really fun for me!

Of course I had to be the one in our group to get a flat, dang it. With help from some of the group got it back going and finished the ride. Hard for me to work in from of everyone, lol.

I had never met anyone but the guys who came with me, Terry and Glenn. But let me say, a great group of guys to ride with. Exchanging stories and finding mutual friends was very interesting.

And James is one of the nicest, most helpful guys I've ever met on a bike. A truly great guy. Was an honor to meet and ride with him.

I'm glad everyone enjoyed Arrowhead, I've been there a few times but wasn't aware of the owner change. But seemed to work out alright and Waverly sent me a text saying she really enjoyed having us!!!!! The cool river right by camp is a true bonus! Reminder, they have pretty nice cabins, hookups, and tent camping. During off season office is not open but a few cabins are available if you want to go up this year.

Guessing 14 riders? We had 7 in our group, I believe 5 or so in the 2nd group, and a couple of guys that ran it together separately.

Awesome job on the route!!

And on a personal note, thanks to JFink for letting me ride his 500EXC, I had WAY MORE FUN than I would have on the 800 GS. Joe, you're a hero to me! I loved the bike, it ran perfect other than the unfortunate flat! And luckily it never fell over, thank goodness! The bike and I chased that darn Tenere all day!! I think Glenn, Terry and I did 60 miles Friday, the group Saturday was right at 200+, and Glenn and I did close to 100 Sunday. I didn't leave the campground to 2 or so. Got home at 11pm~

Hopefully we do it again!!

 

[woodsguy]

It was great to meet everyone, I had a huge time!

I uploaded all my pics/video here if you want to see: https://photos.app.goo.gl/syBijDCTgcXbgcjp7

Excellent pics and videos, you must have been up all night. lol

 

[misterk]

A couple of Africa Twins (MisterK & I) climbing up to Three Sticks:

Up to Three Sticks - YouTube

It was cool to ride with a group including 4 Africa Twins this weekend.

I'll try to pull some more videos tomorrow.

You filmed my good side lol, great video thanks for sharing!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[woodsguy]

Arkansas ride

 

[woodsguy]

Arkansas

 

[woodsguy]

Ride

 

[woodsguy]

Hey why does it look like more rocks when you're riding?? and big rocks, lol!!

 

[Jarrett]

but the video stops. I want more.

That looks like a ton of fun and really makes me want a 250 to go play with.

Everything off pavement we went on up there seemed somewhere between just little harder to MUCH harder than any gravel road stuff that I've ridden so far in North Texas.

I wish I would have turned on my video on some of the harder sections of the K-Trail as it seemed crazy to me, but I was too focused on trying to stay alive

Actually, aside from the K-Trail, I enjoyed riding all of it more on the Africa Twin versus my CRF250L. Something about the rock there makes it more slippery feeling than the gravel we have here. Even though the front tire was starting to wash out every so often, the weight of the Africa Twin kept it more planted in that stuff where the CRF250L was just slipping and dancing underneath me constantly even on the easier stuff. I preferred the more planted feeling between the two.

Also, with the new Shinko 805 on the rear, the Africa Twin had no traction loss going up steep rocky sections. I didn't think about it much when I riding, but afterward several people told me their AT's where slipping in the rear quite a bit on the rocky stuff. I wish I would have had a brand new TKC80 (versus a worn Shinko 804) on the front though. Not sure it would have been that much better, but I could have used all the traction I could have gotten there.

 

[Jarrett]

Hey why does it look like more rocks when you're riding?? and big rocks, lol!!

I know! I look back at all of these videos and think, where did all those giant rocks go?

 

[Jarrett]

And for those that had flats, I ordered a couple of these yesterday to stuff in my pack:

https://www.giantloopmoto.com/product/irc-tubes/

 

[woodsguy]

Couple from Glenn