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Mena to Hot Springs 'n Back - A Dual Sport Loop

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PigTrail

PigTrail

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Longview, TX
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Richard
On May 30th eight dual sport riders set out from Mena Mountain Top Cabins on a 260 mile dual sport loop. We didn't make it far before realizing we were supposed to have nine, but that will have to wait for later.

Heather and I rode almost 190 miles on Saturday, but that includes our 20 mile round trip to Mt Ida. for gas and several other dead ends. Story, AR has plenty of gas pumps, but they're decorations. The "cleaned up" route for Saturday totals ~150 miles. Sunday's ride was 110 miles of beautiful dirt led by the infamous MacDaddy. He knows AR well. A .gpx file of the route is attached and a Google map of the route is available here.

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Any idea how much wasn't today? Looks fun.
 
BornAgain said:
Did you ever find that ninth rider?
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Lol. I think it was you. :)


I think we got about 5-10 miles in and realized we were down a few riders and went back to find them....which we did. My version is a bit boring.

You should probably tell the story from your perspective.
 
These poor souls in Hot Springs were so desperate to ride dirt bikes. They resorted to shoe repair to keep the ride going.

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EETTU's SIDI boots are in need of sole repair. It's a wonder he ever got'em off at the end of the day!!
 
This here's story 'bout a man named Jeff.
A man who's sleeping bag shoulda been tied better to the left

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Fortunately it didn't stop his rear wheel on a dime and he was able to keep the bike upright. We got the tool kits out and began hacking away at the mangled bag before removing the rear wheel and picking bits of down from the caliper and spokes. EETTU makes a good kick-stand.

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His knees might get cold!

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2WheelNut said:
Lol. I think it was you. :)


I think we got about 5-10 miles in and realized we were down a few riders and went back to find them....which we did. My version is a bit boring.

You should probably tell the story from your perspective.
Click to expand...
I was in front of @BornAgain and didn’t know it. My focus was on the giant hill getting out of the cabin. Luckily we found him so I’d have a riding buddy to stay in the back with me. We needed each other’s back for Mount Polk Rd 70.
 
Jarrett had that crazy look in his eye after the Polk Co 70 Hill Climb. His Tiger spat out a few bolts, so remainders were moved around to secure the windshield.

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BornAgain & EETTU making it to the top. They did great. Many fists were bumped.

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Lots of low water bridges, county road bridges, and creek crossings on this trip. A few felt deep!

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The Sunday group at the Lake Ouachita overlook counted 10. We had quite a diversity of bikes with 1 Honda, 1 Sherco, 1 Suzuki, 1 Husqvarna, 1 Yamaha, and 5 KTM's.

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Turning to the right points your gaze to the downriver side of the dam.

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Riders ponder the meaning of the perfect wheelie

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Look, there's one! Oh wait, no.

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What a cool trip... im in for the next one... Maybe in the fall?
 
Ocho said:
The next one will be postponed by rain in typical Arkansan nature (but I’m in).
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In all seriousness. We canceled a ride last year because of rain and @woodsguy decided he would go anyway.

Found out he was going and joined him.

It was some of the best riding ever. Yes. There was some high water crossings and some mud but overall it was hero dirt and great.

I seriously doubt I will ever cancel an Arkansas dirt ride because of rain unless it is supposed to rain 2-4 inches a day every day Im there.
 
2WheelNut said:
In all seriousness. We canceled a ride last year because of rain and @woodsguy decided he would go anyway.

Found out he was going and joined him.

It was some of the best riding ever. Yes. There was some high water crossings and some mud but overall it was hero dirt and great.

I seriously doubt I will ever cancel an Arkansas dirt ride because of rain unless it is supposed to rain 2-4 inches a day every day Im there.
Click to expand...

And there was only one river crossing we didn't take a chance on.
 
This ride was the inaugural adventure for my wife, Heather, on her 350 EXC. We had it lowered 3" by Motolab and also installed a Seat Concepts low seat.

Here are a few shots to give a sense of the lowered setup:

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Next to stock sized 690
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Heather's 350 (back) next to a stock 500 (front). You can more easily see the difference between the tire and fender.

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Heather is 5'4" with a 28" inseam, so not the best size for bikes with stock seat height of 35+ inches. Her feedback after the ride...

"it couldn't have been any taller" - lowered 3" and seat concepts low seat

"liked the power" - her last dual sport bike was a CRF250L. This has more than 2x the hp.

"bars were buzzy" - after spying these on Jackson's Sherco, we're going to try the Mako bar mounts to reduce vibrations

"suprised at the amount of engine braking" - she is coming off her enduro bike, a 250 Freeride, which has very little enginge braking given that it's a 2 stroke. We're installing a Rekluse, so that should help as well.

"guess I need some luggage if we're going to camp off these" - yes, i'm eyeing the Mojavi saddlebags from Giant Loop to keep the weight stable and low.

"felt every pothole" - i turned her clickers softer during the ride, but could only do so much given the way i installed her hand-guard mounts - they were in the way. I'll make some changes to clickers when I'm changing the bar mounts to the Mako.

Gary, what gas tank do you have mounted on your 500? Does it provide good rad protection too? I'm thinking it might be a worthwhile upgarde as we adventuize her 350. Thanks!
 
She rode the heck out of that thing. Very impressive.
 
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