Spring 2015 - Romney, West Virginia - May 1-3

[MojoToot]

MojoToot... you must be Andy! I'm Brick, Chuck and I rode with you on Friday and I'm the one who landed in the mud! Thanks for taking us along! I'm bruised but not broken. That's a good thing. After I got home I did find a little damage... one of my left bag mounts broke off and is gone. Not a big deal! I definitely out rode my skill... but at 68 I'm still trying! ::003::

Todd that's pretty impressive buy a bike and two days later you are out throwing it down in the mud just 100 yards ahead of me!

I got home yesterday at about 4:00PM... not bad 440 miles or so. Chuck is still out riding for a few more days. Lucky guy!


Thanks again!

Brick, my pleasure...you ARE an official member of the smoke HOLE IN THE WALL GANG!

 

[Ishirock]

Hey, can I get in on that Smoke Hole Gang? I was the lone ten-r-A surrounded by weestroms you met up on top of the mountain. We had a coasting race down the mtn for 5 miles and the s10 out gravitied the zuki's.

Thanks to Father Dirt, WreckChecker and the Romney folks for putting on a great event.

We made it home around dark after stopping at the flight 93 memorial and Ohiopyle.

 

[jbjke]

Finally made it home after leaving at 5:30 am (tried to keep my generator quiet leaving the lot) and then I split off from eemsreno and BigBob at Parkersburg for a few hrs to see a friend. I think I hit the bed about 2:30 this morning. What a weekend..... Flew by way to fast.

Thanks to Dirtdad and CheckWrecks and a few others that I'm not thinking of for what you did.
Romney cycles - wow, what a sea of motorcycles all in one place waiting for a new owner. What a staff or should I say family. Kevin, not only a great big "Thank You" for sharing your shop but sharing your staff to help with this event. Heather did an amazing job with all the details. She's a keeper. I saw nothing but a great environment with so many friendly people that I'd love to have a part time job in. Thanks for your hospitality

Thanks to the group I rode with and for putting up with a young tenere rider that doesn't know how to truly ride one yet. Great to meet all the ones behind the names. Wish I could of spent a little more time around the camp Friday night but circumstances took priority.

And just a few photos

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jbjke]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jbjke]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ishirock]

Here are some iPhone pics from the weekend.

 

[fredz43]

My son and I made it to Lexington, KY yesterday, then this morning he headed for his home in Biloxi and I headed for my home in IL. Got here about 1:00 central time with 2325 miles on this trip. It was nice seeing some that I had previously met and also finally meeting some that had been on line friends for years. Checkwrecks and Dirt Dad, especially.

Thanks to all of you that worked so hard to put on this event.

 

[avc8130]

I'm SO envious of you guys!

I made it down last year and the event was a blast. I REALLY wanted to get down there again this year, but my wife and I welcomed our son (2nd kid) on April 26th so I couldn't get out.

I will DEFINITELY be there next year!

ac

 

[snakebitten]

Congrats avc8130!!!!!!!!!

 

[eemsreno]

Guys I read over on ADV that the tree hitting that rider deal, That he is OK and rode home. Good news, So everyone came out in pretty good shape from the wild weekend.

Steve

 

[sail2xxs]

I'm SO envious of you guys!

I made it down last year and the event was a blast. I REALLY wanted to get down there again this year, but my wife and I welcomed our son (2nd kid) on April 26th so I couldn't get out.

I will DEFINITELY be there next year!

ac

Congratulations AC!!!

 

[sail2xxs]

Huge thanks to DirtDad and Checkswrecks, and the entire crew at Romney for putting on the best get together yet!

I had a total blast meeting and riding with TrueGrip, Snakebitten, TrikePilot, and Eemsreno. Trikepilot's route choices, especially 13 and 12 mile creek road, were totally awesome. Getting the chance to meet and try to keep up with you four guys made for the best day off pavement I've had in a very long time. ;D

Snake - the FJR peg lowering kit was perfect for Lee. We spent almost 3 hours riding trails (and 3 river crossings) in Greenridge State Forest on the way home on Sunday, and she loved it. I'm a slow learner, so I am still picking the bike up onto the centerstand rather than using the toe slip trick you told me about. Lee has kicked her search for gear up several notches and is already asking when we get to go play in the woods again. ::001:: ::26::

Can't wait to catch up with all you guys again soon!

Best,

Chris

 

[snakebitten]

They couldn't have moved over to a better bike or 2-up couple!

I'm very pleased to hear she is all grins back there. That's good news for YOU!
I miss you guys already.

 

[sail2xxs]

Snake -

It's GREAT news!! And I have you to thank for Lee being so comfortable back there.

When you're done in the land of Skyline Chili and get back on the road, don't forget you've always got a spot in Edgewater. Just drop a line.

Best,

Chris

 

[snakebitten]

I ate there for lunch today. Go figure. (Technically, that's beans and spaghetti, with cheese. I couldn't find any chili. But I liked it )

Very kind offer Chris. Thanks!

 

[patrickg450]

so someone got hurt and I wasn't there.............

 

[snakebitten]

Actually, we were hurt BECAUSE you weren't there.

 

[trikepilot]

Wow!!! What an amazing weekend! There is no doubt that this first class event would not have ever been what it was without the efforts of DirtDad, ChecksWrecks, and then Kevin and his entire staff at Romney Cycles. They all deserve a hearty round of thanks.

The weekend FAR surpassed all my expectations. Period!

For all of you that could not attend, be aware that little about the weekend had anything to do with the riding. For sure, it was phenomenal – but that was a chip shot since it was in the Potomac Highlands of WV. EVERYTHING there is stunning and the weather cooperated after Thursday’s rain.

The “real” reason the weekend was so amazing were all the people that came and met up – many times for the first time in-person. Online personas do not do justice the quality of people that I met and rode with over the weekend. In fact, I attended the event primarily to meet these crazy SOBs that have the same obsession with the Tenere (no matter how CW pronounces it!) that I do. You all rock!

As for the actual RIDING, I was fortunate to have been shown the ropes by trikepilot. I'm betting there were many great riding groups. But trikepilot's had the most fun.

Oh, and I love "Fancy", his bike!

Jaxon, if you thought mine was one big lump of dirt and corrosion, you gotta get your hands on this one.
Gonna have to dunk it in a penetrating oil bath before putting a screwdriver to it.

Well… you spent all weekend telling me that this is a “huge” compliment so I will take it as such. But let me assure that I love this bike and take really good care of the mechanical components – it is just that I can’t really justify the effort to clean up an ADV bike too much. It just seems appropriate that my riding mates dubbed her Fancy the first day they saw her. I feel the moniker belies her true nature. And therein lies the truly amazing nature of the Tenere. You can strip it down like I have to skid plate and knobbies for farkles - you have TBDBITW. Or you can take the very same bike off the showroom floor, farkle the crap out of her, and turn it into a mile-eating touring machine that longs for gravel road adventures. The Tenere is the perfect ADV bike to make it what you want.

Made it home safe. TNWalker and I even got to visit Spklbuk on the way home and He is as nice as I imagined. He believed everything I said about Trikepilots routes. Trikepilot that was an epic weekend! Riding was off the chart. Company was outstanding.
Great adventure weekend thankful I got to be a part of it!

Previous to this weekend only DirtDad and Spklbuk had witnessed me in action on Fancy. They tell me I am crazy, but operating in a vacuum of riding alone often – I have no perspective as to what is hard on a Tenere. I just do it. The bike is remarkably capable and forgiving. To quote Snake on Saturday after 12 Mile Creek…. “What we just did was not riding, it was accident avoidance.” Nathan – the KTM690 with us – got to the bottom of a section and turned off the motor and all heard was a cacophony of 700+ pounds of skidplate banging off rocks on the way down the road. I was out front so I did not see either issue, but two great anecdotes unfolded at the BS session at the base of 12Mile road. It appears that True Grip dropped his bike and yanked it out of the mud by himself before others could help – all the while saying something like – “if you can’t lift it, you should not ride it!” And then Sails2xxs got stymied by a double log crossing and as Snake and others were actively getting off the bike and de-gloving to help out, Sails2xxs just singlehandedly manhandled his Tenere over the obstacle. The guy is beast!! So…. Spklbuk can believe all he wants about reports on my behavior – but there was no shortage of burly characters on our WV backwoods adventures last weekend. Thanks so much to all of you for coming and making it so amazing! Let's do it again soon!

Next I want to thank that motley crew of dirt riders that let this old geezer tag along, bring up the rear, and never complained about my poking around at all.

OK…. Now I gotta call some serious bullshit! For the record… Eemsreno rode 900 miles from Iowa on his Tenere to arrive at Romney 1030pm in the dark rain on Thursday night. He then treated his Tenere like TBDBITW for 2 days – all without a functional rear brake and huge grin plastered on his face all day. Not only that, be he rode down 12 Mile creek one handed (no rear brake mind you!) taking pix with the other. And then… he left at 0500 on Sunday to power 900 miles home to Iowa. I am humbled and honored to have met Steve and ride with him. He is every bit the character that I look for in a riding partner. The problem is that he needs riding like I require air to breathe. I just cannot sustain his pace. Still... come back east Steve and let’s ride!!!

Thanks to the group I rode with and for putting up with a young tenere rider that doesn't know how to truly ride one yet. Great to meet all the ones behind the names. Wish I could of spent a little more time around the camp Friday night but circumstances took priority.

Jeff – glad you made it back without incident. Hope the side engine case repair goes quickly and your bike is back to 100% soon. Thanks so much for being willing to come out of there with me and Scott to the hospital. Wish it had ended differently, but all told no major damage I guess. Stick with Eemsreno. If you can keep up with him – you are an animal.

I am already thinking about next year and thinking about how to get back up there to explore some more backwoods fun to be ready for you nutcases next year.

 

[True Grip]

I must of made some of that noise
[/

 

[eemsreno]

True Grip
My ALT is so banged up I can't put down my side stand. [don't tell Snake though]