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!
snakebitten said:
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.
True Grip said:
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!
eemsreno said:
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!!!
jbjke said:
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.