The weatherman said it all

Warm, sunny, pleasant , get the ***** out and go play. ( or maybe that was one of the voices in my head)

Friday after work, I jumped on the KLX with every intention of increasing my "smile-per-mile" quota.

I stuck close to home, found my way in off the side of the interstate, some state land real close to home. Between the water department right oy ways, powerlines, and the abandoned interchange, I have my self my own private playground now. I see others in there now an again, but as soon as they see me, they know its "my" playground



I start off climbing up the ledges for a peak. Nice simple looking climb, right?







Nice view up here. As I look down at traffic blowing by at 85mph, I realize, no one ever looks up.







I know what your thinkin, "more powerlines" ? But hey, gotta ride where ya can







Besides , this guy looks like he is having fun







Some of the trails are real fast, old water line right of ways, you can whip along good through here







But before to long you run into this control building, and you can see the dig development back there. People that pay 500K+ for a pad get rather pissy when noisy dirtbikes end up in the back yard. OK,Ok, I am outta there



The other side of the highway is the same, lotta Rocks, some roots, oh yea, and ruts and rocks.







I suppose I better slow down, or get a dam skid plate.







But the view is worth it, kinda strange up here, way beyond the view of traffic. Its a strangely peaceful place up here, a great place to see what time it is.







From there I zip over the road to the back streets and slip in behind the old interchange area. I really enjoy it in here, a real variety of terrains, Lots of ledge, a good bunch of rocks, and some open areas where the highway lanes were suppose to be. I call it my playground. Its only a 10 min ride from my house, I can play in here for an hour or 2, nobody bothers you, I dont think traffic even notices a FBI in there (yours truly being the FBI )



















In this picture you can see where the interchange ramp was going to be, all the roadbed is built, and graded up to where the bridge would have been.







Here you can see where the ledge was blasted away and the grade was built.







I am fascinated with the interstate highway system, I wrote some serious research papers on the history of it and what went right ( not much) and what went wrong (a lot, still) this interchange was part of it.






It was a pleasant ride, about 30 miles altogether, and 2-1/2 hours wasted.

Saturday rose as a beautiful day. I had to run to the shop for a bit, and got a bit cranky at one of the guys in the shop, no biggie, but I was a bit worked up.

Off I went, no major ride plans, dont have a lot of time today, gotta get a racecar ready for Seekonk Speedway.

Did I mention I was a little pissy,



Yep, same hill as last evening, up along the top of the canyon beside the interstate.
The hill is a blind corner, loose, a lotta atv traffic, a couple boulders, off camber, blah, blah, blah. Its tough. I was hammering along, and the front tire got up on the bank a little bit and I had to let it rip, and hope I could ride it out. Gravity won. I guess I am developing new skills.



Did I mention I was a little pissy? Well I wasnt after that, I was like, ***** it, time to ride, leave it all behind.

 

I spent 2 more hours riding around in the same areas, it was much warmer, and I didnt have enough red bull to stay out to long.



The trails are a good variety back here. Some tight single track, some open right of ways, lotta hills, tight twin tracks, some good gravel. some muddy loam, ledges, ruts, roots, and rocks of course.





Nice riding



Love to stay and play all day, but, I gots to go play with the racecar, beside, Sunday promises to be a ride, Going back to Pachaug State Forest to meet up with a KF lurker, and ride the rocks, ruts, and roots some more.

Of course, one of us was late as usual, but we got hooked up and went out the back roads, pulled into a wide spot and unladed.



Our new KF buddy exciter99 on his KLX-250 was joined by his wife on her TW200, and his buddy Matt on a DRZ 250 (plated) , and myself on my KLX-250 and wingman on the klr 650 made it 5 fools !

First thing we find is water, deep and a lot of it. OK, we take the side cut around, lets see how it goes.
We all made it, but we did practice our mud digging skills



This looks like the easy way around, right?





Not bad, were doing good so far. She has only put 500 miles on the TW, so we are keeping the pace civilized. Its a nice day, no rush, lets relax and have fun



More water crossing, this wasnt as deep. it just looked it.



Everyone made it this time



This was a nasty mess, a stream with a lot of rocks a,d hidden step offs, Its fun !



Exciter99 lost his chain, nothing broke, it just bounced off a rock and that was it. We slapped it back on, and away we went



How nice, a pit stop in the middle of it all.
Gas an a ice coffee !! Plus stock up on water and red bull !!



After a short break, we were back in the woods and riding it hard. So many rocks, and a lot of muddy ruts, all good fun.



It got pretty hot, mid 80's which is unusual so early in the year. We took our time, stopped often and enjoyed ourselves



Me thinks here new name will be, I-Lean !!



She waited for him, never moved, I-Lean !!



Water crossing should be mandatory fun on a hot day !!



Bottomed out in a wet messy rut, of course it tossed me off when the nose went into the deep part, and then of course it stalled,

 

You can tell someone isnt having as much fun now !!



Ok, actually everyone is smiling and laughing.



He rides that six fiddy like it should be ridden



And he dumps that six fiddy like it should be.
Hmm, take a picture of help him pick it up?hmm?



We took our time and rode out, time to go home, a few hours later then expected.



After 70 miles, we loaded up, and looked forward to a relaxing ride home



Rode hard



Put away wet !!



Sheet, I can hardly wait until next weekend.

 

Looks like some great trails you have there near you! And a beautiful weekend for it. Thanks for sharing, it makes us all want to ride a bit more!

~Steve

 

I hear ya! I wish the weather wasn't so crappy today or I'd be out again! Nice lookin trails and stuff down there too.

 

Looks like you had a blast dude,, thanks for sharing

 

Awesome!!! Love the variety of bikes, that was a TW 200 right? Its a great bike for all around riding. That is a great ride report, I need to add that to the ride reports link. Thanks for putting this up, I know how much work goes into posting and the writeup.

 

Greats stuff.
Thanks.

 

Excellent ride report! Thank you! Thank you!

 

Glad you's guys like my playground. We have a pretty wide range of riding conditions around here, but the themes always involves lots of rocks, heck it is Southern New England after all.

What a difference a year makes. I got the KLX one year ago, and 3200 miles ago.Since I took it apart this winter and did the mods to it, its like a new bike. A bit loud, but I can hear the ipod just fine. I put on aftermarket bars and the ride is completely different now. I have a better sense of balance and control now. Last year I mighta been a bit reluctant to do a run like that on all those freakin rocks, now I actually enjoy them, and the challenge they pose. And as much as I like riding and taking picures, I do enjoy writing the ride reports after, it helps me keep my writing skills sharp.

I know Deej wanted a full report on the clean-up after the ride, but I just hate to tell him all I do is spray on some simple green cleaner (concentrated) and blast it with a water hose. So ssshhhhh, dont let him know, K ? !!