Twist wrote:Hey guys - it's been a while since I posted on here but was thinking I might try this even on my fat dirt bike and wanted to get some local knowledge about the difficulty of the ride. I've been riding my R1200GS like an enduro up in the trail system near State College and over in Marienville PA in the Allegheny. Given that experience, is this more or less of a challenge? Are there any gnarly rock gardens or difficult steps that would hard for a bikapotomus or is this a big bike friendly kind of affair?
Howdy, it has been awhile.
If you are comfortable riding at Marienville then you should be fine at the S500. On the second day there is an "A option". There is a section of that, I wouldn't want to ride a big adventure bike on. Everything else should be pretty doable. If you aren't sure, or just feel like taking it easy. Then skip all the options and its a fun easy day, dirt roads and easy fire roads.
There is an Adventure route you can plug into your GPS for this event. Your GS is perfect for it. I rode that route on my KLR last year (the S500 that didn't happen). If you are slow, you'll have a long day of riding, but the route is perfect for your bike and skill level.
Twist wrote:Hey guys - it's been a while since I posted on here but was thinking I might try this even on my fat dirt bike and wanted to get some local knowledge about the difficulty of the ride. I've been riding my R1200GS like an enduro up in the trail system near State College and over in Marienville PA in the Allegheny. Given that experience, is this more or less of a challenge? Are there any gnarly rock gardens or difficult steps that would hard for a bikapotomus or is this a big bike friendly kind of affair?
they have a big bike route but if you probably could do the real route.
Ken
Die young as late as possible, remember who you were before the world told you how it should be. -- Barry Morris
I knew I could count on you guys for some good advice. Sorry I haven't contributed more here but I do lurk a lot. I've been planning a trip from Western NC to Maine, TAT-like, and we leave for that trip in a few weeks. I've stitched together a route that we'll use but if anyone here has the GPS tracks for the Shenny 500 I'd love to get them in case we decide to stay and play a while in that area.
I have a couple of friends that have already signed up to ride big bikes at this event so I'll probably jump on it as well. Hope to meet some of you guys there.
Wes
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
Wingfixer wrote:GPS tracks from NC to Maine you say.... I know a guy or two that might be interested in getting a copy of that!
Happy to share the route but probably better after we've ridden it. There's some speculative bits to the routing and a couple of different choices in a few spots. I started with a combination of gpsKevin's NY leg of the TAT but ended up not using much of it. I found some guys that published something they called the "Maine Adventure Trail" or MAT and those gps tracks are available ADVrider. I took all of that and customized it to hit up some fun spots to ride along the way like the Peters Mill/Taskers Gap trails and the Seven Mountain trails just east of State College. We may also loop over and hit up the Marienville trails for a day on our way back south.
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
I used the MAT tracks when stitching together the route we're taking. I checked in with the guys that created this track and they quickly admitted that there were problems with the track and that some of it wasn't possible/passable now. My route with a number of optional side trips looks like this:
The east and west routes on the map show different ways we might head back south. I'd be happy to share my actual track when we're done.
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. - Mark Twain
