Kentucky Adventure Trail (KAT) June 19-25, 2017

[Wingfixer]

There is no possible way this won't be a total blast!

only if I get to go!

[Skinny-J]

So I just finished reading all 53 pages of the main KAT thread started by Jeff @ the Quad Shop who put the KAT together. Here are some of my random notes for planning later on:
1. The main loop is 903 miles long
2. The options are as follows:
a. Hard 1: adds 9 miles –removes 4 miles of the main route
b. Hard 2: adds 9 miles – removes 9 miles
c. Hard 3: adds 34 miles – removes 40 miles
d. Hard 4: adds 7 miles – removes 12 miles
e. Hard 5: adds 14 miles – removes 14 miles [Hardest option outside of HM]
f. Hard 6: adds 10 miles – removes 4 miles
g. Hard 7: adds 2 miles – removes 3 miles
h. Hard 8: adds 17 miles – removes 21 miles
i. Hard 9: adds 9 miles – removes 18 miles
j. Hatfield Extreme: 32 miles
I do NOT plan to include the Hatfield Extreme segment on this trip. Jeff has picked some of the hardest trails in HM for this section. We have been on many of these before and that is what the 2T is for (note Jeff is an AA GNCC rider and he calls the HM stuff “extreme”). Without the HM option but including all the other options, the total mileage would be 890 miles; that’s still a good bit for 5 days including doing the options.[comment from Bluelighting on ADV: the hard sections do eat up a lot of time. I think the pace would be much quicker on the main route only.]

[ADV comment on difficulty: Jeff@theQuadShop that laid out the KAT tells you that you should take small bikes on the route and that the hard sections are definitely hard. Jeff says the route is about 65% pavement so I was really torn on what we would find. I really expected a lot of gravel roads on the main route and then some harder trails on the hard sections. It turns out there was a good bit of technical riding on the main route and the hard sections were like doing 3 & 4 Diamond trails at HP (SJ: I believe he is referring to Highland Park aka KTM World) with a dual sport bike loaded with camping gear! I think there were even a few 5D sections thrown in here and there. As we found out, the majority of the pavement is found on one section on the NE corner and we lucked out and rode that section in the rain. The pavement you do hit is a nice welcome break from the tough trails you are in the rest of the time…..
I will agree with David that sections of this trail rivaled some of the harder stuff we did in CO. You just didn't have the awesome views to go with it!]

SJ: The route can be done clockwise or CCwise as there is no advantage to either way. The hardest parts are on the western side of the loop and the eastern side has more gravel. [Comment from ADV: We ran the route clockwise from Jamestown, TN and did most of the hard sections except the Hatfield McCoy section and skipped all of the Hard 5 near Harlan due to my bike having over heating issues although we had planned to do the northern section of that one. The hard sections are no joke and there was nothing easy about any of them other than maybe the OHV area you go through which was just "fun". Do not take big bikes on the hard sections as you will not enjoy it! I was even surprised to find some very technical riding on the normal route, but it was a blast. There are a few areas that will surprise you and I could see big bikes struggling for sure on some of those areas also. Be aware the hard sections add a significant amount of time even if they are short. Our reccuring theme seemed to be that we'd find ourselves on a hard section late in the afternoon when we were tired and worn out. We had a couple days where we didn't even make 100 miles due to the time it took to complete some of the hard sections. We had one day we did 210 miles on the WV/VA leg and two other legs where we did 160 and 150 miles, but all the rest were shorter than that. We did not have a single short day. Most days we were on the bikes for 12+ hrs. It took us 7 days to do the entire loop and that was for the most part with solid Class C & B riders. When we are not on the hard sections, we are generally keeping a pretty good pace, although we certainly stopped to enjoy the scenery too. We struggled a bit on navigation on the hard sections in just that there are quite a few places you really don't know if it's this trail or that trail and it's not until you get off the track you realize you screwed up and have to back track.]
SJ: Plan to ride the hard stuff first while still fresh, maybe target Slade KY as the starting poing. Counter-clockwise seems to be the way that most ride it, including Jeff. Maybe park in the center of the area the loop surrounds so the truck is always equidistant away no matter where on the loop we are? This adds x-tra time to drive there and to get on the loop on day 1 but could be smart with Wingfixer along…

Other random stuff: [Comment from ADV: Because of all of the mud, all of us went through our rear brake pads in 3 days and thankfully we all were able to buy new pads from RMATV. Don't even thinking about it, just bring extra brake pads in case you run into what we did. They are small, easy to carry, and on most bikes, you can replace them without even pulling off the caliper. I knew better to bring extra brake pads.]

DAMN this is going to be fun; to be continued….

[Bucho]

I still plan on riding my 650, though guys with smaller 4Ts should probably take them. 350/450, even Jay's KTM 250f might be a better option that his 650.

Its always difficult to guess how hard stuff will be bc dirt riding is so relative to the normal riding one does. I like to think that WE are above average riders for difficult offroad stuff.

890 miles is 178 miles a day over 5 days...
Lets do it!! If need be we can always "cut the course" to get back to the van/trucks at the end of day 5.

I was also thinking we would skip the Hatfield hard option stuff. We (some of us) have ridden it before and its more fun on our lil 2Ts.

Im very excited!

[beejaytee]

I still plan on riding my 650, though guys with smaller 4Ts should probably take them. 350/450, even Jay's KTM 250f might be a better option that his 650.

I was also thinking we would skip the Hatfield hard option stuff. We (some of us) have ridden it before and its more fun on our lil 2Ts. We could start on the Southern or South/West section and run it clockwise to do some the harder options first rather than saving it for Day 4 or 5 when we will probably be whipped.

Im very excited!

I think hitting the harder sections early in the trip sounds good.

Maybe we can stop over at a Kentucky bourbon distillery one day to "refuel".

What kind of hard are these trails? I'm new to the east coast as a few of you know. I have ridden 495 at taskers so let's call the scale 0-495.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bucho]

I think hitting the harder sections early in the trip sounds good.

Maybe we can stop over at a Kentucky bourbon distillery one day to "refuel".

What kind of hard are these trails? I'm new to the east coast as a few of you know. I have ridden 495 at taskers so let's call the scale 0-495.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats the tough part. We dont know how hard the hard stuff is. To some people its "not too bad" and to others the same piece of trail is just about impossible.
Then depending on recents rains some trails can be easy in the dry when traction is good and much much harder with mud and snotty hill climbs.
We are just making guesses on what random internet guys are saying.

The only thing we know for sure is that knobbiies are pretty much REQUIRED for this and smaller dualsport bikes rather than adventure tourers.

[Skinny-J]

I still plan on riding my 650, though guys with smaller 4Ts should probably take them....

+1, the BRP will get the nod. The 450 enduro bike would feel like cheating the Dual-sport gods....

[Junior]

PTO approved! plus 1 for the 650.

[beejaytee]

I think hitting the harder sections early in the trip sounds good.

Maybe we can stop over at a Kentucky bourbon distillery one day to "refuel".

What kind of hard are these trails? I'm new to the east coast as a few of you know. I have ridden 495 at taskers so let's call the scale 0-495.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats the tough part. We dont know how hard the hard stuff is. To some people its "not too bad" and to others the same piece of trail is just about impossible.
Then depending on recents rains some trails can be easy in the dry when traction is good and much much harder with mud and snotty hill climbs.
We are just making guesses on what random internet guys are saying.

The only thing we know for sure is that knobbiies are pretty much REQUIRED for this and smaller dualsport bikes rather than adventure tourers.

Got it. I thought someone might have ridden a section or something.

[Rut Row]

this no longer sounds like a ride for my FZ-09 Adventure.

[Wingfixer]

PTO approved! plus 1 for the 650.

Sweet!