One-Way Ride 6/14 South Central VT

Hi,

Sorry for the short notice. I've got to travel to Rutland, Vt this Wednesday and am thinking to spend some time exploring the area between Searsburg, West Wardsboro, and Arlington. (Or something more to the North.) Anyone free? I plan on leaving the NH seacoast around 6:30 am and heading straight over there. Meet for breakfast?

Also, does anyone know how difficult it is to ride from Searsburg to the Stratton-Arlington Road?

Thanks,

Jay

PS. I have to return on Thursday. So I could potentially hook up for a ride on 6/15, but only for the afternoon. I've got to be back in Exeter by 7:00 pm.

Hi,

Just back from some major reconnoitering: 250 miles (maybe 50 of dirt roads) yesterday and another 175 (<10 dirt) today. I saw some great country and areas for possible future rides.

A couple of Stich'-clad F650 riders up from NYC shared with me some of their route suggestions. If we don't hear from them again, it could be because while they were camping they became the first people to be consumed in their entirety by black flies.

I rode to the end of forest road 87 to test my theory about there being some connector between Searburg, Vt and the closed-in-winter road that connects Arlington, Vt and Stratton, Vt. Come on, someone on this list must know this. Any snowmobilers out there? Anyway, the forest service road officially ends with a turn around. But in fact and upon closer examination, the road keeps on going. It was a mess of ruts, mud, and water but then tamed out a little. No, I didn't ride it, but walked it for a ways. It was just tough enough that I didn't feel comfortable doing it alone. But I did imagine PackMule just blasting ahead, signaling "This way!" to the rest of us. And me just following along thinking, "Oh, this is normal dualsport riding and nothing whatsoever to be feared."

I stayed with my brother in Ira (near Rutland), Vt and we looked at maps and how many Class IV roads are in that area (Vermont's equivalent of New Hampshire's Class VI). Dougmar is from a neighboring town and claims to know a bunch of rides. And BitterJoe has a cabin up there somewhere too and more knowlege of where to ride.

The KLR was great: very fun in the twisties and rock-solid on all those dirt roads. Riding home today, and now that I that I've had her out on a couple of longer rides, I started wondering if I even need to keep my R90. I guess the only down side is above 70 mph, but that may be due more to the lack of fairing (the R90 has a Luftmeister) and the drone of the knobbies.

Jay

Jay, did a little scouting over the weekend. My report is over here. Even ended up passing through the Bugatti village by taking a couple wrong turns. Well, are there any wrong turns on a bike? Great day exploring.