Minimalist Touring Thread (250cc and under)

Looks good! I really need to ride some of the MCCCT. How where the trails with those tires on your bikes?

It had rained hard in the area for the 3-4 days prior to our trip, but the trails were in surprisingly good shape. The fact that 90% of the "trail" portion of our 50 mile loop was sand (or sandy soil) helped, as everything was well drained and dry, even in the tight, technical trail sections through the woods.

Here's my buddy Patrick, at the top of the first big, sandy hill we encountered:

Though the day started out cold, the sun was out and the chill in the air was soon forgotten. The loop we took began on a dirt road that cut into a thick pine woods. The road zig-zagged north and west for a couple of miles, and we scared up a few deer. Before too long the road got narrower and twisty, and suddenly became not much more than a seasonal snowmobile trail. It got sandy fast, and it took my buddy and I a few minutes to find the best speed and technique.

To put it mildly, our tires were not ideal for the conditions. The KLR is shod with Shinko 700's front and back, and my DR350 sports an experimental combination of a TKC80 on the front, with a Pirelli Scorpion A/T on the rear. I suppose you could charitably describe the KLR setup as having a "70/30" street-to-dirt bias, while my DR350 set-up is probably more like a 90/10, street-to-dirt ratio.

Tire selection aside, we had an absolute blast. My buddy Patrick is getting back into dual-sporting after a 30-year hiatus, and I'm a casual woods/trail rider at best. We're both 50 years old and more than a little out of shape, but we both had a heck of a good time trying to stay upright on the sandy trails.

Here's Patrick enjoying the view from the top of a big hill:

After a few miles of relatively open, cross-country trails, we entered a hilly, wooded section of the trail, that stretched for approximately 5-6 miles. This section was a lot of fun, and included a lot of rocky/sandy uphill blasts, together with plenty of sandy whoops and high-speed, uphill twists and turns.

The woods gradually got denser, and the trails became tighter and sandier. The uphill sections became progressively more difficult, and for some reason Patrick began to lay his bike on it's side a lot, as if to give it time to rest

Here's a shot of one such section, which we nicknamed, "Old Man Hill", because that's exactly how we felt after battling to the top.

Right after cresting Old Man Hill, the woods suddenly got very tight, and the soil a little blacker and firmer. Whomever is maintaining these trails is doing a fantastic job. The trail began twisting back on itself in a series of super-tight loops, and every corner was banked up like a well-groomed motocross track. You couldn't go fast, but a smooth throttle hand and a good line through these corners resulted in a very fun ride. This section of the trails went on for miles and miles.

Here's a shot of me, taken just before we entered this section of the trail. Ladies, please control your animal urges.

Unfortunately the tight trails through the woods eventually gave way to about 2-3 miles of deep sandy chutes, which alternated between scratching and clawing uphill sections, followed by terrifying downhill sections. I pretty much slid through this part completely out of control. This part of the trail was murder. Luckily, we came across a short section of paved road that took us to our destination in the nearby town of St. Helen, Michigan. The total distance covered on this outbound leg of our ride was 42 miles, of which maybe 3-4 miles was paved road, 3-4 dirt road, and the remainder was all trail riding.

We had a great lunch at The Peach Pit in St. Helen, then took paved roads back to West Branch, and back down to Gladwin.

I'll try and post a few more pictures when my buddy emails me the ones he took.

All in all it was a great ride. Our bikes were certainly not the best weapons for the job, but we had big fun nonetheless. We plan to explore the MCCCT further on our next trip.

Hey Coop, how's it going? Still exploring the hills and dales of Wisconsin?

Phil

Thank Klay,

I actually know this guys other web pages. He lives only an hour or two drive from me. Small world.

BandA'd

EVERYONE should read this ride report. Toronto to Inuvik on a Honda step-thru in 1978 with equipment primitive compared to today. Mind boggling....at the time he did it, I was riding the blue ridge parkway on Yamaha RD400 and thinking it was a massive trip....doing motels.....my ride was trivial compared to this guy!!

An inmate makes these, based on the same principle. Use Heet, found at any gas station for fuel.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431851&highlight=stever+stove

I've used alcohol stoves in the past. I don't think they beat using a small wood stove (twigs) or camp fire in the long run. But I guess it depends on where you are and the resources your have. I have a small pressure stove that uses gas (the same my motorcycle uses), but I always love a small campfire or my bushbuddy stove instead. I always have access to wood or other combustible items where I live. Alcohol has it's place.

For compact cooking solution I have one word to say.

Trangia.


I got my first one age 6 in cub scouts. I still use it 25 years later.
I upgraded to the hard anodised pots. But that was purely out if desire for fancy new kit rather than any need. The rest of the stove is still going strong.
It works at any temperature or altitude. It also works well in the wind. In fact probably the best stove for bad weather cooking.
I use methyl hydrate as fuel. In Europe I used methylated spirits (the purple stuff) methyl hydrate is great as it burns clean. With methylated spirits it should be 10% watered down to prevent soot.

It can cook everything from water to full meals such as gormet made from scratch curries. I cook the rice, cover the pot and then cook the meat and veg and then make the curry sauce. All from scratch in two pots.
Camping does not have to = eating boiled in the bag crap everyday.

I just got one of those from Amazon. Took a month to get here from China, but it was 5 or 6 bucks.

Since we are on the camp stove topic.

I have been using my alcohol stove for 4 years now. It is still going strong.

The base is this Stanley cup I bought.


Everything fits inside, and I still have a fair bit of space inside. I will probably pack my coffee and tea in there also:


I use an alcohol burner with a homemade pot stand:


Here is the entire setup in cooking mode. I still have to put some holes in the windscreen(it is made from an oven liner).


Alcohol stove in action:


I only have $16 in the entire setup.
I could get it lighter by switching to an aluminum or Ti cookpot and spoon.

I have been using a variety of Optimus/Seva stoves for backpacking and climbing since the mid 70s. However, its no longer possible to take these stoves on any trip involving air travel due to the prohibition on transporting stoves in luggage. I had never heard of Trangia stoves before...which is amazing in its self. The last trip I took, I went backpacking in the badlands. I ended up using a soda can with chemical heat tabs. Not very effective. Due to the nature of a Tranzia, it can be cleaned and shipped in luggage and Rubbing Alcohol can be bought almost anywhere.
Thanks for the useful suggestion.

Phil, exploring there every chance I get. In Cleveland this weekend for a graduation, 'explored' Cleveland Moto yesterday; not my usual riding connection but lots of fun.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

This is an excellent thread. I returned to motorcycling a few years ago after taking 20 years off while my kids were growing up. I bought a Yamaha Custom V Star 650 but found such a road bike boring and cumbersome. I sold it and bought a new Yamaha XT250.

This past September, I had some study sites out in central Kansas so I hauled my XT out on a trailer, did my work and then took a few days to explore the Flint Hills. The Flints consist of a north-south running ridge of limestone which contain numerous nodules of flint/chert. The limestone has been eroded and dissolved over millennial, leaving behind thin soils loaded with flint which were too poor to cultivate. The native long grass prairie was spared from destruction by the plow. The area ended up being used for ranching leaving huge areas of open land and long grass. The area is traversed by a net work of "Minimum Maintenance Roads" (MMRs). Most of these are nothing more than rough trails. They see "maintenance" one every 10 years or so. Some are so rough, you could not get a jeep down them. The country is so open, you could fire a rifle in any direction and not hit anything...and no one would hear the shot.

Due to the paucity of trees, early settlers used rock as a primary building material. Therefore there are well preserved ruins from the 1800s. State Route 177 runs along the crest of the Flint Hills. Council Grove is a good staging area at the north end of the Flints. Any direction off 177 is a good direction. Also the National Tall Grass Prairie Preserve is located on 177 where there are buffalo wandering around. Other ADV riders have reported seeing wild horses in the Flint Hills.

There is a camp ground at the Chase County State Park, immediately west of Cotton Wood Falls. I found that I could just camp off the MMRs. However I chose not to use light, fire or anything that made noise. There is zero light pollution and the night sky is as spectacular as the landscape.

I didn't bother with a map or GPS - just a Silva compass. I recommend carrying extra fuel. A nylon tarp, heat tab stove, mummy bag, some freeze dried chow and a tire repair kit - carried in a set of Wolfman Teton Saddle Bags along with some extra fuel. I used my camera tripod as a tent pole for the tarp.

I recommend a post trip dinner at the Hayes House in Counsel Bluffs. Its an old inn along the Sante Fe Trail that serves great local beef. If you have cash to spare and want to stay in a historic hotel, the Cottage House is the best choice - albeit a bit "Foo-Foo". There is an inexpensive hotel on the west end of town, but reviewers say that its pretty grungy.

Nice outline describing that area. Wish it was closer!

Thanks for posting.

More pix's maybe?


.

I've been using homemade alcohol stoves for years. For moto camping and backpacking. There are lots of different styles on zenstoves.com

After trying several different ones I settled on the original pepsican stove. The "penny" stove is a cool design and good when it's cold out, but if you wrap it in a wind screen it overheats and burns itself out very quickly. You can make a catfood style stove on the spot with any small can and a pocketknife or something like a nail to poke holes.

You can buy alcohol (ethanol) in any hardware store. It's with the paint thinners. Heet is methanol I believe.

I cook on a fire a lot, but it's nice to have one of these stoves if you just want to make some coffee or something quickly.