WI Dual Sport Rides?

[yellow]

Just saw a thread mentioning the UP safari
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111703

Noob question, Does anyone know of any rides or routes in WI as well. perhaps in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Looking for ideas for the new year. The UP safari definitely looks good.

yellow

[rokklym]

Originally Posted by yellow

Just saw a thread mentioning the UP safari
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111703

Noob question, Does anyone know of any rides or routes in WI as well. perhaps in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Looking for ideas for the new year. The UP safari definitely looks good.

yellow

UP Safari report
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87081

OK, We've got the Big Woods spring ride in Wabeno on June 9,10, & 11
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106398

Then there might be the Enduraid rally which is normally is in June also. Last year it was held in The Chequamegon near Perkinstown
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...light=enduraid

&
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...light=enduraid

Then we might have the Great river Gravel ride, a 4-500 mile mostly off pavement route were working on through SW Wisconsin & NE Iowa
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107787

Then theres the Clark & Jackson county trails which you can do on your own, theres a bunch of pics on this site from that area if you use the search button.

Theres also the Big Woods 200 in September in Wabeno.

[little john]

hey yellow, how big a bike you looking to ride? the safari thing is cool but another option is hit some of the single track stuff in MI. we did that last august and had a ball. threw 2 bikes in the enclosed trailer whent to Witch lake rode the loop and went to Baraga and rode there . stayed at a nat forest camp ground on the cheap and slept in the trailer. rode 3 days and never saw anyone on bikes other than our group. My personal prefreance would be to take a gazateer draw a line fron Iron Mtn to Big Bay and start linking Forest service roads and trails from that line west. Less sand, more woods. just an FYI if you do that and are riding ATV trails becareful of water crossings , there are places that will go to the bars on a drz400. my cousin proved that, not a pretty sight! We are heading up on a scouting mission in 2 weekes. later little john

[ride no evo]

dont forget the West Bend ride, slated for late October '06

[rboett]

hey yellow,

I'm moving to Milwaukee from Tampa. I'm in cheese/beer/braut land now, the family and bike are down south
I'm runnin' a R1100gs, a littel older then the pig/dog you ride.

I used to live in lacrosse, the amazing coulee region (roklym you suck in vestbe der) probably the best place in the midwest for twisties and dirt (flame on you ff's). I think the other side of the river, iowa and Mn have more dirt though. Just an observation, probably wrong.

Hopefully I can do the Gravel ride when it comes up.

I need to get a new delorme map of cheeseland, great map. Mine's about 10 years old.

When I start looking for off-road in WIZ i run into info in certain counties for what appears to be one step down from fire roads.
Being that I'm not that skilled in dirt riding a giant gummekow, and FL makes me want to bog down in sand, I find it has been tough finding info for great 'gravel' or fireroads that I can do some dirt cruising. studying the delorme maps have been the greatest resource for this.

If your up for a Sprecher PM me, I'm up north here killing time.
any other milwaukians up for a brew?

[rokklym]

Originally Posted by rboett

I used to live in lacrosse, the amazing coulee region (roklym you suck in vestbe der) probably the best place in the midwest for twisties and dirt (flame on you ff's). I think the other side of the river, iowa and Mn have more dirt though. Just an observation, probably wrong.

Ya der den. Its obvious you've been to Vestbe!
I think your probably right about this area having the best roads, but I think any of the river areas are great riding. People all over the place know about Wildcat and the Mindoro cut, primo places for flying under the radar.

Originally Posted by rboett

Hopefully I can do the Gravel ride when it comes up.

Sounds good!

[rboett]

Mindoro cut rocks!!!!! I used to live in Onalaska. any time i wanted to blow off steam for an hour it was out through Holmen and over to the cut.

Inteseting story; The Mindoro cut was done completely was carved with hand tools and horse-drawn equipment in 1907 and 1908.
from la crosse tribune:

By ED HOSKIN / La Crosse Tribune
MINDORO, Wis. - The scenic gorge that cuts through a sandstone ridge between Mindoro and West Salem on Hwy. 108 has long been considered a feat of human toil and ingenuity from a bygone era.

Carved with hand tools and horse-drawn equipment in 1907 and 1908, the Mindoro Cut is one of the oldest and largest hand-hewn cuts in the nation. In a bid to preserve it, an effort is under way to place it on both the Wisconsin Register of Historical Places and the National Register of Historic Places.

"It's so unique," said Joan Dolbier, who owns land around the cut and is working with her husband, John, to get the historical designation. "It's quite a feat. It's mind-boggling to think the work was done by hand by local people.

"The men came from all over," she said. "They worked daily and were paid cash at the end of each day. Some of them came back and some didn't. It was hard work."

The cut was built to improve travel between West Salem and Mindoro. Before its construction, the communities were connected by a pioneer town road about a mile east of the cut, and by another road that ran along the entire ridge from Onalaska to the town of Burns.

At 86 feet long, 74 feet deep and 25 feet wide, the cut was thought for many years to be the second-largest hand-hewn cut in America. However, the largest hand-hewn cut in the nation, in Ohio, was later altered and reduced in size, Dolbier said.

"We probably have the largest one because ours has not changed," she said.

Placing the cut on the both the state and national registers would require greater analysis and an invitation for public input were the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to ever decide to widen the highway. The hill is owned by three people, Dolbier said.

Aside from preservation issues, the cut deserves such recognition as a visitor attraction and as an important piece of local history along the winding highway, Dolbier said. Photographs, detailed maps and a written history of the cut are being put together with the help of Barbara Kooiman of the Mississippi Valley Archeological Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

"Listing it on the National Register of Historic Places will put the state in a position where they will look at that," Kooiman said. "They need to pay attention to any impact, and they also are required to ask for public input.

"The process causes (an) agency to analyze the situation," she said. "If there's absolutely no alternative, then it could proceed."

Kooiman said she was not aware of any plans to alter the cut, but "the Dolbiers are taking a proactive stance to see that it's protected."

"It's kind of one of those scenic byways that people go out of their way to check out," Kooiman said. "It's a special feature."

A UW-L history student will begin work on a written history of the cut this spring, and the application will be filed shortly after, Kooiman said.

"I've already talked to staff at the state level, and they were very enthusiastic,' she said. "It will get accepted (at the state), I have no doubt, because it meets the criteria of being listed."

Aside from the cut itself, history lines both rock walls in the form of names, initials, dates and rough artwork carved by many visitors over nearly a century.

"It's part of its colorful character, I think," Dolbier said. "There are some old ones. My mother tells me that was the big thing when she was young, and she was born in 1908."

Moss grows in some of the etchings, and snow fills others in winter, giving the rock walls a dab of color.

[rokklym]

OK, heres a couple to bring back some memories.


and


Thats a fun road. even on the DS bikes with knobbies! there is another section of road thats alot of fun just north of the cut and a few years ago one of my co-workers borrowed his friends Honda 919 and wadded it up on one of the corners...what a friend!

[rboett]

great pics.
What I'd like to know is how many turns up and down the hill.

I think you need to suit up and count them this week-end.

[little john]

Ok if you guys are getting the bikes out this weekend come to Madison at noon to do the 40something annual new years day ride . it leaves from the capitol square at noon. I will not be riding the ATK this year being I have the suspension off the bike , and just found out today I tore muscles on both sides of the sholder. YEA!!!! later little john

[rboett]

Originally Posted by little john

Ok if you guys are getting the bikes out this weekend come to Madison at noon to do the 40something annual new years day ride . it leaves from the capitol square at noon. I will not be riding the ATK this year being I have the suspension off the bike , and just found out today I tore muscles on both sides of the sholder. YEA!!!! later little john

Where does it end up?
My gs is in FL, but could jeep it over to madison. Pick you up an quaff a few.
Might help the shoulders.
I need something to do this weekend, no bike,

Guess I need a beer,,, after all this vodka....

[rokklym]

Originally Posted by rboett

great pics.
What I'd like to know is how many turns up and down the hill.

I think you need to suit up and count them this week-end.

Heck, I can do that right from my chair!
http://www.wisconsinmotorcycling.com/maps/mindoro.html



then ya got Wildcat




Wildcat is fairly twisty, but its something like 28 turns in 3 miles, and thats what Deals Gap aveages per mile! Of course this could be ridden faster i'm sure.

[rboett]

wildcat rocks too!!.

Guess I'm due for a trip back to 'god's country' as you all call it, maybe more like 'GS country'.

for me it was M out of Onalaska then 33 through cashton to wildcat.

also down 61 /27 then east and west up and down the bluffs to 35 by the river.

when i first got my GS I did 12,000 local miles one summer/year, for me that was alot.. My 8 mile commute was actually 50 miles each way. Gets foggy in the bottoms early morning. Boss was wondering where I was, so was the wifey

[2whlrcr]

Is that WildCat road somewhere near Sparta/Elroy bike trail? I think I wandered onto it once years ago. A neat stretch of road.

[yellow]

Originally Posted by little john

hey yellow, how big a bike you looking to ride? the safari thing is cool but another option is hit some of the single track stuff in MI. we did that last august and had a ball. threw 2 bikes in the enclosed trailer whent to Witch lake rode the loop and went to Baraga and rode there . stayed at a nat forest camp ground on the cheap and slept in the trailer. rode 3 days and never saw anyone on bikes other than our group. My personal prefreance would be to take a gazateer draw a line fron Iron Mtn to Big Bay and start linking Forest service roads and trails from that line west. Less sand, more woods. just an FYI if you do that and are riding ATV trails becareful of water crossings , there are places that will go to the bars on a drz400. my cousin proved that, not a pretty sight! We are heading up on a scouting mission in 2 weekes. later little john

Thanks for all the info. Little John, I'll be on a '04 R1150GS....only bike I got.

Rboett - a beer sounds good i'll have to PM ya soon.

As for the Delorme atlas....it is great. My first ride over 60miles (yep this bike is my first) was the Minny to Mil run ....a reverse off the M2M. ended up doing the cut...DAMN! What a great initiation to sickles. Anyway got home and wanted to mark the routed down on a map. Want to the map store and asked for a statewide map with detail of the Delorme. "No problem, we did one last week for a guy...hmmm $1200." Well that was too much for me, so I got two Delormes and cut them up. Fit together pretty well. Laminating it now... pretty cool way to see the state. Mark rides for Sickles and bicycles. It will be 12'X11'. If anyone wants to plan a ride. More then willing to share.