Our ride today was about 150 miles. Our motel was in Wellsboro, about 25 miles before the official end of the MABDR and we decided to end the ride there. It was overcast all day and in the 60s, with light rain/mist off and on, a perfect day for off road riding.
We rode as a group, all seven of us, for most of the day today. The route was almost entirely gravel and dirt but the road was generally well maintained and easy to ride, with NO DUST!
Between the seven of us, we probably dropped our bikes a dozen or fifteen times, but with no injuries other than to our egos. All the drops were slow speed, often on turns or when stopping. We encountered some wet and apparently muddy stretches today, but the mud was just surface with a firm gravel roadbed underneath. What felt like fish tailing was just the bikes negotiating the little ruts and ridges of the road.
I was riding along today fairly smug in the fact that I had not dropped my bike, at least not on the MABDR (more on that later). And then it happened. Negotiating a fairly sharp uphill right turn, but nothing technical. I should have been slipping the clutch to control my speed in the slow turn but wasn’t, and the bike stalled midway. I was last in the group at this point so no one saw me. So I tried to get my bike up and catch up, but it was too heavy. So I walked around the turn and looked up the hill to await help from my buddies, but no help appeared. No doubt they thought I had stopped to take pictures which, as it turned out, I had! So I made another effort to right the bike, this time by backing up to the bike, with my butt against the saddle, holding the handlebar and the rear luggage rack, and I worked it up and over on the side stand. No damage to the bike. I got on and caught up with the group with no one the wiser.
In today’s diffused overcast light, with mist and fog in the air, and the moisture on the leaves contributing a shiny cast, the forest was magical. We were in the midst of it all enjoying the phenomenal experience – I almost expected to see a leprechaun pop out from behind a tree.
Thankfully, not all of the road today was that lovely Pennsylvania, well-maintained gravel. We encountered a few rocky sections but nothing too technical. It was fun to have some variation in the road surface and the terrain today.
Sometimes the fog and diffused light created kind of an ethereal feeling. It was a perfect day for riding, and Mike was eagerly taking it in.
We got our bikes dusty or sometimes a little muddy on the trip, but the rain the last couple of days washed it off. But today we got a nice coating again, kind of a frosting on the cake, and I’m a bit reluctant to wash it off right away. So I’ll take it home with me.
Coop did a masterful job organizing and leading the ride. He laid out the sections we would ride each day, found accommodations and made reservations for all of us, distributed GPS files for the ride, and then managed to keep our group of independently minded individuals together. It made for a memorable experience.