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- Week First group dual sport ride of 2022

klaviator

Scooter Trash
Joined
Feb 8, 2022
Member Number
431
Posts
3,216
Location
Alabama
I am very happy to be living in North Alabama. We have a very active group of riders and year round riding weather. While we can ride year round it can be a little marginal for longer rides in the winter months unless you are a real hard core cold weather rider. My normal rule of thumb is to look for days it will get above 50 for longer rides. We finally had that forecast last Saturday so I set up a ride. While we have some good DS in Alabama we often go just across the state line into Tennessee.

Our meeting spot was at the only gas station in the tiny town of Taft. We had five riders show up.

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The dual sport riding in the area wouldn't satisfy the hard core "dirt bikes with lights" crowd but I like the mix of paved and gravel roads. Many of the paved roads are what I call "paved goat trails" Yes they are paved but also narrow, rough and often not what most people would want to ride their street bikes on. We headed of on a nice twisty road. We don't ride like we are in a parade. Everyone rides their own pace and we wait at all turns. I take advantage of those stops to take pics.

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Sometimes I take pics while riding.

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Or I take pics over my shoulder while riding. This can be tricky when bouncing around on a gravel road.

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I am very happy to be living in North Alabama. We have a very active group of riders and year round riding weather. While we can ride year round it can be a little marginal for longer rides in the winter months unless you are a real hard core cold weather rider. My normal rule of thumb is to look for days it will get above 50 for longer rides. We finally had that forecast last Saturday so I set up a ride. While we have some good DS in Alabama we often go just across the state line into Tennessee.

Our meeting spot was at the only gas station in the tiny town of Taft. We had five riders show up.

P2190003 (2).JPG


The dual sport riding in the area wouldn't satisfy the hard core "dirt bikes with lights" crowd but I like the mix of paved and gravel roads. Many of the paved roads are what I call "paved goat trails" Yes they are paved but also narrow, rough and often not what most people would want to ride their street bikes on. We headed of on a nice twisty road. We don't ride like we are in a parade. Everyone rides their own pace and we wait at all turns. I take advantage of those stops to take pics.

P2190005 (2).JPG


Sometimes I take pics while riding.

P2190012 (2).JPG


Or I take pics over my shoulder while riding. This can be tricky when bouncing around on a gravel road.

P2190011 (2).JPG
 
This is rural Tennessee, farm country. While not deep in a national forest there is very little traffic on these roads.

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more pics at a stop.

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Luckily it rained two days earlier so the gravel roads weren't too dusty.

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My idea of dual sport riding is to enjoy both the paved as well as unpaved parts of the ride. There are some nice paved roads in the area.

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Typical middle Tennessee road.

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Another over the shoulder shot.

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The Royal Enfield Himalayan is popular around here.

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Natalee was on the smallest bike of the group, a DR200.

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They built a new bridge here but never completely removed the old one. This on has floor left but there are a few around that do.

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Most of the roads around here aren't real challenging but I enjoy the scenery.

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We have to stop a lot to re group.

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But we never have to wait long.

This is a helmet you can't help but notice!

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Here comes the rest of the group.

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We stopped at one of our favorite places for lunch in this area.

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This place is literally in the "middle of nowhere". The building was built in the late 1800s. If you notice the sign it says: OLD DELINA COUNTRY STOR. There wasn't enough room on the sign for the E in store so this became the official name of the place. It is a popular place for riders and sometimes other groups like vintage car clubs. When it gets warmer the place is often packed with riders. Despite the chilly weather there were some riders just leaving as we got there.

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The group inside.

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More riding after lunch. I did a little exploring. This was a dead end road.

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.

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Mo dirt.

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.

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This particular road is cursed as we have had all kinds of issues on it. Besides many dropped bikes one guy hit a rock and put a hole in his crankcase. One of the guys on a Himalayan has has multiple issues. On a previous rides he broke his clutch cable. On another he got a bunch of barbed wire wrapped around his rear wheel. On this ride he managed to find some more barbed wire.

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Last edited:
Great pics and RR. That looks like a ton of fun.

What kind of camera are you using?
 
I use an Olympus TG-5. I keep in hanging from a strap around my neck so I can take pics while riding.
Very cool. I want a setup that allows me to take pics easier without taking my phone out and risking loosing it.

I'm going to use an old P&S camera I have along with this retractable lanyard I scavenged from an old point of sale display rack. I got the lanyard idea from Cannonshot.

Lanyard.jpg
 
Very cool. I want a setup that allows me to take pics easier without taking my phone out and risking loosing it.

I'm going to use an old P&S camera I have along with this retractable lanyard I scavenged from an old point of sale display rack. I got the lanyard idea from Cannonshot.

Lanyard.jpg
One thing to keep in mind with point and shoot, or any cameras. If you use them while riding they can be exposed to vibration, dust and sometimes water. After a couple of point and shoots locked up due to grit getting in the lens mechanism I switched to a waterproof camera. Now I don't have to worry about dust or water. This is most important If you ride off the pavement in dusty conditions. On the street you can probably get away with a normal point and shoot as long as you don't use it while raining.
 
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