3-14 – 3-17 ATV ride in WV
3-14-13 started off good. I get off work around noon and drove to Williamson KY. Willy and I had diner there at some place called “The Steakhouse”. It was up on a hill near their mall. From there we drove onto Delbarton WV to Split Pine Lodging. This place was peaceful and remote. I did not have a cell phone signal there. The place we stayed in was a trailer home. It would have slept 6 men with ease. We cooked up a meal of hamburgers and chicken on Friday night on the grill.
1st a few common things about all the systems we rode on:
1: the trails were mostly (about 70%) groomed.
2: the trails were marked VERY GOOD!
3: the trails where classed fairly well. They had green (Easy) Blue (Medium) Black (Challenging) and red/black (MOST Difficult)
4: Most trails were cleared of downed trees and such
3-15-13 Friday (Rockhouse)
We trailered and drove to Man WV to a trailhead. I think we hit the trails near 8am this day. We rode about 60 miles and where back at the trailhead at 5:30pm. One very exciting this was a trail ride on # 93. Yep, it was a red/black trail. I had bowed out and planned to meet them at the intersection of 93 and 10. When I got there the end on the trail was VERY steep! There was no way in you know what I was going up that or down that. It broke my walking up it rule by 125%.
When they came to this one, we spoke via radios. I offered to go back if they could to where we split up. When I see Jason (Man of Steel) coming down. Granted he only came down a small section. Then he climbed back up to help Matt. He climbed back up to help Willy too. By this time I knew they were in trouble. I proceeded to walk (almost craw) up the hill. It took me 3-4 breaks to get up the hill. I joked and said I had 3-4 heart attacks while climbing it. About 40 minutes later we get to the bottom.
While sitting there along comes some riders from Charleston SC. We chat a bit and tell them how bad this hill is. You can not even see the top of it! One of their people in their group takes off up the stupid hill. We can barely watch. We all say he may get killed! He gets about 75% up the hill and gets in a BAD way. His buddies just sit there and look dumb. We all tell them they had better get up there and help him.
Surprising, they just sit there. About this time we up and decide we do not want to see this fellow get killed. So, we tell them (there were about 7 of them) one more time and we leave. While we are leaving 2 of them head up the hill to help their friend.
Later from a distance we spot them coming down the hill with their friend. We all joke that they voted him off the island and un friend him from Facebook.
We had lunch in Gilbert WV at the Happy Days Café. What I got was awesome.
The weather this day was super. It was a touch cool but no rain.
3-16-13 Bearwallow
We hit the trails near 8am this day. I think we rode about 40 miles on this day. The weather was too good on this day. Yep, we had planned on cold and a tad wet. But, thankfully, we got warm and sunny. The only problem with this is we all over dressed. My feet felt like they were on fire. I got down to just a T shirt by the days end.
The riding here was a touch different. We rode some tight trails. There was a slate pile that was fun to ride. We had lunch out on the trails.
On this system there were several black trails and several blue ones. Sadly, towards the middle of the day my wrist began to hurt like a tooth ache. We did 2 hard (black) trails and the impact on my wrist was too much. I kept to the green and blue trail the rest of the day. Now, this system was my favorite of all 3 that we rode. Granted, we did fewer miles but they were of better quality.
3-17-13 Buffalo MTN
Sadly this was our last day to ride. We did 30 miles in total. I hate rain. It rained to start off the day. Plus, I get my rain suite out and it is sized wrong or I am too fat. Maybe both were a factor. I could not fit into my rain suite. So, I borrow (later I buy) Matt’s extra suite. We rode up to an intersection with an old open pit mine. From there we proceed to a play area with terrific views. Then, sadly we run out of time. We had all planned on being back at the truck near 2pm. We were roughly an hour away from the truck and had 2 more stops we wanted to make. Thankfully I had ridden this system before. The weather was cool and wet! Did I mention I hated rain? Had it not rained we could have gotten in about 55 miles and we wanted to include a lunch in Matewan. Time got the best of us.
My overall impression of the riding there is a positive one. I am so happy such systems exist and I am blessed to be able to ride them. The trip was made better by being with friends. Yes indeed! We had a good time. I recall one lady about duck under a table when I said to Jason “that shirt makes you look fat”. She turned a shade of grey when I said that. We ribbed each other all weekend. We had a good meal cooked at the trailer on Friday night. Plus, they lady that owned the place cooked us an apple pie. I would rate the overall trip as a 9.
