S.E. Ohio Ramble - anybody gonna organize one?

[Greg E.]

If late may is the time, I might be able to make it down from NNY. It would be my first distance outing on my new FJR.

 

[timk]

i live in SE Ohio, and know a lot of roads around here and WVa, as I live about 6 miles from WVa. Trouble is, I don't know when the hell I'm going to be home. Already have Charlotte, Myrtal Beach, Nova Scotia, Wisconsin on the bike and Sedona,Arizona by plane. If I ain't out of town, I'll be there.

 

[drc32-0]

Hey timk...I spent most of the summer working at the Mitchell power plant about 25 miles south of you.Stayed at Van Dyne's motel in Shadyside.I took advantage of the opportunity to explore the local roads nearly every night and I must say you have some mighty fine roads in your neck of the woods.I'll have to meet up with you some day...I'm over in Zanesville.But like you,I spend a lot of time traveling.

 

[wheatonFJR]

So far...no one has stepped up to organize this....

....SO I DON'T THINK THE OHIO RAMBLE IS HAPPENING THIS YEAR. So this THREAD is 40 posts about nothing I guess.

I plan on visiting SE Ohio April 20-22nd if anyone is interested in riding together that weekend. PM me if that is the case.

 

[timk]

Hey timk...I spent most of the summer working at the Mitchell power plant about 25 miles south of you.Stayed at Van Dyne's motel in Shadyside.I took advantage of the opportunity to explore the local roads nearly every night and I must say you have some mighty fine roads in your neck of the woods.I'll have to meet up with you some day...I'm over in Zanesville.But like you,I spend a lot of time traveling.

Know the power plant well, I worked at the McElroy mine for almost 34 years. I suppose you had the great breakfasts at Van Dynes by the bridge????

 

[wheatonFJR]

...I plan on visiting SE Ohio April 20-22nd if anyone is interested in riding together that weekend. PM me if that is the case.

FYI.....

I am planning on basing my rides from Athens, OH. I am planning on staying at the Day's Inn or camping locally if the weather is good. Riding in friday, getting there evening. Riding all day Saturday. Leaving for home Sunday after breakfast.

Anyone?

 

[Greg E.]

As I said earlier in this thread, I'd ride down from NNY, but I can't until late May. Sorry. I'd sure like to get some miles in, but my ancient Honda isn't up for the trip down and I won't have the FJR until mid-May.

-GSE-

 

[Heet]

...I plan on visiting SE Ohio April 20-22nd if anyone is interested in riding together that weekend. PM me if that is the case.

FYI.....

I am planning on basing my rides from Athens, OH. I am planning on staying at the Day's Inn or camping locally if the weather is good. Riding in friday, getting there evening. Riding all day Saturday. Leaving for home Sunday after breakfast.

Anyone?

I live north of Columbus; I will meet up with you and go for the ride. Let me know when the time gets closer to insure the weather is upto your liking. Last year I got my boat out of storage and drove home in the snow in four wheel drive.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I live north of Columbus; I will meet up with you and go for the ride. Let me know when the time gets closer to insure the weather is upto your liking. Last year I got my boat out of storage and drove home in the snow in four wheel drive.

Heet, I am riding Sat am right after breakfast. You riding down Fri. night or getting up in the wee hours Sat. morn to be down here in Athens?

Well, I will try to post up one or two tentative saturday routes soon.

Weather doesn't need to be good all weekend for me.

No significant rain on Saturday and 50s F temps or above are my parameters for this weekend. I will ride back and forth to Wheaton, IL in the rain if neccessary.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Enclosed is one possible route

...a short one of 233 miles - filled with twisties nonetheless...

50 east to 144s to 50e to 555north

to78 east to 564s to 145e to 78e

to 26w ...

I would probably add a short loop out west on rt 56 to Thompson Ridge Road to fill out the day.

 

[wheatonFJR]

One thing about arranging this from faraway in Illinois is not knowing the present condition or last known condition of the pavement for these roads.

Anyone want to "scout" some of these roads for me and give a general impression of the pavement quality? It's an "awful" assignment I know, but is anyone up for it?

If not, can anyone give an impression from last riding season?

Also, if anybody else from IN or OH or elsewhere want to join in for a little riding in April for the weekend listed above...give me a PM or post here.

 

[tstaff]

Hi Mark,

You need to go 10 miles further east on 78, then take 536 south to the river, you won't be sorry.

Then you could run 800 north to 26......I can't wait for winter to end!

I'll be on some of those roads as soon as the weather let's up, I'll keep you posted on road quality.

Tom

 

[wheatonFJR]

Hi Mark,You need to go 10 miles further east on 78, then take 536 south to the river, you won't be sorry.

Then you could run 800 north to 26......I can't wait for winter to end!

I'll be on some of those roads as soon as the weather let's up, I'll keep you posted on road quality.

Tom

Thanks Tom.

 

[Geezer]

So, who is planning to join Wheatie and Heet on this ramble? I have absolutely no vacation left unscheduled for the year but I might be able to cut out early on Friday and get there late Friday night and leave on Sunday.

 

[wheatonFJR]

So, who is planning to join Wheatie and Heet on this ramble? I have absolutely no vacation left unscheduled for the year but I might be able to cut out early on Friday and get there late Friday night and leave on Sunday.

Hi Geezer. You're definitely welcome to join us - it would be great if you could. However, knowing the great history of the Rambles put on by mcarp/yamaholic...this is not a Ramble...or even a ramble "little r". This would be an informal group ride. I am not even sure who would lead a group ride here as whenever I lead - the riding pace is a sedate pace "yawn" (see trinibob's cfo 2005 video). These would not be familiar roads for me...nor would I know what condition they are.

That being said...I just want to visit those roads once again. Anyone else who wants to come who is a careful and conscientious group rider is welcome. There are no t-shirts, discounted hotel rates, or in-depth knowledge of the area. I just have a gazetteer map & MS S&T for ride planning...and my FJR for ridin'. :yahoo: :clapping:

 

[wheatonFJR]

Here is a 270 mile route that starts out the same as the first route but also has some of rt 83 to the north coming back down on the northern part of 555 cutting over west to the Thompson Ridge Road/Hocking Hills loop to the west of Athens. Earlier Ohio Ramblers would recognize that loop...

 

[drc32-0]

Wheaton...I'd love to go on this ride with ya but I'm loading up the FJR and heading to California Monday.If I make it back by ride time I'll meet up with ya.

If you take Tom's suggestion and take 536 to the river(which I strongly second),you should consider going North on 7 to Clarington and take 556 to Beallsville.From Beallsville you're just a short ride back to 800.

These roads are very twisty with a lot of elevation changes so they might be dirty from winter.If I'm back I'd be happy to scout for ya,but I can't promise that I'll be back.

 

[timk]

Today I went down SR7,picked up SR536(141 turns,11.7 mi HS sweepers to 15mph,moderate elevation change, as most all near the river),to 78 to 800. All roads in great shape, except for the ashes still there. Couple of good rains, and all should be great. Don't know how far North you guys are coming from Athens. Haven't done much in that area, but most everyone says pick SR"s with 3 digits,head to the river, and you can't go wrong. Maybe gonna do SR"9,147,148,149 tomorrow. Two out of the 3 can be picked up at Bellaire. Just a FYI, we had some pretty bad flooding not too long ago, most all roads that were damaged received fresh pavement after major repair work.

 

[wheatonFJR]

@timk: thanks for the scouting report. Are you gonna be around to go riding April 20-22?

@drc32-0: Thanks for the offer and advice. Hope yer back from Kali in time...Stay as long as you want..HAVE FUN!!

EDIT: HOLY CRAP! I didn't read the "loading up the FJR" part. Have a great trip! Have lots of fun out on your travels

 

[wheatonFJR]

Okay, last route posting...

I think I have a pretty good route figured out...as long as the roads shown are in good condition. Here is the overall route...

Starting out from the Athens Day's Inn, heading east on some easy US 50 & rt 144 to get used to each other's riding styles. The head north on 555! Then take a breather while heading east on 550 and 7 to Marieta. We then pick up 26 east/north from there...taking a break somewhere at about the 2hour mark...the west half of the route shown below...

continuing east on 26 to 145 east to 556 east to Clarington. East half of the route is shown below...

At Clarington, we will only have done about 147 miles and it will be time for lunch. You Ohio locals will have to give recommendations for eating establishments in this area...

From Clarington, south on rt 7 to 536 north to rt 78 west to 145 south to 564 north to rt 78 west again. We'll probably take a break around here somewhere (POI 16) as I like to stop after about 2 hours riding to stay "fresh". RT 78 is a really nice scenic and curvy state route...perfect for the afternoon. About 40 miles later, we can stop and decide if you guys are up to doing parts of 555! again. If so, we can take that south to 550 west to Athens Day's Inn. If not, we can continue west on 78 and take either 13 or 33 into Athens.

If you ride this route, you will have had some fun riding.

Now.......who's interested?

I get excited just looking at the curves on that map...having been there a couple times to let me know what those curvy lines mean! I'm coming from 440 miles away to ride these...surely some of you more locally will want a chance to get in on this.

April 20-22, Athens, OH.

Ride in Friday.

Ride all day Saturday. Chill after the ride with some food and beers (or pop) with your new found friends.

Ride home Sunday.

As of 3/11/07: 3 riders, 2 more possibles

wheatonFJR

HEET

timk

POSSIBLES

Geezer

yamaholic

.....who else?

Post up.