Kentucky DS Ride
by Terry Nestrick

I have composed a ride report for a Williamsburg, KY DS ride completed 28 to 30DEC06 by Terry Nestrick

[Toxic], Dan Djokovic [Indy] and Neal O'Brien [2big4akdx] ... we basically rode a variety of roads, 2 trackers, trails, streams, mud holes, hills and valleys in the Daniel Boone National Forest west of Williamsburg, KY which is located at KY exit 11 of I-75, approximately 11 miles north of the KY / TN border. The link given below provides an interactive map of the area which can be expanded to illustrate the variety of roads and trails available in the forest area to the west of Williamsburg, KY ... basically we mapped out an area of interest for each of three days riding on Indy's Garmin 60CSx so as to provide an 85 to 110 mile ride, then we took off exploring ... as is common with such rides, many routes proved to be dead ends, others started well and became impassable, some simply were not there any more, others were totally new and very exciting ... but in the end, our goal of seeking a winter reprieve in the form of adventure riding was completely fulfilled. The weather was outstanding all three days ... sunny, temperatures ranging from low the 40s to almost 60 ... we needed cooler weather gear for an early morning start and could delayer throughout the day ... even pavement sections were quite comfortable in the early AM with a decent pair of thermal gloves ... we carried a reasonable assortment of gear to include tire repair implements, common tools and an extra air filter to cover the potential of swamping a bike in one of the many water crossings encountered in this area. Even though this is the low water time of year for KY, we still found streams that were much too deep to safely cross. Tire repair gear is a must as glass and metal fragments are quite common in the forest areas and also in many of the residential areas one must pass through on the way into or out of the forest ... in fact, in our last trip to KY over Thanksgiving, Indy got a rear flat by something that produced a very clean cut through the center of his tire and tube [Teraflex tire with Bridgestone Ultra Heavy Duty tube] ... we had better luck this time though, no flats! Each of our bikes is capable of at least 100 miles on a full tank of fuel for the expected type of riding ... in some cases, depending on where our ride took us, gas stations were not available so appropriate planning was necessary ... only the KDX-200 [2.9 gallon tank] came close to exhausting its fuel supply after a 96 mile ride on day two of the adventure ... under these riding conditions, it appears that the 3.5 gallon tanks on both the WR-450 and the KTM 300 XC-W could easily provide greater than 125 miles range.

For those who might be interested, we opted to get a room at the local Super 8 Motel just off the freeway in Williamsburg ... at a total cost of $50 per night split between the three of us it offered a perfect base from which to ride each day and provided a hot shower and clean bed each night with a complimentary Continental Breakfast each morning to boot! Amazingly, Williamsburg has virtually every brand of fast food known to man available in walking distance from the Motel ... however, only one "sit down" type restaurant, of the Mexican persuasion ... luckily, it is quite good and reasonably priced ... located right next door to the Super 8 as well! One other point, there is a nice Quarter Wash [actually Dollar-and-a-Quarter Wash is more accurate] just over the freeway to the west on 92 ... right on the way home each day ... because of the negative characteristics of multiple coatings of dried-on clay, we stopped each evening and lightened up the bikes by several pounds with a quick spray wash followed by a good chain lubrication with Digilube ... definitely raises the spirits to see your faithful steed emerge from the mud each evening and greet you each morning with a twinkle in her fenders; but now I'm waxing a bit too poetic for many I'm sure ...

Indy [Dan Djokovic] is an expert at planning and conducting such adventure rides by combining his innate sense of direction with an ability to assess aerial photos available on line as further delineated by overlaying roadways and trails which are also available on line. Combining these items with some GPS tracks and ride descriptions posted on the Adventure Rider site he managed to keep us moving regardless of what the terrain had to offer. In fact, if one did not know him, you would swear he lives down there or has ridden down there many times before ... not likely though since he is actually a Canadian whose ancestral lineage in my scientific opinion can be traced back to an extinct breed of homing pigeons! Indy preserved the details of our actual tracks and kept notes on his Garmin regarding many of our planned routes ... if anyone is interested in such information, you can contact him at: <mailto:d2eng@comcast.net>d2eng@comcast.net. We are devoting a series of several 3 to 4 day rides over the next couple of winters to attempt the compilation of a series of GPS routes in the Daniel Boone National Forest which will provide reasonably exciting DS rides without having to suffer some of the complications associated with tough terrain and dead ends encountered when basically riding blind as we did in this particular case.

Basic Area Map of Williamsburg, KY:
Live Search Maps


Bikes:
Indy: [2004?] WR-450
Neal: 1996 KDX-200
Toxic: 2006 KTM 300 XC-W

Photo 1 ... This is our first day's ride ... Neal won't arrive until tomorrow so Indy and I are out testing the waters [+ clay = mud] to the west and south of Williamsburg, KY ... that's him going up the hill, not incredibly steep but far worse than this photo makes it look. We headed into the forest and began following roads and trails which pointed us in a southerly direction as we were planning lunch in Jellico, TN. Naturally, Indy who is an expert rider has a knack for picking the muddiest, steepest, slimiest trails he can find ... here we are climbing up a mountain side on what is labeled a KY road ... just before this shot I barely made it up a deep mud infested switchback only to become entangled in a 3" plastic hose draped across the roadway over the top of a muddy section ... all to the absolute amazement of Indy who always offers such sage advice as: "Why did you take the hardest line?" ... or: "Never stop before clearing an obstacle!" ... all the while I am struggling to get free of whatever situation I have managed to cause by my less than optimum riding skills. We ran into three hunters at this point, it is about 1100 hrs ... they were riding a large utility ATV up to the top of the mountain to go bow hunting for deer.

Photo 2 ... The smile shown here on Indy's face usually appears just before the trail goes totally into the crapper ... we have already been climbing several hundred feet to this point on a road that went from quite muddy to nice gravel ... then, in the distance, you can see the rather interesting route to the top. We explored a short trail off to the left before this hill ... it was a grassy 2T that led directly into a swamp after a few hundred yards ... all just part of the adventure! We left our new hunter friends behind at this point ... their ATV would have had problems climbing this hill.

Photo 3 ... Trail at the top of our first mountain climb ... sort of a cross between a single track ATV trail and a dirt 2T ... although it's difficult to see in this picture, the trail drops off of this mountain, goes through several switchbacks, then climbs up the next mountain centered in the frame. As long as we were at higher elevations the trails were quite dry ... usually hard clay with large rocks present in the surface ... the rocks occasionally formed the entire surface of the trail and gave me plenty of practice climbing and descending rocky stair steps and rock-filled erosion ruts. This area was relatively easy riding and quite fun ... the greatest hazard was spending too much time looking at the scenery ... more than once I nearly ran off the trail after becoming a bit too enamored with the real estate. This trail actually turned out to be a viable route as we later emerged on one of the many National Forest roadways and therefore didn't have to backtrack through the particularly muddy climb previously described. Although not particularly evident in this shot, just off the side of the trail is an extremely steep incline ... perhaps greater than 60 degrees slope most of the time and quite often, a sheer cliff ... therefore staying on the trail is imperative to maintain one's health!

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