First Dirt

As I write this, I have about 80,000 motorcycle miles under my belt on 4 bikes. 90% of these miles are on pavement. Most recently, when I tour on my Goldwing, I studiously avoid the unpaved. It is a heavy, comfortable bike designed to eat miles on long trips. It is not meant to wallow in gravel. 

Recently, however, I  was fortunate to acquire a KTM 890 Adventure bike. This bike comes from the legacy of the Paris-Dakar and round-the-world trips through parts of the world where pavement is more absent than present. Personally, I plan to explore the forest and service roads of NY and PA and then perhaps explore the Northeast Backcountry Discovery Route or the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route. But how and where to start. I know how to find roads but how to find the unpaved?

So, to get my dirt legs, so to be speak, I set of for an afternoon mini-adventure. I made up an algorithm. When you come to a road that is in worse condition than the one you are on, take it.

Now, I live at the edge of town, near the NY/PA so I suspected this wouldn't take long. 

Within 5 miles of my house, I found a paved road but one with not insignificant gravel and debris guarding it's orifice. This road wound over a few hills. A great road that even the Goldwing would manage well. 

Another mile and I see an oil and chip road. Oil and chip is the poor man's pavement. A tank truck sprays a thick black oil down and a dump truck follows behind laying an even coat of loose gravel onto the oil. Traffic, with time, will push the stones into the oil making pavement. This takes time and loose gravel, especially at the edges is common.

A mile in, I am completely lost. The middle of nowhere. The pavement ends. This is where the wild things are.

I am surprisingly calm. I would have studiously avoided getting myself into this situation on my touring bikes. Illogically, I think the abilities of the bike will replace my lack of skill. Well, you have to learn sometime.

I switch the bike to off-road mode and forge on. I see another road to my left. It is completely soft with patches of loose, deep sand. It is the Morocco segment of my Paris-Dakar. I take it. It is a construction road.

Perfect. It turns out it leads to a quarry of some kind. 

Heaven. This is the noob's dirt garden. So I spent about a half hour exploring every nook and cranny of the place. It had every kind of off road terrain on which to practice. I couldn't have asked for better.

I left the quarry after a half hour or so, breathing harder than I would have expected. But I can tell you, for sure, there was a dirt eating grin on my face. 

I headed out on the unpaved road, passing deer near state game lands and beavers by brooks.

I continued down to Stanley Lake and before I know it, the pavement is back. 

The deed is done. I have my dirt legs. There are no boundaries, borders or limits. Just road; paved and unpaved. Enjoy the ride.