New Binghamton NY member

[ccs]

Grew up in Vestal but living in Binghamton now. Started riding around 1970 on a Honda Mini Trail and a El Burro Sand N Sno.
Went through a bunch of bikes before losing touch with riding due to career.

20 years,a house and two kids later I've been getting back in the saddle on a more regular bassis.

My main rides are a '79 RM125 and a battered '74 TS400(great when there's more than 2 inches of snow on the ground). Plus a '81 Honda Express SR for the kids.

Projects in the garage are a '72 Hodaka Ace100 B+, '73 Kawasaki G5, '77 Kawasaki KL250, '66 Yamaha YA6. So I'm sure I'll be asking a lot of questions.

 

[RM_guy]

Welcome to DRN! I live out in Chenango Bridge. Do you trail ride much? I hit Jacksons once in awhile but mostly stick to the trails due to age and feebleness.

I'm in Atlanta today and Tuesday but we should get in touch. I may even know you. I grew up in Endwell and have ridden since the mid 70's. Check out the Damn Yankee Dirt Riders forum for some planned group rides. I say planned but it's more like the kinda fall together.

 

[ccs]

Trail riding is all I do. Mainly because all my riding is spur of the moment.Work and kids keep me pretty much running all the time so whenever it looks like I have a half hour or more free I'll either jump on a bike and hit the tracks at the end of our street(From there I can get to a few trails) or throw it in the back of the truck and head up by BOCES.There's some great trails up there on the mountain.

I used to spend a lot of time in Murphys Gravel Pits.But I'm also a guitar player by trade so when I became a working musician around '83 I disapeared from the riding scene.

I know there's some trails down by Home Depot,or at least used to be.Where do you ride?

 

[RM_guy]

There are some trails out behind my house on some friend's property. Most places around here are off limits to bikes now, even though I used to ride everywhere when I was a kid. Bob Murphy has a track in the pits but it's an invite only deal. The river trails in Endwell are still open I guess but I haven't been there in years. I hear they are kinda crazy and easy to crash into some kid not pay attention.

Can you still ride out on the power lines off of Rt 26? I spent a lot of time there in the 70's. You could ride from rt 26 to the Vestal Parkway.

I did do a lot of riding at Paragon in PA but since it's closed down I've been to Tower City and Lost Trails in PA.

 

[ccs]

That's cool about Murphy having a private track. It was like the wild west in there back in the 70's. We used to go to the bottom of Jensen and shoot up over the tracks to get in but I see that's all fenced off now .I took a drive down in there a few weeks ago but nothing looked the same.

I haven't checked the power lines. I forgot about that one. A few spots I did go look at are all filled with houses and streets now. I remember riding where Wegmans is now too,across from the mall. And your right,nothing seemed to be off limits back then. We used to ride from Parkway Suzuki or J&J Kawasaki all the way back through Vestal Center and up the mountain. Sometimes the back roads,sometimes right down the parkway and never really got in much trouble.

If you crossed the bridge into Endicott you had to sidesaddle it so you could hop off fast and pretend you were just pushing.The EPD didn't cut much slack.

I hit the Endwell trails today. A lot different but a fun ride. All the flooding has washed away what I remembered. I parked at the Home Depot and when in that way. As long as you can get in and out of the ravine you have access to the Endwell side of the trails. Lots of nice jumps and stuff but it's pretty tight in areas and it would be easy to clip a tree.