- Oct 13, 1999
- 2,807
- 0
The last Turkey Run of the year was probably the best ride I’ve been on in a long time. The King Phillip Trail Riders hosted their annual Rocky Woods Turkey Run near Tauton, MA on Sunday November 10th. For those of you wondering what a Turkey Run is, it’s basically the same as a Dual-Sport ride. This one was quite a bit different though. In addition to the 60.2 miles for bikes with street registration, KPTR was able to string together 50 miles of trail for bikes that only has Massachusetts ORV registration. Additionally the long route included only three miles of paved roads. A few other DRN members just happened to be there. Papakeith showed up with his 500 to ride the ORV loop. DANIEL JOSEPH was there and so was Trail Boss. I also spotted knobbiethrower and rohnman too. Right off the bat I need to apologize to Trail Boss. I had assumed we were going to try and ride together in a large group. I also thought some slower riders were going to be there. Trail Boss followed us into the first section, which was a mix of grass track and typical New England (i.e. lots of rocky) trails. I was trying to keep up with the guy I came with, Al. After the first section we came to a two-track trail going down a pipeline. Al had waited for me, but took off when I came out. I waited for Trail Boss to come out. I swear I saw him pop out onto the pipeline trail before I took off. When we finally turned into the next section, Trail Boss wasn’t behind me. I waited a little bit before taking off to try and catch Al. Hopefully Trail Boss isn’t too mad at me, but I probably owe him a couple of cold ones.
The sections were mostly single track. Nobody could remember the last time they rode that much single track in one day. The trails were a good mix of dirt, rocks and roots. There were no big stoppers anywhere on the course. Even the hero sections were manageable. The trails before the gas stop were littered with slow riders. For many, this was obviously their first organized ride. Several didn’t understand the importance of pulling over when a faster approaches from behind. Still others would block the trail when they were having problems. I did see a lot of broken down bikes, mostly flat tires, and always offered my assistance when I saw a lone rider struggling with a problem. The trails themselves went back and forth through the woods sometimes less than 10 feet apart. Often times I would see Al just ahead of me so I’d wick it up a notch or two and hope not to crash. I had a couple small incidents that only managed to bruise the ego.
We had gotten a late start in the morning and caught up to Papakeith about 5 miles before the gas stop at mile 23. Shortly after that I spotted DANIEL JOSEPH on the side of the trail. He had a good view of me almost looping out climbing an short, rocky hill. Luckily I saved it. At the gas stop the Tauton Vietnam Veterans Association was selling lunch. We wolfed down a cheeseburger, soda and water before gassing up and heading out on the trail. Before we left I spotted Papakeith with a whole plate full of food and a huge grin on his face. The hero section after gas was probably the most technical section we rode all day. We rode straight up the face of this huge boulder. I didn’t realize it until I was halfway up and thought I was going straight towards a huge drop-off. I chopped the throttle while still climbing and a club member kept yelling at me. Luckily I had just enough momentum to reach the top and realize another rider was flying up behind me. I pinned the throttle to get off the boulder and out of his way. My only real mistake was not leaving enough time for food to digest in my stomach. I started to get that “I want to blow chunks” feeling but managed to hold it back. Coming out of this section we went through the only deep mud hole in the entire ride. The guy in front of me just stopped and waited. I didn’t see anyone stuck so I went around him and through the wettest part. Up to that point my bike was still pretty clean.
The rest of the ride included another grass track section that skirted some fields and a lot more single track. It was easy to tell that a lot of riders had bailed in the latter part of the ride. There were a lot more leaves covering the trail hiding rocks and roots. We rode the last 15 miles in the rain. These last two sections had been the first two sections we rode in the morning so there weren’t many leaves covering the trail, but the rain did make seeing anything difficult. Riders started bailing out of the last section, but I stuck it out riding the entire course. As soon as I finished the rain started coming down in buckets. At least I was able to change back into my street clothes in the back of Al’s van. Papakeith, riding the shorter course, finished before us, but hung out and BS’d while I grabbed a beer from DANIEL JOSEPH. Too bad the weather wasn’t better so we could hang out and do a little bench racing.
The KPTR did a fantastic job of looping together 50+ miles of single track. This was definitely the most difficult Turkey Runs/Dual-Sport ride I have ever done, but not because of the trails. Riding that much tight single track requires almost constant attention. The lack of road sections where you can rest definitely has an impact. This was definitely not a ride for a beginner.
The sections were mostly single track. Nobody could remember the last time they rode that much single track in one day. The trails were a good mix of dirt, rocks and roots. There were no big stoppers anywhere on the course. Even the hero sections were manageable. The trails before the gas stop were littered with slow riders. For many, this was obviously their first organized ride. Several didn’t understand the importance of pulling over when a faster approaches from behind. Still others would block the trail when they were having problems. I did see a lot of broken down bikes, mostly flat tires, and always offered my assistance when I saw a lone rider struggling with a problem. The trails themselves went back and forth through the woods sometimes less than 10 feet apart. Often times I would see Al just ahead of me so I’d wick it up a notch or two and hope not to crash. I had a couple small incidents that only managed to bruise the ego.
We had gotten a late start in the morning and caught up to Papakeith about 5 miles before the gas stop at mile 23. Shortly after that I spotted DANIEL JOSEPH on the side of the trail. He had a good view of me almost looping out climbing an short, rocky hill. Luckily I saved it. At the gas stop the Tauton Vietnam Veterans Association was selling lunch. We wolfed down a cheeseburger, soda and water before gassing up and heading out on the trail. Before we left I spotted Papakeith with a whole plate full of food and a huge grin on his face. The hero section after gas was probably the most technical section we rode all day. We rode straight up the face of this huge boulder. I didn’t realize it until I was halfway up and thought I was going straight towards a huge drop-off. I chopped the throttle while still climbing and a club member kept yelling at me. Luckily I had just enough momentum to reach the top and realize another rider was flying up behind me. I pinned the throttle to get off the boulder and out of his way. My only real mistake was not leaving enough time for food to digest in my stomach. I started to get that “I want to blow chunks” feeling but managed to hold it back. Coming out of this section we went through the only deep mud hole in the entire ride. The guy in front of me just stopped and waited. I didn’t see anyone stuck so I went around him and through the wettest part. Up to that point my bike was still pretty clean.
The rest of the ride included another grass track section that skirted some fields and a lot more single track. It was easy to tell that a lot of riders had bailed in the latter part of the ride. There were a lot more leaves covering the trail hiding rocks and roots. We rode the last 15 miles in the rain. These last two sections had been the first two sections we rode in the morning so there weren’t many leaves covering the trail, but the rain did make seeing anything difficult. Riders started bailing out of the last section, but I stuck it out riding the entire course. As soon as I finished the rain started coming down in buckets. At least I was able to change back into my street clothes in the back of Al’s van. Papakeith, riding the shorter course, finished before us, but hung out and BS’d while I grabbed a beer from DANIEL JOSEPH. Too bad the weather wasn’t better so we could hang out and do a little bench racing.
The KPTR did a fantastic job of looping together 50+ miles of single track. This was definitely the most difficult Turkey Runs/Dual-Sport ride I have ever done, but not because of the trails. Riding that much tight single track requires almost constant attention. The lack of road sections where you can rest definitely has an impact. This was definitely not a ride for a beginner.
